The Use of Questions in Improving
Students Reading Comprehension
I Wayan Sumerta Winaya Asnadi
NIM. 1312021146
English Education Department of
UNDIKSHA
ABSTRACT
This article aims at reviewing the use
of question which has significant effect in improving students reading
comprehension. The nature of reading comprehension, the types of reading
comprehension, and also the purposes of reading comprehension are explored in
this article. In addition, questions, including the nature, types and the
importance of questions also take important role in supporting the topic in the
following discussion. Finally, this article reviewing the function of questions
type and the way how to ask question for the students in improving students
reading comprehension as well as the purposes of this review article.
Keywords: questions, importance of
questions, reading comprehension
INTRODUCTION
Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge
or developing the ability to perform new behaviors. In relation with learning, teaching cannot be defined
apart from learning (Nathan Gage, 1964). It is one of many ways how to educate
students in language learning. In teaching, students will learn in formal way,
besides in informal way. Teaching can be defined as the activities which are intended to bring about language learning. Language
teaching is more widely interpreted than instructing a language class.
Of
course, there are four basic aspects of language that should be mastered by the
students namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In this article, we
will concern on the reading aspect especially reading comprehension in language
learning as our discussion.
Some years ago, many experts had
found some methods that were used to teach the students in language learning
especially in reading class. The view through
teaching reading comprehension has been dramatically changed in the past
decades. Uso and Martinez (as cited in Khatib
& Nasrollahi, 2012) discussed the significant views regarding
teaching reading comprehension. As suppose the use of question in reading to
improve students’ ability in comprehending the skill in reading aspect. Barr et.al. (2007)
also believe that the use of questions in instruction has significant effect on
development of students strategies in reading comprehension.
Some studies show that, there are some important uses of
question for the students in comprehending the reading text. As noted by Day and Park (2005), the use of questions is an integral aspect of such
activities, and in their experiences as language teachers they
have seen that well-designed
comprehension questions help students interact with the text to create or
construct meaning. Day and Park (2005) believe that it is critical that teachers help
their students create meaning by using questions. Therefore, the use of
question in improving students reading comprehension becomes the topic
which is discussed in this review article as well as the purpose of this
article.
THE NATURE OF READING
Reading
is an aspect of language learning. It is an effective way to learn because it is
important for enriching our lives (Barr et al., 2007).
Barr and her colleagues define that reading is an interactive process with text. Celce-Murcia et al. (as
cited in Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012)
believe that the ability to read in a second language is the most important way
for autonomous language learning. In
addition, Alptekin (as
cited in Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012)
defined reading as an interaction of the reader’s text-based and
knowledge-based processes. Therefore,
reading is an aspect of language learning which permits the students to get
information especially in reading text by constructing their background
knowledge. Due to this case, according to National Reading Panel (as
cited in Vacca, et al. 2009) one of five essential components of an effective
reading program is reading comprehension. Hence then,
in this article, we will elaborate more regarding to reading comprehension as
follows.
Reading Comprehension
Before we define further the meaning
of reading comprehension, it is better to know the definition of comprehension.
Comprehension, according to Huey (as cited in Vacca et al., 2008) is
“thought-getting and thought manipulating.” It is also viewed as a process of
social construction (Bakthin in Vacca et al., 2008). In addition, Vacca et al. (2008) note comprehension as the thing
that the reader alredy knows (commonly reffered to prior knowledge), what the
author’s supplies, and the strategies the reader employs text. Therefore,
comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected
text.
Reading comprehension is also included into receptive skill
besides listening. Receptive skill is the way in which people extract meaning
from the discourse they see or hear (Harmer, 2001, as cited in Khatib &
Nasrollahi, 2012).
To achieve the purpose of reading especially reading comprehension, which is to
get general or detail information from the text, students have to comprehend
the text in order to understand the information effectively. Gillet and Temple
(1998, as cited in Khatib &
Nasrollahi, 2012)
claimed that “Comprehension is the understanding new information in light of
what we have already known”. This thing will make students be more successful
in applying and improving everything that had been learned and understood.
