ENGLISH FRANCA Academic Journal of English Language and Education DOI: 10.29240/ef.v9i1 May.12198- http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english/index pISSN: 2580-3670, eISSN:2580-3689; Vol. 9, No. 1, 2025, Page 99-110 Article info: http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english Received 08 January 2025; Received in revised form 22 March 2025; Accepted 10 May 2025 Published by Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup on behalf of ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-SA license Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects Septy Okta Alfiana¹, Dewi Rochsantiningsih², Nur Arifah Drajati³ ¹ 2 3 Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia Corresponding Email: septyokta@student.uns.ac.id To cite this article: Alfiana, S. O., Rochsantiningsih, D., & Drajati, N. A. (2025). Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects. ENGLISH FRANCA : Academic Journal of English Language and Education, 9(1 May). Retrived from https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v9i1 May.12198 Introduction Education plays a vital role in shaping individuals who are both knowledgeable and socially and emotionally mature, ready to face the challenges of an increasingly complex world (Thornhill-Miller et al., 2023). Central to this process is the role of textbooks in formal education, especially in English language learning. Textbooks are the primary means of knowledge transfer, shaping the learning experience by providing structured content aligned with curriculum standards (Bakken & Andersson-Bakken, 2021). The quality of textbooks, particularly in their capacity to enhance reading comprehension, directly impacts students’ cognitive and academic development (Utami et al., 2021; Weninger, 2020). This study focuses on analyzing the types of questions used in the Grade X English textbook “Work in Progress,” evaluating their alignment with aspects of reading comprehension, and assessing how effectively these questions support students’ reading development. Reading comprehension is a complex cognitive process beyond understanding a text's literal meaning. It involves interpreting implied meanings, drawing inferences, and critically analyzing content (Apriani, 2016; Srisang & Everatt, 2021). The types of questions used in textbooks are critical in shaping students’ engagement with reading tasks. Different question formats—from literal, inferential, to evaluative—affect students’ ability to process and interact with texts at different cognitive levels (Aldossari, 2021; Hall et al., 2020). For example, while literal questions help students understand basic details, inferential and evaluative questions challenge them to think critically and apply knowledge beyond the text (Blum et al., 2020). These cognitive processes are integral to the development of higher- Abstract. This study analyzes the alignment between question types in the grade X English textbook “Work in Progress” and aspects of reading comprehension. Using a content analysis technique, it investigates how these question types in reading tasks promote the five components of reading comprehension. The results suggest that WH Questions dominate, while Multiple Choice, Cloze Procedure, Skimming, and Scanning are absent, indicating a lack of diversity that may hamper the development of complete reading skills. Regarding reading comprehension aspects, the most frequently occurring aspects are determining the main idea and detailing information, while the aspects of locating references and making inferences tend to be underrepresented. The findings underline the need of incorporating a variety of question types into reading tasks to assist all elements of comprehension. This indicates that textbook authors and curriculum developers should provide resources that encourage a complete approach to improving students' reading abilities. Keywords: English Textbooks, Question Types, Reading Comprehension file:///D:/EKA%20A/ENGLISH%20FRANCA/EF%20VOL%209%20NO%201%20TAHUN%202025/PAPER%20WORD%20DOC/cccccc https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2580-3670 https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2580-3670 http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english mailto:septyokta@student.uns.ac.id https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v9i1%20May.12198 Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 100 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) order thinking skills, which are essential for students’ broader academic and intellectual growth (Stevani & Tarigan, 2022). Research has shown that English textbooks often focus on lower-order thinking skills (LOTS), with fewer questions addressing higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Research by Laila & Fitriyah (2022), Fahmi (2023), and Sakinah & Fudhla (2023) highlights the prevalence of questions that encourage basic understanding and recall of knowledge, with limited emphasis on critical and creative thinking. