Types of Comprehension Questions in the 6th Grade-Level Elementary English Teachers` Guide Books

This study examined types of comprehension questions in the 6th grade-level elementary English Teachers’ Guide books to discover how inferential, critical, and creative questions as well as literal questions (Rubin, 1993) are used and what patterns they show. From the analysis of the comprehension questions, it was discovered that literal questions were predominant in all of the Teachers’ Guide books. Inferential questions appeared in much less numbers than literal questions. Among the inferential questions, questions about genre, synthesizing information, illustration, and application were used more than the rest of the questions. Textbooks showed differences in the use of inferential questions. The findings of the study suggest that reading comprehension questions need to be used as a tool that mediates the process of transactional reading rather than as a tool for mere recall and recitement of a text. The findings of the study call for the use of diverse comprehension questions in order to foster students’ active reading process and higher thinking ability. (Daegu National University of Education)