**This article came from a
handout I received in one of my child development
classes.
I have no idea who the author is.**
Key Points about
Questions:
1. When adults ask children rapid questions, one right
after another, they often follow-up with more questions
before children have a chance to respond. Waiting 3-5
seconds for an answer gives children time to collect
their thoughts and tells them that you are interested in
hearing a thoughtful and reflective reply.
2. When adults take the lead in questioning, they often
dominate the conversation, making it difficult for
children to participate in turn taking and in selecting
topics that hold their interest.
3. Many questions adults ask go unanswered; when
children respond, they tend to give brief answers.
4. Open-ended questions or creative questions, rather
than close-ended questions, are questions calling for
many possible answers, all of which might be reasonable
or correct.
5. Recasting questions as comments or statements enables
adults to demonstrate interest in children without
pressuring them to answer.
Assumptions about Close-Ended
and Open-Ended Questions:
| Close-Ended
|
Open-Ended
|
|
Asks for one
correct answer; usually only one answer is
possible. |
Many answers may be
possible. |
|
Elicits one word or short phrase. |
Elicits elaborated response. |
|
Often heard as a test question asking for
information known to the questioner. |
Communicates interest in child; not as likely to
be heard as a test question or probe for correct
reply. |
|
Gives children little to work with in thinking
of what else to say. |
Offers children opportunities to practice
selecting topics. |
|
