Bloom’s taxonomy in designing comprehension questions for reading texts in EFL reading comprehension class

Bloom’s Taxonomy 
is a model of the stages and progression 
of critical thinking. Each step requires a 
higher level of thinking and should be used 
to meet maximum potential for retention.”
Another researcher applying Bloom’s 
Taxonomy in class is Kelly. She analyzes 
in her research that Bloom’s Taxonomy 
has six levels of comprehension and each 
requires a higher level of abstraction from 
the students. She suggests teachers should 
try to move students up the taxonomy 
as they progress in their knowledge. 
Teachers should have high expectations 
concerning students’ abilities. In her 
research Kelly goes to a conclusion 
“Building on knowledge and helping kids 
begin to apply, analyze, synthesize, and 
evaluate is the key to help them grow in 
school and beyond.”
From 2 research papers above, it can 
be understood that Bloom’s Taxonomy is 
very useful in classroom and in developing 
student’s critical thinking. Using Bloom’s 
taxonomy as a standard to design activities 
and tasks in class is a necessary and 
intelligent choice to teachers. 
In an English reading class, Bloom’s 
taxonomy of comprehension levels can 
be used as the criterion to help teachers 
design comprehension questions and 
have students work effectively with the 
reading texts. From that point, students’ 
reading comprehension and reading skills 
can be improved and developed. 
To help readers have more 
specific information about types of 
comprehension questions designed based 
on Bloom’s Taxonomy, the next part 
will present 6 types of comprehension 
questions that teachers can use in each 
reading lesson to guide students to get 
closer to the reading texts.
4. Types of questions based on 
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge questions
This is the lowest level of 
comprehension questions. Those questions 
require students to identify information 
basically in the same form it was written 
in the text.
For example: 
What is the longest river in the world?
Who wrote Gone with the wind?
Words often used in this level of 
questions are: know, define, what, name, 
where, list, when.
Comprehension questions
Comprehension questions are those 
asking students to take many bits of 
information into a single category or 
group. At this level, the questions require 
students to combine data together.
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For example:
How could you describe ice-cream 
making process?
What is the main idea of the text?
Words are usually used in 
comprehension questions include describe, 
use your own words, outline, explain, 
discuss, compare.
Application questions
Questions in this level often ask 
students to use the information they already 
know to apply to a new situation to make 
the correct answers or to give new results.
For example: 
Can you group by characteristics 
such as.?
What factor would you change if..?
Useful words for this type of 
questions are apply, manipulate, put 
to use, choose, interpret, demonstrate, 
construct, illustrate.
Analysis questions
Analysis questions are questions 
asking students to break down something 
into component parts. Students have to 
identify reasons, causes, or motives for 
each conclusions or generalization.
For example:
What are some of the factors that 
cause..?
Why do we call all these animals 
mammals?
Useful words in this type of questions 
include analyze, why, take part, diagram, 
simplify, draw conclusion.
 Synthesis questions
Those questions challenge students 
to engage in creative or original thinking. 
They stimulate students to produce 
original ideas and solve problems.
For example:
How would your life be different if 
you could breathe under water?
Useful words for synthesis questions 
include compose, construct, design, 
revise, create, produce.
Evaluation questions
An evaluation question requires 
students make an judgment about the value 
of an idea, a candidate, a work of art, or a 
solution to a problem. This type of questions 
does not have the single right answer.
For example:
Is there a better solution to the 
problem?
Can you please judge the value of 
penicillin?
Useful words in evaluation questions 
include judge, rate, assess, evaluate, what 
is the best, value, criticize, compare.
The knowledge of students’ 
comprehension levels and types of 
comprehension questions would be a 
beneficial tool for teachers in reading 
classes. Teachers had better guide students 
to understand the reading texts and 
materials by using these questions. The 
problem concerned is if the questions used 
are suitable and moderate or not. Designing 
and applying comprehension questions 
effectively in each lesson and for each type 
of students are not easy. Many teachers 
ask a wide range number of questions for 
one text in one lesson, but eventually the 
possibility that students can understand the 
text thoroughly is often absent.
In the last and most important part 
of this assignment, some suggestions in 
designing and applying comprehension 
questions in reading class will be 
mentioned, and hopefully those 
suggestions are valuable and useful for 
EFL teachers in teaching.
