Questioning techniques
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June 27, 2021
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Questioning techniques (15/07hrs)
• Purpose of teacher’s questions:
Opportunity/impetus to produce language
Initiate chain reaction and speech interaction
Immediate feedback about student comprehension, i.e. teacher can use student responses to
diagnose linguistic or content difficulties.
to provide a model for language thinking
• Type of questions: have been classified according to different criteria:
What kind of thinking is involved-plain recall, analysis, evaluation?Genuine or display questions.
Closed or open.
convergent/divergent questions
• Criteria for effective questioning:
Clarity.
Learning value
Interest
Availability, i.e. can most of the students try to answer it?
Extension –does it invite and encourage extended and varied answers
Teacher reaction. Are the learners sure that their responses will be related to with respect Pair
Questioning techniques
Definition of questioning
A question is any sentence which has an interrogative form or function. In classroom
settings, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli that convey to students
the content elements to be learned and directions for what they are to do and how they are to
do it.Questioning is the strongest tool at a teacher's disposal as it teaches students how to
think. Teachers ask hundreds of questions everyday many of which are concerned with recall
of textbook information; few questions require students to think beyond a level of recall.
Some questions are designed to clarify matters of classroom procedure. Questioning is
naturally a two sided affair. Not only is it that teachers put forth questions but equally
students are involved in the process through the responses they offer.
Questions are the most common form of interaction between pupils and teachers.
Questioning is the key means by which teachers
find out what pupils already know
identify gaps in knowledge and understanding
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Purposes of Questioning
Give immediate feedback on pupils’ understanding, which can then be used by the
teacher to modify the teaching.
Help pupils to develop their thinking from the lower order concrete and factual recall
type to the higher order analytical and evaluative which promote deeper
understanding. When you will ask the question to the class, students fully
concentrates in this way their thinking power develop, they will get more knowledge.
This in turn leads to greater motivation and improved engagement.
By asking question, students are motivated for learning, when you will put a question
to the class. If a student give correct answer he will feel confidence and try to learn
more and more.
Prompt pupils to inspect their existing knowledge and experience to create new
understandings. Articulating understanding helps to clarify it and improves the
likelihood that it will be retained.
Focus pupils on the key issues and enable teachers and pupils to see progress over
time.
Model for pupils how experienced learners seek meaning- moving them towards
greater independence.
To develop interest and motivate students to become actively involved in lessons.
It is true fact that students some time physically present in the class but some are not
present in the class mentally, to obtain attention of such student you can put question
to the class. Very simply when you are teaching in the class, to find out interest of
student, you should put a question to the class
To evaluate students’ preparation and check on homework or seatwork completion
To develop critical thinking skills and inquiring attitudes
To review and summarize previous lessons
To nurture insights by exposing new relationships
To assess achievement of instructional goals and objectives
When you finished your lesson or topic you should put questions to the class. You
should judge the class or student that how much they attained knowledge. How much
they familiar their topic this is only done by asking questions
To stimulate students to pursue knowledge on their own
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Method of questioning
Question should frequently be addressed to the whole class in pleasant, friendly, easy
and conversational manner. The correct method is:
Ask Pause Nominate Listen RepeatQuestions should be put to the class.
If you want to ask a question you should put it to whole the class. Do not nominate a
student. If you ask a question from a nominated student, the other will definitely not
concentrate, participate and show interest.
There should be a pause for thinking
When you have put a question to the class, you should give a time to the students to
think about question, to recall their memories, in this way they can reply a good
answer. If you do not give a pause then they will confuse.
Nominate someone to answer the question
You should nominate someone to answer the question. In this way the whole class
will listen the answer and the student will compare their own answer with the given
answer.
Repeat the correct answer
If a student, give a correct answer you should repeat the answer, in this way those
students will listen correct answer who, were not listening and they will compare their
own answers, which were in their minds
If the answer is not correct provide them with a correct answer.
If a nominated student does not give a correct answer or near to the correct answer
you should provide them a correct answer. In this way they will gain correct answer
and information.
Give appreciation to the students.
If student gives a correct answer you should give appreciation, you should encourage
him. In this way he will try to gain more knowledge.
Questioning techniques
Plan key questions to provide lesson structure and direction
Phrase questions clearly and specifically.
Adapt question to student ability level.
Ask questions logically and sequentially.
Ask questions at a variety of levels.
Follow up student response.
Give students time to think when responding.
Use questions that encourage wide student participation.
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Type of questions
Type of questions have been classified according to different criteria.
Factual – Soliciting reasonably simple, straight forward answers based on obvious
facts or awareness. These are usually at the lowest level of cognitive (thinking) or
affective (feeling) processes and answers are frequently either right or wrong.
