Abstract
This study investigated the effects of three types of questions (i.e., literal questions, bridging inference questions, elaborative inference questions) in reading tests for facilitating EFL learners' reading comprehension. In the experimental study, Japanese high school students read two passages with different difficulty levels and their comprehension was evaluated using both immediate and delayed free-written recall tasks. The recall data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results indicated that while literal and bridging inference questions increased readers' immediate and delayed recall of the text, elaborative inference questions only increased delayed recall. It was also found that questions were particularly effective in comprehending difficult passage.