5. Suggestions in designing and 
using comprehension questions for 
reading texts in an EFL reading class.
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As being stated above, questions may 
be considered one of the keys helping 
students understand the reading texts 
and materials. It can be inferred that 
having good questions means having the 
foundation of success in teaching and 
learning in a reading class.
From the understandings of Bloom’s 
Taxonomy and types of questions together 
with experiences in teaching and learning 
of the writer, this part will give some 
suggestions in designing comprehension 
questions for a reading text and using 
those questions in a reading class. 
First, teachers should have a 
general thought about students’ levels of 
comprehension before deciding to write 
and use the questions. Students’ levels 
of comprehension lead teachers to the 
decision which types of questions should 
be introduced with high proportion and 
which type should be reduced. If the 
students are at low level of comprehension 
like knowledge, comprehension or 
application, more questions at this levels 
should be asked and fewer questions of 
higher levels should be given. Besides, 
with higher level questions, students 
should be given more time in answering. 
In the case of students with higher levels 
of comprehension, analysis, synthesis 
and evaluation questions should be 
exposed and have students answer with 
more detailed answers. This way of 
asking and using questions in classes will 
avoid the situation in which students may 
find the tasks too easy or too difficult. 
If the questions are all at low levels, 
higher level students will feel bored in 
class or illusive about their abilities. If 
the questions are all at high levels, low 
level students may be de-motivated or 
discouraged in learning.
Secondly, questions should be designed 
in all types instead of only one. If students 
are asked questions in different types and 
at different levels of thinking, they will 
have to apply different ways of thinking 
to find out the answer. This way will help 
students be more flexible in thinking and 
be able to approach the problem from 
different levels, in different directions 
and at different stages. Besides, thanks to 
different types of questions, students can 
understand more about the topic presented 
as well as all the aspects of the matter. 
The next decision that teachers should 
pay attention to is when to use each type 
of questions. It is clear that people always 
understand the problem from the easy 
level to more complex. Students also 
understand the reading text in the same 
order. Teachers should have students 
understand with simple things before more 
complex ones, i.e. teachers should start 
with easy questions (at low levels) so that 
students would feel elated before moving 
to more complicated things. Students will 
step by step raise their own understanding 
about the text and be well-prepared for 
more difficult knowledge. This way will 
help students achieve the text with ease 
and improve their comprehension level in 
their mind. If teachers raise the questions 
in the opposite order, there is no evidence 
to ensure that students could understand 
the text or get improvement in reading.
One important thing teachers should 
remember is students at any levels of 
comprehension or grade can handle high 
level thinking questions. That is why 
teachers must not delete any types of 
questions in each reading text at any grade 
students. Challenging students through 
higher-order questioning will help to 
stimulate learning and enhance brain 
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development regardless of age. Bloom’s 
Taxonomy is not grade-specific, which 
means it does not suggest that teachers start 
at lower grades like kindergarten, first or 
second with knowledge and comprehension 
questions and go up to higher level grades 
like tenth, eleventh or twelfth with synthesis 
and evaluation questions. The six levels of 
questions are appropriate for all grades. 
Therefore, teachers should cover all types 
of questions even in low-grade classes to 
help students be exposed to higher levels of 
thinking which is necessary for a complete 
comprehension of a topic.
One more suggestion is teachers 
should design the questions in different 
forms instead of one form only and avoid 
tricky questions to improve students’ 
comprehension abilities and as well as 
not to discourage them. The questions 
may be in Yes/No form, Alternative 
form, True/False form, Wh-questions 
form, or Multiple choice form, but they 
must be used alternatively. Even in each 
question, different forms should also be 
included, i.e. the questions should be 
asked in a straightforward followed by an 
unambiguous fashion; for example, a Yes/
No question can be followed up with Wh-
question like “Does the woman decide to 
get the job? Why?”. With different forms 
of questions, students have more chance to 
think of the topic in high levels of thinking, 
and to combine the information in the text 
to give the answer instead of thinking in a 
simple way or separately. With non-tricky 
questions, students can easily go to the 
goal of comprehension of the topic.
The suggestions above are not fixed or 
unchangeable to all teachers, but they are 
flexible. Teachers should think carefully 
to apply in their own teaching situations 
to get the highest level of effectiveness.
