Reader question formation as a tool for measuring comprehension: narrative and expository textual inferences in a second language

Abstract

Psychological models of first language (L1) textual comprehension distinguish between expository and narrative texts but are unclear on differences of inference generation between the two types of texts in a second language (L2). Forty-seven undergraduate students performed a comprehension task using two narrative and two expository texts in an L2. Participants generated questions at specific points throughout each text. Responses were categorised under six question types: scripturally implicit, textually implicit, textually explicit, linguistic and miscomprehension. Results showed that subjects generated more inferences for narrative texts while exhibiting more miscomprehension for expository texts.

The Impact of Instructing Self-Questioning in Reading Literary Texts

“…ISSN 1948-5425 2012 In this connection, considering the time constraint factor, the experimenter prepared the questions before attending the class and formulated the questions on the basis of a question framework. The framework applied in this experiment was that proposed by Dubravac and Dalle (2002) and has been appended in appendix A.…”

“…Considering these facts, this study set out to investigate the effect of teaching self-questioning technique while reading literary texts. To this end the Dubravac and Dalle's (2002) model of question types has been employed. According to Dubravac and Dalle (2002), many of the differences in question types seem to be related to the quality and quantity of online inferences.…”

“…To this end the Dubravac and Dalle's (2002) model of question types has been employed. According to Dubravac and Dalle (2002), many of the differences in question types seem to be related to the quality and quantity of online inferences. An inference is generated when a reader uses both his or her background and linguistic knowledge.…”

“…An inference is generated when a reader uses both his or her background and linguistic knowledge. In view of the fact that the answer to the questions asked by the students requires background knowledge or linguistic knowledge, Dubravac and Dalle (2002) have classified questions into five categories.…”

“…The first question type introduced by Dubravac and Dalle (2002) are "scripturally implicit" questions which require the greatest amount of available background knowledge in order to answer. In other words, these questions (e.g.…”