Effective Questioning and

Reacting Techniques
C hildren go to school as
question marks and leave
school as periods
Neil
Postman
Focus Questions:

❖ For a highly interactive class, what are the various

types of questions asked?

❖What are some questioning skills that teachers should

develop to generate interaction?

❖How can a teacher improve his/he questioning skills?

❖What are some effective reacting techniques?

 A study was once conducted to find out how teachers ask
questions. This was observed in a Grade 6 science class. A
tape recorder was hidden under a demonstration table. She
conducted a discussion of the lesson for forty minutes.

She was able to ask 29 questions, all of which are of the

“what” type. Maybe they were all answered. They were simple
recall.

Has the teacher developed the pupils’ thinking

skills?
 The kind of questions we ask determine the level of
thinking we develop. Low level questions demands low level
responses. They require responses of the simple recall or memory
type answers.

Examples:

What was the temperature range yesterday?

What insects transmit dengue fever?

What part of the plant serves as its factory?

We ask questions based on purpose:

1.For assessing cognition

-to determine one’s knowledge in understanding
-promote high level thinking
-use divergent questions and open ended
inquiries that call for analysis and evaluation

Examples:

What is likely to happen if the ozone layer of the

atmosphere continues to deteriorate?

Why does is sound heard louder when und er water than

out of it?
 2. For verification
--to determine the exactness or accuracy of the result of
an activity or performance,

Examples:

Was the weight of liquid displace exactly the same as the

weight of object immersed in it?

Why is lightning seen before the thunder is heard?

 3. For creative thinking
--to probe into one’s originality,

Examples:

How will you present the layers of the earth to your

classmates?

Simulate the eruption of Mt. Mayon.

How can you demonstrate soil less gardening?

Notice that the question or the direction asks the pupils to

present their own ideas or new ways of doing things.
4. For evaluating
--to elicit responses that include judgment, value, and
choice
-it also asks personal opinion about an event, a policy or a
person

Examples:

Was your classmates’ slide presentation well done?

 5. For productive thinking
--includes cognitive reasoning
-analyses facts,
-recognizes patterns or trends
-invokes memory and recall
-
Examples:

How can we apply the concept of the least common

multiple in other situaitons?
 6. For motivating
-to arouse the interest of students and focus attention
-situating the students in the right mood.

Examples:

How would you like to know how your favorite flower

can remain fresh longer?

Did you ever train a pet?

Can perpendicular lines be intersecting lines?

 7. For instructing

-asking useful information

-directs, guides and advise on what and how to do an
activity
Examples:

What are the steps in solving problems?

Questions can either be low or high level

Low level questions

-include memory questions or those that require simple
recall

Example:
Define energy.
State the first Law of Motion
High level questions
-call for the respondent’s ability to analyze, evaluate, and
solve problems

Examples:
What is the relation between the distance of a planet and
its period of revolution?

Why does temperature rise toward noontime?

Why is repeated addition the same as multiplication?

Divergent questions
-require the respondents to think in different directions
-to think of alternative actions
-arrive at own decision
-to arrive at several possible answers

Examples:

Why are you voting them?

What will happen if you leave it under direct sunlight
for a week?
Questioning Skills

Class interaction is dependent on the questioning skills.

What questioning skills should teachers ask in order to
generate maximum interaction among the students?

1. Ask varying types of questions

2. Ask non-directing questions
3. Call in non-volunteers
4. Rephrasing
5. Sequencing logically
6. Requiring abstract thinking
7. Asking open-ended questions
8. Allowing for sufficient wait time
 Convergent /closed question:
- They give you facts.
- They are easy and quick

to answer.
- They keep control of the conversation with the
questioner.

Note: They should be used with care – too many closed

questions can cause frustration and shut down conversation.
Asking varying type of questions

Ask convergent, divergent and evaluating questions.

Convergent questions are closed questions that have only

one correct answer.

Convergent questions are mostly closed questions that can

be classified as:
a. Yes/no questions
b. Answerable by a single word or short phrase

(What is the process of food manufacture that takes in

plant called?)
Divergent Questions
-open questions and may have more than one acceptable
answer.
- They ask the student to think and reflect.

- They will give you opinions and feelings.

- They have control of the conversation to the respondent.
-useful in getting anotherperson to speak. ( The one
who asks the questions are likely to receive a long
answer, that’s why they can provide a good deal of
I information)
-Sometimes they are statements : “ tell me about” , “
give me an example of”
 2. Yes / No Questions
( Closed
Questions ) :
Evaluative
questions are
(What is you evaluation of our manner of divergent
election in the country?)
questions that
require judgment
A tag question is an example of an evaluative questions. It is a
concerning the
statement followed by a mini-question whether it is positive or
subject focus.
negative. The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the mini-
question at the end is called a "question tag".

We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for

confirmation. They mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do you
agree?" They are very common in English.
 5. Inference Questions:

Inference questions are forms of divergent questions that require the

respondents to give the inferences and assumptions based in passages
read or heard. The main goal of the questions is to assess the ability of
the learners to go beyond what is on the page. It’s not unusual to face
two or more inference questions in each passage.

Ex. They went out at 6.

They came back at 10

How long did they stay out?

 Techniques of asking a question:

The Default: 2. The Volunteer:

A s k a question A s k a question

Pause Pause
Call on a student Wa it for a raised
hand

Master this Use f or

technique concept ual
and use it y chal
as your enging
standard questions.
 A s k a question As k a question

Pause Pause

“ Any body ” “ Every body “

Use f or Use f or simple

concept ual y chal but important
engingquestions and points that
when you need a everyone should
fast answer know
When a student asks a question:

*Clarify it , if necessary.

* Whenever possible, help the student answer the

question himself.

* Ask other students to answer the question.

* Defer until later, if possible.
* Answer it yourself, only as a last resort…
* But, never let a student’s question
go unanswered.
When a student says ( I don’t
know)

As A General
Rule

Don’t Let Them Off The

Hook!
 Task 5
What are the characteristics of a good question?

Short
Properly Directed Thought Provoking

Common A good unambiguous

Vocabulary question
should be Relevant

Comprehensive
Related to the objectives

Straight forward
Clearly stated
 effective questioning should :
1. Reinforce and promote the learning objectives.

2.Include “staging” questions to draw pupils towards key

understanding or to increase the level of challenge in a lesson as it
proceeds.

3. Involve all pupils.

4. Engage pupils in thinking for themselves.

5. Promote justification and reasoning.

6. Create an atmosphere of trust where pupil’s opinions and ideas
are valued.

7. Show connections between previous and new learning.

8. Encourage pupils to speculate and hypothesize.

9. Encourage pupils to ask as well as to “receive” questions.

10.Encourage pupils to listen and respond to each other as well as

to the teacher.
 General Strategies For Asking Questions:

1. When planning questions, keep in mind your lesson goals.

2. Avoid asking leading questions.

3. Follow a “ yes” or “ no “ question with an additional question.

4.When you plan each class lesson, include notes of when you
will pause to ask and answer questions.

5.Ask a mix of different types of questions and use keywords of

questioning like: Who, Why, What, Where, When…. .
6. Wait for students to think and formulate responses.

7. Encourage students to ask questions at any time.

8. Scatter questions over the entire class.

9.Pose questions within the ability of the student to whom

the question is addressed.

10. Ask students to give complete answers.

11. Do not permit frequent group responses.

12. Avoid asking questions that can be answered by guessing.

As a
summary……
Good questioning is a
major determinant of
the success of
teaching.