The Flip Side of Questioning

Why do so many educators continue to strongly support the use of questions to promote classroom discussions? Even the Handbook of Effective Questioning Techniques suggests that teachers should use questions to "increase pupil talk" and "facilitate discussion" (Blosser, 1973). According to Dillon (1982), "Only in education are questions asked in the belief that they will stimulate thought and encourage expression" (p. 146). In fact, he goes so far as to claim that in other fields, "Questions are [considered] a very good means to keep [italics added] people from talking" (p. 136). Yet, we teachers relentlessly ask question after question in the hope of promoting our students' thinking and facilitating classroom discussions. Dillon asserts that "experts" in education have based their belief that questioning is an important teaching strategy on "conventional wisdom" or "presumptive knowledge" and not on research findings. Therefore, perhaps we should examine research and the practice of questioning as reported in other disciplines.