What is "text-dependent questioning" and how would you use it to deepen comprehension?

• A. Questions that can be answered without reading the text, focusing on memory.
• B. Questions that require outside knowledge more than the text.
• C. Questions that rely on paraphrasing summaries rather than evidence.
• D. Questions that require close reading of the text to answer; use to promote evidence-based inferences and textual analysis.

Answer: (D)

Text-dependent questioning asks students to read closely and answer using evidence from the text. It moves beyond remembering details or bringing in outside information, focusing on what the text itself says and how it says it.

This approach deepens comprehension by prompting students to justify their interpretations with exact lines, analyze how the author builds meaning through word choice, details, and structure, and explain how specific evidence supports their inferences. For example, a question might ask what detail in a passage shows a character’s motivation or how a particular sentence creates a mood—the student must point to the text and explain why that detail matters.

Other approaches that rely on memory, outside knowledge, or paraphrase without evidence don’t require students to engage with the text in a way that builds close-reading and evidence-based reasoning. Text-dependent questions keep the focus on the text itself and train students to base conclusions on precise textual evidence.