Throughout this chapter it is highlighted that questions are highly important for human interactions. In fact, when individuals are asked to have conversations without asking questions people find it hard to facilitate this request (Hargie, 2011).
In terms of child development, it is highlighted throughout this chapter, it is very important that children ask questions; however in a setting such as a classroom, as found by Tizard et al (1983), children are more likely to ask questions at home rather than in a classroom, as they have a fear that their questions will be received negatively by their peers (Hargie, 2011). Although I agree with this to some extent, in my experience I wouldn’t ask questions because I was shy, and therefore couldn’t find the right words to form the question. In addition, in a class setting a child may feel stressed when they are asked a question as they know the teacher knows the correct answer, and therefore there is an anxiety about being wrong (Hargie, 2011), which can affect a child’s learning long-term. Furthermore Dillon (1982) found that teachers asked about two questions a minute and a class of children asked an average two questions every hour (Hargie, 2011), which further backs up Tizard’s claims.
Questions are not asked simply to receive more information. They are more complex than that. They can be asked to maintain control of an interaction or to express an interest in the respondent (Hargie, 2011). In addition to there being many reasons why people ask questions there is also many types of questions, some of these include: closed questions, recall questions and process questions (Hargie, 2011). All these examples serve a different purpose and gain different information. Recall questions serve the purpose of gaining information that the respondent already knows such as, “Where were you born?”. Process questions serve the purpose of allowing the individual to give things such as opinions and evaluations (Hargie, 2011).
Overall by reading this text my knowledge of questions in human interaction has deepened, as I have never thought about how important they are for every day life. In addition, when I am in practice I will ensure that when a child responds to a question I ask I will further their knowledge (if possible) rather than just moving on after a brief answer is given, which was found in a study carried out by Smith et al. (2006) (Hargie, 2011).
Reference List
Hargie, O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5th ed. London: Routledge.
