QUESTIONING STRATEGIES

PLANNING QUESTIONS
Effective questioning sessions in classroom require advance preparation. While some
instructors may be skilled in extemporaneous questioning, many find that such
questions have phrasing problems, are not organized in a logical sequence, or do not
require students to use the desired thinking skills.
-Questioning strategies are useful to instructors for effectively planning class
participation activities, for designing homework assignments, and for writing exams.
The strategies help instructors to match their goals or objectives for an assignment
with the actual components of the assignment.
Levels and types of questions
Questioning should be used to achieve well-defined goals. An instructor should ask
questions that will require students to use the thinking skills that he or she is trying to
develop. Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical system for ordering thinking skills from
lower to higher, where each level requires a student's mastery of the skills below it. It
is not essential that an instructor be able to classify each question at a specific level.
The taxonomy is introduced as a tool which is helpful for defining the kinds of
thinking skills instructors expect from students and for helping to establish
congruence between the instructor's goals and the questions he or she asks. People
often refer to "lower-level" and "higher-level" questions or behaviors, rather than
assigning a specific level to those questions or behaviors. Lower-level questions are
typically at the remember, understand, and apply levels of the taxonomy and are most
appropriate for:
• evaluating students' preparation and comprehension
• diagnosing students' strengths and weaknesses
• reviewing and/or summarizing content

Higher-level questions involve the ability to analyze, evaluate, or create, and are most
appropriate for:
• encouraging students to think more deeply and critically
• problem solving
• encouraging discussions
• stimulating students to seek information on their own

Typically, an instructor would vary the level of questions within a single class period.
For example, an instructor might ask the higher-level question, "How can style of
writing and the thesis of a given essay be related?" If she gets inadequate or incorrect
student response to that
question, she might ask lower-questions to check whether students know and
understand the material. For example, she might then ask, "What is the definition of
thesis statement?" or "What are some characteristics of different writing styles?"

In addition to asking questions at various levels of the taxonomy, an instructor might

consider whether he is asking closed or open questions. A closed question is one for
which there are a limited number of acceptable answers, most of which will usually
be anticipated by the
instructor. For example, "What is the definition of an adjective?" An open question is
one for which there are many acceptable answers, most of which will not be
anticipated by the instructor. For example, "What is an example of an adjective?"
Both open and closed questions may be used at any level of the taxonomy:

https://www.redhookcentralschools.org/cms/lib/NY01000233/Centricity/Domain/
3/Bloom.pdf
LOW LEVEL QUESTIONS – emphasizes memory and simple recall of
information. Usually such questions focus on facts and details. These questions
usually start with WHO, WHAT, WHEN, AND WHERE. 
Ex. What is...? Who was it that...? Can you name...?
HIGH LEVEL QUESTIONS – type of questions that go beyond simple recall
and factual information. Higher order questions are what we use for Critical
Thinking and Creative Problem Solving.
Ex. Can you see a possible solution to...?What is your opinion of...? What would
happen if...?

STEPS FOR PLANNING QUESTIONS

• Decide on your goal or purpose for asking questions. Your goal should help you
determine what levels of questions you will ask.
When planning questions, we should keep in mind our course goals. For example, do
you want students to master core concepts? To develop their critical thinking skills?
The questions you ask should help them practice these skills, as well as communicate
the facts, ideas, and ways of thinking that are important to their learning in your
course.
• Select the content for questioning. Choose material which you consider important
rather than trivial. Students will study and learn based on the questions you ask. Do
not mislead them by emphasizing less important material.

• Ask questions that require an extended response or at least a "content" answer.

