Crafting Questions That Address Comprehension Strategies in Content Reading

Abstract

This article describes initial attempts by preservice and inservice teachers enrolled in university reading courses to devise questions that encourage students to read content texts strategically. Teachers at both levels tended to confuse questions that encourage the use of comprehension strategies during reading with questions that assess comprehension of what has been read. Despite understanding the aspects of cognition that promote good comprehension, at first these elementary and middle‐grade teachers appeared to revert to ingrained questioning models that largely ignored the cognitive components of comprehension.The distinction between the design and functions of these questions must be clear to teachers if they are to be effective in helping students construct meaning from subject matter texts. University classes that provide modeling and practice in crafting and asking strategic questions support content teachers in this important skill.