Other
theory also gives the view regarding to reading comprehension. It is the
process of using syntactic, semantic, and rhetorical information found in the
printed texts to reconstruct in the reader’s mind, using the knowledge of the
world he or she possesses (Ngadiso, 1998, as cited in
Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012).In processing
texts, readers combine literal comprehension, based on lower-level cognitive
processes of reading such as lexical access and syntactic parsing, with
inferential comprehension, based on higher-level cognitive processes such as
the text base of comprehension (to understand what the text says) and the
situation model of interpretation (to understand what it is about)”.
Traditionally as Chastain (as cited in Khatib &
Nasrollahi, 2012) mentioned reading comprehension was viewed as a
passive skills because readers do not produce anything; however readers are in
constant interaction with reading passage and their background knowledge.
Reading comprehension focuses on reading as a thinking process where the reader reconstructs the
intended meaning of the author. Readers are not treated as passive one, but
they are cognitively engaged in processing the author’s intended meaning.
Types of Reading
Comprehension
In the following section,
there are four types of reading comprehension according
to Hall (1983) namely: reading for information, reading for ideas, reading for
escape, and reading for engage.
Reading for Information
The first type of reading is reading
for information. Hall noted that reading for information is a kind of reading
which concerns on the information the readers want to get. He believe that,
reading for information is the same with quick eye reading which
is necessity to the readers who want to keep up with what's happening or learn
much of what has happened in the past (Hall,
1983).
Reading for Ideas
Reading for ideas is a type of
reading in which the readers summarize key ideas, sentence by sentence or
paragraph by paragraph (Hall, 1983).
Reading to Escape
According to Hall (1983) reading to
escape is a types of reading in which the readers focus on personal reactions
to the reading or to summarize plot. The reader is in control, able to stop
reading a glance away or superimpose
his own daydreams.
Reading to Engage
As noted by Hall (1983),
reading to engage is a type of reading in which the purpose is to find emotional center (what is at stake). In this case, there are some
ways to be conducted, namely note literary conventions, repetitions, and
related ideas. In addition, this type of question also identifies things
confusing or strange. Furthermore, reading to engage is also involving summarizes
or paraphrases whole.
The Purposes of Reading
Comprehension
Reading is one of
the most important skills for mastery of a foreign language (Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012). Hunt (as cited
in Hermida, 2009) reading is a process
shaped partly by the text, partly by the reader's background, and partly by the
situation the reading occurs. Reading has a purpose to enrich the readers’
lives (Barr et al., 2007).
Reading is a skill which enables us to get a message; recognizing the written
words (written symbols); getting (understanding) the meaning; used to teach
pronunciation; and grasping information from texts. In addition, Hall (1983)
suggested that the type of reading comprehension is differed by its purposes,
as such to get the information as well as the ideas, reading for escape, and
also reading for engage.
Mullis
et.al (2006: 19-20) also suggest that, there are two purposes of reading
comprehension, namely reading for literary experience and reading to
acquire and use information. In literary reading, the reader engages with the
text to become involved in imagined events, setting, actions, consequences,
characters, atmosphere, feelings, and ideas, and to enjoy language itself. For
young readers, literature offers the opportunity to explore situations and
feelings they have not yet. While in reading for information, the reader
engages not with imagined worlds, but with aspects of the real universe.
Through informational texts, one can understand how the world is and has been,
and why things work as they do.
Due to reading comprehension, Blachowicz and Ogle (as cited in Barr et.al. 2007)
state that the process of making meaning is constructive one in which the
readers connect what he or she already knows to information and cues applied by
the author in text. Significant reading comprehension is what the reader
already know (commonly reffered to as prior knowledge), what the author
supplies, and the strategies the readers employ and construct something
meaningful through interaction or transaction with the text.
Thus, reading comprehension is an important skill that
must be mastered by all people especially the students to construct their
understanding about the information
in the text. This aspect of language learning becomes more highly needed when
the students try to comprehend the reading text.
THE NATURE OF QUESTION
What is question? What is the purpose of question? According
Cotton (1988) question is any sentence
which has an interrogative form or function. Question
is a sentence, words, or phrase to ask information (Oxford, 2010). In addition,
question is a task or request for information that is
intended to test the knowledge or understanding, for example in an exam or a
competition. Adam (2009) defines that question
is invigorating thinking, learning, action,
and results. For more than two thousand years
(since Socrates) the question has been an
integral part of teaching. The ability to ask and answer questions is central
to learning. Thus, question is type of sentence which has interrogative form,
usually used to ask something related to reading text.
