Inferential Questioning Effects on Comprehension of Narrative Texts as a Function of Grade and Timing

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology Vol. 93; no. 3; pp. 521 - 529
• Main Authors: van den Broek, Paul, Tzeng, Yuhtsuen, Risden, Kirsten, Trabasso, Tom, Basche, Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-09-2001
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Cognitive Style; College Students; Comprehension; Developmental psychology; Education; Experiments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Higher Education; Human; Inferential Comprehension; Intermediate Grades; Language Skills; Learning Processes; Memory; Narratives; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questioning; Questions; Reading Comprehension; Reading Processes; Secondary Education; Students; Human; Verbal comprehension; Education level; Cognition; Text; Reading; School age; Language; Narrative; Adolescent; Young adult; Language development; Question answering; Cognitive development; Child
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.521

In this study, we investigated the effects of inferential questioning, and of the timing of such questioning, on narrative comprehension by 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade students and college students. Students received questions either during or after reading simple narrative texts. Control groups read the texts without questions. Questioning, particularly during reading, interfered with the youngest students' recall both of text information in general and of information specifically targeted by the questions. Questioning facilitated college students' memory but only for information specifically targeted by the questions and only when questioning occurred during reading. As reading and language skills become more proficient and automatic, inferential questioning increasingly directs readers' attention during reading to the information targeted by the questions. In addition, inferential questioning challenges the processing capacities of younger or less skilled readers and, hence, may interfere with comprehension.