Introduction
As teachers we inevitably ask questions all the time to gain what knowledge our students have and what they have learnt from us. This would include questions such as:-
Why Ask Questions?
Teachers ask questions for a variety of purposes, including:
- To actively involve students in the lesson
- To increase motivation or interest
- To evaluate students’ preparation
- To check on completion of work
- To develop critical thinking skills
- To review previous lessons
- To assess achievement or mastery of goals and objectives
- To stimulate independent learning
In general, research shows that instruction involving questioning is more effective than instruction without questioning.
One important finding is that questions that focus student attention on important elements of a lesson result in better comprehension than those that focus on unusual or interesting elements. Questions should also be structured so that most elicit correct responses.
Throughout our teacher training days, we have traditionally classified questioning according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, a hierarchy of increasingly complex intellectual skills.
However, over a period of time this has been adapted in various ways, such as ‘Thinking Hats’, but the basic concept still remains the same.
Types of Questions
There are many types of questions but the main ones are normally focused around 6 areas:-
- Knowledge – so students can recall data or information
- Comprehension – students can understand meaning
- Application – students can use a concept in a new situation
- Analysis – students can separate concepts into parts; distinguish between facts and inferences
- Synthesis – students can combine parts to form new meaning
- Evaluation – students can then make judgments about the value of ideas or products
Some researchers have simplified classification of questions into lower and higher cognitive questions. Lower cognitive questions (fact, closed, direct, recall, and knowledge questions) involve the recall of information. Higher cognitive questions (open-ended, interpretive, evaluative, inquiry, inferential, and synthesis questions) involve the mental manipulation of information to produce or support an answer.
Question: Which type of questioning do you normally lean towards within your own classroom practice?
How many questions and when?
- How many questions should a teacher ask?
- At what point during the lesson?
- Who do you normally direct your questions to?
Frequent questioning has been shown to be positively related to learning facts, but simply asking a greater number of questions does not facilitate the learning of more complex material. Just as with higher cognitive questions, it may be necessary to include explicit instruction to promote student learning of complicated concepts.
Teachers often pose questions prior to reading. Research shows that while this strategy is effective for older students, those with high ability, and those interested in the subject matter, it is not as effective for younger students and poor readers, who tend to focus only on the material that will help them answer the questions.
The most commonly used questioning methods are the least effective.
Take for example the “volunteers” approach: you ask a question; hands go up; you choose someone to answer; they answer; you comment on that answer.
Question: What is wrong with this?
- Many students keep their hands down, and may not even listen to your questions.
- You only learn whatone student thinks, not how all the rest would have answered.
- Students don’t discuss their answers and correct each others’ misconceptions.
- The best students answer quickly, so there is little time for the others to think out their own answers.
You can of course choose a series of students to answer without using ‘hands up’, this is the ‘nominees’ approach. But:
- This can be scary for many students.
- A student who has just answered will guess that it will be ages before you ask them again. So they may stop listening.
- You still don’t know what the majority of students think.
Compare these very common approaches with the much more effective “Assertive Questioning” approach (see redirecting section).
Wait-Time
Wait-time is another crucial factor in questioning techniques. Wait-time can be defined as the amount of time a teacher allows to elapse after he or she has posed a question. (A less frequently used and researched definition is the amount of time that a teacher allows to elapse before responding after a student stops speaking.) While traditional wisdom advocates a brisk pace of instruction to maintain interest and cover more material, research shows that slowing slightly to include more wait-time promotes achievement.
In the classrooms studied, the average wait-time after a question was posed was one second or less. Students perceived as slow or poor learners were afforded less wait-time than students viewed as more capable. This amount of wait-time is not sufficient for students, particularly for those that experience difficulty.
Studies show that for lower cognitive questions, a wait-time of three seconds is most effective in terms of achievement. Shorter or longer times were less positively correlated with student success.
For higher cognitive questions, no wait-time threshold was observed. Researchers noted that students seemed to become more engaged and successful the longer the teacher waited (within reason, of course).
Increased wait-time is related to a number of student outcomes, including improved achievement and retention, greater numbers of higher cognitive responses, longer responses, decreases in interruptions, and increased student-student interactions. These outcomes are quite similar to those observed with an increased frequency of higher cognitive questions. In fact, researchers believe that a causal relationship may exist between the two: higher cognitive questions require more wait-time, and more wait-time allows for the implementation of higher cognitive discussions.
Redirecting, Exploring and Responding
A teacher’s response to students’ answers is just as important as the question asked. A response may redirect students when an incorrect answer is given or students misinterpret the question. Teachers may probe for further explanation when a partial answer is given.
You get the best representative feedback on understanding if you ask questions like:
‘Why did your group think that?’
‘Did any other groups get that answer?’…’Why?’
‘Has anyone got a different answer?’ ….’Why?
Acknowledging correct responses is necessary and effective especially to students that respond well to praise.
Bouncing questions from one students to another is also an effective strategy in building upon the main question but also ensuring that students understand the question in the first place.
Assertive Questioning
With Assertive Questioning:
- All students are thinking – “the teacher might choose me”.
- All students are talking and checking each others’ thinking – they need to agree an answer with its reasoning. Group members will be cross if one of their number misrepresents their group’s answer to the class. So peer-pressure increases participation.
- You get detailed and representative feedback on all the class’s thinking, and can eventually correct misconceptions before they take root.
- There is lots of thinking time.
- Students are usually very comfortable to give answers, as they are answering for their group not as an individual.
Thought provoking questions – Buzz Group
Buzz groups work on a thought provoking question. The teacher asks individuals to give their group’s answer. These individuals are nominated by the teacher. The teacher gets a number of answers saying just ‘thank you’ after each, and perhaps ‘why did your group think that?’. The correct answer is not given away. The teacher then encourages the class to discuss these various answers, and to agree, and justify a ‘class answer’. Minority views are allowed, but the aim is consensus. Only when the class has agreed its answer, does the teacher ‘give away’ the right answer. The teacher reviews the class’s thinking.
Conclusion
How can teachers make use of these findings? Teachers often have little training in questioning techniques, so being familiar with the research is a good place to start. Improving in this area requires a reflective and metacognitive approach. For example, teachers may choose to:
- Plan and write out the questions to be used in a lesson. How many are lower cognitive questions? Higher cognitive questions? Is the percentage appropriate for the age and ability level of your students?
- Anticipate possible student responses, especially partially correct or incorrect ones. How will you probe for further information or redirect?
- Ask a colleague to observe a lesson, paying particular attention to the types of questions and student responses. Meet to discuss the observations and plan for improvement.
- Videotape yourself teaching a lesson. When you watch, record your wait-time for each question. Also note if you provide longer wait-times to certain students. Or examine your feedback. Are you specific and focused on the students’ responses?
- Seek out resources and professional development that can help you improve your questioning techniques. If possible, start a study group with colleagues.
Further Resources
Geoff Petty Questioning.
Research
Geoff Petty
Prof John Hattie’s