The Importance of
Question
As discussed in the previous section,
question is a task or request for information that is intended to test the
knowledge or understanding, for example in an exam or a competition. Based on that definition, the significant of
question is to generate access, extend or refine knowledge. It is an
interpersonal exchange aimed at achieving a knowledge purpose to help students
and children to think in generative and complex ways.
Adam (2009) proposed that
the purposes of question in organizational, business, and professional
contexts, and in roles such as leader, manager, mentor, coach, consultant,
mediator, and educator, is very necessary. The value of questions becomes
apparent by realizing how many everyday reasons we have asking for. The
purposes of question according to Adam (2009) are as follows. Gather
information; lay groundwork for answers and solutions; think critically, creatively,
and strategically; learn and reflect (including critical reflection); uncover
and challenge assumptions; solve problems and make decisions; clarify and
confirm listening; build and maintain relationships and collaboration; negotiate
and resolve conflicts; set goals as well as develop strategy; create, innovate,
and open new possibilities; catalyze productive and accountable conversation
and action.
Day also states that questions have been used
for a wide variety of educational purposes such as: reviewing previously read
or studied material; diagnosing student abilities, preferences, and attitudes;
stimulating critical thinking; managing student behavior; probing student
thought process; stirring creative thinking; personalizing the curriculum;
motivating students; assessing student knowledge and determining if students
understand the tasks they must complete or processes they are to follow. Hence then, it can be inferred that, question is very necessary
in order to improve the reading comprehension for reading text.
The Types of Question
According to Day & Park (2005) there are six types of question
which are used to test students’ comprehension in reading text. They present and discuss five forms that comprehension
questions may take to stimulate students' understanding of texts. For the clear
definition, the following are the explanation for each type of question.
Yes/no Questions
Yes/no
questions are simply questions that can be answered with either yes or no. This
type of question is usually used to ensure the students understanding about the
text given. E.g. Is this article about
discussing reading comprehension? This is a common form of comprehension
question, but it has the drawback of allowing the student a 50% chance of
guessing the correct answer (Day & Park
2005). So
when using yes/no questions, it is better to following up with other forms of
questions to ensure that the student has understood the text.
Day and Park believe that yes/no questions can
be used to prompt all six types of comprehension. When yes/no questions are used with personal
response or evaluation, other forms of questions seem to follow readily. For
example: Did you like this article? Why?
The
follow-up questions may be more useful in helping students than the initial
yes/no questions.
Alternative Questions
Day &
Park (2005) propose that alternative questions are
two or more yes/no questions connected with “or”. See the following example.
Does this article
focus on the use of questions to teach reading comprehension or to test reading
comprehension?
Similar to yes/no questions,
alternative questions are subject to guessing, so the
teacher may want to follow up with other forms
discussed in this section. Alternative
questions have worked best for us with literal, reorganization, inference, and
prediction types of comprehension.
True or False Questions
Questions may
also take the form of true or false.
While true or false questions are found frequently in commercially available materials, there is a
potential danger in relying exclusively on
them. As with yes/no questions, students
have a 50% chance of guessing the correct answer (Day & Park, 2005). Teachers might simply accept a right answer, failing to ask
why the answer is correct or the distracters
(the wrong choices) are not correct. An
example of a true or false question focusing on literal comprehension is:
Is this
statement
true or false?
Day &
Park (2005) believe that the use of well-designed
comprehension questions will help
students become better readers. True or false
questions are difficult to prepare. The
false answers must be carefully designed so as
to exploit potential misunderstandings of the text. False answers that are obviously incorrect
do not help teach comprehension because students do
not have to understand the text to recognize
them as incorrect.
True or
false questions may also be hard to write because sometimes, as written, both answers are plausible,
regardless of the degree of comprehension of the
text. Like yes/no questions, true or false
questions can be used to prompt all six types of comprehension. When used with personal
response or evaluation, follow-up tasks are sometimes necessary. To
illustrate, a personal response question about this article might be: Is this statement true or false? I like this article. Explain your choice.
Wh- Questions
Questions beginning with where,
what, when, who, why, and how (5W1H) are commonly called wh-questions.
