Open Questions or '5Ws & an H'

in the main, trainers should be asking questions which start with the words, Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?

What?                   information about events, actions or things

When?                  information about time

Where?                 information about a place or location

Who?                    information about people

Why?                    information about reasons, conclusions, deductions and opinions

How?                    information about methods or processes

this is because 'open' questions encourage conversation and allow students to explain their understanding of a concept.

Benefits

1. open questions encourage students to talk and start conversations
2. it makes for a more active class
3. having to answer with an explanation stops students coasting
4. it stops the trainer talking continuously and makes for a more interesting lesson (from a student point of view)
5. helps to remove presumptions held by the person asking the question
6. helps to increase understanding in both the person asking the question and the rest of the students

Disadvantages

1. the answer can be totally unexpected and the answer may take the class a long way away from the key aims of the class
2. time costly, students can talk and talk and talk and talk when answering the question

Practice

1. ask one question at a time and then wait 5 seconds for an answer   (see for more details)
2. when you hear yourself asking questions which start with the words, "did ...?", "do ...?", "will ...?", "can ...?" (also known as closed questions), rephrase and ask the question again, this time using one of the 5Ws and an H.  try making the following closed questions open:

Do you eat meat? Is the flight delayed?  Can I help you?

image taken from here