The Effects of Question-Generation Techniques on Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The problem. Can the teaching of question-generation training improve reading comprehension and is there evidence of a successful student transference and a publication of question-generation training in content area subjects? Procedure. The subjects in this study were thirty-one sixth through eighth grade students at Norwalk Middle School who received instruction in the Developmental Reading Lab. Sixteen of the thirty-one students were given thirty-four lessons using question-generation comprehension techniques during one semester. Data were collected for grade point average and reading comprehension scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills(ITBS). At the beginning and conclusion of the semester, all students were given the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT). Findings: A correlation of 0.580 was found between the two reading subtests. The administration of t-tests found the reading comprehension abilities of the students in the treatment and control groups similar at the onset and conclusion of this study. The correlation between the students' grade point averages and performance on the SDRT was 0.309. Conclusions. The results of this study indicate that the treatment made no difference in comprehension skill improvement. The inclusion of the question-generation technique in a program does not impede progress. However, it is evident that other factors, in addition to question generation techniques, are involved in the prediction of reading comprehension ability. Recommendations: Further studies are needed to ascertain whether efforts which increase question-generation usage could increase the level of an individual's reading comprehension.