Effective Questioning
and Classroom Talk
Prof Nour-eddine El Moujahdi
CRMEF
• To develop learning &
higher order thinking,
promoting imagination,
speculation, creative
thinking & to pitch a
suitable challenge level
• Asking questions is natural and intuitive. Teachers ask questions from the start of the lesson until
the end. Asking questions forms part of any lesson because it invites the student to think, and even
within a ‘lecture’ style lesson, rhetorical questions are used to invite silent agreement or begin the
organisation of ideas to present a response. Research suggests teachers ask over 400 questions a
day.
• Teachers use questions to engage the students and sustain an ‘active’ style to the learning. The
teacher also uses questions as part of the assessment of learning in order to determine how they
best structure, organise and present new learning. However, research has found that many
teachers wait only for 0.9 seconds before seeking an answer. Developing questioning approaches,
requires much greater emphasis on the time provided for students to think individually,
collaboratively and deeply to enable them to develop answers and to share better answers. This
will improve their thinking and engagement.
• Historically, teachers have asked questions to check what has been learnt and understood, to help
them gauge whether to further review previous learning, increase or decrease the challenge, and
assess whether students are ready to move forward and learn new information (factual checks – ie
‘Closed’ questions). This can be structured as a simple ‘teacher versus the class’ approach (Bat and
Ball), where the teacher asks a question and accepts an answer from a volunteer, or
selects/conscripts a specific student to answer. These approaches are implicit in any pedagogy, but
teachers need a range of ‘Open’ questioning strategies to address different learning needs and
situations. Teachers must also pitch questions effectively to raise the thinking challenge, target
specific students or groups within the class.
• This guidance informs teachers how to pre-plan their questions and select approaches for
promoting classroom talk; prepare their ‘open’ and ‘high-challenge’ questions; pre-determine the
level and type of challenge they wish to set, who they will target and how they will target specific
groups in the classroom.
How and why do we use Questions and Talk
in the classroom?
Teachers use questioning as part of their teaching for many reasons, but often to:
maintain the flow of the learning within the lesson;
engage students with the learning;
assess what has been learned, and check that what has been learnt is understood and
applied;
test student memory and comprehension;
to initiate individual and collaborative thinking in response to new information;
seek the views and opinions of pupils;
provide an opportunity for pupils to share their opinions/views, seeking responses from
their peers;
encourage creative thought and imaginative or innovative thinking;
foster speculation, hypothesis and idea/opinion forming;
create a sense of shared learning and avoid the feel of a ‘lecture’;
challenge the level of thinking and possibly mark a change to a higher order of thinking;
model higher order thinking using examples and building on the responses of students.
Questioning approaches
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Thinking Time: Provide time between Prompts depth of thought
Consciously waiting for a setting the question and and increases levels of
pupil or class to think requiring an answer. challenge. Ensures all
through an answer (before Sometimes alerting pupils pupils have a view or
you break the silence) e.g to the approach and the opinion to share before an
15-30secs time available to develop answer is sought.
an answer.
Time Out: Time provided for thinking Pupils have thinking time,
Time for thinking and and talking partners, actively think and
talking before seeking answers. collaborate to form
answers.
No Hands Questioning: Pupils aware that those Improves engagement and
Using the ‘no hands up’ required to give an answer, challenges all pupils to
rule will be selected by the think. When linked to
teacher. Teachers alert Thinking Time, pupils share
them to this as questions ideas and ‘position’ their
are asked. own views in relation to
Linked to ‘thinking time’. others.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Basketball questioning: Teacher establishes Engages more pupils. Stops
Move questions and movement of ideas and teacher being focus for all
discussions between pupils responses around the class. questioning.
Builds on other pupils’ ideas Develops connected thinking
and comments. Accepts and development of ideas.
‘half-formed’
ideas. NB not ‘ping-pong’
Conscripts and Volunteers: Teacher selects answers Enhances engagement and
Using a planned mix of from those who volunteer an challenge for all.
‘conscripts’ and ‘volunteers’ answer and an equal amount
of those who do not.
Phone a friend: Those who cannot answer Encourages whole-class
Removes stress to enable are allowed to nominate a listening and participation.
those who cannot answer to fellow pupil to suggest an Removes stress and
participate answer on their behalf, builds self-esteem.
but they still have to provide
their own answer, perhaps
building on this.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Hot-seating: A pupil is placed in the ‘hot- Encourages listening for detail
seat’ to take several and provides challenge
questions from the class
and teacher.
Mantle of the expert: A wears the cloak of the Builds self-esteem through
expert to answer questions opportunity to share detailed
from the class. knowledge.
Preview: Questions are Signals the big concepts and
Previewing questions in shared/displayed learning of the lesson
advance before being asked, or at the
start of the lesson.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Pair rehearsal: Pairs of pupils are able to Encourages interaction,
of an answer or a question discuss and agree responses engagement and depth
to questions together.
Eavesdropping: Listen in to group discussions Facilitates informed
Deploying specific targeted and target specific questions differentiation.
questions to groups and individuals.