Avoid questions that can be answered "yes" or "no" unless you are going to follow
with more questions to explore reasoning.
Ask open-ended questions. Open-ended questions work best for engaging students in
discussion, as they offer the opportunity for debate. Avoid asking leading questions,
those that prompt or suggest the answer, and yes/no questions. If a yes/no question is
warranted,a follow-up question should be provided to encourage students to critically
evaluate the material and engage in discussion.
• Until you are quite skilled at classroom questioning you should write your main
questions in advance. This is called "scripting." Arrange your list in some logical
sequence (specific to general, lower level to higher level, a sequence related to
content). Should you think of additional or better questions during the questioning
process, you can be flexible and add those or substitute them for some of your
planned questions.
However, having a prepared list of questions will help to assure that you ask questions
appropriate for your goals and representative of the important material.
• Phrase your questions so that the task is clear to students. Questions such as
"What about foreign affairs?" do not often lead to productive answers and discussion.
"What did we say about chemical bonding?" is too general unless you are only
seeking a review of any material the students remember.
• Your questions should not contain the answers. Avoid implied response questions
when you are genuinely seeking an answer from the class. A question such as "Don't
we all agree that the author of the article exaggerated the dangers of agent orange to
strengthen his viewpoint?" will not encourage student response.
• When planning your questions, try to anticipate possible student responses.
Anticipating student responses should help in your planning by forcing you to
consider whether the phrasing is accurate, whether questions focus on the goal you
have in mind, and whether you have enough flexibility to allow students to express
ideas in their own words.

You might consider the following:

o What are some typical misconceptions that might lead students to incorrect
answers?
o Am I asking an open or closed question?
o What type of response do I expect from students, a definition? Example?
Solution?
o Will I accept the answer in the students' language or am I expecting the textbooks'
words or my own terms?
o What will my strategy be for handling incorrect answers?
o What will I do if students do not answer?

HANDLING STUDENT RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

An important aspect of classroom interaction is the manner in which the instructor
handles student responses. When an instructor asks a question, students can either
respond, ask a question, or give no response.

Show interest in all answers. Encourage students when they are offering answers by
nodding, looking at them, and using facial expressions that show you are listening.

Strategies to use when students respond

• Reinforcement: The instructor should reinforce student responses and questions in
a positive way in order to encourage future participation. The instructor can reinforce
by making positive statements and using positive nonverbal communication. Proper
nonverbal responses include smiling, nodding and maintaining eye contact, while
improper nonverbal responses included looking at notes while students speak, looking
at the board, or ruffling papers.

Show interest in all answers. Encourage students when they are offering answers by
nodding, looking at them, and using facial expressions that show you are listening.
Simple words like “very good” and “excellent” will motivate the learners to
participate in the discussion.

The type of reinforcement will be determined by:

o The correctness of the answer. If a student gives an answer that is off-target or
incorrect, the instructor may want to briefly acknowledge the response, then think of
ways to help the student provide a correct answer. The instructor could use strategies
such as probing, paraphrasing, or asking the question in a different way.

