Purpose (Pre-Reading)¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (2 for, 1 mixed) · 7 studies (3 causal, 3 quant-synthesis, 1 review), q2–q4 · 3 of 7 report an effect size

Description¶

Learners are given a specific purpose for reading, typically in the form of discussion questions about the content prepared by the teacher. They review these questions before reading and prepare answers while reading the text. Afterward, they discuss the questions with a partner. The strategy focuses attention, activates prior knowledge, and enhances comprehension by converting reading from passive reception into goal-directed search.

Design Implications¶

Pre-reading purpose questions function as a form of Activation: they prime relevant prior knowledge and set an attentional goal before learners encounter the text Giving learners a purpose or question before reading improves comprehension of goal-relevant content. [+M]. They also act as lightweight Advance Organizers, giving learners a framework into which new information can be assimilated Advance organizers improve learning by bridging new content to existing knowledge. [+M]. The post-reading peer discussion adds retrieval and elaboration, which strengthens retention beyond reading alone.

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Pre-prepared discussion questions directly related to the reading's central content
• Time for learners to review questions before reading begins
• A structured follow-on discussion or Individual Reflection so answers are retrieved, not merely located

Constraints¶

• Purpose questions create selective attention: learners retain question-relevant content well but often learn less of the incidental content than unguided readers Purpose questions narrow attention, reducing recall of information not targeted by the questions. [~M] — questions should target the most important ideas, not peripheral details
• Literal "find the answer" questions encourage skimming for keywords rather than comprehension; inferential and integrative questions mitigate this
• Effectiveness depends entirely on question quality and relevance; poorly aligned questions misdirect attention away from the text's core ideas

Implementation Variability¶

• Teacher-generated questions (classic form) vs. learner-generated questions, which add question-asking skill but require more scaffolding
• Questions posed orally, on a worksheet, or embedded as Annotating prompts in the text itself
• Discussion format: think-pair-share, small-group Class Discussion, or written response

Target Learners¶

• Developing readers and novices who lack the background knowledge to judge what matters in a text Advance organizers improve learning by bridging new content to existing knowledge. [+M]
• Multilingual learners, who benefit from knowing the communicative goal before processing dense text
• Less necessary for expert readers, who naturally set their own reading purposes

Target Learning Goals¶

• Reading comprehension: extracting and integrating central ideas
• Prior knowledge activation: connecting new text to what learners already know Activating prior knowledge before a task improves learning. [+M]
• Discussion and academic language: justifying answers with textual evidence

Instructions¶

1. Select or write 2–4 discussion questions targeting the text's most important ideas (Assigned Readings)
2. Present the questions before reading and briefly activate relevant background knowledge (Activation)
3. Learners read with the questions in view, marking evidence as they go (Annotating)
4. Learners answer the questions and discuss with a partner (Class Discussion)
5. Debrief whole-class, resolving discrepancies between answers and pressing for textual evidence

Related Strategies¶

• Activating Prior Knowledge — the broader family; purpose questions are one enactment of it
• Think-Aloud Modeling — complements purpose-setting by modeling how to monitor comprehension against a purpose
• Reciprocal Teaching — extends purpose-setting into learner-led questioning
• Use small-group discussion of a phenomenon-describing problem before text study to bridge prior knowledge and new information

Related Elements¶

• Advance Organizers — a related pre-reading structure that frames rather than questions
• Assigned Readings — the text selection this strategy wraps around
• Annotating — how learners can capture question-relevant evidence during reading
• Class Discussion — the post-reading consolidation step

Examples¶

• Before reading a history text on the American Civil War, learners receive "What were the main causes of the Civil War?" and "How did the war change American society?", annotate evidence while reading, then pair-discuss answers.
• In a science course using Case-Based Learning, pre-reading questions direct attention to the mechanism under study before learners read the background reading.
• Reciprocal Teaching (https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching) embeds purpose-question generation as one of its four strategies, transferring the teacher's role to students.

Key Sources¶

• Ausubel, D. P. (1968). Educational psychology: A cognitive view. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
• Dusel, W. J. (1957). Determining the value of purpose questions in reading. Journal of Educational Research, 50(7), 529–534.
• Reynolds, R. E. (1992). Selective attention and the effects of purpose on text processing. Educational Psychology Review, 4(3), 295–323.
• Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266