18
or paraphrasing of textual information) that do not lead to significant learning (Rittle-
Johnson & Loehr, 2016).
On
the

other

hand,

AOQ

is

a

highly

useful

learning

technique.

It

allows

the
organization and mental processing of relevant information (Hunt, 2006; McCrudden &
Scraw, 2007). This technique has been shown to be more effective than re-reading or re-
studying
the

material

(McDaniel,

Wildman,

&

Anderson,

2012).

However,

the
effectiveness of this procedure depends on various aspects, including the type of questions
(Cerdán
et

al.,

2009;

Rouet,

Vidal-Abarca,

Bert-Erboul,

&

Millogo,

2001)

and

the
promotion
of

inferences

among

relevant

information

(Vidal-Abarca,

Britt,

&

Rouet,
2015).
Regarding
the

type

of

questions,

there

are

evidences

about

the

influence

of
question
characteristics

on

the

processing

and

deep

understanding

of

texts

(Cerdán

&
Vidal-Abarca, 2008; Cerdán et al., 2009; Vidal-Abarca, Gilabert, & Rouet, 2005). Text-
based (TB) questions and situation-model (SM) questions produce different processing
patterns
(Ozgungor

&

Guthrie,

2004).

TB

questions

can

be

answered

with

superficial
strategies
of

comprehension

(Rouet

et

al.,

2001);

while

the

SM

questions

requires
inferences
between

the

relevant

information

of

the

text

and

even

incorporating

prior
knowledge (Ozgungor & Guthrie, 2004). Numerous studies affirm the efficacy of high-
level
or

SM

open-ended

questions

on

TB

questions

in

recall,

learning

and

deep
understanding (Ozuru, Briner, Kurby, & McNamara, 2013; Vidal-Abarca et al., 2005).
SM questions contributes to the realization of
inferences between the new

information
and that already stored in long-term memory (Cerdán, et al., 2009). Consequently, SM
questions facilitate the construction of a coherent and integrated mental representation of
the
text,

even

when

the

text

has

a

formal

and

expository

structure

(Kintsch,

1998;
Ozgungor & Guthrie, 2004).
The nature of the technique to be implemented influences learning. The questions
offer an explicit reading objective to the student, either to locate relevant information in
the
text

(TB

questions)

or

to

make

the

student

reflect,

transfer

and

apply

textual
information to other situations not explicit in the text (SM questions). Nevertheless, SE
do not offer an explicit demand, so that, students attend to the structure of the text to
differentiate which information in the text is relevant (Schraw, Wade, & Kardash, 1993).
Objectives and hypotheses
The main objective of this study is to analyze the efficacy of guiding the reading
and learning of complex declarative knowledge (e.g., scientific knowledge) through the
technique of answering open-ended questions (AOQ) versus the use of self-explanations
(SE).