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by specifically analyzing how the question types in “Work in Progress” align with various aspects of reading comprehension, including literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension. Previous research has generally overlooked the direct impact of these question types on the development of students’ higher-order cognitive skills. Therefore, this study explores whether the textbook’s reading tasks foster critical thinking and provide opportunities for deeper engagement with the material. The purpose of this study is to analyze the question types found in the Grade X English textbook “Work in Progress” and examine their alignment with the aspects of reading comprehension, namely identifying main ideas, finding references, understanding vocabulary, making inferences, and detailing information. In doing so, this study seeks to contribute to understanding how well the textbook supports students’ reading development and their cognitive development more broadly. It also aims to evaluate whether the questions in the textbook support the development of higher-order thinking skills and contribute to students’ overall academic achievement. Unlike past research, which has mostly focused on cognitive taxonomies such as LOTS and HOTS, this study investigates how various question forms connect to distinct levels of reading comprehension. This provides a more sophisticated picture of how textbooks help students develop their reading skills. Furthermore, whereas many studies examine the existence of HOTS-based questions in broad terms, this study focuses on their functional importance in reading comprehension aspects. The outcomes of this study can help educators, curriculum developers, and textbook authors create more effective reading comprehension exercises that encourage deeper learning and critical thinking. Theoretical Framework Reading Comprehension in High School Textbooks Reading comprehension is an important ability for high school students since it directly impacts their academic success, particularly in areas that require complex reading materials. Comprehension entails more than merely decoding words; it also requires pupils to integrate past information, analyze the text's structure, and assess its meaning. Nuttall (2000) defines comprehension as a multi-layered process in which a reader's capacity to extract meaning from a book is impacted by their grasp of language, recognition of the primary concept, inference ability, and ability to link new information to existing knowledge. This process includes multiple critical steps, such as recognizing the primary concept, locating references, interpreting language, drawing conclusions, and supplying specific information. Each of these factors influences how students interact with the material and derive meaning from it. Furthermore, comprehension is more than just grasping individual bits of information; pupils must also understand the text's general structure and how different portions relate to one another. This global comprehension necessitates higher-level cognitive processes like analysis, synthesis, and assessment. These cognitive abilities, as emphasized by Longan (2002), are crucial to students' academic achievement because they allow them to interact critically with complicated academic materials. Students' ability to engage with reading content beyond a cursory knowledge is further strengthened by their ability to draw conclusions and link elements across the text. Thus, by encouraging critical thinking and the capacity to resolve challenging issues, reading comprehension greatly enhances overall academic accomplishment (Nuttall, 2000). Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 101 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) 1. Determining the main idea: Identifying the author's primary message in a text is crucial for comprehension. 2. Locating references: Understanding pronouns and pointing words ensures the continuity of ideas in a text. 3. Word meaning: Inferring vocabulary meaning helps to grasp the deeper nuances of the text. 4. Making inferences: Concluding implied information requires analytical thinking. 5. Detailing information: Extracting specific details facilitates a deeper understanding and enhanced text analysis. Questioning in High School Textbook Questioning is an effective method for directing students' engagement with readings and improving reading comprehension. Questions addressed to students can drive a variety of cognitive processes, from basic memory to more complicated inference-making. According to Brown (2004), well-designed questions may help students interact deeply with texts, encouraging them to not only absorb but also examine and evaluate the content. High school textbooks, particularly the "Work in Progress" series, include a variety of questions to test and assist comprehension. This textbook's 15 question types are designed to measure several areas of understanding, allowing students to focus on specific facts, topics, or text structures. Furthermore, these diverse question formats encourage a more comprehensive comprehension of the material in addition to helping students grasp particular features and subjects. The textbook aids in the development of students' capacity to comprehend, interpret, and assess texts at higher cognitive levels by posing questions of varying difficulty. The "Work in Progress" textbook's mix of literal, inferential, and