Day & Park (2005) found that they are excellent in helping students with a
literal understanding
of the text, with reorganizing information in the text, and making evaluations, personal responses and predictions. They are also used as follow-ups to other
questions forms, such as yes/no and alternative.
In particular, wh- questions with how/why are often
used to help students to go beyond a literal understanding
of the text. As beginning and
intermediate readers are often reluctant to do this, using how/why questions can be very helpful in aiding
students to become interactive readers.
Multiple-choice
Multiple-choice
questions are based on other forms of questions. They can be, for example, a
wh-question with some choices: See the following
example.
When was Johnny
born?
a. 1944
b. 1945
c. 1946
d. 1947
Generally, but
not always, this form of question has only one correct answer when dealing with
literal comprehension (Day & Park , 2005). The multiple-choice format may make wh-questions easier to
answer than no-choice wh-questions because they give the students some possible
answers. Students might be able to check
the text to see if any of the choices are specifically discussed, and then make
a choice.
Multiple-choice
questions may be used most effectively, in literal comprehension. They can also be used with prediction and
evaluation. However, when used for these
types of comprehension, Day & Park (2005) suggest to using follow-up activities that allow students to
explain their choices. As with true or false questions, developing good
multiple-choice questions requires careful thought. Therefore, Day & Park (2005) found that
developing a question with four choices works best for students with low
proficiency in the target language. One
of the four, obviously, is the desired answer; the others should be seemingly
plausible responses.
Besides that, the
types of question which is proposed by Hall, Vacca
et.al (2008) also suggest some types of question in reading comprehension
strategies according to the way how to answer the questions. Traditionally
there are three types of question namely literal questions, inferential
questions, and evaluative questions. Literal questions mean students answer the
questions by using the information explicitly or clearly stated in the text.
Then, inferential questions are the questions in which students answer the
questions by using their prior knowledge
along with the informaion from the text. Finally, evaluative questions are the
questions in which students answer the questions with the judgments they make
about what they have read.
The Procedure of Asking
Question in Reading Text
Many theories discuss the procedure of asking questions in
reading text by some ways. Generally there are three ways in asking question in
reading text such as asking questions before reading, while reading, and after
reading. But, some decades ago, Dolores Durkin's research in 1979 showed that
most teachers asked students questions after they had read, as opposed to
questioning to improve comprehension before or while they read (as cited in
Vecca et.al., 2008).
In
the late 1990s, further research (Pressley, et al. 1998 in Day) revealed that despite the abundance of
research supporting questioning before, during, and after reading to help
comprehension, teachers still favored post-reading comprehension questions. The
weakness is that, Vecca et.al. (2008) note asking questions after reading often
led struggling readers to feel that the purposes of reading is to answer the
questions that will be given by the teachers. Thus, it will build a substance
of reading is to answer the questions, not to comprehend the text.
The
second way to improve reading comprehension is by asking the students while
they are reading the text. Modeling questions asking while reading is
significant because it can encourage students to ask themselves. In addition,
Beck et al. propose that asking question while reading is necessary in order to
make the students thinking deeply and constructing meaning about segments of
text they read (cited in Vecca et al., 2008). Even the students keep their
minds active while reading as they engage.
At
last, asking questions before students read the text is also important strategy
in enhancing students reading comprehension. It helps students to think more
strategically about reading the text (Vecca et al., 2008). Asking questions
before reading text means that, before reading the text, students will be raised
up with questions which lead their thought to the goal intended by the
questions. Hence then, students will manage the strategy to achieve the
objective of reading before reading the text.
In
sum, to help students comprehend the reading text, it is critical that teachers
ask questions before, during, and after reading. It emphasizes that even though
you are an adult reader, questions before, during, and after reading continue
to help you gain an understanding of the text you are reading.
CONCLUSION
From
the above discussion, it can be concluded that reading is an important aspect
in language learning because of its purposes. Hence then, reading is
necessarily to be taught in language learning by using some techniques. Due to
this case, questioning become the appropriate technique for reading text.
Questions are actually plays significant roles in improving students’ ability
especially in reading. In addition, by asking questions before, during, and
after reading is necessary in improving students reading comprehension.
Questions becomes are highly needed and used in teaching language learning
especially for improving students reading comprehension.
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