Education
Question-Answer Relationships (QARs)
Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) is a reading comprehension strategy that helps students understand the relationship between questions about a text and the source of the answers. Developed by Taffy Raphael in 1986, QARs provide a framework for categorizing questions and identifying where to find the answers.
The QAR strategy divides questions into four main categories:
- Right There: Answers are explicitly stated in the text.
- Think and Search: Answers require putting together information from different parts of the text.
- Author and You: Answers involve combining text information with the reader’s prior knowledge.
- On My Own: Answers come solely from the reader’s background knowledge and experiences.
Benefits of using QARs include:
- Improved reading comprehension
- Enhanced critical thinking skills
- Better test-taking strategies
- Increased awareness of different question types
By teaching students to recognize these relationships, educators can help them become more strategic and independent readers, capable of tackling a wide range of comprehension tasks.