Text-Based Questioning: A Comprehension Strategy to Build English Language Learners' Content Knowledge

Abstract

Student-generated questions in relation to text were examined in two studies. Study I examined the impact of student questioning in relation to general vocabulary in English-Only Speakers (EOs) andEnglish language learners (ELLs). Findings indicated that questioning predicted comprehension in the reading comprehension of both groups of readers, albeit different patterns were found in relation to general vocabulary. Study II explored the specifics of questioning instruction revealing that ELLs with varying reading levels improved their questioning skills after instruction and there was an association between question types and reading comprehension. Collectively, both studies indicated that text-based student questioning is a reading strategy that contributes to ELLs' reading comprehension and conceptual knowledge in the content area of science. Implications for content-area reading for ELLs are discussed.We got to choose like grown-ups: what books we wanted to read, and what questions we wanted to ask. When we asked our own questions, we had to read first, think, and then we asked a really good question. We knew when the question was good, because we used our background knowledge in it and we had to read a lot to answer it. -Francisco, grade 4Children are naturally curious and have countless questions about the world around them. Channeling that natural curiosity and nurturing it with reading is a task that as educators we should build upon. In particular, English language learners (ELLs) like Francisco (all student names are pseudonyms) can benefit in very specific ways from a reading strategy such as text-based questioning, not only because of the cognitive and language processes it supports, but also because of the interest and motivation it awakes in students.Francisco and his classmates had been learning how to formulate their own text-based questions as part of a teacher-researcher collaboration to integrate science with comprehension instruction for ELLs. Without being aware of it, in his brief statement, Francisco indicated both the cognitive as well as some of the motivational benefits of questioning. That is, he had to read in order to formulate his question, and then rethink and ask it

Developing Reading Comprehension through Metacognitive Strategies: A Review of Previous Studies

“…They additionally empower the readers to utilize these procedures when confronting issues amid the reading procedure (Taboada, Biancob, & Bowerman, 2012). Moreover, Young and Fry (2008) asserted that metacognitive encounters incorporate the methods of assessing and directing one's progressing comprehension and are not so much steady.…”

SEE & SAY: UTILIZING VISUALS TO STIMULATE NOVICE LEARNERS’ VERBALIZATION OF IDEAS IN THE TARGET LANGUAGE

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Teaching Bilingual Learners: Effects of a Language‐Based Reading Intervention on Academic Language and Reading Comprehension in Grades 4 and 5

“…During these first two days, vocabulary instruction was followed by guided reading of text. Recent evidence indicates that using comprehension strategies is important for bilingual learners (e.g., Taboada, Bianco, & Bowerman, 2012;Taboada & Rutherford, 2011), and thus intervention teachers were prompted to have students summarize, question, and make inferences throughout guided reading to build comprehension. In particular, students focused on identifying author's perspective and arguments on both sides of controversial issues (see the discussion questions in Table 4) using more than one source (e.g., text, video).…”