How to Ask Better Questions

Questions are at the heart of learning.

As tutors, we ask questions to check understanding, encourage conversation, develop critical thinking and help students find their own answers. But there is another side to questioning that is just as important: teaching students how to ask better questions themselves.

Because sometimes a student knows they don't understand something, but they don't know how to explain exactly what is confusing them.

And that is where good questioning becomes a two-way conversation.

Asking Better Questions as a Tutor

One of the easiest ways to improve a lesson is to look at the questions we ask.

Questions such as:

“Do you understand?”

“Is that clear?”

or

“Any questions?”

are perfectly natural, but they often produce very little information. A student may simply answer “yes” because they think they understand, because they don't want to admit they are confused, or because they don't know what they don't understand.

Instead, tutors can ask questions that require students to explain, demonstrate or think.

For example:

Instead of: “Do you understand?”

Try: “Can you explain that back to me in your own words?”

Instead of: “Is this sentence correct?”

Try: “What do you think needs changing?”

Instead of: “Do you know what this word means?”

Try: “What do you think it means from the context?”

These questions give the tutor much more information about what the student actually understands.

And remember: a correct answer does not always mean complete understanding, and an incorrect answer does not necessarily mean the student understands nothing.

Good questions help us find out what is happening behind the answer.

Give Students Time to Think

There is another important part of asking good questions: the pause.

A tutor asks a question, waits a couple of seconds, and the student doesn't answer. It can be tempting to immediately rephrase the question, give a clue or answer it ourselves.

But silence does not necessarily mean the student doesn't know.

They may be translating, processing vocabulary, constructing their answer, deciding whether they are correct, or simply working up the confidence to speak.

Thinking takes time.

So sometimes the best questioning technique is simply:

Ask. Pause. Listen.

Don't be too quick to rescue the student.

Students Need to Learn How to Ask Better Questions Too

Questioning is not only a tutor skill. It is also a learning skill.

Consider the difference between:

“I don't understand.”

and:

“I understand the first part, but I don't understand why we use the past tense here.”

The second statement gives the tutor something specific to work with.

Students can be encouraged to ask questions such as:

• “Could you explain that another way?”
• “Can you give me another example?”
• “What's the difference between these two?”
• “Why do we use this word here?”
• “Can you show me where I went wrong?”
• “I understand the rule, but I don't know how to use it.”
• “I understand the words, but I don't understand what the sentence means.”

These are powerful questions because they help identify what kind of difficulty the student is experiencing.

Is it vocabulary? Grammar? Instructions? Pronunciation? Meaning? Or perhaps they understand the rule but don't know how to apply it?

Learning to identify the problem is an important part of becoming an independent learner.

Create a Safe Environment for Questions

But there is one thing that has to come before all of this:

Students need to feel comfortable asking questions.

A student may have a question but still choose not to ask it because they are worried that it is “stupid”, that they weren't listening properly, or that the tutor will become frustrated with them.

This is why the learning environment matters so much.

Tutors can make questions feel welcome by saying things like:

“There are no silly questions here.”

“If you're confused, that's useful information for me.”

“Tell me which part isn't making sense and we'll work it out together.”

When students know that questions will be met with patience rather than judgement, they are far more likely to speak up.

And this matters because silence can sometimes look like understanding when it isn't.

The Goal Isn't More Questions. It's Better Questions.

Good questioning doesn't mean filling a lesson with question after question.

The important thing is to understand why you are asking the question.

Are you checking understanding?

Encouraging the student to speak?

Finding a misconception?

Helping them think through a problem?

Encouraging them to explain their reasoning?

Or helping them reflect on their learning?

If we know what we want the question to achieve, we are much more likely to ask the right question.

And the same applies to students. The better they become at explaining what they don't understand, the better equipped their tutor is to help them.

The Takeaway

Good tutors don't just give answers. They ask questions that help students think.

Good students don't just say, “I don't understand.” They learn to ask questions that help their tutor understand where they are stuck.

Ultimately, effective learning is not about asking more questions.

It is about asking better questions.

Ask. Listen. Clarify. Learn.