“Who, what, when, where, why and how”. Learn these question words and what answer is needed, simple. But no, as with many things, questions are more complicated than they first appear…
Today, I am going to be writing about Blank question levels. Marion Blank and her colleagues created a framework (1978) to think about which types of questions (and answers) are easier to understand and acquire. This can be used to support the development not only of children’s ability to answer different questions, but also their verbal reasoning skills and knowledge of abstract vocabulary and language.
Her underlying idea was that children develop language on a ‘continuum of perceptual-language distance’: children initially learn from what they can see, hear, touch, but as they develop can learn from more abstract concepts and ideas. ‘Table’ is much easier to understand than ‘kindness’, even though both are nouns. She suggested that as children’s understanding and use of vocabulary grows, they start to be able to think and reason. This then means they can access more abstract words in more complex situations, which again leads to more advanced language understand and use.
Marion Blank also saw language development as a social activity–children learn through interactions with others, and the way adults modify their communication can have an impact on the development of children’s language and verbal reasoning skills. It is important not just to use questions with children, as this begins to feel like an interrogation! It is a good idea to try and make four comments for every one question that is asked.
There are four different Blank question levels, from simple to complex. The information the child needs to answers these questions also goes from concrete to abstract as the levels increase.
Level 1 – Naming and matching perception
The answers to these questions are typically object or picture based, with the item either in the immediate environment or just taken away. The answer the child gives is likely to be a very short, spoken response or pointing to an object or single symbol.
| Skill | Example questions/instructions |
|---|---|
| Identifying objects/people/actions | Give me the spoon.
Show me what you heard. Who is jumping? |
| Matching | Show me one like this.
Find another teddy. |
| Naming objects/people/actions | What is this?
What is she doing? Who is that? |
| Repeating a simple sentence | You say, “the child is running”. |
| Remembering recently seen objects/pictures | What did you see? |
Level 2 – Describing, thinking about attributes
The vocabulary and language skills needed at this level are still relatively concrete: the answers are either in front of the child or recently removed, but this time the child needs to think a little more about the answer. They are likely to need to think about the properties/characteristics of people/objects around them.
| Skill | Example questions/instructions |
|---|---|
| Identifying and naming characteristics | What shape is that?
Find the one that is shiny. Which one tastes sweet? |
| Identifying and describing functions of items | Show me the one we can draw with.
What do we do with scissors? |
| Completing a sentence | We put the rubbish in the… |
| Identifying differences | What is different about these? |
| Categorisation (early) | Sort these into farm animals or sea animals.
Name something that is a food. |
| Describing a scene | What’s happening in this picture? |
| Remembering simple spoken information (who, what, where questions) | The children sat in the boat on the lake, where were the children?
We must buy eggs, butter, and flour for the biscuits; what do we need? |
Level 3 – Talking about language and stories
The language here is becoming more abstract: the child must use their own knowledge and verbal reasoning skills and cannot rely on information in front of them. Questions are less likely to be about objects in the child’s immediate vicinity and they are beginning to think about how other people may be thinking.
| Skill | Example questions/instructions |
|---|---|
| Sequencing | Put the pictures in the right order. |
| Creating a narrative | Tell me this story (looking at a sequence of pictures). |
| Basic predictions | What will happen next? |
| Assuming the role of another person | What could she say?
How do they feel? |
| Following up to three key words in an instruction (underlined words carry meaning and there is an option for these) | Put your reading book and your maths book in your bag.
Get your shoes, line up by the desk, then take a worksheet. |
| Giving instructions for a simple task | Tell me how to… |
| Identifying an object(s)/example(s) by exclusion (using negatives) | Find me the bear that is not blue.
Think of a food that is not a fruit. Pick up the ones that are not for colouring. |
| Choosing an item with conditions | Find one we can use with this. |
| Defining a word (simple) | What is a…?
What does…mean? |
| Identifying similarities | What is the same about a dog and a horse?
