The Importance of Questions and Feedback in the Classroom

The Importance of Questions and Feedback in the Classroom

Teachers have been described as a "professional question makers" (Aschner, 1961), and their questions can be used to shape their students' understanding and success. Effective questions engage students in the learning process and can be used to close the gap between a teachers' classroom presentation and the students' comprehension of the lesson content (Borich, 2006). Teachers use questions to probe the students' level of understanding, to elicit students to take the next step in a thought process, and to push students to think further about information (Slavin, 2011).

Classroom questions help to focus attention and engage students to actively construct their own responses. It is important for teachers to probe student understanding with questions to determine what content the students understand and where any confusion or gaps in knowledge exist. Using this information, teachers can set an appropriate pace for the class and determine which areas require additional instruction, and they can then build upon the students' previous understanding to bridge observed knowledge gaps and ensure the clarity of the lesson. Additionally, the use of indirect questions can help teachers determine if students are using high-level cognitive processes, such as analysis, or low-level processes, such as recall. This can be an effective method to recognize which students are engaging their thoughts in the material.

Probing students' understanding with questions is also important for giving effective feedback. Effective feedback describes why an answer is correct or incorrect based on terms the student understands while increasing students' motivation and learning (Chappuis & Stiggins, 2002). Feedback should be detailed, specific and immediately following students' responses to ensure they can internalize feedback to expand their present understanding. It is important for teachers to avoid vague and judgmental feedback which can have negative effects on students' motivation for learning. After probing for learner understanding, teachers can use their evaluation of the students' comprehension to determine the most productive feedback. Teachers should use feedback to guide students through thought processes which lead them to discover for themselves what is correct or incorrect about a response. This encourages the students beyond simple memorization and toward critical thinking.

Another way teachers can channel the flow of information is by using follow-up questions. Follow-up questions are important for assessing student comprehension and for guiding students to particular learning objectives. Teachers can use various types of probes as follow up questions to prompt clarification of a student response, solicit new information, or redirect responses in a more appropriate