The Art of Asking Good Questions in the Classroom: A Phenomenographic Study of Teacher Educators’ Recommendations

Purpose This study has two objectives. The first is to describe the conceptual diversification embedded in reported documentation of teacher educators regarding the conception/phenomenon of good question-asking. Second, based on systematically observed and qualitatively analyzed diversifications, this study aims to portray the conceptual sophistication of participants’ experience-based awareness of good question-asking by constructing a hierarchical illustration. Design/Approach/Methods A total of 56 participants were selected based on a maximum variation strategy to capture more diversified conceptions of good question-asking. Qualitative data were collected through one-on-one phenomenographic interviews. Inductive data analysis was conducted in three phases: open coding (extracting ways of experiencing), axial coding (collapsing categories of descriptions), and diagrammatizing (establishing an outcome space). Findings Seven conceptual meaning clusters were gathered around four hierarchically sophisticated themes: monological (level-1 sophistication, “lowest”) (diagnostic tool), declarative (level-2 sophistication) (cognitive-emotional, pre-organizer), dialogical (level-3 sophistication) (structural qualities, typological qualities, multivocality, negotiation, internalization), and metacognitive (level-4 sophistication, “highest”) (pedagogical content knowledge of question-asking and teachers’ meta-noticing regarding question-asking). Originality/Value Participants’ conceptions of good question-asking showed monological and dialogical dimensions in addition to transitional (declarative) and metacognitive comprehensions. Educational recommendations are offered, especially for developing teacher educators’ question-asking noticing.