Learning from text: The effect of adjunct questions and alignment on text comprehension

In education tests are primarily used as diagnostic instruments. However, they can also be used as learning instruments to help learners improve learning and long-term retention. A lot of research in the past has focused on the use of adjunct questions as test instruments to aid learners during the learning process. The research reported on here builds on previous found effects of placement, level and form of questions on test performances. It is investigated how different types of questions (factual and comprehension) relate to and interact with alignment. Results show that answering comprehension questions during a study phase positively influences performance on repeated and new comprehension questions. It was also found that when there is alignment on comprehension questions in a study and test phase, participants’ performance on repeated comprehension questions is higher compared to the performance of participants in conditions in which there was no alignment or alignment on factual questions.