Redirect and guide wrong answers towards a correct one. For example, note that the
student’s answer overlooks the most important conclusion of the study you are
discussing, then ask that same student to try to recall what that conclusion is. If he or
she does not recall the conclusion, open this question up to the class.
o The number of times a student has responded. Instructors may want to provide a
student who has never responded in class with more reinforcement than someone who
responds often. Be sure to vary reinforcement techniques between various verbal
statements and nonverbal reactions. Try not to overuse reinforcement in the classroom
by overly praising every student comment. Students begin to question the sincerity of
reinforcement if every response is reinforced equally or in the same way.
-teachers should encourage learners especially those who doesn’t participate that
much because sometimes, learners are very shy and hesitant with their answers so
teachers must encourage those learners to participate.
• Probing: The initial response of students may be superficial. The instructor needs to
use a questioning strategy called probing to make students explore initial comments.
Probes are useful in getting students more involved in critical analysis of their own
and other students' ideas.
Probing questions are intended to encourage deep thought on a particular topic. They
are usually open-ended questions, which means the responses are mostly subjective.
Probing questions are designed to encourage critical thinking as well as to elicit the
respondent's own views and feelings about a particular topic.
Probes can be used to:
o Analyze a student's statement, make a student aware of underlying
assumptions, or justify or evaluate a statement.Instructor: What are some ways we
might solve the energy crisis? Student: I would like to see a greater movement to
peak-load pricing by utility companies. Instructor: What assumptions are you making
about consumer behavior when you suggest that solution?
o Help students deduce relationships. Instructors may ask students to judge the
implications of their statements or to compare and contrast concepts.
Instructor: What are some advantages and disadvantages of having grades given in
courses?
Student 1: Grades can be a motivator for people to learn.
Student 2: Too much pressure on grades causes some students to stop learning,
freeze, go blank.
Instructor: If both of those statements are true, what generalizations can you make
about the relationship between motivation and learning?
o Have students clarify or elaborate on their comments by asking for more
information. Instructor: Could you please develop your ideas further? Can you
provide an example of that concept? Student: It was obvious that the crew had gone
insane.
Instructor: What is the legal definition of insane?
Student: It was a violation of due process.
Instructor: Can you explain why?
• Adjust/Refocus: When a student provides a response that appears out of context,
the instructor can refocus to encourage the student to tie her response to the content
being discussed. This technique is also used to shift attention to a new topic.
Instructor: What does it mean to devalue the dollar?
Student: Um—I'm not really sure, but doesn't it mean that, um, a dollar doesn't go as
far as it used to? Does that mean it's devalued?
Instructor: Well, let's talk a little bit about another concept, and that is
inflation. How does inflation affect your dollar?

Strategies for responding to student questions

There are many ways in which an instructor can respond to questions from students.
However, all strategies begin with this important step: Listen to the student's question.
After you are certain that you understand the question, be sure that other students
have heard and
understood the question. Then proceed with one of the following strategies:
•Answer the question yourself. This strategy is best when you have little time
remaining in class. The disadvantage of this approach is that you do not encourage
student-to-student interaction or independent learning.
-Because you are the teacher, you know the lesson more than anyone else in the
classroom so answering the question yourself is the best way for students to know the
exact answer to their question. But yeah, The disadvantage of this approach is that
you do not encourage student-to-student interaction or independent learning.
• Redirect the question to the class. This strategy helps to encourage student-to
student interaction and to lessen reliance on the instructor for all information.
These questions are merely asking a follow-up question to the one that was just asked.
Basically, these questions are intended to help guide students to the correct answer by
prompting them to consider why the question was asked and to try and understand
their instructor's thinking. As a result, if they understand the purpose of the question,
they will most likely be able to find an answer. Redirection is like answering a
question with a question.
• Attempt to help the student answer his own question. This may require
prompting through reminders of pertinent previously learned information. Or this
strategy may require you to ask the student a lower-level question or a related
question to begin his thought process. The advantage of this strategy, as in redirecting,
is that the student may learn the process of searching for answers to his own questions
rather than relying on the teacher. The risk is that the process can be embarrassing or
so threatening that the student will be too intimidated to ask questions in the future.
Obviously some human compassion is called for when using this strategy.
-By doing this, you are allowing your student to find answer in his own question. You
will not spoon-feed the answer so it will help the learners to not rely too much in their
teachers. They will learn how to find answers in their own questions.
• Ask the student to stop after class to discuss the question. This strategy is most
appropriate when a student raises complicated, tangential questions or when a student
is obviously the only one who does not understand a point and a simple answer does
not clarify it for the student. Even in these situations there are risks in using this
strategy.
Students may be intimidated from raising questions in class. The instructor may think
that only the questioning student does not understand when actually a number of
students are having the same problem.
• Refer the student to a resource where she can find the answer.
-We can ask our students to watch a certain video or give a reading material that
will help them find the answer to their question.
• Defer the question until a more appropriate time if the question is not
connected to the material you're covering. Be sure to note the question and the
student, and to return to the question at a more appropriate time. No matter which
strategy you use you should return to the student after addressing the question and
determine whether the response has satisfied the student. If you don't know the
answer to a student question never fake an answer.

