ABSTRACT
Asking learners questions is so strongly embedded in questioner culture that most adults do it when in the company of children, and most children do it when playing ‘school’ with their friends or by themselves. Furthermore, in these types of interactions, the questioner usually knows the answer, and most children quickly work out that this is the case. Pausing in a flow of statements and expecting students to fill in the missing word is a common format for testing-questions in classrooms. Meta-questions are questions about the activity which draw learner attention out of the particularities of the current task with a view to making them aware of a process. There is a penchant for classifying questions as being open or closed, or more specifically, open-ended or open-fronted, and closed-ended or closed-fronted. Most importantly, effective questions contribute to building a positive disposition towards the subject as well as immersing learners in the kind of questions the subject addresses.
