Abstract

Children’s reading comprehension has primarily been measured through scores on literal and inferential questions of texts. However, few studies have assessed whether the process of answering questions influences children’s level of comprehension. Moreover, no studies have explored the impact of ‘embedded’ inference questions, which are questions that contain inferences themselves. Here, a sample of 25 fifth and sixth grade students (10-12 years old) were given one short story to be read independently in class, each week, over the course of one month. After each story, students were asked six questions from one of four conditions: literal detail questions, causal inference questions, embedded inference questions, or were given no questions. After a one-day delay, students were then asked to retell the story. Performance on the questions and retell accuracy were measured. Children scored significantly higher on questions asking about literal details compared to the two inferencing conditions. However, in the retell task, children recalled an equal amount of story propositions in the literal detail and causal inference question conditions. The lowest retell scores were observed when students were either asked embedded inference questions or no questions at all. Furthermore, only literal detail questions were found to predict variance in students’ retell scores. Directions for future research and educational implications are discussed.