5Ws: Teacher models the use of Encourages students to
Modeling simple exploratory Who, rehearse enquiry and
questions to gather What, Where, When and Why comprehension, can extend
information to set out a simple into reasoning and hypothesis.
information gathering Creates an inquisitive
response based on the disposition and a thinking or
information provided. self reflective approach to
learning.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Eavesdropping: Listen in to group discussions Facilitates informed
Deploying specific targeted and use this to target specific differentiation as
questions questions to particular teachers use what they
groups and individuals. overhear to modify planning
and further questioning.
High Challenge: Phrasing Questions must be pre- Provides high challenge
questions carefully to planned, as very difficult to thinking, requiring more
concentrate on Bloom’s invent during a lesson. Focus careful thought, perhaps
Taxonomy higher challenge questions to address collaborative thinking and
areas analysis, synthesis, certainly longer more
evaluation and creativity, detailed answers. For Able,
based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Gifted and Talented.
Staging or sequencing: Increasing the level of Helps pupils to recognise the
questions with increasing challenge with each range of possible responses
levels of challenge question, moving from low to and to select appropriately.
higher-order questioning
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Big questions: The setting of Big questions cannot be These questions develop deeper
a substantial and thought easily answered by students and more profound thinking. Big
provoking question when the question is posed. Questions are often moral issues
They are often set at the or speculative questions such as,
beginning of the lesson and Where are we from? How big is
can only be answered by the the universe? What is the
end of the lesson, using all of meaning of life?
the thinking based on all of They require extended answers
the contributions to the and usually rely on collaborative
lesson. thinking and a personal
interpretation of the information
provided.
Focus questioning: This will When students struggle to Develops confidence and the
help students to answer answer bigger or more sequencing of small steps in
bigger questions complex questioning, the thinking and response. Allows
teacher can model or lead students to reveal the stages in
the thinking by asking Focus their thinking.
questions to lead the student
through the steps of the
thinking.
Developing ‘Key’ Questions: Teachers encourage students Encourages students to form
to identify their own and prioritise the most essential
essential or ‘Key’ questions questions to be asked when
that should be asked. analysing information.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Signal questions: Providing signals to pupils The essence of purposeful
about the kind of answer that questioning, moving pupils
would best fit the question from existing knowledge or
being asked. Teacher experience (often unsorted or
responds to pupils attempt to unordered knowledge) to
answer, by signaling and organized understanding,
guiding the answers. where patterns and meaning
have been established.
Seek a partial answer: In the context of asking Excellent for building
difficult whole class questions, understanding from pupil-
deliberately ask a pupil who based language. Can be used
will provide only a partly to lead into ‘Basketball
formed answer, to promote questioning’. Develops self-
collective engagement. esteem, whilst moderating
the level of risk.
Strategy/approach Process Gains and benefits
Fat questions: Seeking a Pupils are not allowed to Develops speaking and
minimum answer answer a question using lessreasoning skills, the correct
than e.g. 15 words or using use of critical and technical
a particular word or [Link].
They must give an extended Fosters the phrasing of more
answer or make a complete extended or complex
sentence/phrase. sentences containing the
correct language or terms -
Essential for examination
preparation.
Skinny questions A In its simplest form, Challenge level is low in
traditional approach to Q&A students can answer yes or skinny questions that do not
asking everyday questions no to a skinny question, or seek and extended answer
with a fixed or specific give a number or knowledge or reasons for the answer.
answer Linked to ‘close’ based response. Mostly knowledge and
questioning comprehension based. Does
not develop thinking or
reasoning.
5xWs
Developing an independent questioning
mind
The Five Ws, also known as the “Five Ws and H”, is
a concept used in journalism, research and in any
basic investigation or interrogation of evidence.
Most consider this approach as fundamental when
examining any new learning situation. It is a
formula for developing speculative thinking and
establishing all we can deduce from the evidence
we have (text, stories, images, sound, film,
conversation etc). The maxim of the Five Ws (and
one H) is that any analysis of basic facts and
information is only complete, when we can answer
a checklist of six questions, each of which
comprises an interrogative word:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? & How?
The principle underlying the maxim is that each question should elicit a factual answer —
facts that are necessary to include for a report or when new learning can be considered
complete. Importantly, none of these questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or
"no". This approach ‘models’ simple, good thinking and it is important for children to
develop a disposition of self questioning starting with this set.
The technique uses basic question generating prompts provided by the English language.
The method is useful at any level from a formal checklist to complete informality.
For example:
For informal ‘rough-book’ use as a quick-aide checklist, as a private checklist to keep in
mind when in an on going discussion, as quick points scribbled down in a lesson, to
generate further questions for yourself or to raise in the lesson with your group/whole
class.
To generate data-gathering questions in any subject, during the early stages of problem
solving when you are gathering data, the checklist can be useful either as an informal or
systematic way of generating lists of question that you can try to find answers for.
