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International Literacy Association, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to The Reading Teacher
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Margaret G. McKeown_
Isabel L. Beck, & M. Jo Worthy
560 The Reading Tfeacher Vol. 46, No. 7 April 1993 ? International Reading Association 0034-0561/93/US$l .25 + .00
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quacies. To avoid blaming themselves, they Our goal is, in essence, to have students
may disengage from the reading process. As make texts understandable to themselves
Anderson has observed, "students often be which is what mature readers do when they
lieve that having a problem in reading is dis read. As they meet comprehension obstacles,
graceful and thus are reluctant to bring their competent readers first recognize them as
natural problem-solving abilities to bear" such and then take steps to repair the prob
(1991, p. 2). There is particular risk for lems. The steps readers take to solve problems
lower-achieving students who become accus have come to be called "reading strategies,"
tomed to saving face by applying least ef and a current trend in instructional research is
fort-not to try is not to fail (see, for example, to teach young students strategies that mature
Paris, Wasik, & l\irner, 1991). readers use.
Indeed, the nature of students' responses Instruction to teach students to use strate
to texts in our studies evidenced students' ten gies has taken a number of forms, but the
dency to resist digging in and grappling with common core might be described as explicitly
things that do not come easily. In this article labeling the strategies, discussing their pur
we describe an approach, which we have la pose, teaching them to students, and having
beled Questioning the Author, that is targeted students practice applying them. Presenting
toward getting young readers to engage with and modeling strategies has provided valuable
text-to really consider ideas deeply. scaffolding for students' reading interactions
(Brown & Palincsar, 1989; Duffy et al., 1?87;
Giving readers a reviser's eye Paris, Cross, & Lipson, 1984; Pressley et al.,
Deeply engaging with ideas is related to 1992).
what we did when we revised textbook The other side of instruction that uses
passages for use in our text studies (Beck et strategies to guide student reading, however,
al., 1991). We tried to understand what the is that the strategies themselves, rather than
author's goal for the text was and what each the ideas from the text, may become the focus
idea was supposed to contribute to that goal, of the interaction. Students asked to make pre
and then we reformulated that into more co dictions, for example, may limit their atten
herent, clearer statements. So it seemed that tion to events that can be predicted at certain
engagement could be developed by giving stu points in the text rather than constructing the
dents a "reviser's eye." sequence of ideas. Indeed, some researchers
A key to the concept of a reviser's eye have wondered whether emphasis on specific
may be the difference between trying to un strategies would be necessary if the goal
derstand and trying to make something under of reading as an active search for meaning
standable. For example, given the sentence were kept in mind (Carver, 1987; Pearson &
"In 1753, the British and the colonies ended a Fielding, 1991).
war with the French and Indians," a student In Questioning the Author, rather than
asked to report what the sentence was about have students reach for text ideas through a
might say: "The British and somebody had a strategy, we ask them to go directly to the text
war." Yet, if the task were to explain it to ideas. We create an entr?e to text ideas by
someone else so that that person understood guiding students to think of the meaning of a
what it was about, the student might dig back text as something to be negotiated, as if setting
into the text and begin to try to work out who up a dialogue with the text's author.
"somebody" was and who the war was against.
Support for the likelihood of this scenario Overview of Questioning the Author
can be found in Hayes, Flower, Schriver, The introduction to Questioning the Au
Stratman, and Carey's (1987) work on revis thor that we have developed begins by at
ing text. According to Hayes et al., when tempting to, in a sense, "depose" the authority
readers interact with a text in order to make it of the textbook through actualizing the pres
understandable to an intended audience, they ence of an author. We tell students that
take on a more active attitude toward the text, "What's in textbooks is just someone's ideas
becoming more responsive to text problems written down." We allow that authors are falli
than if they were reading just for their own ble by suggesting that "different people write
comprehension. things in different ways, and sometimes text
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books are not written as well or as clearly as necessary fill in information. That is, they go
they might be. Sometimes what someone has through the processes readers need to do for
in their mind to say just doesn't come through themselves to make sense of a complex text.
clearly in their writing of it." Thus, asking students to revise texts may up
We alert students that because written text grade the chances that they actually engage in
is the product of a fallible author, they may the processes required for skilled reading.