evaluative questions guarantees that students' understanding is reinforced across several cognitive domains, preparing them for increasingly complex academic work and encouraging the growth of higher-order thinking abilities. These questions can be grouped according to the reading comprehension abilities they want to test (Heaton, 1988; Brown, 2004; Myers & Palmer, 2002; Santosa et al., 2011). The following questions are (1) True/False questions that assess factual accuracy by identifying true or false statements. (2) Multiple-choice questions test understanding of details, main ideas, and inferences. (3) Completion items require filling in blanks to test vocabulary and contextual understanding. (4) The cloze procedure involves filling in missing words, assessing vocabulary and inferences. (5) Rearrangement: Items test understanding of text structure by arranging jumbled content. (6) Open-ended questions require detailed responses, testing inferences, and detailing information. (7) Short answer questions that assess concise recall of specific details and information. (8) Gap-filling is inserting missing words to test vocabulary and contextual inference. (9) WH questions focus on specific details like "Who," "What," and "Where." (10) Yes/No questions that evaluate factual understanding with binary answers. (11) Matching that connects related items, testing vocabulary, and idea connections. (12) Information transfer: analyse charts, graphs, or maps in relation to text. (13) Scanning that finds specific information quickly within a text. (14) Skimming: getting the general idea or theme of a text quickly. (15) Following directions is a test of understanding and execution of textual instructions. Reading Tasks in the Textbook Reading tasks in English textbooks are intended to improve students' reading comprehension and language fluency by encouraging understanding, critical thinking, and practical application of reading abilities. According to Nunan (2004), reading tasks frequently demand students to engage with texts through comprehension, interpretation, and production activities. These exercises help students acquire skills such as recognizing key concepts, understanding details, drawing conclusions, and assessing textual material, all of which correspond with learning objectives and promote active learning (Barrett, 1972). Textbook reading comprehension tasks sometimes include three levels of comprehension questions: (1) Literal comprehension questions focus on plainly presented Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 102 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) material, demanding retention and understanding of facts (Heilman et al., 1981), (2) Inferential Comprehension focus on questions that encourage pupils to draw inferences and extract implicit meanings, (3) Critical or evaluative comprehension refers to questions that require critical examination, assessment, and integration of the text with prior knowledge (Clymer, 2008). These questions are used to structure assignments in textbooks, guaranteeing congruence with particular learning objectives and students' cognitive growth. Textbooks often feature a range of reading tasks, each of which is intended to teach certain components of reading comprehension. The following are frequently used types of reading tasks. 1. Pre-Reading Tasks: Prepare students by activating prior knowledge and introducing key concepts (Grabe & Stoller, 2002). 2. While-Reading Tasks: Focus on understanding main ideas and details during the reading process (Nunan, 2003). 3. Post-Reading Tasks: Assess comprehension and encourage reflection through summarizing or critical analysis (Ur, 1996). Material and Method This study uses the content analysis method to examine the types of questions in reading activities in the English textbook Work in Progress for grade X. Content analysis is a systematic approach to categorizing and interpreting large amounts of text data to identify patterns and meanings (Miles et al., 2014). This method was chosen because it is very suitable for analysing the types of questions in textbooks and assessing the extent to which they are in line with aspects of reading comprehension. This analysis will include text and visual content, including diagrams and illustrations contained in the questions. The context of this study is reading comprehension in the context of the Junior High School curriculum in Indonesia, especially the 2022 Merdeka Curriculum. Work in Progress, an English textbook for grade X, contains various types of questions that test students' reading comprehension. This textbook was chosen because it is officially used in Indonesian high schools under the most recent curriculum framework and is intended to improve students' English skills via a variety of reading tasks. The study focuses on this textbook to see how well its reading comprehension questions correlate with important characteristics of comprehension abilities. By assessing the question types offered in Work in Progress, this study hopes to shed light on how well the textbook promotes students' cognitive engagement and reading growth. This study will examine how these types of questions align with five aspects of reading comprehension: main