To generate idea-provoking questions, whilst brain-storming, brain-writing or some other
such similar technique, the checklist could be used as a source of thought provoking
questions to help build on existing ideas.
To generate criteria, the checklist could help in generating criteria for evaluating options.
To check plans, the checklist is a useful tool for planning implementation strategies.
Adding IWWM – In What Way Might ….
NB: The 5xWs and How ‘question words’ owe their strength to
their fundamental place in the English language, and can conceal
some of the assets of nature that our language copes less well
with. The responses to these questions in the checklist may
usually be facts, rather than conclusions. Although they may be
speculations from emerging evidence or as a hypothesis forms.
You may well need to link these questions to Blooms Taxonomy if
you want to achieve the correct level of challenge or use IWWM.
For example, the answer to ‘Who does X?’ in a History lesson
context, the answer could be ‘King …’. To use this answer in a
problem-solving or conclusion finding context you may have to
take this to another level of challenge.
For example ‘OK – if King … does X, in what way might we
conclude this was a wise action by him and his court?
This ‘in what way might’ (IWWM) stage is crucial if the facts are
to come alive, engage all students in the thinking and contribute
to an effective, creative thinking process.
Questions Examples of Conclusions and Hypothesis
Who … ? I think it could be … or If that person is …,
it must be …
What … ? It could be … or It is likely that … happens
next.
Why … ? Because … or If … is so, then it must be
that …
When … ? Judging by … it probably is … or … tells me
it must be …
Where … ? This looks like … or By the surroundings it
must be …
How … ? I would think it is … or Because …, this
probably led to …
In What Way Might … ? I conclude that … or All the evidence
would suggest that …
Dialogic Teaching
Classroom Talk
“Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk
to stimulate and extend children’s thinking, and
to advance their learning and understanding. It
also enables the teacher to diagnose and assess.
Dialogic teaching is distinct from the question-
answer-tell routines of so-called ‘interactive’
teaching, aiming to be more consistently
searching and more genuinely reciprocal and
cumulative.”
Robin Alexander
Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk to engage children,
stimulate and extend their thinking, and advance the learning and
understanding. Not all classroom talk secures these outcomes, and
some may even discourage them. Dialogic teaching, therefore, is:
■ Collective: teachers and children address learning tasks together,
whether as a group or as a whole class;
■ Reciprocal: teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas
and consider alternative viewpoints;
■ Supportive: children articulate their ideas freely, without fear of
embarrassment over ‘wrong’ answers; and they help each other to
reach common understandings;
■ Cumulative; teachers and children build on their own and each
others’ ideas and chain them into coherent lines of thinking and
enquiry;
■ Purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific
educational goals in view.
Most teachers use a basic repertoire of three
kinds of classroom talk:
o rote
o recitation
o instruction/exposition
These provide the bedrock of a repertoire of
teaching by direct instruction, but some
teachers also use:
o discussion
o scaffolded dialogue
These all have their place in a thinking classroom, but Dialogic talk is part of a larger
repertoire, needed to ensure children are empowered both in their learning now and
later as adult members of society.
As part of their cognitive development, children need to acquire the capacity to:
■ narrate,
■ explain
■ instruct,
■ ask different kinds of questions,
■ receive, act and build upon answers
■ analyse and solve problems
■ speculate and imagine
■ explore and evaluate ideas
■ discuss
■ argue, reason and justify
■ negotiate
As part of a comprehensive classroom approach to talk for learning and empowerment,
teachers will need to engage with both of these repertoires, through:
Teacher-pupil interaction, Pupil-pupil interaction, Teacher-pupil one-to-one monitoring,
Questioning, Responses to questioning, Feedback on responses, Pupil talk.
The Language of Dialogic Learning
Developing the behaviours and
language for classroom talk
Developing appropriate Behaviour for Learning
• To develop dialogic, talking and learning behaviours, teachers
should set clear rules and model good thinking, learning and
talking approaches. It is also important to establish suitable
values for the classroom, to build confidence, enabling all to
participate fully, promoting tolerance and respect for the
views of others and the contributions of others.
• Good learning behaviours develop as a consequence of the
clarity of rules teacher set for good behaviour, the values they
set for pupils regarding self-management and interactions
with others, as well as promoting independent learning
characteristics such as questioning, speculative thinking, the
interest and motivation to learn more.
RULES FOR CLASSROOM
TALK
1. Respect each other’s ideas, views and opinions
One voice at a time
Say what you think
Say why you think it
2. Listen and reflect on what others say
3. Build on what others say
4. Support and include each other
5. Confidentially share partial ideas
6. Ask when you don’t understand
7. Try to reach an agreement
8. Seek clarity from each other
9. Speak calmly - be noise aware
Pre-plan questions
Teachers must pre-plan questions to ensure
pupils know what to talk about and they are well
supported and guided with information from
videos, web and multi-media content, subject
specific knowledge, key language, learning
scaffolds, supporting stimulating and engaging
collaborative activities.
THANK YOU