Example: Name the Shakespeare play about the Prince of Denmark?
Convergent – Answers to these types of questions are usually within a very finite
range of acceptable accuracy. These may be at several different levels of cognition —
comprehension, application, analysis, or ones where the answerer makes inferences or
conjectures based on personal awareness, or on material read, presented or known.
While these types of questions are valuable in exercising mid-level cognitive thinking
skills, it is quite easy to expand students’ cognitive processes even higher by adding
another layer to these questions whereby teachers ask students to justify their answers
in light of the evidence offered or the inferences made.
Example: On reflecting over the entirety of the play Hamlet, what were the main
reasons why Ophelia went mad? (This is not specifically stated in one direct
statement in the text of Hamlet. Here the reader must make simple inferences as to
why she committed suicide.)
Divergent – These questions allow students to explore different avenues and create
many different variations and alternative answers or scenarios. Correctness may be
based on logical projections, may be contextual, or arrived at through basic
knowledge, conjecture, inference, projection, creation, intuition, or imagination.
These types of questions often require students to analyze, evaluate, or synthesize a
knowledge base and then project or predict different outcomes.
Answering these types of questions may be aided by higher levels of
affective thinking as well — such as valuing, organization, or characterization.
Responses to these types of questions generally fall into a wide array of acceptability.
Often correctness is determined subjectively based on the possibility or probability of
the proposed answer. The intent of these types of questions is to stimulate
imaginative, creative, or inventive thought, or investigate “cause and effect”
relationships.
Example: In the love relationship of Hamlet and Ophelia, what might have
happened to their relationship and their lives if Hamlet had not been so obsessed with
the revenge of his father’s death?
Evaluative – These types of questions usually require sophisticated levels of
cognitive and/or emotional (affective) judgment. In attempting to answer these types
of questions, students may be combining multiple cognitive and/or affective processes
or levels, frequently in comparative frameworks. Often an answer is analyzed at
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
multiple levels and from different perspectives before the answerer arrives at newly
synthesized information or conclusions.
Examples:
a. How are the deaths of Ophelia and Juliet the same and yet different? (Compare and contrast.) b. What are the similarities and differences between Roman gladiatorial games and modern football? c. Why and how might the concept of Piagetian schema be related to the concepts presented in Jungian personality theory, and why might this be important to consider in teaching and learning?➢ The major types of questions fall into four categories:
Managerial: questions which keep the classroom operations moving;
Rhetorical: questions used to emphasize a point or to reinforce an idea or statement;
Closed: questions used to check retention or to focus thinking on a particular point;
Open: questions used to promote discussion or student interaction.
(Source: P. E. Blosser. (1975). How to Ask the Right Questions. National Science Teachers Association)
➢ Closed-Ended Questions
If you can answer a question with only a "yes" or "no" response, then you are answering a
closed-ended type of question.
Examples of closed-ended questions are:
Are you feeling better today?
Will you please do me a favor?
Have you already completed your homework?
Is that your final answer?
Can I help you with that?
Would you like to go to the movies tonight?
Is math your favorite subject?
Does four plus four equal eight?
➢ Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions are ones that require more than one word answers. The answers could
come in the form of a list, a few sentences or something longer such as a speech, paragraph or
essay.
Here are some examples of open-ended questions:
What were the most important wars fought in the history of the United States?
What are you planning to buy today at the supermarket?
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
How exactly did the fight between the two of you start?
What is your favorite memory from childhood?
What do you plan to do immediately following graduation from college?
What was your high school experience like?
What sights do you expect to see on your vacation?
What were the major effects of World War II for the United States?
What is the matter with the people in that class?
Where are you going to find the time to write all those letters?
Following is a list of question types we can use to analyze our questioning strategies and
develop a variety of questions to help students think.
I. Probing Questions
Series of questions which require students to go beyond the first response. Subsequent
teacher questions are formed on the basis of the student's response.
Types:
Clarifying
▪ "What, exactly do you mean?"
▪ "Will you please rephrase your statement?"
▪ "Could you elaborate on that point?"
▪ "What did you mean by the term. . .?"
Increasing Critical Awareness
▪ "What are you assuming?"
▪ "What are your reasons for thinking that is so?"
▪ "Is that all there is to it?"
▪ "How many questions are we trying to answer here?"
▪ "How would an opponent of this point of view respond?"
Refocusing
▪ "If this is true, what are the implications for . . . ?"
▪ "How does John's answer relate to . . . ?"
▪ "Can you relate this to . . . ?"
▪ "Let’s analyze that answer."
