Question Answer Relationship (QAR) Strategy

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Questions are a key to understanding. Find out how to increase your students' reading understanding and comprehension and improve their test scores by using the QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIP (QAR) strategy.

TIPS:

The QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIP strategy helps students identify four types of questions. When students understand the type of question they are being asked, they can find the answer more quickly and accurately. Using QAR helps students answer questions correctly on standardized tests.

1. RIGHT THERE QUESTIONS

Students can find the answers to these questions in one sentence of the text, using some of the exact words found in the question. Direct students to:

• First, highlight or circle the key words in the question. They usually will be nouns or verbs.
• Then, look for those same words in one sentence of the text.
• Finally, look at the remaining words in the sentence for the answer to the question.

2. HERE AND THERE QUESTIONS

Students find the answers to these questions in several places of the text. Part of the answer may be in one paragraph or sentence and the other part may be somewhere else in the text. Direct students to:

• First, highlight the key words as they did for RIGHT THERE questions.
• Then, look for the key words or synonyms of the key words in the text. They will need to look in more than one place in the text.
• Finally, using the information they read in several sentences, synthesize an answer to the question.

3. YOU AND ME (AUTHOR AND ME) QUESTIONS

Generating answers to these questions requires high-level thinking as students read information in the text and also use their own prior knowledge. Direct students to:

• First, look for key words, synonyms to key words, and key concepts in the text.
• Then, use this information to stimulate prior knowledge and answer the question.

4. JUST ME QUESTIONS

Students answer these questions based on their prior knowledge and don't even need to read the text. They are inferential in nature. Direct students to:

• First, look for key words, concepts, or ideas in the question.
• Then, use them to stimulate prior knowledge and answer the question.

TRY IT NOW

Use the information in this e-newsletter to practice QAR for yourself.

• RIGHT THERE: Where can students find the answers to RIGHT THERE questions?
• HERE AND THERE: What does the QAR strategy help students do?
• YOU AND ME (AUTHOR AND ME): Which two types of QAR questions require the higher-level thinking skills?
• JUST ME: How do you think you can use QAR in your teaching situation?

For answers to these questions, see "Taking It Further" to the right.

Source: The above concepts are based on the PLS graduate courses Learning to Read: Beginning Reading Instruction™ and Reading to Learn: Comprehension Instruction™ and the book Reading and Writing Strategically: Raising the Bar of Expectations by Wendell Christensen and Lianne Fernandez.