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Asking Questions Before, During, and After Reading
To aid their comprehension, skillful readers ask themselves questions before, during, and after they read. You can help students become more proficient by modeling this process and encouraging them to use it when they read independently.
Why Ask Questions Before, During, and After Reading?
Dolores Durkin's research in 1979 showed that most teachers asked students questions after they had read, as opposed to questioning to improve comprehension before or while they read. In the late 1990s, further research (Pressley, et al. 1998) revealed that despite the abundance of research supporting questioning before, during, and after reading to help comprehension, teachers still favored post-reading comprehension questions.
Researchers have also found that when adult readers are asked to "think aloud" as they read, they employ a wide variety of comprehension strategies, including asking and answering questions before, during, and after reading (Pressley and Afflerbach 1995). Proficient adult readers:
- Are aware of why they are reading the text
- Preview and make predictions
- Read selectively
- Make connections and associations with the text based on what they already know
- Refine predictions and expectations
- Use context to identify unfamiliar words
- Reread and make notes
- Evaluate the quality of the text
- Review important points in the text
- Consider how the information might be used in the future
Successful reading is not simply the mechanical process of "decoding" text. Rather, it is a process of active inquiry.
Good authors anticipate the reader's questions and plant questions in the reader's mind (think of a title such as, Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman). In this way, reading becomes a collaboration between the reader and the author. The author's job is to raise questions and then answer them – or provide several possible answers. Readers cooperate by asking the right questions, paying careful attention to the author's answers, and asking questions of their own.
Examples of Before, During, and After Reading Questions
Before Reading — At the Beginning of a New Book
| Questions | Strategy |
|---|---|
| What do you think this book will be about? Why do you think that? | Predicting |
| What do you think the characters and setting will be like in this book? | Predicting |
| What does this book remind you of? Can you think of anything in your life or anything you’ve learned about that is similar to what’s in the book? | Connecting |
| How does this story connect to other books you have read? | Connecting |
| What do you wonder about as you read the title and look at the cover and illustrations? | Questioning |
| What questions would you like to ask the author before you read this book? | Questioning |
Before Reading — Continuing a Book Students Are Reading
| Questions | Strategy |
|---|---|
| What has happened in the story so far? | Summarizing |
| What do you predict will happen next in the story? | Predicting |
| What are some questions you have about the characters as we continue reading? Is there anything in the story that you would like to know more about? | Questioning |
During Reading
| Questions | Strategy |
|---|---|
| What do you think will happen next? Why? | Predicting |
| How do you think the main character will react to this situation? | Predicting |
| What do you think this paragraph suggests about the character's feelings? | Predicting |
| What can we guess about the story from these details? | Inferring |
| What does the author imply when he/she says...? | Inferring |
| How does this part of the story connect with what we read earlier? | Inferring |
| Can you relate to the characters in the story? | Connecting |
| Does this remind you of another book we've read? | Connecting |
| How does this part of the story connect to your own life experiences? | Connecting |
| Does this part of the story connect to something else you've learned about? | Connecting |
| Can you imagine what the setting looks like based on the author's description? | Visualizing |
| How do you picture this character in your mind? | Visualizing |
| Can you visualize the action that's taking place? | Visualizing |
| What mental picture do you get from this part of the story? | Visualizing |
| Can you imagine what it would feel like to be in the character's situation? | Visualizing |
| What questions come to mind as you read this part of the story? | Questioning |
| What would you ask the character if you could? | Questioning |
| Can you summarize what has happened in the story so far? | Summarizing |
| Can you briefly explain this chapter in your own words? | Summarizing |
| Can you summarize the main character's problem or conflict? | Summarizing |
| Does this make sense to you? | Comprehension |
| Wait, what happened there? | Comprehension |
| What is confusing to you about the plot or characters? | Comprehension |
| Can you explain the character's motivations? | Comprehension |
| Can you identify the main idea or theme of the story? | Comprehension |
| Can you explain the relationship between the characters? | Comprehension |
| Do you have enough information to understand the story? | Comprehension |
| What are the most important events that have happened so far? | Evaluating Importance |
| Which details are essential to understanding the story? | Evaluating Importance |
| What is the most important problem the character is facing? | Evaluating Importance |
After Reading — At the end of the book
| Questions | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Can you summarize the main events of the story in your own words? | Summarizing |
| What are the key points that the author wants you to remember? | Summarizing |
| What do you predict will happen to the characters after the book ends based on what you've read? | Predicting |
| If there was a sequel to this book, what do you think it would be about? | Predicting |
| What questions do you still have now that you've finished the book? | Questioning |
| If you could ask the author one question about this book, what would it be? | Questioning |
| What do you think was the most important event in the book? Why? | Evaluating Importance |
| Which character do you think was most important to the story? Why? | Evaluating Importance |
After Reading — Continuing a Book Students Are Reading
| Questions | Strategy |
|---|---|
| Can you summarize what has happened in the book so far? | Summarizing |
| What are the main events that have happened in the book up to this point? | Summarizing |
| What do you predict will happen next in the story? | Predicting |
| How do you think the main character will handle the next situation based on what you've read? | Predicting |
| What questions do you have about the story or characters at this point in the book? | Questioning |
| Is there anything you're wondering about the plot or the characters? | Questioning |
| What do you think is the most important event that has happened in the book so far? Why? | Evaluating Importance |
| Which character do you think has been most important to the story up to this point? Why? | Evaluating Importance |
How to Ask Questions Before, During, and After Reading
While reading a book, article, or directions, think aloud to learn to ask questions before, during, and after reading. Document each question you think of on a post-it note attached to the relevant text. These questions could relate to the author's choice of title, a specific vocabulary word, or the future application of the information.
