Characteristics of effective reading comprehension questions include:

Effective reading comprehension questions are designed to enhance a student’s understanding and interpretation of the text. The characteristic that involves promoting critical thinking and being grounded in evidence is essential because it encourages students to engage with the material at a deeper level. This type of questioning prompts learners to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information rather than merely recall facts. By grounding questions in evidence from the text, students are pushed to support their answers with specific examples, which fosters critical reading skills and active engagement with the content.

In contrast, questions that focus solely on memorization do not encourage deeper understanding or critical analysis. Similarly, questions that encourage only personal opinions can lead to subjective responses that may not consider the text's content. Lastly, questions that are unrelated to the text can disengage students, as they do not tie back to the material that is meant to be analyzed or understood. Therefore, fostering critical thinking through evidence-based questions is a fundamental characteristic of effective reading comprehension assessments.