Active Comprehension: Problem-Solving Schema with Question Generation for Comprehension of Complex Short Stories

TLDR

A problem‑solving schema was enhanced by generating schema‑general questions for each story element, and 15 eleventh‑grade students were taught to derive story‑specific questions while reading six complex short stories over three weeks, whereas the control group answered teacher‑posed questions. Post‑story tests showed statistically significant gains for the experimental group, indicating that instruction improves reader‑based processing and that pre‑existing story grammar structures are insufficient for complex stories without schema‑specific questioning strategies.

Abstract

A PROBLEM-SOLVING SCHEMA for comprehending short stories was augmented by construction of schema-general questions for each story element. Fifteen eleventh-grade students, randomly assigned to the experimental group, were taught to derive story-specific questions from the schema-general questions as they read complex short stories. The control group read to answer questions posed beforehand by the teacher. Each group read six short stories over a threeweek period. Criterion-referenced tests administered after each story resulted in statistically significant differences between the two groups. This evidence implies (1) that instruction can help students improve in reader-based processing of text and (2) that story grammar structures acquired prior to or during elementary school may be adequate for processing simple fables, but more adequate and more appropriate cognitive structures with strategies for making schemageneral questions story-specific are necessary for processing, storing, and retrieving information derived from reading complex short stories.