Admit that you cannot answer the question and then select one of these strategies or
others you find appropriate:
• Ask whether someone in the class can answer the question. Most times after class
you should follow this with an attempt to determine whether the information provided
was accurate or based on sound reasoning and credible sources.
• Either propose a plan for obtaining evidence for answering the question or ask the
students to suggest how the question could be investigated.
• If possible, suggest a resource where the student can find information. The resource
may be written material, another faculty or staff member, a student, or someone from
the community.
• Volunteer to find the answer yourself and report back to the class. Make sure you
actually do return with the answer if you choose this option.

Strategies to use when students don't respond

• Redirect: When a student responds to a question, the instructor can ask another
student to comment on his statement. One purpose of using this technique is to enable
more students to participate. This strategy can also be used to allow a student to
correct
another student's incorrect statement or respond to another student's
question.
-An example of this is when a teacher ask a question like for example,the teacher
asked the students about "What is the theme of Hemmingway's 'Old Man and the
Sea'?"

Student 1 answered: " Ma’am It's about an old man's courage in catching a fish."

The teacher will redirect the question to another student by calling someone in the
class like for example, "Juan, do you agree with your classmate’s answer?" "Juan, can
you elaborate on your classmate’s answer?"

Instructor: Ali, do you agree with Mark's comment?

Instructor: From your experience, Aisha, does what Vito said seem true? Instructor:
Li, can you give me an example of the concept that Pat mentioned?
• Rephrasing: This technique is used when a student provides an incorrect response
or no response. Instead of telling the student she is incorrect or calling upon another
student, the instructor can try one of three strategies:

The instructor can try to reword the question to make it clearer. The question may
have been poorly phrased.
Instructor: What is neurosis?
Student: (No response)
Instructor: What are the identifying characteristics of a neurotic
person?
o The instructor can provide some information to help students come up with the
answer.
Instructor: How far has the ball fallen after 3 seconds?
Student: I have no idea.
Instructor: Let's break down the question, Ann. How do we measure
distance?
o The instructor can break the question down into more manageable
parts.
Instructor: What is the epidemiology of polio?
Student: I'm not sure.
Instructor: What does "epidemiology" mean?
• Using "wait time": One factor that can have powerful effects on student
participation is the amount of time an instructor pauses between asking a question and
doing something else (calling on a student or rewording the question). Research on
classroom questioning and information processing indicates that students need at least
three
seconds to comprehend a question, consider the available information, formulate an
answer, and begin to respond. In contrast, the same research established that, on
average, a classroom teacher allows less than one second of wait-time.

After teachers were trained to allow three to five seconds of wait-time the following
significant changes in their classrooms occurred (from Rowe, 1974):
• The number of students who failed to respond when called on decreased.
• The number of unsolicited but appropriate responses increased.
• The length of student responses increased.
• The number of student statements where evidence was used to make inferences
increased.
• The number of responses from students identified by the teacher as less able
increased.
• The number of student-to-student interactions increased.
• The number of student questions increased.

Allowing wait-time after a student response or question also produced significant

changes in classroom interaction. The most notable change was that the instructor
made fewer teaching errors characterized by responding illogically or inappropriately
to a student comment.
On the other hand, too much wait-time can also be detrimental to student interaction.
When no one seems to be able to answer a question, more wait-time will not
necessarily solve the problem. Experts say that waiting more than 20-30 seconds is
perceived as punishing by
students. The amount of wait-time needed in part depends upon the level of question
the instructor asks and student characteristics such as familiarity with content and past
experience with the thought process required.

Source:
Illinois Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. (2020). Questioning strategies.
Teaching and Learning. https://citl.illinois.edu/citl-101/teaching-
learning/resources/teaching strategies/questioning-strategies