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What are convergent and divergent questions? How can these types of questions help students initiate addressing reasoning as an active process?

We as future teachers must know the importance of classroom questions and also the differences between convergent and divergent question. Let´s definite each of them.

Convergent questions are the ones in which students just have to answer using a specific answer or just yes or no. For instance:

How many days are there in a week?

What color is this book?

How old are you?

Where is the post office?

As you can notice in these questions, there is just one correct answer, and there is no necessary that the student thinks a lot to answer the question.

Convergent questions are very common in Basic English because students are learning the language and they cannot provide more details or explanations in their answers.

Then we have divergent questions. They are the type of questions in which students need to think a lot and analyze the questions before provide an answer. For instance:

What is your favorite TV program and why?

Divergent questions encourage an open response of the learner. There is no single best answer. These types of questions are used in intermediate and advance English because in those levels students must provide larger answers with more details and deeper reflection.

Teachers should know the importance of questioning in the classroom and the differences between them. Teachers cannot expect a long answer in a basic level because they do not have the competences to do it but it is important that students get accustom to provide more complex answers and as a result to improve their speaking skills.