Questions-and-Answers Techniques to improve reading skills in a second language classroom.
Most of the traditional language textbooks follow the same structure for a reading activity. First, students are presented with a text. Second, they read it slowly and carefully, and finally they answer questions to test their comprehension of the text. These questions are sometimes less than satisfactory. Sometimes they can be answered without reading the text and the number of questions may not be enough for the activity and finally the multiple-choice format presented in almost all textbooks.
Five types of reading questions. Teachers should modify, when appropriate the questions coming with a reading activity and develop their own questions, especially for authentic materials since these seldom include questions prepared for them. According to Nuttall there are five major types or reading comprehension questions.
1- Literal
2- Reorganization
3- Inference
4- Personal
5- General
The following is an example of comprehension questions that have been developed according to this classification.
An elephant tale
Mrs. Betty Jones was fixing dinner. She opened a tin of lima beans and found an elephant in it. “I didn’t see him at first,” she said later. “I just opened the tin and dumped the lime beans into a pan. Later, when I was stirring them. I saw this little animal. He was splashing about and squirting water from his trunk. I suppose he liked the warm water after being stuffed in that can.” Mrs. Jones was a good person. She felt concerned about the elephant’s comfort. She took him out of the pan and let him play in the bathtub.
The first type of questions relates to literal comprehension. The answers to these questions are directly available in the text, and often they can be answered in the words of the text itself. What did Mrs. Betty Jones find in the can of lima beans? She found an elephant.
The second type of questions involves reorganization or re-interpretation. These questions require the students to obtain literal information from various parts of the text. That is students must consider the text as a whole and re-interpret the information they have obtained. How did Mrs. Betty Jones feel about the little elephant? She was surprised to find an elephant in the pan with the lima beans. But she was a very nice lady she took care of him.
The third category are questions of inference. These are questions that oblige the students to “read between the lines”, and they are more difficult because they require the students to consider what is implied but not explicitly stated. How did the elephant get into the can of lima beans? One student suggested this answer. He was eating lima beans on a farm and a farmer put him in a basket full of lima beans.
The next type of questions requires a personal response. That is, the students record their own reactions to the context of the text. What would you do if you found a little animal in a can of vegetables? One student answered: I would return the can to the store and ask for my money back.
Finally there are questions that refer to the general content of the text. Have you ever found anything unusual in a can, box, a bottle, or a package? One student answered: I found an earring in a bowl of soup. By developing several types of questions, teachers will encourage the learners not only to understand the meaning of the text, but also to draw inferences and to communicate their own ideas.
By César Rujano and Wilmer Guerrero
References:
? Nutnall, C. 1982. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
? Williams, E, 1984. Reading in the Language Classroom. London: Macmillan.