Having comprehension questions doesn't make it, you know, doesn't enhance
it as language learning material.
Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here today, and today I wanna talk
about comprehension questions.
You know, after you read something or after you listen to something,
very often we're asked to, you know, explain or answer questions about
what we have listened to and read.
So comprehension questions today is my subject, if you would, if you
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I do appreciate it.
So comprehension questions are kind of a mainstay of
traditional language instruction.
We have a story, then we're asked questions about that story to
prove that we understood the story.
Um, I never do comprehension questions.
I hate comprehension.
Uh, there's a famous quote from Rubem Alvez, a very well known
Brazilian educator, where he says, being asked questions about what we
have read is sort of the surest way to destroy any enthusiasm readers
have for the activity of reading.
And, and the reason for that is simple.
If we're learning a language and we listen to a story, we aren't
going to remember everything.
We aren't going to understand everything.
It's still an extremely valuable activity.
Uh, it's possible to enjoy a story and not understand everything.
It's, IM, it's possible to listen to a story and enjoy the story or an item of
content and misunderstand fair amount of it, or miss certain parts of it, and still
feel that we are sort of experiencing the language, getting closer to the language,
grabbing bits and pieces of meaning.
And the thought that we have to then try to remember what happened, uh,
where there's a good possibility that we won't remember or we'll get it wrong.
I find that to be an extremely sort of negative or destructive type of activity.
It's fine to say, ask people, did you like the story?
What did you like about the story?
Or What did you like about the content?
Talk to me a little bit about the content as a means of, of, uh,
inducing the person to speak if in fact that's what we wanna do.
I'm not tremendously keen on the idea of forcing learners to speak either, but I
understand that in a classroom, that's one of the things that teachers have to do.
But then just let people talk at random.
Say something about what you just listened to, uh, or what you just read.
That's good enough.
And if we don't have those comprehension questions so much, the better.
Uh, you know, I have mentioned before that the Canadian government created
this language learning, uh, website called Mauril, M A U R I L, Mauril maybe.
Uh, which of course is not exactly what people search for when they're
looking for a language learning app, but it is also based on the
idea of comprehension questions.
So they, you know, programs from Radio, Radio Canada or CBC and they prepare a
bunch of comprehension questions for the, this content, which in their mind converts
it into language learning material.
But it was already language learning material by the mere
fact that you had audio and text.
That is language learning material, having comprehension questions doesn't
make it, you know, doesn't enhance it as language learning material.
Um, so I, I would say, If the goal is to enjoy listening, read, then simply
refuse to do comprehension questions.
I refuse all questions.
I don't do grammar questions.
I don't do any kind of drill.
To me engaging with content, hopefully content of interest to
as much of it as possible where you can hear it, hopefully understand
a lot of what you're listening to.
Then read it kind of mine the material for words and phrases.
Go and listen again, hopefully understand a little bit more, probably not a lot more
unfortunately, but that's the process.
And scratching your brain to try to remember what happened in
whatever you listen to, uh, is not helpful to language learning.
Um, so refuse to do comprehension questions.
That's my advice.
Focus instead on enjoying the content that you're listening to.
You'll advance more quickly, you'll enjoy the process much more, and
you'll improve your listening comprehension, uh, far more quickly.
Now, I know that a lot of the sort of tests of English as a foreign language,
for example, TOEFL or TOEIC, are based on the, or a large part of those
tests consist of, uh, showing that you understood what you read or you
understood what you were listening to.
So from that point of view, Uh, sure.
Spend a little bit of time going over previous TOEIC uh, tests.
Example tests, sample tests, or similarly for TOEFL.
But if you want to be good at understanding what was in
the story, you have to expose yourself to a lot of content.
You have to read a lot.
You have to become a good reader.
You have to become a good listener.
And you do, you do that not by answering questions about, you know, content
items that you've listened to or read.
You do that by becoming more and more familiar with the language,
acquiring a larger and larger vocabulary so that the language is
not an obstacle, but you listen to it with a high degree of comprehension.
And if that's the case, when you need to, answering comprehension
questions for a TOEIC or a TOEFL exam becomes a lot easier if at an, if
at an early stage you are constantly having to explain what you read.
That's destroying the fun of reading, in my opinion, or constantly having to
explain what you just listened to, that it destroys the pleasure of listening.
You want to build up momentum in your listening and reading
so that you enjoy that activity.
The brain will naturally become more and more familiar with
the language, and if at a...
you're, you know, going to be faced with a TOEFL exam, a TOEIC exam, an IELTS
exam by all means do some sample exams, but if you've proceeded without constant
questioning, comprehension questions and so forth, you will do better.
And if you aren't faced with the prospect of having to write some kind
of a language, uh, exam, if you're learning a language simply out of
interest or for pleasure for sure, unless you like doing them, avoid,
avoid the comprehension questions.
Okay.
There you have it.
I will leave a couple of, uh, videos that I've done in the past
on this subject just for reference.
Thank you for listening.
Bye for now.