Questioning the Author: A Yearlong Classroom Implementation to Engage Students with Text

This article describes the development and implementation of Questioning the Author, an instructional intervention that focuses on having students grapple with and reflect on what an author is trying to say in order to build a representation from it. The implementation involved a social studies teacher, a reading/language arts teacher, and their 23 inner-city fourth-grade students in a small parochial school. Analyses of transcripts of videotaped lessons and classroom observations revealed that teacher talk decreased in quantity and increased in quality with more emphasis on questions focused on constructing and extending meaning and more skill in refining and using students' comments in discussion. Changes in the content of student talk were also documented. These included an increase in the number and complexity of student-initiated questions and evidence of the development of student collaboration. Teachers' journal entries and students' responses in interviews provided insights about their views of the implementation.

[1]  Douglas Barnes,et al.  Language in the classroom , 1973 .

[2]  Michael Stubbs,et al.  Language, Schools and Classrooms , 1976 .

[3]  H. Mehan,et al.  Learning Lessons, Social Organization in the Classroom , 1979 .

[4]  E. Markman.  Realizing that you don't understand: elementary school children's awareness of inconsistencies. , 1979, Child development.

[5]  D. Olson.  On the Language and Authority of Textbooks , 1980 .

[6]  Nancy E. Taylor,et al.  Monitoring of Understanding: An Investigation of Attentional Assistance Needs at Different Grade and Reading Proficiency Levels. , 1982 .

[7]  Suzanne de Castell,et al.  Beyond Criticism: The Authority of the School Text , 1983 .

[8]  E. Jones..  The language of the classroom. , 1983, Nursing mirror.

[9]  D. Cross,et al.  Informed strategies for learning: a program to improve children's reading awareness and comprehension , 1984 .

[10]  John I. Goodlad,et al.  The Schools We Deserve@@@A Place Called School: Prospects for the Future , 1987 .

[11]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities , 1984 .

[12]  Linda M. McNeil,et al.  Contradictions of Control: School Structure and School Knowledge , 1988 .

[13]  Scott G. Paris,et al.  Children's reading strategies, metacognition, and motivation , 1986 .

[14]  Michelene T. H. Chi,et al.  Self-Explanations: How Students Study and Use Examples in Learning To Solve Problems. Technical Report No. 9. , 1987 .

[15]  M. McDaniel,et al.  Generation and precision of elaboration: Effects on intentional and incidental learning. , 1987 .

[16]  Gerald G. Duffy,et al.  Effects of Explaining the Reasoning Associated with Using Reading Strategies. , 1987 .

[17]  J. T. Dillon.  Questioning and Teaching: A Manual of Practice , 1988 .

[18]  D. Cross,et al.  Developmental and Instructional Analyses of Children's Metacognition and Reading Comprehension. , 1988 .

[19]  Mark A. McDaniel,et al.  Elaborative Interrogation Facilitates Acquisition of Confusing Facts. , 1988 .

[20]  Thomas M. Duffy,et al.  Models for the Design of Instructional Text. , 1989 .

[21]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  Learning From Social Studies Texts , 1989 .

[22]  Bruce K. Britton,et al.  Instructional texts rewritten by five expert teams: Revisions and retention improvements. , 1989 .

[23]  Donna E. Alvermann,et al.  What Teachers Do When They Say They're Having Discussions of Content Area Reading Assignments: A Qualitative Analysis. , 1990 .

[24]  P. David Pearson,et al.  Moving From the Old to the New: Research on Reading Comprehension Instruction , 1991 .

[25]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  Revising Social Studies Text from a Text-Processing Perspective: Evidence of Improved Comprehensibility. , 1991 .

[26]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  The Contribution of Prior Knowledge and Coherent Text to Comprehension , 1992 .

[27]  Janice F. Almasi,et al.  Beyond Direct Explanation: Transactional Instruction of Reading Comprehension Strategies , 1992, The Elementary School Journal.

[28]  A. Graesser,et al.  Mechanisms that generate questions , 1992 .

[29]  C. Goldenberg,et al.  Instructional Conversations: Promoting Comprehension through Discussion. , 1993 .

[30]  Nicholas C. Burbules,et al.  Dialogue in Teaching: Theory and Practice , 2000 .

[31]  Richard C. Anderson,et al.  Six Teachers' Dialogue during Cognitive Process Instruction , 1993, The Elementary School Journal.

[32]  Margaret G. McKeown.  Grappling with Text Ideas: Questioning the Author. , 1993 .

[33]  M. Chi,et al.  Eliciting Self‐Explanations Improves Understanding , 1994 .

[34]  Michelene T. H. Chi,et al.  Eliciting Self-Explanations Improves Understanding , 1994, Cogn. Sci..

[35]  Isabel L. Beck,et al.  Questioning the Author: An Approach for Enhancing Student Engagement With Text , 1997 .