A checklist to effective questioning

When teaching English, classroom interaction is a key element in order to develop students' language abilitites. In order to promote this interaction teachers have to use questions all the time for different purposes. The use of questions happen through all the different instances of an English lesson because they allow the teacher to elicit information that can help identify students' needs, opinions, levels of achievement, preferences, and so on. How can teachers be sure that the questions they ask are of real value for their students?

Penny Ur (2012), in her book "A course in English Language Teaching," presents a simple checklist that can easily guide treachers in the construction and discrimination of the type of questions they ask, This classlist can refine the questions used to promote interaction in the classroom and at the same time maximize students' responses and demands on their practice of English. The following chart shows the checklist:

Adapted from Penny Ur (2012) "A course in English Language Teaching"

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Let's analize how the next two quetions adjust to the checklist:

"what are three things you like to do on your vacationS?"

Comment The question seems clear. Then, talking about vacations should be a topic of interest to most of the students. If the teacher has considered that students are capable of answering the question at the level of proficiency they have, then accessibility is covered. The question requires from students to answer with at least three activities which means that the  demmands of the question are clear, This question might have learning value if it is used to elicit some previous knwoldege, or if it is used to culminate a lesson about vacation activities. We take for granted that teacher's reaction would be appropriate when students are stating their ideas.

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do you like to eat dates?

Comment: The use of the word 'dates' could immediately confuse students if they are nor familiar with this very low frecuency vocabulary about and unusual dry fruuit. Most might think of dates as a romantic meeting. As for interest, this question seems to be very valuable if students are developing English related to the very specifc field of gastronomy. Due to the level required by the key word 'date', this question might not be accessible to all studebnts. The answer in Yes/No questions is usually rectricted to an affirmative or negarive response which lowers both the level of answer and the learning value. Even if we take for granted a supportive reaction of the teacher, this might be limited by the fact that the students' response will be a simple yes or no taking away the possibility to continue a long conversation.

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It is clear that having a amore defined criteria as the one presented by Ur can help teacher make better decissions on the questions they ask and refine their questions when planning lesson.