Identifies three aspects of intellectual identity that are routinely at stake for academic presenters in discussion periods: their knowledgeability, originality, and level of intellectual sophistication. Identifies and describes questioning practices that support and challenge these desired identities. Considers how this type of discourse analysis…

Discusses the use of questioning as an instructional approach in the second-language classroom, focusing on the types of questions (factual, convergent, divergent, and evaluative) that can be asked of students. Also discusses question scaffolding and other questioning techniques. (7 references) (MDM)

Two studies used a job interview role-play situation to examine strategies that interviewers employed when asking personal as compared to neutral questions. They found that personal questions were asked later in the interview than neutral questions and that more hesitation markers, tag questions, and hedges were used with personal questions than…

Indicates reporters used more successful question types, asked questions more concisely, were equally if not more likely to jeopardize question clarity, and were more likely to ask more argumentative, accusatory, and leading questions than undecided voters. Finds that both groups did reasonably well addressing topics considered important in making…

Describes and illustrates an instructional conversation model developed in collaboration with elementary-grade teachers. Notes that instructional conversations are discussion-based lessons geared toward creating richly textured opportunities for students' conceptual and linguistic development. (RS)

Building upon a previous study, examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old and adult witnesses' memories of an event experienced 2 years earlier. Found that children were less consistent than adults across sessions of yes-no questions, less accurate in responses to open-ended questions, and more likely to fabricate answers to a question about a man's…

Describes a strategy, called "circle of questions" in which students worked together in small groups and in a large group to actively construct their own questions about a topic and then explore the text to find answers. (SR)

Fifteen deaf and 11 hearing children (ages 8-10) witnessed slides depicting a wallet theft and were interviewed using a free recall approach followed by increasingly directive questions. Although accuracy of the two groups did not differ in free recall, deaf children provided less accurate responses to directive questions, whereas accuracy of the…

Responds to previous article by Fincham, Beach, Moore, and Diener (this issue) on child sexual abuse. Focuses on importance of recognizing that attempts to reduce probability of false claims of child abuse would result in increasing probability of missing true claims of child abuse. Offers hypothesis-testing framework as useful heuristic for…

Introduces the Directed Questioning Activity (DRA), a teacher directed questioning strategy to be used in class with subject matter textbooks containing unfamiliar or difficult concepts. (RS)

Advice about finding and using the "askable moment" with potential donors is offered to volunteer college fundraisers. Ideas include planning the call on a donor, getting right to the point, responding to "yes" or "maybe," keeping the conversation brief, discussing the gift amount, and dealing with more complex…

Finds that (1) after question-answer relationship/metacognitive instruction, students answered a significantly larger percentage of the comprehension questions in their social studies textbook; (2) students so trained showed an increased ability to answer all three types of questions; and (3) there was minimal gain on students' posttest mean score…

Discusses current research concerning questioning strategies used by classroom teachers. Surveys five important studies which demonstrate disagreement among researchers but which all show the value of prereading questions and questions considered during reading. (HB)

Discusses examination and cross-examination strategies used in the adversarial system of a U.S. criminal trial, arguing against the use of traditional discourse analysis to describe courtroom communication and demonstrating how counsel use semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic features to establish credibility and achieve calculated responses. (25…

Discusses the popularity and frequency of language bowls, academic competitions in foreign languages. Suggestions are made for the efficient administration and conduct of all aspects of the language bowl, such as guidelines for organizers, participants, and moderators. (six references) (GLR)