Adaptive Student Questioning and Students' Verbal Ability

Abstract

Abstract The authors examined the relationship between fifth-grade students' verbal ability level and the adaptive nature of the questions that these students asked in attempting to find a correct synonym for vocabulary items. Questions were divided into necessary questions (questions posed after a wrong provisional answer) and unnecessary questions (questions posed after a right provisional answer). Another division of questions was into helpful questions (questions that led to a correction of a wrong provisional answer) and harmful questions (questions that led to a shift from a right to a wrong answer). Also examined were discontinued inquiries (instances in which a student decided to break off an inquiry in favor of inferring the right alternative). The results showed that students with high verbal ability asked more necessary questions and stepped up the number of unnecessary questions for difficult items, signaling that these questions were asked to increase confidence in knowing. Students' verbal ability did not affect the frequency of discontinued inquiries, but a significant effect was found for the helpfulness of these inquiries. A detailed account of the various processes and stages involved in students' questioning is presented.