"need to work to figure out what the ideas are
behind an author's words." In doing so, Engaging students in questioning
we shift the reason for needing active effort We are still in the process of developing
from a reader's inadequacies to the author's Questioning the Author. In the course of its
vulnerability. development, we have introduced the ap
We then translate the notion of "author as proach to individual intermediate grade stu
vulnerable transmitter of ideas" into a goal for dents representing a range of background and
reading by asking the students to read the text ability, and more recently we have tried it out
and talk about what ideas the author is trying in a fourth-grade classroom in a school that
to get across and to judge whether the author serves a low income, minority population.
has made those ideas clear. As students read, During these interactions we observed
prompts are offered to keep the focus on seek students' initial reluctance to take on the au
ing out and putting together the author's ideas: thor. In fact, one student responded to the no
What is the author trying to tell you? tion of books not being "written clearly" by
Why is the author telling you that? telling us that he had once gotten a text in
Is that said clearly? which the printing was "all blurred." But, as
instruction proceeded, students' conception of
Asking students to read to search out the
ideas behind an author's words is intended to clarity readily focused on ideas, and we were
impressed with their willingness and even ex
motivate them to engage with the text by tak
citement in identifying the distance between
ing appropriate opportunities to apply their
the words and the apparent ideas.
skills and knowledge to construct meaning.
Students' introduction to Questioning the
Reaching for the author's intended ideas can
Author involved setting forth the idea of texts
also help develop an appreciation of the de
mands that texts can make on a reader. En as "merely someone's words" which may or
may not be clearly written, followed by our
couraging students to judge the author's
demonstrating a Questioning the Author ori
success in making ideas clear frees them to
find confusions and difficulties in the text entation to text. In the demonstration, we
asked students to follow along as we read a
without having to view them as failures of brief text and modeled our interaction with it.
their own comprehension. This notion may be
The text, which was about Russia's launching
especially liberating for those lower-achieving
students who have assumed themselves to be of the first satellite into space, began as fol
lows.
the cause of the problems they encounter in
A Russian Traveler. The day is Friday, October 4.
constructing meaning from textbooks.
The year is 1957. People in many parts of the earth
As students discover problems and confu turned on radios and heard strange news. "Russia
sions in the text, they are prompted to recast has used rockets to put a new moon in the sky," said
one station.
those ideas in clearer language:
How could the author have said the ideas At this point in the text, the investigator ex
in a clearer way? pressed puzzlement over putting "a new moon
What would you want to say instead? in the sky" saying, "Hmm.. .1 don't know what
the author means. How can you put up another
Recasting the author's ideas offers stu moon?"
dents a concrete way to experience the key of The issue of confusion about "a new
successful comprehension, transforming an moon" persists with the next segment:
author's ideas into a reader's ideas. Asking The tiny new moon is a metal ball. It has a radio in
students to revise an unclear text requires it. The radio goes 'beep! beep! beep!' as the moon
travels along.
them to grapple with its problems. In order to
explain or clarify text content, students need The investigator commented, "I don't
to inspect what they know, organize it, and if know what the author is trying to tell me
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about.. .how can a metal ball with a radio in it Russia has used rockets to put a satellite into space.
be a moon?" The tiny satellite is shaped like a metal ball.
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Jason is responding to the text statement quite included-rather than a situation of be
"the badger knows it has almost found its ing sent back to the text because he couldn't
meal" and he hasn't made the inference that come up with the right answer.
the honey guide is also about to find its meal, The confusing status of the honey guide's
the beeswax. meal meant extra work for many of the stu
Investigator: I think that [how does the honey dents we worked with. One student, after fig
guide eat if the badger's getting the honey] would uring out why the badger ate all the honey,
be a good question for the author. Why don't you
go ahead and read the last part and see what hap
provided a commentary on the text. Armed
pens there. [As Jason finishes reading]: So what do with her new insight, she began by evaluating
you make of this part? the text's effectiveness for young readers, and
The conclusion of the text states that the then offered a suggestion for the author:
badger "rips [the hive] open and eats the It'll take a child a long time to figure out what
they're saying or the teacher will have to tell them
honey." The honey guide's meal is not men because it's not very clear. [The author] just says
tioned. Jason responds as follows: The honey guide is an African bird that likes to eat
beeswax.' He could've said, urn, the reason the
Jason: It doesn't exactly make sense because the honey guide calls the honey badger is so he can get
honey guide also needs to eat, and it's leading the the honey and the honey guide can get the, urn,
badger to the place and then the badger gets all the beeswax.
honey and the honey guide never gets any.
