Question Line: Tracing Student Thinking Through Teacher Questioning

The thinking behind questioning has been examined in several studies including Dillon (2009) which examines the purpose of questioning from different perspectives. Dillon argues that understanding questioning depends on fundamental questions in education related to seven elements: teacher, student, subject, circumstance, aim, activity, and result. These questions are prioritised differently, depending on whether one is thinking from a philosopher’s or an educator’s point of view. For instance, ‘subject’ will be a higher priority for a modern curriculum theorist and the question becomes: ‘What should be taught at our school, by what means, to whom?’ (Dillon, 2009, p.23). Meanwhile, a philosopher’s query might be about who is educating whom and what is the aim? Therefore, the definition of questioning in education is more complicated than can be summarised in a sentence. It depends on who is doing the questioning and according to what priorities.

Much research proposes to improve pedagogy through dialogue and particularly by asking questions. Since students’ commitment in learning takes place through active engagement, the most fundamental act of teaching and learning is to create a good question. Students develop strategies to answer questions and solve problems in social interactions when an opportunity is created by questioning (Chin and Osborne, 2008). On the other hand, students’ questions indicate the thinking processes behind an idea, using their knowledge and trying to find the missing piece of knowledge that helps them to understand, or simply picture, the answer.

Many studies have focused on the teacher’s questioning as the main factor in generating thinking in classroom discourse, though several research studies have emphasized the value of students’ questioning (e.g., Chin and Osborne, 2008; Fisher, 1990). However, less emphasis has been placed on the study of students’ thinking processes that result from their teacher’s questioning, and even less research has been undertaken on the relationship between the thought processes of the students and their questioning. In schools, learning and understanding are examined in many ways, including testing students’ knowledge by asking questions. However, the thinking processes underlying the learners’ responses are rarely considered.

The purpose of teacher questioning could be several: to generate certain types of thinking to achieve specific learning goals; to share knowledge in order to make sense of new learning; to mirror each other’s understanding; to organise the thought process for discovering and exploring at different levels; to become curious and enjoy learning; and more. It is important to ask: ‘How does questioning generate thinking in which students are required to explain and learn new things?’ and ‘How do different types of questions support students in accessing the information which they need to explain the subject?’. In other words, if we classify the main goals of questioning into two categories of ‘generating’ and ‘navigating’ thoughts, what is the relationship between ‘questioning’ and the associated ‘thinking processes?

For instance, in a common observation session, students are encouraged to use their existing knowledge to make sense of what they see. The first type of thinking in this example is simply ‘recalling’ (remembering) the information which links together, through ‘connecting’, to produce an image or text, and uses ‘interpreting’ to make sense of it. All three types of thinking in this exercise are the tools needed for the learning to occur. The role of teacher’s questioning in any similar activity is to support students to ‘extract’ and ‘collate’ the relevant knowledge to support the students’ thinking in their journey of learning experiences (Chin, 2006).

One role of questioning is to open new perceptions (Morgan and Saxton, 1991; Chin and Osborne, 2012). Perceptions are grounded in our experience, meaning that we are only responding to what we have done before, and teachers can use questioning to help students to make a connection between what they already know and the new learning experience. Mercer (2000), in his study on primary classroom dialogue, shows that in critical but constructive discussion, relevant information is exchanged between the participants, and as students challenge each other’s ideas, reasons are given and thinking becomes visibly public and as a result learning takes place (Mercer, 2000; Chin and Osborne, 2012).

In primary school, children’s perceptions are built upon less experience and knowledge. Their ideas, relating to specific experiences, join to form bigger and more meaningful theories, a process which can be supported by their teacher’s guidance in questioning (Chin, 2007). Teachers’ questions are often aimed at encouraging students to think about the answers in a lesson. However, some questions promote thinking at various levels and generate a range of responses which can demonstrate students’ journeys of thoughts in formulating responses to the teacher’s questions.

Students’ questioning has been widely recognised as a valuable practice for nurturing critical thinking, supporting deeper understanding, and strengthening learning outcomes. Recent research (Smith et al., 2020; Johnson, 2019) highlights how the act of questioning engages important cognitive processes such as analysis and synthesis. Exploring the kinds of questions students pose can provide educators with meaningful insights into their thinking patterns and inform more responsive instructional approaches. Creating opportunities for students to ask questions also encourage a sense of ownership, curiosity, and motivation, while fostering greater engagement in learning. Taken together, students’ questioning represents a central element in the development of their thinking processes and contributes significantly to their academic growth.

Author: Shirin Sheikh-Bahai (BSc, PGCE, MA, MPhil, PhD candidate)

Trust Director of Science and Digital Transformation

Canary Wharf - University Schools Trust

Further reading: Hargreaves, E. and Sheikh-Bahai, S., 2025. Assessment for learning: Formative approaches. In Learning to teach in the primary school (pp. 319-333). Routledge.