Learning & Wellbeing Psychology
​Blank's Levels of Questioning
The Blank Levels of Questioning, is sometimes known as the Language of Learning model. It was developed by Blank, Rose and Berlin in 1978. It helps us scaffold children’s verbal reasoning and abstract language skills. There are 4 levels of questioning which move from simple and concrete questions to more abstract questions. The questions encourage development of general language and vocabulary, as well as skills in comprehension, reasoning, inferencing, predicting and problem solving.
Level 1- Naming things
At this level the pupil will be able to apply language to things they see and experience in the world. These are likely to be things that are nearby and which are directly in front of them- or they might have been recently covered or moved. The pupil might point, use gestures or single words to answer. In the classroom it is easy to miss students who are working at this level, or need a few questions at this level before they can try harder questions.
Level 1 | Example question |
|---|---|
Remembering information that is around them | What did you hear? What did you see? |
Remembering a picture of an object | What did you see? |
Imitating a simple sentence | Say this... |
Naming an object seen, heard or touched | What did you hear? What is this? |
Identify an object by sound or touch | Show me what you heard, saw or touched |
Scanning for a matching object | Find me one like this |
At this level it is is important to keep language simple. Teachers and school staff are very sophisticated and competent language users- so it is MUCH harder than it sounds to ask simpler questions. It can take a lot of practice to avoid these common pitfalls:
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don't use phrases more than one word long (e.g. kicking ball)
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keep it simple and don't use words which describe ideas or concepts as these are hard for children to grasp.
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avoid wh- questions (e.g. who, what is is, where, what like?)
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steer clear of questions that ask a pupil to recall events (such as, 'What happened?')
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keep away from 'Why' and 'How' questions (e.g. Why did you do that?' How did it happen?)
Level 2- Describing things
At this level, the information the pupil needs to answer the question is supplied but not directly apparent. Your student has to select what to attend to, such as size, colour and function of the object. Alternatively, they might have to think about two concepts or ideas at some, or remember something that is gone or no longer there.
Level 2 | Example Questions |
|---|---|
Concepts: Citing an example within a category | Name something that is... |
Concepts: Identifying differences | How are these things different |
Concepts: Attending to two characteristics | Find one that is...and... |
Concepts: Naming characteristics and functions of objects | Tell me its... |
Completing a sentence | Finish this... |
Recalling information from something someone has said, or a simple story. | Who? What? Where? |
Recalling items named in a statement | What things...? |
Describing a scene | What is happening? |
Scanning for an object by what is can do or what it is for | Find one that can... |
At this level it important to keep language simple- while each phrase can have more than one or two key words in, it is important to keep sentences and instructions short. Avoid multi-step instructions such as, 'Can you go and put the book in your draw, then line up?'. It can be very revealing to write a list of everyday instructions, order then by how many steps they have in them, and then give them to your class as a game- many more children than you might expect can find it hard to follow unexpected lists of instructions when there are no context cues. At this stage, continue to avoid:
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asking for students to recall an event (e.g. What happened?)
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why, how and when questions (such as 'Why did you do that?' and 'How did that happen?')
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Level 3- Talking about stories and events
At this level, the student has to understand language in a more complex way. They need to be able to think about the information you have given them, relate it back to their prior knowledge and then come up with their own ideas. They will have to identify certain facts or ideas and evaluate them before answering.
Level 4 | Example questions |
|---|---|
Explaining the obstacles to an action | Why can't we...? |
Explaining the logic of compound words | Why is this called? |
Explaining inferences drawn from observation | How can we tell? |
Exploring the construction of objects | Why is...made of that? |
Selecting the means to a goal | What could we use? |
Formulating a solution from another's perspective | What could she do....? |
Formulating a solution | What could you do...? |
Identifying causes of an event | What made it happen? |
Justifying a decision: Non-essential characteristics | Why would it...? |
Justifying a decision: Essential characteristics | Why wouldn't it...? |
Justifying a prediction | Why will...? |
Predicting: Changes in structure | What will happen if...? |
Predicting: Changes in position | Where will...? |
At this level it important to support understanding. Strategies that school staff can use to do this can include:
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chunking multi-step instructions
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modelling answers and highlighting the clues, for example, “X feels angry because he is frowning”
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emphasising sequencing words such as, first, next, last, during everyday tasks
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repeating stories and events so that your pupil can learn the concept of sequencing before applying to new stories or events. Start with familiar events or scenarios, before moving to those that are less familiar.
