Reciprocal Questioning, Questioning to Increasing Understanding, and Reflective Questioning

Reciprocal Questioning

Student reciprocal questioning refers to an interactive verbal dialogue that begins initially with guidance from a facilitator but progresses to self-regulation by the student him/herself. The facilitator may be an instructor, a tutor, or another student.

The reciprocal questioning process may be divided four components. The first involves summarization of the information. This is followed by clarification of the information. The third component is generation of questions based on the information. Prediction during verbal interaction between and among the facilitator and student(s) is the fourth component.

Verbalization by students, independently or with the help of a facilitator, encourages renewal, reorganization, and clarification of new material. Asking questions encourages oral rehearsal and rethinking of new material. These forms of dialogue are internalized by students over time, so that he/she may question him/herself without the use of a facilitator.

Studies indicate that reciprocal questioning encourages students to give more high-level elaboration responses to questions and discourages low-level elaboration responses (King 1990). Webb (1989) found that when students were trained in question generation , reciprocal peer questioning increased comprehension of new material. Reciprocal questioning by peers provides a context that guides students in constructing knowledge-based ideas that are accurate and well elaborated. Palinscar and Brown (1984) determined that guided questioning encourages explanations and elaborated responses among peers, and that students gradually perform more like the facilitator model over time.

Questions to Increase Understanding

The following sample questions focus on thinking skills and are intended to increase student understanding of information. The questions are divided according to the cognitive skills they target (Dr. Judy Van Voorhis, Education Department, Muskingum College).

Observing and Recalling

• What did/do you notice about this _____ ?
• What did/do you feel/see/hear/smell _____ ?
• What do you remember about ____ ?
• What did you find out about _____ ?
• How did _____ ?

Relationships, Summarizing, Organizing, and Retelling

• Tell me in your own words how _____ ?
• What's another way we could say/explain/express that?
• How are these similar/different?
• Which ones do you think belong together? Why do you think these belong together? Why don't the others belong?
• What happened to cause _____ ?
• What things/events lead up to _____ ?

Predicting, Inferring, and Anticipating

• What do you think are some reasons/causes that _____ ?
• What feeling do you think made _____ act as he/she did?
• If _____ were changed, what do you think would have happened/would not have happened? Why do you think it would have happened? Why do you think it wouldn't have happened?
• What do you think happened before/yesterday/earlier/when _____ ?
• Judging from the title/picture, what do you think is about/is going to happen?

Reflective Questioning

The purpose of reflective questions is to encourage students to think carefully about material and to process information in new ways. Examples of reflective questions, adapted from King (1992) are provided below.

• What is the main idea of _____ ?
• How does _____ affect _____ ?
• What is the meaning of _____ ?
• What is a new example of _____ ?
• Explain why _____ ?
• Explain how _____ ?
• What conclusions can be drawn from _____ ?
• What is the difference between _____ and _____ ?
• How are _____ and _____ similar?
• How would I use _____ to _____ ?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of _____ ?
• What is the best _____ and why?
• This idea is important because _____ .