idea, vocabulary, explicit information, implicit information, and references. The indications for each aspect are described as follows: (1) Main idea refers to students' ability to determine a text's central theme or purpose; (2) Vocabulary assesses how well students understand word meanings in context; (3) Explicit information evaluates students' ability to locate directly stated details; (4) Implicit information assesses students' ability to make inferences based on textual evidence; and (5) References identify how students recognize pronoun or noun referents in a passage. These indicators provide a framework for categorizing and assessing the reading comprehension questions. The data source for this study was taken from the Work in Progress textbook for grade X, published by the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. This book is divided into six chapters and covers a variety of themes. The reading tasks contain both written and visual questions. This textbook was selected based on its official use in Indonesian high schools and its connection to the 2022 Merdeka Curriculum. This book consists of six chapters and covers various topics complemented by reading activities that include written and visual questions. This study focuses on the questions in the reading activities and their relevance to aspects of reading comprehension. The data collection technique used in this study was document analysis. The researcher accessed the Work in Progress textbook and identified the types of questions in the reading activities. These questions were then categorized based on their type (e.g., multiple choice, true/false) and Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 103 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) compared to five aspects of reading comprehension (main idea, vocabulary, explicit information, implicit information, and references). Relevant data were recorded and organized in a notebook for further analysis. The data analysis process followed the interactive model proposed by Miles et al. (2014). This data analysis consisted of three main stages: first, data reduction, namely the researcher reviewed the textbook and selected relevant data, categorized the questions according to their type, and the aspects of reading comprehension to be tested. Second, data presentation, namely the selected data, was arranged in a table to show the types of questions and the extent to which they were relevant to aspects of reading comprehension. Third, concluding, namely, researchers draw conclusions based on the analysed data, verify the suitability of the types of questions with aspects of reading comprehension, and summarize the research findings. These conclusions are then compared with existing literature and used to provide recommendations to educators and textbook publishers. These results were then compared with current research to examine whether the textbook successfully improves reading comprehension development. Additionally, the research includes recommendations for educators and textbook publishers based on the findings. Results and Discussion Result In the reading section of the six chapters in the Work in Progress textbook, there were 16 reading tasks containing a variety of questions. These exercises were analyzed based on the types of questions presented, highlighting the distribution and frequency of each question type. The analysis aims to determine how the selected question types align with different aspects of reading comprehension and provide insights into their potential effectiveness in enhancing students’ reading comprehension. Table 1. Question Types in Reading Tasks in “Work in Progress” Textbook No Question Types Total Percentage 1 True or False 6 7.59% 2 Multiple Choice 0 0% 3 Cloze Procedure 0 0% 4 Open-Ended 35 44.30% 5 Rearrangement Item 2 2.53% 6 Scanning 0 0% 7 Skimming 0 0% 8 Gap Filling 5 6.33% 9 Information Transfer 6 7.59% 10 Following Direction 0 0% 11 Matching 8 10.13% 12 Word Underline 0 0% 13 Classification Diagram 0 0% 14 WH Questions 9 11.39% 15 Yes or No Questions 8 10.13% Total 79 100% In the reading section of the six chapters in the Work in Progress textbook, there are 16 reading tasks containing various types of questions based on 15 pre-defined categories. Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 104 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) Among them, Open-ended questions appear most frequently with 35 occurrences (40.33%), followed by WH Questions with 9 occurrences (11.39%), and Matching and Yes or No Questions with 8 occurrences (10.13%). Other question types, such as True or False and Information Transfer, with 6 occurrences (7.59%), Gap Filling with 5 occurrences (6.33%), and Rearrangement Items with 2 occurrences (2.53%). However, several question types, including Multiple Choice, Cloze Procedure, Scanning, Skimming, Following Directions, Word Underlining, and Classification Diagrams, are completely absent from the analyzed reading tasks. This suggests that although the textbook emphasizes certain question types, it lacks variety in other question types, particularly developing scanning and skimming skills, classification and diagram interpretation, following written directions, vocabulary