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supporting your child to consider their own experiences of that scenario or event, for example, ask your child to talk through familiar routines to give them opportunities to sequence events – ask your child what happened next when they did X
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offering choices to support prediction, for example, ‘did you do X or Y next?’, “are we going to go to lunch next or is it assembly time?”
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encouraging use of visual support, for example, ‘You have finished X, look at the timetable and see what is next’)
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pre-teaching vocabulary to enable the child to answer wh- questions and retell events or stories
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scaffolding a child’s ability to answer questions and support your child to answer, “What might happen next?”
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retelling a sequence of events for the child to complete, highlight the key points, and link to the child’s own experience
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Remember to avoid activities which are too hard:
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'Why?' and 'How?' questions (such as, 'Why did you do that?' or 'How did that happen?')
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Questions that involve explanation. justification and reasoning.
Level 4- Solving problems
At this level, you student has to reason beyond what they can see, hear or hear. The need to draw on past experiences, make parallels, examine cause and effect as well as justify decisions made. It becomes harder and harder to separate out cognitive skills and language skills at this stage- children are using their language skills to structure and develop their thinking, but their ability to conceptualise ideas is also moving on their language skills. Memory skills prior teaching experience and language opportunities all contribute to skills at this level.
Level 4 | Example questions |
|---|---|
Explaining the obstacles to an action | Why can't we...? |
Explaining the logic of compound words | Why is this called? |
Explaining inferences drawn from observation | How can we tell? |
Exploring the construction of objects | Why is...made of that? |
Selecting the means to a goal | What could we use? |
Formulating a solution from another's perspective | What could she do....? |
Formulating a solution | What could you do...? |
Identifying causes of an event | What made it happen? |
Justifying a decision: Non-essential characteristics | Why would it...? |
Justifying a decision: Essential characteristics | Why wouldn't it...? |
Justifying a prediction | Why will...? |
Predicting: Changes in structure | What will happen if...? |
Predicting: Changes in position | Where will...? |
At this level pre-teaching vocabulary is essential- it is not possible to solve problems when you do not have a good understanding of the words and concepts involved. Make sure all your students know:
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topic nouns, verbs, concept vocabulary
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emotion vocabulary
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exam, cross-curricular and behaviour vocabulary, for example, 'explain', 'justify', 'solution' and so on.
It's also worth checking vocabulary from earlier steps in the spiral curriculum, or from earlier stages in development. Many children do not have a clear understanding of abstract concepts such as emotions (e.g. love , joy, anger, sadness), values (e.g. freedom, justice, equality and compassion) and even mathematical ideas (e.g. shapes, sequences, amounts) .​ When educators do not realise that pupils are missing these foundational ideas, it gets in the way of the progress they can make. Your Educational Psychologist can help by assessing which concepts the child might be missing, or even offering training to help school staff become more confident with this themselves.
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It is also important to support students through adapting your questions. Things you might want to try could include:
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avoiding complex and broad questions like ‘What happened?’, ‘What were you thinking?’, ‘Why did …?’, ‘What would happen if…?’, ‘if you noticed … what could you have done?’, ‘How would X feel if X did…?’ .All of these questions rely on complex grammar, recall, narrative and sequencing, social prediction, social problem solving and reasoning and justification skills
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breaking down complex topics and events into simpler components, for example, Who? What? Where? When? What did they say? What did they do? How did they feel?
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stating what you know before asking a more specific question such as ‘X did …. and he knew … would happen. Do you know why…did…?’, ‘… was hurt by… This will have made some things hard for him, what would be hard?’
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relating to everyday life and world knowledge outside of the current situation, for example, ‘When you feel … how do you act?’, ‘When someone is angry what do you see?’
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suggesting options such as, ‘Could it be because…’, ‘… had just said … which could have made you feel…’?
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eliminating ideas based on world knowledge, for example, ‘He shut the front door behind’ him – car door, front door, bedroom door?
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recapping on ideas using simple language, for example, ‘now you know that … gets you in trouble, what will you do if … happens again?’
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developing comprehension monitoring skills – teach your students to recognise if they understand the question, information or word, and strategies to problem solve this, such as, ask a teacher.
Some of our students struggle to understand explanations and instructions, because the way the language is put together is too complex for them. Connectives, which tell us how ideas, events and actions relate to one another are particularly tricky. Remember to repeat and remodel complex grammar structures such as, 'Ah yes the man can’t go in the shop until it opens' or 'The lady can catch the bus if she gets there in time'.
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