Interaction as practice: Investigating the co-creation of knowledge through questioning techniques

Asking questions in class is one of the most deceptively basic strategies available to teachers. Questions can function at a literal level of checking understanding and recall, but they can also create and increase interactivity and promote critical thinking. Despite their centrality in classroom discourse, they have received relatively little attention in empirical research. We argue that a greater understanding of the role of questioning and question types in teaching and learning needs to be explored because how, when, and why we ask questions is critical to how students respond and learn, from the teacher and from each other. This paper will focus on questioning techniques based on authentic spoken data from third level classrooms, and research on classroom interaction. It problematizes the notion of the teacher-student co- creation of knowledge and investigates how we go about actively engaging learners through enhanced questioning strategies. In doing so, it also takes the stance that interaction in the classroom is more than simply a means to an end: interaction is practice and can be investigated as a record of practice.