Investigator: Hnimrnm, so there's something that Questioning how hermit crabs change
the author hasn't quite included here? What do you
think the author should say at that point?
their shells. Questioning the Author brought
about a kind of openness that allowed students
Jason: Well I don't really know, 'cause I have no
idea how the honey guide eats.
to articulate difficulties with text statements
that might have gone unnoticed under condi
At this point Jason seems unwilling to tions of less engaged reading. The example
take his quest any further, until the investiga below arose in a small group discussion of a
tor makes a suggestion. text on hermit crabs. As the group of three
Investigator: Can you find anything in the text students moved through the text, the investiga
where the author's trying to give you that message,
but it wasn't very clear? tor asked if the following sentence was clear:
"As the crab grows, it changes its shell for a
larger one." Michael commented, almost mus
ing to himself: "Maybe it's growing or some
thing. It said it's changing its shell for a larger
Questioning the Author brought about a one. But do they take it off?"
Notice that in the exchange among the
kind of openness that allowed students three students, at first neither the other stu
to articulate difficulties %mth text dents nor the investigator understands that
statements that might have gone Michael's confusion stems from his concep
tion that the shell grows with the crab and can
unnoticed under conditions of less not be taken off. The other students seem to
engaged reading. think Michael wants to know the process by
which crabs get out of their shells.
Now Jason digs in again and is Investigator: So, what are you saying isn't clear?
able to come up with the point of the animals' Michael: How could they change one shell? I
mean, I thought it stuck to the body.
relationship.
Nicole: But they get bigger, too.
Jason: [looking over the text] Oh yeah, I get it! The
Michael: I know, but when they grow I thought the
honey guide eats the beeswax wh?e the badger eats shell grows with them.
the honey.
The tenor of the interaction suggested that At this point, both the investigator and the
Jason was willing to pursue his confusion other students grasp Michael's issue, and the
about the text because it was put in terms of an conversation takes a more helpful turn. Nicole
author's problem?something the author hasn't goes on to offer an analogy to further put
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Michael's issue in perspective, and Terrence After viewing several videotaped lessons
offers a rewrite: and seeing the continued participation of these
Nicole: It's like people. Do you keep your clothes students, this teacher was convinced that
on and when you get bigger you break out of them? Questioning the Author showed great poten
Terrence: As the crab grows, the shell breaks and it tial for helping previously unreachable stu
exchanges for another. It wants a larger shell as it
gets bigger than it is now.
dents to become engaged in reading and
discussion. "We've talked many times about
Michael now joins the discussion, seem how to get these kids involved; we've tried
ing to reflect a new understanding of the rela many things and nothing else has worked."
tionship between a hermit crab and its shell:
Michael: It's like clothes, putting it on. Plans for Questioning the Author
The issue ends with the three students Our initial interactions in using Question
ing the Author with young students suggest
agreeing that the author needed to make the
that it has rich potential as a vehicle for get
statement about the crab's changing shells
ting students engaged with text and working to
clearer. The discussion put no onus on
solve the problems they encounter. The route
Michael for "misunderstanding" the text.
Rather, the situation was treated as an oppor
tunity to refine an idea that the author was try
ing to communicate.
Students who participated in
Reactions to Questioning Questioning the Author sessions seemed
the Author more willing to do the extra work
In their interactions with Questioning the required to make sense of less than clear
Author, students considered what the point of
a text was and how well that point was put
ideas because not understanding
forth by the author, rather than simply search something in a text was a reflection of
ing for phrases that answered direct questions the author's fallibility rather than a
about the content. Our own sense from obser
vations of the sessions and analyses of the
negative reflection on their abilities.
transcripts was that these students were deeply
engaged with the ideas. Moreover, students
who participated in Questioning the Author
we are taking to harness this potential over the
sessions seemed more willing to do the extra
next year is to collaborate with several inter
work required to make sense of less than clear
mediate grade teachers to develop the ap
ideas because not understanding something
in a text was a reflection of the author's falli proach as a way of interacting with texts in the
classroom. In developing Questioning the Au
bility rather than a negative reflection of their thor for classroom use we will focus on hav
abilities.
ing students approach their regular materials
The fourth-grade teacher in whose class
in social studies and reading/language arts by
room we worked responded enthusiastically
actualizing the presence of an author, under
after observing the approach, saying that she
standing the author as a fallible transmitter of
was "shocked" at how much thinking some of
ideas, and working to transform author's ideas
her students were doing. She also pointed out into readers' ideas.
the special benefit for at-risk students, ob
serving that the discussion was being led References
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(Eds.), Learning to read in American schools: Basal
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labeled Edward as a thinker." Erlbaum.
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Mich?le M. Pahl, Wheelock College, 200 The Riverway, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Robert J. Monson, Superintendent, Westwood Public Schools, 660 High Street, Westwood, MA 02090, USA
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