QAR: Question Answer Response Theory

Teacher Copy
Things Fall Apart

Passage 1 (p. 77)

Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died
in infancy, usually before the age of three. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave
way to despair and then to grim resignation.

Question: How many of Ekwefi’s children died in infancy?

Rationale: This is a “right there” question. The answer is found in the second sentence in this text. The
answer is nine children.

Passage 2 (p. 76)

One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. He was
greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again. But it was
impossible to refuse Ezinma anything. After her father’s rebuke she developed an even keener
appetite for eggs. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. Her mother
always took her into their bedroom and shut the door.

Question: What makes the eggs so special?

Rationale: This is a “think and search” question. The passage never states that eggs are a rare delicacy in
this culture, but the student can infer this from clues in the text, such as her eating them in secret and
her father’s shock upon discovering her.

Passage 3 (p. 79)

By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. Her husband’s first wife
had already had three sons, all strong and healthy. When she had borne her third son in
succession, Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her, as was the custom. Ekwefi had nothing but
good wishes for her. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice
with others over their good fortune. And so, the day that Nwoye’s mother celebrated the birth of
her three sons with feasting and music, Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who
went about with a cloud on her brow.

Question: Is the number or gender of children in a family a status symbol in your culture/cultures?
Rationale: This is an “on your own” question. The students read the issue in the text, but the answer
comes specifically from their own experience.

Passage 4 (p. 79)

At last Ezinma was born, and although ailing she seemed determined to live. At first Ekwefi
accepted her, as she had accepted others—with listless resignation. But when she lived on to her
fourth, fifth and sixth years, love returned once more to her mother, and, with love, anxiety. She
determined to nurse her child to health, and she put all her being into it.

Question: Why does Ekwefi allow herself to love her child after closing her heart?
Rationale: This is an “author and you” question. The answer is not stated directly in the text, but the
reader can use his/her own experience and feelings as well as the author’s thoughts to come up with an
answer.

Michelle Kim, 2001

 QAR: Question Answer Response Strategy
with an example from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY

Raphael (1984, 1986) studied the question-answer relationship, a taxonomy broken into four
levels: Right There; Think and Search; the Author and You; and On My Own. This strategy
promotes active comprehension of the message of the author and provides students with a way
to think about questions and answers. If students are asked to create their own questions,
QAR also extends their writing ability.

DIRECTIONS:

STEP 1: Introduce the Strategy. Introduce the strategy with the worksheet showing the
relationship of the Questions to Answers. Post an enlarged chart of this somewhere in the
classroom where students can refer to it.

STEP 2: Create the questions. Create QAR questions from small sections of text (not longer
than about five sentences) for each of the four levels. Using these questions, model how each
level of the QAR questions can be identified and answered. Discuss the differences between the
questions:

Found in the text:

Right There: the answer is textually explicit (can be found in the text), usually as a
phrase contained within one sentence.
Think and Search: while the answer is in the text, the answer is implicit and the
student is required to combine separate sections or chunks of text to answer the
question.
Found in your head:
On Your Own: requires students to think about what is already known from their
reading and experience (schema and prior knowledge) to formulate an answer
Author and You: as the answer is not directly stated in the text, the student draws
on prior knowledge (schema) and what the author has written to answer the
question.

STEP 3: Student involvement. Give the students sample questions (such as the ones on the
following handout), to answer in small groups, and identify which of the QAR levels they used.

STEP 4: Assignment. Have students work individually on questions from longer passages.

ASSESSMENT

Growing awareness of how we read specific texts increases comprehension. As students study
different sources of information they learn that there are relationships between questions that
readers ask and the types of responses that can be given.

Michelle Kim, 2001

 Question and Answer Response -Things Fall Apart

Student Instructions: Using the passages given on this handout, answer the questions directly below
each passage in the boxes provided. Having discussed the four different types of questions for "Question
Answer Response," there are question descriptors directly below each question, which will help you to
respond appropriately.

Passage 1 (p. 77)

Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died
in infancy, usually before the age of three. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave
way to despair and then to grim resignation.

Question: How many of Ekwefi’s children died in infancy?

This is a “right there” question.

Answer:

Passage 2 (p. 76)

One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. He was
greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again. But it was
impossible to refuse Ezinma anything. After her father’s rebuke she developed an even keener
appetite for eggs. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. Her mother
always took her into their bedroom and shut the door.

Question: What makes the eggs so special?

This is a “think and search” question.

Answer:

Passage 3 (p. 79)

By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. Her husband’s first wife
had already had three sons, all strong and healthy. When she had borne her third son in
succession, Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her, as was the custom. Ekwefi had nothing but
good wishes for her. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice
with others over their good fortune. And so, the day that Nwoye’s mother celebrated the birth of
her three sons with feasting and music, Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who
went about with a cloud on her brow.

Question: Is the number or gender of children in a family a status symbol in your culture/cultures?
This is an “on your own” question.

Answer:

Michelle Kim, 2001

Passage 4 (p. 79)

At last Ezinma was born, and although ailing she seemed determined to live. At first Ekwefi
accepted her, as she had accepted others—with listless resignation. But when she lived on to her
fourth, fifth and sixth years, love returned once more to her mother, and, with love, anxiety. She
determined to nurse her child to health, and she put all her being into it.

Question: Why does Ekwefi allow herself to love her child after closing her heart?
This is an “author and you” question.

Answer:

Michelle Kim, 2001