and word recognition, and multiple-choice questioning. The absence of these question types raises concerns about whether the textbook adequately develops students’ diverse reading comprehension skills. Evaluating how these limitations may impact students' reading proficiency can provide useful insights for further improvement. In this case, these types of questions include Open-Ended Questions, WH Questions, Matching, Yes or No Questions, True or False, Information Transfer, and rearranging items. Open-ended Questions encourage students to provide more free answers based on their opinions or interpretations of the text, such as "What is the main idea of the text?". WH Questions ask students to provide specific answers based on information in the text, for example, “Why do you think people feel the need to lose weight?”. Matching asks students to match statements with relevant information from the text, for example, "Match the statements with the correct information based on the text.". Furthermore, yes or No Questions require students to provide a "Yes" or "No" answer to a certain statement or question, which aims to measure students' specific understanding of the information presented in the text. True or False questions ask students to evaluate statements based on the text and determine whether they are true or false. For example, in the activity that asks, "The following activities can maintain your mental health," students are asked to mark the "True" or "False" column according to the information they understand from the reading. Moreover, Information Transfer involves the ability to identify, infer, and transform information from one form to another, such as “In rule number 5, “Eat at the Dining Table, Not in Your Car or at Your Desk,” the word ‘this’ sentence “Following this rule also reduce the chances of eating when you are bored,” refers to__”. Gap Filling involves filling in missing words to complete sentences based on the information provided, such as "Complete the following sentences with ONE word from the text.". Meanwhile, Rearrange Items questions direct students to rearrange the text or certain sections to fit a logical order. This kind of activity helps students understand the structure of the text in depth. In conclusion, Table 1 shows the various types of questions used in the reading tasks in the Work in Progress textbook. These types of questions include Open-Ended Questions, WH Questions, Matching, Yes or No Questions, True or False, Information Transfer, and rearranging items. Each type of question is designed to measure students' understanding of the text differently, such as asking for specific information, giving opinions, filling in missing words, or assessing the truth of information. This variation helps students understand the text more thoroughly and deeply. Table 2. Aspect of Reading Comprehension in “Work in Progress” Textbook No Aspects of Reading Comprehension Total Percentage 1 Main Idea 10 19.23% 2 Locating References 12 23.08% 3 Word Meaning 6 11.54% 4 Making Inferences 7 13.46% Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 105 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) 5 Detail Information 17 32.69% Total 52 100% Based on the table, the analysis of reading comprehension aspects in the Work in Progress textbook shows the following distribution, Main Idea (MI) appears ten times (19.23%), Locating References (LR) appears twelve times (23.08%), Word Meaning (WM) appears six times (11.54%), Making Inferences (MIN) appears seven times (13.46%), and Detail Information (DI) appears seventeen times (32.69%). The aspect that appears most often is Detail Information (DI), while the Word Meaning (WM) aspect is the least explored. Table 1.2 provides examples of questions from the Work in Progress textbook grouped according to reading comprehension aspects. The questions are classified into five main aspects, namely Main Idea (MI), Locating References (LR), Word Meaning (WM), Making Inferences (MIN), and Detail Information (DI). In Chapter 1, questions such as "What is the main idea of the text?" test the Main Idea aspect because they ask students to understand the main idea of the text. In addition, the question "What is the function of the picture in relation to the verbal text?" reflects the Locating References aspect, where students need to connect visual references or pictures with verbal text. In Chapter 4, the question "‘Stop Eating Before You Are Full,’ the word ‘satiated’... can be best replaced by what word?" tests the Word Meaning aspect because students are asked to find synonyms for a particular word in the context of the sentence. In Chapter 2, there are questions such as "How do you think the writers can help you to do active reading using your five senses?" which reflects the Making Inferences aspect because students need to conclude how the text helps readers use all five senses when reading. In addition, the question "Are there any parts of the writer’s experience in watching the game that are similar to yours?" tests the Detail Information aspect, where students are asked to find and identify certain details from the text. Discussion Question Types of Reading Tasks in “Work in Progress” The analysis of reading tasks in Work in Progress