THE EFFECTS OF QARS ON THIRD GRADE STUDENTS' RESPONSE TO COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Abstract

This descriptive study investigates the effects of a metacognitive strategy called "Question-Answer Relationships (QARs)" on the ability to answer comprehension questions of content area passages. The strategy teaches students how to analyze the task demands of a question before answering it. The study also investigates the effect of QARs on the retelling abilities of subjects and the transferability of the strategy from science to social studies. Two third grade students of average reading ability participated individually in the study. Procedures included two days of pre tests, five days of training, one day of post test and one day of transfer test. The data were analyzed by comparing the number of correct answers per QARs category. Retellings were analyzed by total scores and sub categories of Text Comprehension, Reader Response and Language Use. Results indicate that training in QARs increases comprehension, improves retelling abilities, and transfers from one content area to another.