Questions are important in developing students' understandings of various texts. Effective teaching involves asking appropriate questions at appropriate times and helping students ask their own questions. Relevant questions invite reflection, analysis, and reconsideration. By employing a range of questions, teachers and students can enhance their reading experiences.
The sample guides for questions on the following pages are not meant to be prescriptive or to imply that only one type of question or one sequence of question types is effective or needs to be addressed in any particular lesson. They are simply suggestions of the types of questions that might be used with different types of texts and are intended to provide a starting point for further development and refinement. The discussion and reflection these questions promote can allow students to become better readers of various texts. These samples can be adapted and expanded to invite individual response as well as to promote small group and class discussion.
| Initial Response | Initial Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Developing a Critical Stance |
| What is your first reaction to this selection?
Do you associate the selection with any real-life experiences you have had? Did you enjoy the story? How did the story affect you? Did any characters affect you? If you could be any character who would you be? How did you picture the setting? Did setting have any effect upon you? |
Were any parts confusing?
What happens? (Map the events.) Is there a protagonist? Antagonist? What conflicts do the characters have? Is the conflict internal or external? When does the conflict reach a critical point? How is the problem solved? Where and when did this story take place? Who is telling the story? What is the point of the story? What do you think might happen to the characters? |
What is the historical context of the story? When was it written? How is that time reflected?
What is the significance of the title? How did the characters change? How are the characters developed? From what point of view is the story told? What atmosphere is created? What details contribute to the atmosphere? How did you determine the theme? What literary techniques are used (e.g., dialogue, conflict, sub-plots, foreshadowing, imagery)? What type of narrative is this (e.g., adventure, historical, literary, science fiction)? What is the author's style (e.g., diction, sentence structure, organization)? |
Is this story plausible? Why?
In your opinion, is this a good story? Why or why not? Would you say this is a traditional story or one in which the author is trying something new or unique? What connections are there between this work and other selections you have read? Would you like to read something else by this author? Why or why not? |
Some useful terms for discussing prose fiction include: action, allusion, antagonist, atmosphere, character, characterization, climax, conflict, connotation, contrast, denotation, episode, fantasy, flashback, foreshadowing, image, incident, irony, locale, metaphor, metafiction, mood, moral, narration, plot, point of view, protagonist, resolution, setting, stereotype, symbol, theme.
Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing prose fiction.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Prose Nonfiction
| Initial Response | Initial Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Developing a Critical Stance |
| What is your opinion on this topic?
Does this selection appeal to you? Did you enjoy reading it? Of what events does this remind you? How did this selection affect you? Does the author say anything with which you can identify? Does this description make sense in relation to your experiences? Did you get a sense of character for any of the people involved or was the information purely factual? |
What are the main points or events?
What does this selection tell you about the topic? How are the ideas or story organized? What is the author's purpose? What does the author think about the topic? What is the selection's overall message? Does it appeal to the emotions? Intellect? Both? Is this selection based upon fact or opinion? Has the author done anything in particular to bring the subject matter to life? |
What qualities of the author's style can be identified (e.g., word choice, rhetorical questions, anecdote, narrative, use of dialogue, commentary)?
What is the author's tone (e.g., personal, objective, a combination)? What picture of the author emerges? Is the treatment sympathetic? Balanced? Biased? Does the selection shed light on social and political realities? What literary devices did the writer use to communicate the ideas (e.g., flashback, parallelism, irony, images, repetition)? |
Why did the writer consider the subject worthy to write about?
Is this information useful? Accurate? Why has the writer said this about the subject? Do you trust the information? Was it accurate? Up-to-date? Is the author qualified to write about this topic? Is this a good piece of prose? Why or why not? What does the selection not address? |
Some useful terms for discussing prose nonfiction include: allusion, anecdote, aphorism, assumption, autobiography, biography, caricature, cliché, coincidence, connotation, contrast, creative nonfiction, denotation, dialect, didactic, essay, euphemism, episode, figure of speech, hyperbole, idiom, image, incident, irony, metaphor, mood, moral, narration, point of view, personal reminiscence, rhetorical question, satire, simile, stereotype, style, symbol, theme, tone.
Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing prose nonfiction.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Poetry
| Initial Response | Initial Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Developing A Critical Stance |
| What is your first reaction to this poem?
How does this poem make you feel? Have you felt this way before? Of what does the poem remind you? What pictures did the poem give you? What did you think about while hearing/reading this poem? What would you like to ask the poet? |
What content is the poem exploring?
How is the poem shaped? What sounds are there? What is the most important word? Phrase? Line? |
What is the subject of the poem?
What is the thought or image? What is the poet's attitude? What is the theme of the poem? What type of poem is this (e.g., narrative, lyrical, dramatic)? What sound devices are used (e.g., rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition)? What figurative language is used? How would you describe the poet's style? How does this poem relate to the historical or social context in which it was written? |
In your opinion, is this a good poem? Why or why not?
