Adjunct questions
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[edit] ADJUNCT QUESTIONS
Shared Reading with Adjunct Questions
Link onto the above web site you will witness a second grade student using adjunct questions with a small reading group that she is leading. Just what are adjunct questions? What kind of research has been done dealing with adjunct questions? How are they used in the classroom?
[edit] Definitions
The American Heritage Dictionary: a word or words added in order to clarify, qualify, or modify other words.
Learning and Instruction by Richard Mayer: Adjunct questions are printed questions that are inserted into a text and are intended to draw attention to important material. Adjunct questions may serve several functions including both forward and backward effects. The forward effect alerts the reader what to pay attention to in the passage. The backward effect wants the reader to go back and reread sections and to be made aware of what is more significant in the passage. These questions can enhance comprehension by “helping the learner pay more attention to the material, focusing the learner’s attention on certain types of information, and, when used skillfully, guiding how learners organize and interpret the material” (Mayer 333).
A study by Hsu and Dwyer (2004) shows different instructional effects when different levels of adjunct questions are used. The factual adjunct question asks a learner to recall some bit of information that has been read. This helps a student remember specific facts and can serve as a review of information taught. There are also higher-order adjunct questions. These questions are meant to enhance a student's critical thinking skills. With this type of question students must apply the facts they have read and perhaps make inferences.
[edit] Research on adjunct questions:
(This is only a fraction of the research on adjunct questions- especially in the classroom.)
Spiers, Hiller A.; Gallini, Joan K., Journal of Experimental Education . Vol56(2) Win 1988, 104-110.
Effects of meta-adjunct questions on macrolevel processing.
Results Findings show no main effects for the use of meta-adjunct questions.
Holliday, William G; Benson, Garth., Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Vol 28(1) Jan 1991, 97-108. Enhancing learning using questions adjunct to science charts. Results Results show that adjunct questions interacted with a science chart so powerfully that content established as difficult to learn became easier to learn when charted. Students familiar with the chart test before instruction(test exposure) were better prepared to take this test after instruction.
Holliday, William G; McGuire, Barry., Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Vol 29(1) Jan 1992, 3-15. How can comprehension adjunct questions focus students' attention and enhance concept learning on a computer-animated science lesson? Results The hypotheses that adjunct questions inserted after each sequence of a 12-sequence lesson focusing on heat or temperature produced a differential learning effect and that the 1st 8 adjunct questions focusing on heat and temperature treatments, inserted after just the 1st 8 sequences of the same 12-sequence, would produce a differential learning effect were supported.
Sagerman, Nancy; Mayer, Richard E., Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol 79(2) Jun 1987, 189-191. Forward transfer of different reading strategies evoked by adjunct questions in science text. Results Results are consistent with the forward transfer theory of adjunct questions, which proposes that the type of question given on previous passages affects the reader's processing strategy on subsequent passages.
Hamaker, Christiaan, Review of Educational Research Vol 56(2) Sum 1986, 212-242. The effects of adjunct questions on prose learning. Results When compared with factual adjunct questions, higher-order adjunct questions led to improved performance on repeated, related, and unrelated higher-order test questions and possibly also on unrelated factual test questions.
Bing, Sally B, Instructional Science Vol 11(2) Aug 1982, 129-138. The role of adjunct questions and reading ability levels on rote and conceptual learning from prose. Results Results indicate, contrary to most other research, that rote adjunct questions were more helpful that conceptual adjunct questions on both rote and conceptual posttests.
Cunningham, Donald J; Snowman, Jack; Miller, Raymond b; Perry, Fred L, Journal of Experimental Education, Vol 51(1) Fal 1982, 8-13. Verbal and nonverbal adjunct aids to concrete and abstract prose learning. Results Verbal adjunct aids worked best and visual aids were somewhat disruptive.
Ellis, John A; Konoske, Paula J; Wulfeck, Wallace H; Montague, William E., Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 74(6) Dec 1982, 860-867. Comparative effects of adjunct postquestions and instructions on learning from text. Results All groups performed significantly better than the control group on a test that required recall of verbatim factual information.
[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WD1-45BBWNH-14&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F2001&_alid=228908538&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6753&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000029040&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=571676&md5=4b17cf689f0ec379ffd40f55b1e0a982 Peverly, Stephen T; Wood, Rhea, Comtemproary Educational Psychology, Vol 26(1) Jan 2001, 25-43. The effects of adjunct questions and feedback on improving the reading comprehension skills of learning-disabled adolescents. ] Results The results indicated that a) inserted questions were more effective than massed postquestions or no questions, b) massed postquestions were more effective than no qusstions, and c) the effects of inserted questions on comprehension increased over the time of treatment.
Hsu and Dwyer (2004) found that some types of students will not learn information requiring higher-order thinking if they are not provided with some type of adjunct question to help them organize the new material being presented. Research shows that students process information differently. Hsu and Dwyer found that some college students were not helped by factual type adjunct questions. These field independent students already had cognitive processes they used to process new material. However, all students were found to benefit from the higher-order comprehension type adjunct questions used during presentation of the material to be learned.
Deaf education is one area that is benefited by the use of adjunct questions. This is good news because deaf children typically fall well below their age-level peers in reading comprehension. Hopefully, an increased use of adjunct questions will eliminate this gap.
