Comment on the Closed and Open Questions in Class

曾泰然

【Abstract】The open and closed questions are considered as two types of question in our class， which is adopted by teachers. The open questions contain multiple choices and require the students to give their opinions and explain why. Different students often provide a wide variety of answers， so it is beneficial to the ability of deducing and creativity. On the contrary， the closed questions only have a correct answer， brief and efficient， which is devoted by teachers because they can be knowledgeable about the learning achievement of students. Of course， the two types of questions have their own advantages and disadvantages， as a result we should find a balance point and establish a active and lively classroom atmosphere.

【Key words】advantages； disadvantages； closed question； open question

I. Introduction

In school， closed questions are mainly used to examine whether the students have acquired the unchangeable facts. Through asking some closed questions， we can know students learning situation and achievement very quickly. It is very convenient for teachers to employ because it is asked at any time and need not take too much time and energy to organize students to answer. Although it is easy to adopt， it only can know students learning achievement generally but can not help to cultivate students innovated ability and stimulate them to contemplate a question. Whereas， open questions cover more than one answers， and students can put forward their own standpoints. For open questions， students usually have different ideas， surprisingly， they can explore profoundly and come up with plenty of creative answers. In the process of answering questions， students are able to combine personal emotion and personality in their answers. Despite the fact that it contains a great number of advantages， it is time-consuming and we can not provide so much time and energy to organize these open questions.

II. The merits and demerits of open and closed questions

1. The merits and demerits of closed questions

The closed questions play a rather vital role in our class. On the one hand， they can be conducive to help students revise knowledge that they have learned before and save time. At most times， students only need answer “Yes” or “No”， and other short messages， in consequence， it is convenient for us to operate and use. Especially it is very fit for young children， they are so young that they can not develop their mind to answer sophisticated questions. And they can try their best to answer the closed questions and teachers can evaluate whether they understand the facts or language points in time. On the other hand， according to Cotton （1988）， closed questions are more effective and useful when this lesson is to learn factual knowledge and memorizing information. Besides， in the class， teachers ask some closed questions to draw students attention and interest， which can improve the learning achievement and capacity of students. At the same time， the closed questions are suitable for a corporation， some managers often attempt to ask an increasing number of closed questions so as to make workers more energetic and inspiring.endprint

In spite of closed questions contain many advantages， it still has a variety of disadvantages. As we all know， close questions can know the students learning results but can not be effective to encourage students to think and get different and unique answers. And we only judge them if they have remembered these knowledge and information， however， they have difficulty in using them in more complicated questions. In particular， when they are confronted with other questions， they have trouble in coming up with any effective solutions and strategies. To some degree， it has a negative impact on the cultivation of divergent thinking and the ability of adapting to society for students in the future. In addition， too much closed questions are boring and can not attract students interest and improve their learning proficiency.

2. The merits and demerits of open questions

For one thing， open questions contribute to boost students divergent thinking and innovated capacity when they try to contemplate and explore the solutions and strategies in terms of open questions. Besides， open questions sometimes require students to discuss and interact with each other， and it provides plenty of opportunities to develop students collective awareness and get on well with each other. Of course， they can learn and communicate to obtain other students ideologies and thinking mode.

Open questions are also motivated to think and reflect， and they are provoked to supply emotions and feelings， which in turn gives rise to the students own informed decisions （Vinten， 1995）. When they are put forward， every students have the sufficient capacity to present their own solutions and ideologies， and it has a good advantage of the cultivation of independent ability and thinking. Meanwhile， they are able to feel confident when they think about a lot of innovate ideas or provide a proper answer， and in turn improve their intelligence and capacity. Marzano （2001） says， open questions produce deeper learning and lead students to contemplate questions.

For the other thing， open questions bring an enormous challenge on teachers. Although teachers possess an increasing number of knowledge， their information is still limited and they can not come to the most radical and adequate conclusion and answer. As a consequence， teachers have difficulty in giving clear and organized instruction and explanation， which is possible to misunderstand students to get an incorrect conclusions. At the same time， open questions need to spend so much time to raise， and it is probable to influence other learning lessons.endprint

As a result， there is no doubt that the closed and open questions have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is extremely vital and significant for us to balance the relationship and proportion of two questions. If the proportion is fantastic and tremendous， we can develop and explore the biggest and most effective function.