Prompting
Teacher: "John, what's the square root of 94?"
John: "I don't know." Teacher: "Well, what's the square root of 100?"
John: "Ten." Teacher: "And the square root of 81?" John: "Nine."
Teacher: "Then what do we know about the square root of 94?"
John: "It's between nine and ten."
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Redirecting to Another Student
Teacher: "What is the theme of Hemmingway's 'Old Man and the Sea'?"
Sam: "It's about an old man's courage in catching a fish."
Teacher: "Mary, do you agree?"
or: "Mary, do you think it's that simple?"
or: "Mary, can you elaborate on Sam's answer?"
II. Factual Questions
Questions which require the student to recall specific information she/hehas previously
learned. Often these use who, what, when, where, etc.
Types:
Simple Bits of Information
▪ "Who was the leader of the Free French forces during W.W.II?"
▪ "Who is the main character in Margaret Mitchell's novel, Gone With
The Wind?"
▪ "During which century did Shakespeare live?"
▪ "What is the Spanish verb meaning to run?"
Facts Organized into a Logical Order (Sequence of Events)
▪ "What are the steps a bill goes through before it becomes a law?"
▪ "How were the American and French forces able to bottle up Cornwall
and the British at Yorktown?"
▪ "How did Robinson Crusoe react when he discovered footprints in the
sand?"
▪ "What is the commercial method for producing hydrochloric acid?"
III. Divergent Questions
Questions with no right or wrong answers, but which encourage exploration of possibilities.
Requires both concrete and abstract thinking to arrive at an appropriate response
▪ "What might happen if Congress passes a law preventing the manufacture and
sale of cigarettes in the United States?"
▪ "How would the story have been different if John had been a tall, strong boy
instead of disabled?"
▪ "If you were stuck on a desert island and the only tool you had was a
screwdriver, what use might you make of it?"
▪ "In what ways would history have been changed had the Spanish Armada
defeated the English in 1588?"
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
IV. Higher Order Questions
Questions which require students to figure out answers rather than remember them. Requires
generalizations related to facts in meaningful patterns.
Types:
Evaluation: Requires judgment, value or choice based upon comparing of ideas or
objects to established standards.
▪ "Which of the two books do you believe contributed most to an
understanding of the Victorian era? Why?"
▪ "Assuming equal resources, who would you rate as the most skillful
general, Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant? Why?
Inference: Requires inductive or deductive reasoning
Inductive: Discovery of a general principle from a collection of specific facts.
Deductive: Logical operation in which the worth of a generalization is tested
with specific issues.
▪ "We have examined the qualities these world leaders have in common.
What might we conclude, in general, about qualities necessary for
leadership? Why?" (Inductive)
▪ "If the temperature of the gas remains the same, but gas is taken to an
altitude of 4000 feet higher, what happens to the pressure of the gas?
Why?" (Deductive)
Comparison: Requires student to determine if ideas/objects are similar, dissimilar,
unrelated, or contradictory.
▪ "Is a mussel the same thing as a clam?"
▪ "What similarities and differences exist between Lincoln's Gettysburg
Address and Pericles' Funeral Oration?"
▪ "What is the connection between Social Darwinism and the Supreme
Court actions of the late nineteenth century?"
Application: Requires student to use a concept or principle in a context different from
that in which she/he learned it.
Concept = Classification of events/objects that have common
characteristics.
Principle = A relationship between two or more concepts.
▪ "How was Gresham's Law demonstrated in the Weimer Republic of
Germany?"
▪ "Can you think of an example to fit this definition?"
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HND_EN2117_ELTM_Questioning techniques _Note by Lecturer M.A. Inoka Kumari
Problem-solving: Requires a student to use previously learned knowledge to solve a
problem. Students must see relationships between knowledge and the problem,
diagnose materials, situations, and environments, separate problems into components
parts, and relate parts to one another and the whole. This question may generate
answers the teacher hasn't anticipated.
▪ "Suppose you grow up with the idea that dogs were bad. Out of the many
dogs you came into contact with, none bit you when you were quite
young. How would you react towards dogs now? Would the type, size,
etc., of the dog make any difference as to how you react? Explain the
notion of prejudices using this example."
V. Affective Questions
Questions which elicit expressions of attitude, values, or feelings of the student.
▪ "How do you feel about that?"
▪ "Is that important to you?"
▪ "Would you like to . . . ?"
VI. Structuring Questions
Questions related to the setting in which learning is occurring.
▪ "Are there any questions?
▪ "Any further comments?"
▪ "Is the assignment clear?"
▪ "Would you repeat that?"
▪ "Are we ready to continue?
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