indicates a wide variety of question forms that promote various degrees of understanding. The distribution of various question types, however, is not perfectly balanced, with some occurring more frequently than others. This difference affects students' level of engagement with the text and their ability to acquire complete reading abilities. This study demonstrates how organized questioning tactics improve children's reading development by assessing the existence and function of each question type. Open-ended Questions were the most frequently used question type, appearing in 44.30% of the total questions, followed by WH Questions with 9 occurrences (11.39%), and Matching and Yes or No Questions with 8 occurrences (10.13%). Other question types, such as True or False and Information Transfer with 6 occurrences (7.59%), Gap Filling with 5 occurrences (6.33%), and Rearrangement Items with 2 occurrences (2.53%). However, several question types, including Multiple Choice, Cloze Procedure, Skimming, Scanning, Following Directions, Word Underlining, and Classification Diagrams, are completely absent from the analyzed reading tasks. This is in line with Tovani's (2011) statement in Spencer et al. (2020) that questioning is an important skill to maintain student engagement in reading complex texts and encourage active learning. In this case, the presence of WH Questions and Open-Ended Questions in textbooks shows an effort to encourage student engagement. However, the results of the analysis also show that the lack of variation in question types can limit students' opportunities to develop other skills, such as finding specific information through skimming or scanning. Moreillan (2007) said that emphasizing the importance of questioning as a primary method in reading and critical thinking also supports this finding. The analysis shows that although some question types, such as WH Questions, have been used to support student engagement, the absence of question types such as Multiple Choice or Cloze Procedure can Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 106 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) limit the development of students' skills in dealing with texts with higher complexity. This is proven in the analysis, where not all aspects of literal, inferential, and evaluative questions, as proposed by Gutiérrez Fresneda & Planelles Iváñez (2022), are covered in textbooks. The results of this study are in line with studies conducted by Laila & Fitriyah (2022), Fahmi (2023), and Sakinah & Fudhla (2023), which all analyzed the types of reading comprehension questions in textbooks. However, unlike previous studies that focused on analyzing levels of thinking (LOTS, MOTS, and HOTS) based on certain taxonomies such as Bloom or Barrett, this study prioritizes the analysis of the relationship between question types and aspects of reading comprehension, such as determining main ideas, understanding vocabulary, and making inferences. Thus, the results of this study complement previous studies by providing a perspective that is more focused on the cognitive aspects of reading comprehension than on the general level of thinking. Aspects of Reading Comprehension in “Work in Progress” In this analysis of the Work in Progress textbook, it was found that certain aspects of reading comprehension, particularly Detail Information, are more prominently emphasized. In contrast, others, such as Word Meaning and Making Inferences, are less frequently addressed. This observation aligns with the framework proposed by Nuttall (2000), who identifies five key areas of reading comprehension: determining the main idea, locating references, understanding vocabulary, making inferences, and detailing information. According to Nuttall, these five aspects are integral for developing a comprehensive understanding of a text, and each contributes uniquely to a student's ability to process and retain information from the material (Xu & Durgunoğlu, 2020). The prevalence of the detailed information aspect in the Work in Progress textbook, which appeared most frequently (32%), supports the importance of extracting specific facts and details from the text. This focus on DI is consistent with Nuttall's assertion that detailed comprehension is essential for fully grasping a text's content. As noted in the textbook analysis, questions that target detailed information help students practice extracting relevant details, thus strengthening their overall reading comprehension. However, the Word Meaning aspect, which appeared the least frequently (11%), is an area where the textbook may need improvement. This is in line with Sharpe (2006), who emphasizes that vocabulary mastery is crucial for effective reading comprehension. According to Sharpe, understanding the meaning of words in context allows students to make predictions and understand the material more efficiently. The lack of focus on WM in the Work in Progress textbook suggests that students may not be receiving enough practice in this area, which could hinder their ability to fully comprehend the texts they are reading. This analysis also highlights the uneven coverage of reading comprehension aspects across different chapters. For example, Chapter 1 predominantly