8.4.3
Using signpost questions

In order to help students find their way through any text, but especially a long one, it is advisable to employ signpost questions. The idea is to give students a question before they start reading to encourage them to focus on especially important elements of the text and to prevent them 'losing their way' as they read. For example, with reference to Text 6 ('Destination Gridlock'), signpost questions for the first two paragraphs might include the following:

  1. What links the concrete pillars described here with President Fujimori?

  2. Which two groups are hoping to tackle Lima's traffic problems?

By providing a question in advance of reading, the teacher gives learners a reason or purpose for reading. To avoid the danger that learners then only read to find the specific point requested (ie scan the text) and do not read the whole section or text, Nuttall (1996: 160) offers three important pieces of advice:

  • make sure students know there will be a lot more questions when they have finished reading;
  • make sure the signpost question cannot be answered until the whole (or most) of the section has been read;
  • devise signpost questions that require students to think about the meaning, not just to locate information.

It may be helpful to start with a signpost question relating to the text as a whole, as in Text 16 ('Informationen für Familien') where the text is preceded by the following:

The Press and Information Service of the Federal Government has issued a booklet under the title 'Information for Families'. Which of the following would you expect to find in such a booklet?

  1. Rules for how families should behave politically.

  2. Help for politicians who wish to work on behalf of families.

  3. Information for families on the main forms of state support available to them.

Some points to remember when designing signpost questions:

  • Be careful not to overdo them: one per section will normally suffice, otherwise the benefits of clear, targeted guidance will be lost.
  • Either incorporate questions into the text itself (at the start or inserted between sections) or else write them in an ad hoc fashion on the OHP or board.
  • A good question should be accessible to most learners: if it is too difficult, it defeats the purpose.
  • The answer to the question should normally be elicited or discussed after the group has read the particular section.
  • When it appears that several students have not found the answer, it is worth drawing their attention to where it can be found, especially if it is important for understanding subsequent sections of the text.
  • However, if you provide the answer too often this can be counter-productive: the aim is for students to learn to access the information themselves.
  • Therefore return to the question later and ask students to keep looking for evidence to the original question as they move further through the text.
Finally, with a narrative text, a variation on signpost questions are questions to encourage students to predict how the story will continue. For example: Read the first part of the text and answer the question that follows it. Then read the next section and if your answer was right, put a tick in the box next to the question. Do the same with the other sections.
The tops of the mountains were shrouded in mist and there was a gentle drizzle in the air. Jacqui made her way further uphill. 'Away, away', she kept telling herself. She came to a series of hillocks, each so steep it was impossible to see ahead to the horizon. Once she cleared them, however, she could suddenly see on the vague, grey ridge ahead an orange-clad figure moving down towards her. It had to be Euan. He mustn't see her.
(a) What do you think Jacqui is going to do next? o

She retreated immediately and scrambled off the path to hide on the far side of one of the rocky knolls. The effort of clambering over the loose scree had made her breathless and as she clung to the rocks she could hear her heart pounding.

From the path down off the ridge Euan thought he saw something moving in the rocks a hundred feet or so below. Once he reached the spot he paused, looked around and listened. His eyes scanned the ground, in particular the path ahead.

(b) What do you think Euan is going to see? o
Much of the path was overgrown with grass and heather but this was a section that was well trodden and bare. Here he noticed in the soft mud that had formed during the recent bad weather some fresh footprints. They were small but distinct. He moved off the path in the direction of the prints.

This type of task seeks to approximate what we do naturally, usually subconsciously, when reading in L1, namely use what we have read to predict how a text will subsequently develop.

ACTIVITY 12

Read Text 11 ('Diet') and try to devise appropriate signpost questions before each of the marked sections. Once you have done this, you might like to compare your questions with those provided by a teacher who worked on this text with a class of L2 learners. (Click on 'Commentary'.) What differences do you notice? Compare and evaluate the questions you and the teacher provided for each section.

ACTIVITY 13

Read Text 7 ('Bangladesh') and then consider the following signpost questions. Decide what makes each of the questions less than ideal. Click on 'Commentary' to check your response.

Paragraph 1

  1. How long has Bangladesh been independent?
  2. Where does the word Bengali come from?
  3. What has religion tended to do?

Paragraph 2

  1. What two threats were there to Bangladesh?
  2. What was the local name for the Battle of Plassey?
  3. What did the city-dwelling agents become?

Now suggest a better question of your own for each paragraph.

 
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