Question generation

Teachers demonstrate this strategy by generating questions aloud during reading. Readers then practice generating questions and answers as they read the text. Teachers provide feedback on the quality of the questions asked or assist the student in answering the question generated. Teachers teach the students to evaluate whether their questions covered important information, whether the questions related to information provided in the text, and whether they themselves could answer the questions.

The scientific evidence that question generation cognitive strategy instruction is effective is very strong. In 1996 Barak Rosenshine and his colleagues conducted meta-analysis of twenty-six question generation studies with students from third grade through college. Like individual experimental studies, a meta-analysis Systematic comparing of differerent scientific studies on a topic, often reporting an effect size of the combined results. applies scientific criteria to obtain a quantitative assessment of an instruction’s effectiveness. A meta-analysis differs from single studies, however, in that it obtains a quantitative impact of a particular strategy by looking at effectiveness across a group of studies. In addition to the Rosenshine meta-analysis, the NRP examined twenty-seven question generation studies with students from grade three through nine. Question generation instruction during reading benefited reading comprehension in terms of improved memory, in accuracy in answering questions, or in better integration and identification of main ideas. The evidence that it improved performance on standardized comprehension tests is mixed.