focuses on word meaning and detailed information, with less attention given to making inferences. In contrast, Chapter 2's Rearrangement Items question type emphasizes Main Idea and Locating References, while Word Meaning is underexplored. These inconsistencies reflect the need for a more balanced approach to addressing all five comprehension aspects across the textbook. As Nuttall (2000) and other experts such as Sharpe (2005) have suggested, reading comprehension is a multifaceted process that requires attention to all of these aspects to support students' understanding and engagement with the text. Therefore, to enhance the development of students' reading comprehension, it is recommended that the textbook include a more balanced variety of question types that address all five aspects equally. This would provide students with more opportunities to strengthen their vocabulary skills, make inferences, and engage with the text in a deeper, more meaningful way, ultimately supporting a more comprehensive approach to reading comprehension. Unlike previous studies that focus on cognitive levels like HOTS, LOTS, and MOTS (Laila & Fitriyah, 2022; Sakinah & Fudhla, 2023), this study emphasizes analyzing how various question types align with the five aspects of reading comprehension, including determining the main idea, locating references, understanding vocabulary, making Septy Okta Alfiana, et. al., 2025 Alignment of Question Types with Reading Comprehension Aspects 107 | V o l . 9 , N o . 1 , 2 0 2 5 ( 9 9 - 1 1 0 ) inferences, and detailing information (Nuttall, 2000). This approach aligns with Nuttall's framework, where each aspect of reading comprehension is connected to specific types of questions rather than classifying them based on cognitive difficulty. In this way, the research seeks to highlight the effectiveness of question types in enhancing students' understanding of the text, focusing on their alignment with comprehension strategies rather than their cognitive complexity. Conclusion Analysis of the Work in Progress textbooks revealed significant imbalances in both the diversity of question types and coverage of reading comprehension aspects. In terms of question types, Open-ended Questions were the most frequently used question type, appearing in 44.30% of the total questions, followed by WH Questions with 9 occurrences (11.39%), and Matching and Yes or No Questions with 8 occurrences (10.13%). Other question types, such as True or False and Information Transfer, with 6 occurrences (7.59%), Gap Filling with 5 occurrences (6.33%), and Rearrangement Items with 2 occurrences (2.53%). However, several question types, including Multiple Choice, Cloze Procedure, Skimming, Scanning, Following Directions, Word Underlining, and Classification Diagrams, are completely absent from the analyzed reading tasks. This limited diversity limits students’ exposure to a range of reading strategies, potentially hindering their development in key skills such as skimming, scanning, and text classification. Similarly, coverage of reading comprehension aspects was uneven. While Detailed Information (DI) was emphasized, appearing in 32.69% of assignments, important aspects such as Word Meaning (WM) and Making Inferences (MIN) were significantly underrepresented, with coverage of only 11.54% and 13.46%, respectively. This suggests an overemphasis on literal comprehension at the expense of inferential skills and vocabulary, which are essential for deeper comprehension and critical thinking. In conclusion, while the textbook provides a foundation for teaching reading comprehension, its limited variety in question types and unbalanced focus on comprehension aspects highlight areas for improvement. A more comprehensive approach that includes a wider range of question types and a balanced distribution of reading comprehension aspects would better equip students to develop a variety of reading strategies and cognitive skills. The findings suggest that teachers who rely on the Work in Progress textbook should supplement it with additional materials or activities to address gaps in question types and comprehension aspects. Teachers can design tasks that encourage skimming, scanning, and vocabulary enrichment to ensure that students acquire comprehensive reading skills. In addition, collaboration between curriculum developers and textbook authors is essential to create instructional materials that are aligned with the Merdeka Curriculum while addressing all five aspects of reading comprehension. By ensuring a balanced representation of question types and comprehension aspects, the textbook can better support students in developing the cognitive and analytical skills necessary for academic success and real-world application. Acknowledgment The researcher wishes to express sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed to this study, especially those who gave vital ideas and assistance during the research process. Their support and helpful input were critical in finishing this piece. References Aldossari, A. T. (2021). Creative Thinking Skills Included in the Content of Evaluation Questions in the Curricula of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 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