How to Assess Student Reading Comprehension in 5 Questions

As a teacher, how often have you come across a great story or poem perfect for classroom use but without corresponding comprehension questions to assess student knowledge? This means you either don't use the piece or you end up putting in personal time and effort to develop comprehension questions for the story or poem that can assess student understanding. But why re-invent the wheel? In the answers to these five questions, you can ascertain the depth of understanding a student has for any piece of literature, including stories or poems, without published comprehension questions. Here are 5 questions that can adequately test student reading comprehension for any piece of literature.

1. What is the story or poem about?

This is a general question, but not a yes or no question. It's an essay question that if developed, will indicate how well the student read and understood the piece. A student who only gives a general answer might just have read the captions or skimmed the story. To reveal the problem or challenge in the story, takes a bit more thought and a great deal more comprehension. You can discern this in a student's answer to this question.

2. Why did the author write it?

This question has a lot to do with viewpoint. To understand why an author wrote a piece is to sense the passion or motive of the story or poem. Understanding author's point of view is a critical component of reading comprehension. This question alone, separates the students with a good grasp of the content from the ones that are winging it.

3. How did the author make his or her point(s)? Give 1 or 2 examples.

It's tough to give examples if content has not been read well and understood. Being able to give one or more examples of how the author crafted his or her point means a student has read and understood the literature. This same question works to confirm understanding of a short poem.

4. What is the lesson or the take away?

If a student can't tell the lesson to be learned from reading the story, it means the lesson wasn't learned and comprehension probably didn't happen. If the student can't synthesize the take away, he or she can't generalize that lesson into other situations in life. This question alone determines how well the student got the meat of the story or poem.

5. Did the author make the story interesting for you? How or how not?

Question 5 is subjective in appearance, meaning students can take one side or the other. You can use this question to see how well a student supports his or her opinion. A student doesn't get by with a yes or no answer. An answer must be supported, and that requires comprehension.

As a teacher, you can use any piece of literature that suits your curriculum and still assess student learning by asking these 5 questions of any reading assignment. The questions work as a comprehension tool for a novel, short story, or a poem. Consider adding these questions to your reading curriculum or perhaps to your classroom wall for handy use. It won't take long before students realize what it is they need to be reading for in a piece of literature.