Is this poem effective? What makes it work? Is this poem unique? Why? If you were writing this poem, what would you change? Keep? How would you predict others might respond to the poem? Does this poem call to mind any other literary work? What work? Why? |
Some useful terms for discussing poetry include: accent, alliteration, allusion, assonance, ballad, blank verse, connotation, consonance, couplet, denotation, diction, dissonance, elegy, epic, figure of speech, foot, free verse, haiku, image, imagery, irony, limerick, line breaks, lyric, metaphor, meter, monologue, mood, narrative poem, ode, onomatopoeia, paraphrase, personification, quatrain, refrain, rhyme, rhythm, scene, sestet, speaker, stanza, stress, simile, symbol, theme, triplet, verse.
Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing poetry.
Sample Question Guide for Reading Plays
| Initial Response | Initial Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Developing a Critical Stance |
| Can you imagine a performance of the play?
What did you most enjoy? Least enjoy? What did you think about as you read this play? Did the play remind you of anything in real life? What pictures/words/ incidents stand out in your mind? How did you feel about the characters? How did the characters affect you? What would you like to ask the playwright? |
What happened?
Where and when did this play take place? Who are the central characters? What problems did the characters face? Did the problems reach one main climax, or were there many smaller points of climax throughout the play? Were the problems solved? Were there stage directions in the text? What was the point or purpose of the play? |
What details contributed to the atmosphere? Tone?
Was this play written by a playwright or was it created by a theatre collective? What type of drama is it (e.g., comedy, tragedy, docudrama)? What was the effect of the language used (e.g., poetic, naturalistic, dialect)? How did the playwright use literary devices (e.g., irony, symbols, images)? Dramatic devices (e.g., scene changes, sounds, props)? How does this play relate to the historical or social context in which it was written? What is the playwright's style? |
Why did you or did you not enjoy the play?
What is your general impression? Is the play plausible (plot, character, setting)? What would you say were the outstanding parts? Weak parts? Is the play tightly scripted or is there a lot of room for interpretation by a director and actor? Would you say this is a traditional play or is there anything about it you would call experimental? If you could change anything about the play, what would you change? |
Some useful terms for discussing plays include: action, antagonist, apron, arena, aside, atmosphere, blackout, blocking, business, caricature, character, characterization, climax, collective, complication, comedy, conflict, denouement, dialect, dialogue, downstage, dynamic character, director, episode, exit, exposition, falling action, farce, mime, mood, naturalism, offstage, plot, producer, prologue, props, proscenium, protagonist, rising action, resolution, scene, setting, soliloquy, stage directions, stage left, stage right, staging, static character, stereotype, theme, tragedy, unity, upstage, wings.
Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing plays.
Sample Question Guide for Viewing, Listening, and Responding to Television, Radio, Film, and Video Texts
| Initial Response | Initial Understanding | Developing Interpretation | Developing a Critical Stance |
| What is your initial reaction to this presentation?
How does this presentation affect you? What personal connections and associations can you make? What impressions stand out in your mind after listening/viewing? Did you enjoy the presentation? |
Who is communicating?
What is being communicated? To whom is it communicated? Is there an editorial point of view? What medium carries this text? What technology is used to make the text? What is the purpose: To entertain? To inform? To persuade? What are the main points or events? What were the effects of the technical aspects on you? |
What were the outstanding parts of this presentation?
What were the weak parts? What are the noteworthy technical aspects of this production (e.g., camera shots or angles, layout, setting, lighting, sound effects special effects, etc.)? What use is made of language, image, and/or symbol? Is it effective? |
What are the assumptions behind the presentation?
What are the biases? What values are implicit in the presentation? Why was this medium chosen for this topic? Is this presentation accurate? Realistic? Artistic? Do you think that this presentation is successful? Why or why not? What adaptations to other mediums could be made? What are the advantages and limitations of this particular medium? Does this presentation remind you of other literary work? |
Media texts can be studied in conjunction with and as complements to other language arts texts. Some useful terms for discussing television, radio, film, and video include: audio, background (BG), credits/titles, beat, board, bring effect under, bring up, canned, close up (CU), closed circuit, control room, cross-fade, cue, cue card, cushion, cut, dead, dissolve, extreme close up (ECU), fade, fade down (FD), fade in (FI), fade out (FO), fade up (FU), focus, foreground, frame, from the top, gain, level lap, live, logo, long shot (LS), medium close up (MCU), montage, off, off scene, off the set (OS), on scene, pan pix, pre-record, scene, set design, simulcast, sequence, synopsis, sound track, split scene, teaser, travelling shot, video, voice over (VO), voice off (V.O.), wide shot (WS), zoom.
Students should only use these terms if they are confident about their meaning. They are useful, but not essential, for discussing television, radio, film, and video texts.