During read-aloud times, model questioning by verbalizing your thoughts. Emphasize that asking questions before, during, and after reading enhances understanding, regardless of the reader's age. Ask questions such as:
"What clues does the title give me about the story?"
Pre-select several stopping points within the text to ask and answer reading questions. This is also an excellent time to model "repair strategies" to correct miscomprehension. Start reading the text, and ask yourself questions while reading:
"What do I understand from what I just read?"
Then reread the text, asking the following questions when you are finished:
"Which of my predictions were right? What information from the text tells me that I am correct?"
Encourage students to ask their own questions after you have modeled this strategy e, and write all their questions on chart paper. Students can be grouped to answer one another's questions and generate new ones based on discussions. Be sure the focus is not on finding the correct answers, because many questions may be subjective, but on curiosity, wondering, and asking thoughtful questions.
After students become aware of the best times to ask questions during the reading process, be sure to ask them a variety of questions that:
- Can be used to gain a deeper understanding of the text
- Have answers that might be different for everyone
- Have answers that can be found in the text
- Clarify the author's intent
- Can help clarify the meaning
- Help them make inferences
- Help them make predictions
- Help them make connections to other texts or prior knowledge
As students begin to read text independently, you should continue to model the questioning process and encourage students to use it often. In the upper elementary and middle school grades, a framework for questions to ask before, during, and after reading can serve as a guide as students work with more challenging texts and begin to internalize comprehension strategies. You can use an overhead projector to jot notes on the framework as you "think aloud" while reading a text. As students become comfortable with the questioning strategy, they may use the guide independently while reading, with the goal of generating questions before, during, and after reading to increase comprehension.
How Can You Stretch Students' Thinking?
The best way to stretch students' thinking about a text is to help them ask increasingly challenging questions. Some of the most challenging questions are "Why?" questions about the author's intentions and the design of the text. For example:
"Why do you think the author chose this particular setting?"
Another way to challenge readers is to ask them open-ended questions that require evidence from the text to answer. For example:
"What does Huck think about girls? What is your evidence?"
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Be sure to explicitly model your own challenging questions while reading aloud a variety of texts, including novels, subject-area textbooks, articles, and nonfiction. Help students see that answering challenging questions can help them understand text at a deeper level, ultimately making reading a more enjoyable and valuable experience.
As students become proficient in generating challenging questions, have them group the questions at the time they were asked (before, during, or after reading). Students can determine their own categories, justify their reasons for placing questions into the categories, and determine how this can help their reading comprehension.
Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan: Questioning, The Mitten
This lesson is designed to introduce primary students to the importance of asking questions before, during, and after listening to a story. In this lesson, using the story The Mitten by Jan Brett, students learn how to become good readers by asking questions. This is the first lesson in a set of questioning lessons designed for primary grades.
Lesson Plan: Questioning, Grandfather's Journey
This lesson is for intermediate students using the strategy with the book, Grandfather's Journey, by Allen Say.
Lesson Plan: Questioning, Koko's Kitten
This lesson is designed to establish primary students' skills in asking questions before, during, and after they listen to a story. You can help students learn to become better readers by modeling how and when you ask questions while reading aloud the true story, Koko's Kitten, by Dr. Francine Patterson. This is the second lesson in a set of questioning lessons designed for primary grades.
Lesson Plan: Asking Pre-Reading Questions
This is a language arts lesson for students in grades 3-5. Students will learn about asking questions before reading and will make predictions based on the discussion of the questions.
Lesson Plan: Asking Questions When Reading
In this lesson, the teacher will read The Wall by Eve Bunting with the purpose of focusing on asking important questions. The students and the teacher will then categorize the questions according to the criteria for each.
See the research that supports this strategy
Durk, D. (1979) What classroom observations reveal about reading comprehension instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 14, 481-533.
Pressley, M., & Afflerbach, P. (1995). Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pressley, M. (1998). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. New York: Guilford.
