Background: The growing population of students that are learning science through a Content and Language Integrated Learning approach (CLIL) has led to concerns about these students' ability to fully participate in a rich classroom discourse to develop content knowledge. A lack of information about science development through classroom discourse in…

"Accountable Talk" begins with students thinking out loud about a complex problem that requires collaboration: noticing something about the problem, questioning a surprising finding, or articulating, explaining, and reflecting upon their own reasoning. The teacher works to elicit a range of ideas, which may be incomplete. With teacher…

To be effective, thinking skills interventions are likely to require specific fine-grain changes in the quantity and quality of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil dialogue in the classroom, but these are difficult to establish. This study investigated the effects of collaborative philosophical enquiry over time on quantity and quality of interactive…

Argues that questions can guide the course of knowledge acquisition and that they, combined with other factors, can create the figure and ground of text. (FL)

Art lessons can teach concepts and develop students' self-confidence when they are encouraged to discuss their work. Activities and suggested questions are offered. (DF)

Describes a method for enhancing students' abilities to answer comprehension questions that categorizes questions according to the source of the information required for the answer. (FL)

Most of our language use involves asking and answering questions, and in the second language classroom such exchanges tend to be rare. When there are opportunities for sharing, the teacher usually asks all the questions and the student answers. Some strategies that give students more practice in asking questions include: letting them devise and…

The ideas in this mini-brochure are intended for teachers interested in creating opportunities for students to pose questions during literature-based discussions. The brochure suggests that a child-centered approach to questioning is a highly motivating way to conduct discussions because students of all reading abilities can participate. The…

All language teachers, even those committed to teaching language in context, must occasionally provide examples of grammatical or syntactic structures. When searching for effective examples, teachers can evaluate them by asking the following questions: (1) Considering the context and content, is the use of the target structure appropriate?; (2)…

Argues that reading teachers need to be aware of the art of hypothesizing ("guessing") and foster its development in their students. Offers guidelines to facilitate guessing. (FL)

Offers a list of questions for teachers to ask their literature classes, including questions on the author, the style, the theme, the setting, and the plot. Notes how sequencing these questions can prepare students for other activities in literature appreciation. (RL)

A discussion of the Socratic method for college-level teaching looks at the three primary components of the method (systematic questioning, inductive reasoning, and universal definitions) and several additional relevant elements, including the testing of hypotheses and use of background information. One teacher's classroom techniques are…

The ideas presented in this brochure are for teachers interested in creating opportunities for students to pose questions during literature-based discussions, in heterogeneous whole group and peer-only discussions. The brochure notes that the method is a highly motivating way to conduct discussions because students of all reading abilities can…

Suggests alternatives to questioning after reading that involve students and encourage independence. (AEA)

Discusses ways to improve the quality of teachers' classroom questions to help children clarify their thoughts, feel that they are worthy people, and understand their world. Asking open-ended questions that allow for discussion, encouraging children to answer questions orally, and listening to students' answers are urged. (CR)