West Junior High School

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Question/Answer Relationship (QAR)

• West Junior High School
• Staff Development
• August 11, 2004

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Just because a student may struggle to read the
text does not mean he/she cant think.
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Many students try to answer questions using ONLY
information from the text. Other students try to
answer questions using ONLY their background
knowledge.
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Three Levels of Text Processing

• Literal getting the facts as stated in a text.
• Inferential requires readers to determine an
  appropriate answer drawn from the text and their
  prior knowledge.
• Critical requires readers to think beyond what
  is stated in the text. Readers draw information
  from their prior knowledge to derive plausible
  answers.

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• Question
• Answer
• R. Relationships

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The value of QAR lies in the way it clarifies
how students can approach the task of reading
texts and answering questions.
Raphael, 1986
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QAR is effective in helping to delineate the
differences among the three major types of
comprehension literal, inferential, and
critical.
Raphael, 1986
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Question-Answer Relationships
Right There Text explicit Think Search Text
implicit Author Me Text implicit/experienced
based On My Own experienced based
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Question-Answer Relationships
Right There The answer is directly stated in
the text. In fact, the words from the question
and the answer are included in the same
sentence.
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
What do I love to do?
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
What do I love to do? My Homework
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Question-Answer Relationships
Think Search- The answer is in the text, but
the words from the question and the answer are
not in the same sentence.
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
How do I feel when I do what my teacher says I
should?
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
How do I feel when I do what my teacher says I
should? So good
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Question-Answer Relationships
Author Me- The answer is not in the text, but
the text provides information to use in the
answer.
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
Where are they taking me?
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good. I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day. I even love the men in white who are taking
me away.
Where are they taking me? Hospital, Mental
facility, etc. (answer must make sense and be
supported by the text)
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Question-Answer Relationships
On My Own- The answer is not in the text it must
come from the readers own experiences.
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good.
I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day.
I even love the men in white who are
taking me away.
Why is homework an important part of school?
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I Love to Do My Homework
I love to do my homework, it makes me feel so
good. I love to do exactly as my teacher says I
should. I love to do my homework, I never miss a
day. I even love the men in white who are taking
me away.
Why is homework an important part of school? It
helps you learn new concepts, Gives the teacher
an idea of how well you understand the concept,
etc.
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Jerry picked up his bat, ball, and his glove. He
went to the playing field. Some boys were
already hitting and catching fly ball.

• What did Jerry pick up?
• Where did Jerry go?
• What game is Jerry going to play?
• What is your favorite game?

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How can this strategy be used to develop a study
guide?

• Read the material thoroughly.
• Determine the main idea(s) you want students to
  know.
• Develop questions from all four levels.
• Reread the material and complete the study guide
  in order to ensure correct question levels.