4. Purposes of Questions:
1. Arouse interest and curiosity
2. Review content already learned
3. Stimulate learners to ask questions
4. Promote thought and the understanding of
ideas
5. Change the mood/tempo, direction of the
discussion
6. Encourage reflection and self – evaluation
7. Allow expression of feelings
5. Types of Questions:
I. According to thinking process involved:
a. low – level questions
– focus on facts
- do not test level of understanding or problem
solving skills
b. High level questions
– go beyond memory and factual information,
more advance, stimulating and more
challenging, involves abstraction and point of
view.
6. II. According to the type of answer required:
a. Convergent questions
- tend to have one correct and best answer.
- use to drill learners on vocabulary, spelling and
oral skills but not appropriate in eliciting
thoughtful responses.
- usually start with what, who, where and when
- are referred to as low level questions
- are useful when applying the inductive
approach and requires short and specific
information from the learners.
7. b. Divergent questions
- open-ended and usually have many
appropriate answer.
- reasoning is supported by evidence and
examples.
- associated with high level thinking processes
and encourage creative thinking and discovery
learning.
- usually start with how and why, what or who
followed by why
9. IV. According to questions used by
teachers during open discussion
a. eliciting questions – these are employed to:
1. encourage initial response
2. encourage more students to participate
in the discussion
3. rekindle a discussion that is lagging or
dying out
b. Probing question – seek to extend ideas,
justify ideas, and clarify ideas.
c. Closure – seeking questions – used to help
students form conclusions, solutions or plans for
investigating problems.
10. CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD
QUESTIONS
1. brief, clear and unequivocal
2. not be lifted from the book
3. suited to the age, experience and ability of
the students
4. deal with only one idea
5. vary in difficulty
6. applicable to all students
7. thought-provoking and challenging
8. are not self-answering
9. relevant to the lesson under discussion
10. in good grammatical form
11. GUIDELINES IN ASKING QUESTIONS
1. Wait time – the interval between asking a
question and the student response. This is a 3-
4 seconds think– time.
2. Prompting – uses hints and techniques to
assist students to come up with a response
successfully.
3. Redirection – involves asking of a single
question for which there are several answers.
12. GUIDELINES IN ASKING QUESTIONS
4. Probing – a qualitative technique used for
the promotion of effective thought and critical
thinking
- provides the students a chance to support and
defend a stand or point of view.
5. Commenting and prompting – used to
increase achievement and motivation.
13. TIPS ON ASKING QUESTIONS:
1.Ask questions that are:
- stimulating / thought provoking
- within students level of abilities
- relevant to students daily life situations
- sequential – a stepping stone to the next
- clear and easily understood
2. Vary the length and difficulty of the question.
3. Have sufficient time for deliberation.
4. Follow up incorrect answer.
14. TIPS ON ASKING QUESTIONS:
5. Call on volunteers or non–volunteers.
6. Call on disruptive students.
7. Move around the room for rapport/socialization.
8. Encourage active participation.
9. Phrase questions clearly.
10. Ask as many learner as possible to answer
certain question.
15. HANDLING STUDENT’S RESPONSES:
1. Show appreciation for any answer.
2. Wrong answers should never be allowed to
go uncorrected.
3. Giving appropriate praise for high quality
responses.
4. Following up a student’s response with
related questions.
5. Answering in chorus should not be allowed
by the teacher.
6. Student should recite to the whole class, not
to the teacher.
16. HANDLING STUDENT’S RESPONSES:
7. Students should be encouraged to observe
the correct grammar and answer in complete
sentence.
8. Show non-verbal encouragement.
9. Refrain from marking the student in the
record book during class recitation.
10. Teacher should be glad to welcome
questions.
11. Irrelevant and inane questions should not
be entertained.
17. HANDLING STUDENT’S RESPONSES:
12. Questions should be thrown first to the
whole class for an answer or discussion.
13. Questions should be in correct grammar or
in good language.
14. The teacher should honestly admit if he
does not know the answer to a question.
15. Very shy students should be encouraged to
write their questions anonymously and give
them to the teacher.
16. Allot appropriate time slot for open
questioning.
