Assessing Receptive Skills (Listening and Reading) using Comprehension Questions
Comprehension questions can help learners understand what they are reading or listening to, as well as help you monitor learners’ comprehension. If you are creating your own questions to accompany listening or reading material, keep in mind that writing effective comprehension questions is a skill in itself; it is helpful to follow basic guidelines. Selecting suitable listening activities or reading texts before the questions are developed is critical for creating reliable and appropriate comprehension questions.
For any CLB level or question type, comprehension questions should be written clearly, concisely and using familiar language. Learners should never have to struggle to understand a question. Questions should be written without the use of negatives, and should not attempt to trick the learner. Answer options should be grammatically consistent with the question, be about the same length and include a clear correct answer.
When you create comprehension questions for a listening or reading text, you must ensure that both the text and questions are level-appropriate; they should align with the Profile of Ability, Features of Communication and Indicators of Ability from the CLB for the level.
There are several types of comprehension questions you can use based on three levels of comprehension when reading or listening: literal, interpretive and applied. These are also commonly referred to as Level 1, 2 or 3 questions:
- Literal or Level 1 questions check literal comprehension. They ask the learner to demonstrate comprehension of information that is directly stated in the text.
- Interpretive or Level 2 questions ask the learner to demonstrate their comprehension by inferring ideas or demonstrating connections between ideas.
- Applied or Level 3 questions ask the learner to demonstrate their comprehension by building and expanding on or applying their new knowledge.
This CCLB chart demonstrates the three levels quite clearly:
This more detailed CCLB chart shows examples of the levels applied to the CLB Stage I and Stage II classes.
When selecting a text and creating comprehension questions for Stage I learners, it is important to also consider the CLB Features of Communication. Stage I learners should be presented with texts related to personal needs or of personal relevance in non-demanding contexts. The less personal the context is for the question, the more challenging the question will be. Their response to a question should not require much writing, but can require circling, matching, checking off items or filling in blanks. For short-answer comprehension questions, consider formatting and avoid “tricky” questions, such as true / false with negatives or multiple choice answers that only differ by one word.
EAL Literacy Learners
For EAL literacy learners, make sure that comprehension questions are
at the same EAL literacy level or easier than the learning materials themselves. The comprehension questions should measure the learner’s comprehension of the learning materials, not their comprehension of the questions. Remember that learners have limited cognitive load and that every aspect of a task can increase its overall difficulty. Consider using scaffolding in your comprehension questions. For questions that require
a written response, consider fill-in-the-blanks, sentence stems or word banks.
EAL literacy learners, up to 4L, can answer Level 1 and a few simple Level 2 questions as long as they are level-appropriate. You can teach inference orally using simple examples. For example, the text could say “Anna goes to the window. She looks out. She is sad. She puts on her rain jacket and gets her umbrella.” and the comprehension question could be “What is the weather?” EAL literacy learners can apply their knowledge as long as they are supported appropriately. Consider handling more challenging comprehension questions orally.
Helpful Hint
You would benefit from familiarity with previous sections under the “Assessment” Essential Component.
Useful Resources and References
Related Essential Components
External Resources
- CLB Support Kit
- CLB: ESL for ALL Support Kit
- Developing Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing Skills in a Community-Based LINC Program
- PBLA Portfolios – Key Elements: Required Components of the PBLA Portfolio
- The Toronto Catholic District School Board has an informative tip sheet for CLB 5 to 8: Engaging Learners in PBLA: Tip Sheets and Resources for Assessment CLB 5‐8
- TESL Ontario has page on Writing Effective CLB-Aligned Comprehension Items
- University of Waterloo has a page on Designing Multiple-Choice Questions