6. Conclusion
From the information presented, 
it is implicated that at any levels of 
comprehension and with any types of 
questions, questions are used to help 
students interact with the texts. “Students 
should always be able to refer to the 
reading passage, for we are interested 
in teaching reading comprehension, not 
memory skills.”(Day and Park, 2005)
In my own experience, well-
designed questions can promote students’ 
understanding of the text. However, 
comprehension questions are not the 
only way to improve students’ reading 
comprehension and reading skills. 
Teachers themselves with their suitable 
methods in teaching and guiding students 
will help students be actively involved in 
creating meaning.
One more consideration of the 
assignment is the moderation of questions 
in class. Students can understand the 
texts and improve reading skills through 
questions; however, this does not mean 
students have to work with questions all 
the time. If teachers bombard students 
with so many questions during the lesson, 
the questions may become the poison 
to students, and they will feel tired and 
bored with answering them. Therefore, 
teachers should balance questioning tasks 
and the other tasks to release students 
from question answering pressure. 
This assignment gives readers 
especially EFL teachers some brief 
information about Bloom’s taxonomy of 
comprehension and questions as well as 
some suggestions which may help teachers 
in designing and using questions. 
In the scope of an assignment, it is 
impossible to cover all the aspects of 
comprehension levels and comprehensions 
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questions. Hopefully, this assignment may 
become a guide for future research in which 
other aspects of comprehension levels and 
comprehension questions are included. 
References
1. Adler, C.R (2004). Seven strategies to teach students text comprehension. 
Retrieved 11-13- 2010 from 
2. Singleton, A. (Ed) (2001) Comprehension in crisis: Processing contemporary 
issues. Union University: Center for Faculty Development. 
3. Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification 
of education goals: Handbook I, Cognitive domain. New York: Longmans, Green. 
4. Kaufmann, K (2007). How to apply Bloom’s taxonomy. Corwin Press (2007). 
5. Kelly, M (2010) Bloom’s taxonomy in the classroom. Retrieved 10-13- 2018, 
from  htm. 
6. Day, R.R and Park, J.S (2005). Developing reading comprehension questions. 
ELT Journal 17/1.
ỨNG DỤNG THANG PHÂN LOẠI CỦA BLOOM TRONG THIẾT KẾ 
CÂU HỎI ĐỌC HIỂU CHO LỚP KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH
ThS. Nguyễn Thị Tình *
Thang phân loại của Bloom là mô hình 
phân cấp được sử dụng trong việc đưa ra 
mục tiêu giáo dục, trong đánh giá kết quả 
học tập và trong tiết kế hoạt động dạy học. 
Tác giả bài viết này tập trung giới thiệu 
về cách phân cấp trình độ nhận thức của 
Bloom và cách áp dụng mô hình phân cấp 
đó trong việc thiết kế câu hỏi đọc hiểu cho 
bài đọc trong lớp học Tiếng Anh. 
Bài viết gồm bốn nội dung chính. 
Đầu tiên giới thiệu về thang phân loại 
nhận thức của Bloom với những giải thích 
chi tiết về từng cấp độ. Phần hai tập trung 
trình bày những tranh cãi khác nhau trên 
thế giới về sử dụng thang phân loại của 
Bloom trong việc phát triển nhận thức và 
tư duy của người học. Phần ba giới thiệu 
những loại câu hỏi đọc hiểu có thể thiết 
kế dựa vào thang phân loại nhận thức của 
Bloom. Phần cuối cùng là những đề xuất 
của tác giả về sử dụng thang phân loại 
nhận thức của Bloom nhằm đạt được kết 
quả cao nhất trong giảng dạy và học tập. 
Với những miêu tả chi tiết và định 
hướng cụ thể, bài viết có thể sẽ là một 
kênh tham khảo tích cực cho giảng viên 
dạy tiếng Anh nói chung và dạy đọc hiểu 
nói riêng trong lập mục tiêu giảng dạy, 
thiết kế câu hỏi và hoạt động học tập 
nhằm mang lại kết quả học tập cao nhất. 
* Giảng viên Khoa Ngôn ngữ Anh,
 Trường ĐH KD&CN Hà Nội
Ngày nhận bài: 12/10/2019