[edit] How are they used in the classroom?
A sample science lesson: The students have been raising Wisconsin Fast Plants and have the plants in front of them as they are discussing the day's lesson.
Teacher: Today were are going to learn about pollination. But before we do that, who can tell me the main parts of a seed producing plant?
Student A: The leaf-
Teacher: What does the leaf do for the plant?
Student B: It makes food for the plant.
Teacher: Right! (Now here the teacher is asking questions to activate prior knowledge. She/he will go on and ask about stems, roots, and get them set up to talk about flowers.)
Teacher: OK, we know that the flowers are the reproductive structure of a plant. We have looked at flowers and dissected them. What is the male part of the plant?
Student C: The stamen.
Student D: The anther and filament make up the stamen.
Teacher: What is on the anther?
Student A: pollen
Teacher: Does this give you a hint about pollination? Probably-but we also need to identify the female part of the plant.
Student E: The pistil
Teacher: What is unusual about the tip of the pistil?
Student F: It is sticky.
Teacher: Now let us get back to that pollen. (Here she/he asks the students to predict what they think pollination is all about.)
Teacher: Do you think the stamen and pistil have anything to do with pollination?
Teacher: Here is a worksheet I want you to look over with me, and we are going to learn about the steps in pollination. (The lesson progresses from here.)
Above are examples of adjunct questions with both forward and backward effects. According to Mayer (2003) the forward effect refers to questions that inform the student what to pay attention to, and the backward effect refers to questions that require the student to go back and review the material. One method of helping students form their own adjunct questions to achieve both forward and backward effect is SQR3. This method effectively assists kids use reading to learn.
Lin and Dwyer (2004) conducted a study to examine the instructional effectiveness of computer animated instruction with and without adjunct questions. In the study the group that received computer animation with adjunct questions could not go further in the program without answering the question and receiving feedback on the correctness of the answer. If a subject answered incorrectly, the correct answer was given and a student could either go back or forward with the presentation. This group performed significantly better than the control group who were not given any adjunct questions.
For teachers that utilize the Boston Massacre in their curriculum, The Boston Massacre Files is an interactive, detective-style platform that utilizes adjunct questioning. Users of the website are asked to locate and record details of the conflict in artist recreations, and are also asked specific questions regarding eyewitness testimony. The user cannot advance to the next piece of evidence until the question has been answered correctly. Backwards questioning is used wonderfully, for users are forced to accurately and honestly assess the text. If this is not accomplished, forward movement throughout the website is prohibited. Hence, questioning is the reading strategy that keeps the website moving forward and sets a purpose for the students to read and analyze information.
[edit] Personal Experiences
Adjunct questions are a common practice in reading. We try and teach readers to do this as they read and we incorporate these questions into read alouds and other things that are read in class. Sometimes I refer to these as embedded questions. It often gives students a purpose for reading and helps them make sure they are monitoring what they read. J. Cappa
As a science teacher I always try to use adjunct questions in a manner similar to that in the example above. This can be very important when having a discussion because students at any level tend not to articulate their answers to questions very well. This is especially important in areas like the sciences, because adjunct questions can be used to help the students make their answers more complete and detailed. They also have the added incentive in that they require the students to "think on their feet". This type of skill can be useful for students during presentations or tasks that require a lot of problem solving.
- Timothy Zorn
As a teacher, I use adjunct questions can be used in more than one way- to reinforce learning and to help students transfer the concept to other areas. When the student is accomodating a new concept, the teacher can help the process with the right questions. When the student knows the concept and is tranferring it to other areas, well thought out questions can help with that as well. -G. Vigneron
The use of adjunct questioning is such a useful strategy for both teachers and students. As a teacher, it is important for me to review the previous day’s experiences/discoveries through the use of adjunct questions. The students who remember are eager to share and the students who have forgotten get refreshed without giving a quiz or test. It also helps to refresh my memory as to what was understood and what needs further clarification. I use it as a sort of informal assessment tool to see which children need extra help in understanding the material and which children are right on track. I like it when the students use adjunct questions to one another during learning center time. -TYM
As a student reading new textbook material, I have noticed that if I stop and think about the adjunct questions inserted at the beginning or in the middle of the text, it helps me retain the material. The questions also help me organize the material in my mind and I can more easily conceptualize the new material. I must admit that I if I just read the question, but don't stop to think about an answer the questioning is not as helpful.- Debbie Unewitz
[edit] REFERENCES:
The Reading/Writing Connection, Dawn Harris Martine (2nd grade Teacher at Mahalia Jackson Elem School, Harlem, N.Y.), 1991, Produced by The Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.]
Dowaliby, F. and Lang H. G. (1999). Do Adjunct Aids in Instructional Prose make a difference? NTID Research Bulletin,4, No.2.
Hsu, Pi-Sui & Dwyer, F. (2004). Effect of level of adjunct questions on achievement of field independent/field dependent learners, International Journal of Instructional Media, 31 No.1 99-106
Lin, C. and Dwyer, F.(2004). Effect of varied animated enhancement strategies in facilitating achievement of different educational objectives, International Journal of Instructional Media, 3, No.2,185-198.
Mayer, Richard, Learning and Instruction, Merrill Prentice Hall,2003.
The American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981