III. The reasonable allocation and usage of the closed and open questions

The open and closed questions both brings about a lot of advantages and disadvantages， as a result， we should be concerned about the two types of questions in order to achieve their balance and create an active and lively learning atmosphere. It is very significant for students to recognize knowledge itself， make students memorize in their mind， and accumulate a wide variety of the factual knowledge and information. It is undoubted that we also should give emphasis on cultivation students divergent thinking to think about different and efficient solutions and settle down problems， which is beneficial to adapting to society in the future. Therefore， we should associate closed questions with open questions in our class， with the purpose of improving the efficiency of learning and the development of independent capacity.

In primary school， we can mainly ask more closed questions but inquire less open questions. That is because the young children are so young that they dont possess enough thinking capacity and memory to explore the complicated questions by themselves. In contrast， we can provide plenty of open questions for students in junior and senior high school. They have developed in physically and mentally， who can make the most use of their own ideologies and thoughts to explore profoundly and raise creative answers.

When the teachers ask a question， they should emphasize on evaluating whether the question is good for enhancing the students abilities. In addition， the worthwhile and valuable question is more efficient than useless question， which can have a good advantage of the students psychological growth and creative capacity development. Therefore， both open questions and closed questions that are effective and valuable should be raised by teachers in the class.

And we should take teaching contents into account， because various teaching contents need put forward different questions. If the lesson mainly refers to the factual knowledge， it requires us to memorize by students， the teachers should come up with more closed questions rather than open questions， that is because the closed questions enforce the students memory and consolidate their own knowledge and information. For instance， the teacher presents a substantial proportion of English phrases and vocabularies that need memorizing in the course， and it should raise more closed questions， owing to that the correct answer is only one and unnecessary to contemplate and explore. It need not spend too much time in instructing students to think its usages.endprint

In contrast， if the lesson should be interpreted and contemplated utterly， the teachers had better put forward more open questions instead of closed questions， in that the open questions are able to develop the students thoughts， and lead the students contemplate and ponder the flexible and elaborate questions. For example， if the teacher shows the characteristics of an emperor， he or she will ask more open questions so that the students contemplate profoundly the dynasty， characters， economic and political contributions， and so on. The answers of the question are much too numerous and teachers should lead gradually students think carefully. Consequently， we should allocate appropriately the number of open questions and closed questions in the light of diverse circumstances and situations.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

In terms of closed and open questions， I looked up some information and literature on closed and open questions. It manifests the number of open questions is over that of closed questions and we can see that teachers attempt to give more emphasis on developing students innovated and divergent capacity. The teachers let students contemplate and take the most advantage of their already known knowledge to reach their own conclusion and views. Of course， the use of closed question is indispensable because we must contribute to the memory of students and consolidate their knowledge for a short time.

Open-ended questions with multiple responses or those that require reasons or conclusions will invite students to take intellectual risks and justify their answers （Costa， 2001）. The books that we learn in class are covered with plenty of valuable knowledge and information on the basis of the research conducted by experts， so we should remember and manipulate those. And then we can establish our own interpretation and ideas to deal with some problems on the base of the truth memorized. With the purpose of creating a stimulating learning circumstance， we must adopt both the closed questions and open questions， and make students memorize knowledge and then use in questions.

References：

[1]Moss，J.F.（2002）.Literary discussion in the elementary school.Rochester，NY：National Council of Teachers of English.

[2]Cotton，K.（1988）.Classroom questioning：Close-up no.5. Portland，Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

[3]Marzano，R.J.，Pickering，D.J.，& Pollock，J.E.（2001）.Classroom instruction that works：Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.Alexandria，VA：MCREL.

[4]Vinten，G.（1995）.Open versus closed questions–An open issue，Management Decision，33（4），27–32.endprint