Type of Questions- Complex Excersize

Evaluative Questions
3) Evaluative – Questions of evaluation ask us to think about something in the piece based on our own knowledge, values or experiences of life, to decide if we agree with the author’s point of view.
- Evaluative questions do help us understand the piece better.
- Evaluative questions have answers based on the reader’s schema of the way the world really works (not just unsupported opinions)...The answers can be supported from real experiences.
- Evaluative questions are important because they help us relate the experiences of the piece to our own life and the real world.

Shoemaker… Evaluative Questions
- When the shoemaker received the letter from the rich man, why did the shoemaker go “at once”?

Evaluative Questions - Your Turn
Write one evaluative question about the story on the piece of scrap paper you received.
-?
Interpretive Questions
4) Interpretive – A question of interpretation asks readers to look carefully at what happens in the piece and consider what it means—what the author wants us to think about.
- Interpretive questions do help us understand the piece better.
- Interpretive questions are important because they help the reader focus on the piece, always digging into it instead of wandering off track (unlike
evaluative questions which tend to turn into “what if…” and “maybe…” answers which then lead into opinions not based on any support).
- Interpretive questions have more than one reasonable answer which can be supported from evidence in the text—answer based on the piece (you can “prove” it from the piece).
- There should be genuine doubt about the answers to interpretive questions—any of the supported answers may be true.

Shoemaker… Interpretive Questions
- Why did the rich man think that giving the man gold would stop his singing?

Interpretive Questions - Your Turn
Write one interpretive question about the story on the piece of scrap paper you received.
-?

Evaluative vs. Interpretive
Interpretive and evaluative questions are closely related to each other. The easiest way to figure out which type of question it is, is by looking at the type of answer you get.
A question could be either evaluative or interpretive:
- If the answer is supported by real life experiences, it is an evaluative answer.
- If there are at least two different possible answers, and both of them can be supported by the story, then it is an interpretive answer.

It is usually harder to find evaluative questions than fact and guess questions. It is hardest of all to find interpretive questions.