Rehearsal Strategy: Adjunct Questions

This posting will focus on Steps One and Two of a Rehearsal Strategy when the Rehearsal Task uses Asking Adjunct Questions. Adjunct questions are spoken or written questions about target information that is given in written selections or spoken passages containing both target information and other information. Asking students adjunct questions is effective in helping them encode target information that is located with other information in written material [1]. But there is some evidence that lower-ability students benefit more from answering adjunct questions than do higher ability students, who already seem able to pick out and encode target information after reading selections, and asking higher-ability students adjunct questions about what they read may even lower their encoding of the target information [2]. Adjunct questions usually ask for an identification of the target information in the selections, such as, "What did that page say about the properties of oxygen?" The selections students read at one time may vary from a short paragraph to many pages. The questions about the target information may be of three kinds: (a) pre-questions (questions asked before students read a selection), (b) embedded questions (questions located in the selection that students answer as they read a selection), and (c) post-questions (written or spoken questions asked after they read a selection).

Adjunct questions are most effective when they have four characteristics [3].

EFFECTIVE USE OF ASKING ADJUNCT QUESTIONS

Ask Post Questions

Ask questions only after students have read a selection.

Require Explicit Performance From All Students

Have all students write the answer to each question, and to do so without looking back at the selection.

Ask Production Questions

Ask open-ended questions, like essay questions, rather than multiple-choice questions.

Read Short Selections

Have students read relatively short selections or portions of longer selections. The length will depend on the density of the target information and on students' ability.

An effective method for having all students actively answer adjunct questions is to have them write their answers to questions. While students write the teacher circulates around the classroom, assisting those needing guidance and keeping everyone actively on task [4].

Teachers can increase what students learn from answering adjunct questions by also asking them to elaborate on an answer by summarizing it in their own words or by making an analogy to other information [5]. For example, after students have identified the target information about the properties of oxygen, the teacher might ask, "How are the properties of oxygen like and unlike the properties of hydrogen that we read about earlier?"

EXAMPLE OF USING REHEARSAL STRATEGY WITH ADJUNCT QUESTIONS

DAY ONE

REHEARSAL TASK

The teacher assigns students to read pages in the history text and write answers to the questions the teacher will show on the screen. After a while the teacher projects the questions on the screen. When students finish reading they write the answers on their papers.

REHEARSAL GUIDANCE

The teacher walks around the room while students carry out the assignment, making certain that all are working. When he notices an incorrect answer he directs the student's attention to the relevant section in the book.

DAY TWO

RECALL-PRACTICE TASK

The next day the teacher has students locate their written answers to yesterday's questions, and turn the papers over on their desks. She then asks students the questions and has them take turns answering. The teacher tries to maximize the number of students participating by asking different students what their answers were, and how their answers compare with that of other students. She also asks questions requiring students to make analogies between the information they read yesterday, information they read previously, and even events happening currently.

RECALL-PRACTICE GUIDANCE

When students seem to have difficulty answering a question, the teacher has them turn their papers over and reread them.

PERIODICALLY ON SUBSEQUENT DAYS

The teacher does shortened versions of the recall-practice tasks in a kind of practice test, and provides guidance when it is needed. By this time students will have studied other target information and so the questions can cover all of the information studied.

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1. Hamaker, C. (1986). The effects of adjunct questions on prose learning. Review of Educational Research, 56, 212-242.

2. Callender, A.A., & McDaniel, M.A. (2007). The benefits of embedded question adjuncts for low and high structure learners. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 339-348.

3. (For example). Anderson, R.C., & Biddle, W.B. (1975). On asking questions about what they are reading. In G.H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 9). New York: Academic Press.

4. (For example). Fisher, C.W., Filby, N.M., Marliave, R., Cahan, L.S., Dishaw, M.N., Moore, J.E., & Berlilner, D. (1978). Teaching behaviors, academic learning time, and student achievement: Final report of Phase III-B, Beginning teacher evaluation study. San Francisco, CA: Far West Educational Laboratory for Educational Research and Development.

5. (For example). Woloshyn, V., Pressley, M., & Schneider, W. (1992). Elaborative interrogation and prior knowledge effects on learning of facts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 115-124.