How are these the same? |
Level 4 – Reasoning, justifying, and problem solving
There is another big jump in the language skills required at level 4. Children cannot rely on information that is in their environment and needs to use verbal reasoning and problem-solving skills to answer questions.
| Skill | Example questions/instructions |
|---|---|
| More complex or hypothetical predictions | If we leave this running, where will it be in three days?
What might happen if we…? |
| Explaining observations (inference) | How can we tell…? |
| Justifying predictions | Why will she go to the shop? |
| Explaining causes | Why did that happen?
What made it happen? |
| Justifying decisions (self and others) | Why do you…?
Why did he throw that away? |
| Identifying solutions (self and others) | What could they use?
What could she do? |
| Justifying solutions (self and others) | Why would they use that?
Why might he do that? |
| Identifying obstacles to solutions | Why can’t we use this to fix it? |
| Explaining construction of objects | Why are forks made of metal? |
| Explaining the logic of compound words | Why is this called a football? |
Developing skills
Typically, by the time a child starts school they are able to answer a range of level 1 and level 2 questions. Some children will be able to answer some level 3 and 4 questions, though typically level 4 questions aren’t widely understood until a child is 6. (NB: this does not match with current English curriculum expectations!) Other children may continue to struggle to answer the more complex questions into secondary school and beyond.
It is important to understand just where a child’s understanding lies in order to support both access to tasks and the development of their verbal reasoning skills. Knowing where a child’s general development is will link in with this.
To support a child to move up to the higher question levels, modelling answers and thinking your answers out loud is helpful to demonstrate how to reason out solutions. There are a number of strategies you can use to support your children while they are working through different question levels, for example:
- Ensure you are pitching your questions at an appropriate level or one up if you are targeting this specifically
- Remember to reinforce that some questions have more than one possible answer
- Give the child enough processing time, and/or repeat the question
- Use appropriate visual supports
- Make sure you use familiar vocabulary that doesn’t put any additional processing pressures on the child: What alternative functions does this have? What other things can this do?
- Try breaking the question down into parts or lower-level questions to help guide them towards the answer: What will happen next? What can you see? Yes, I can see a pile of plates on the edge of the table, and a man falling towards the table. When he hits the table, what will happen to the plates?
- Using prompts, either physical (gesturing, pointing) or verbal (giving them the first sound/syllable of the word or modelling the start of a sentence: “This feels…”)
- Offer forced alternatives: Is it an X or a Y? Should we put them on the shelf or in the tub?
- Link questions to previous experiences: How will the cup of tea feel in an hour? What happens to the temperature of the water when you sit in a bath for a long time?
It’s all going wrong…
At times of dysregulation, children may find answering level 3 and 4 questions impossible. This is especially true for children with SLCN and/or children who are neurodivergent. At these times, it is useful to drop back to level 1 and 2 questions, potentially some level 3 if the child is managing to answer the earlier questions easily. (Even better, stop asking questions and wait until the child is regulated again!)
This will impact on behaviour management: often the first question asked is “why did you do that?” Often, the reply is “dunno”, or silence, or some non-verbal communication. It’s easy to assume that the child is being rude or defiant, when it may be the case that they either generally cannot answer questions at that level, or they can’t in that moment due to dysregulation. Drop back to easier questions: Who was there? What did you do? What did they do? Where are the books now? Where do they go? Add some solutions to support the child to think through the situation: “I’m going to check they feel ok”, “Let’s put the books away”, “I’m going to split these in two so you can each have some”.
Think about the outcome of questioning—is it compliance and punishment, or a greater understanding of events so the child can make better informed decisions in a similar situation?
And so…
Answering questions is not always as simple as it seems! Verbal reasoning can be tricky to master, and other skills like social communication skills can impact at higher levels. Rhetorical questions, for example, aren’t really questions at all, they are just a way of engaging more with the listener. Or hypothetical questions which have only a tenuous link to reality, which can be confusing for literal thinkers. Now, which people from history would you invite to a dinner party…?
Blank, M., Rose, S. A. & Berlin, L. J. (1978) The Language of Learning: The Preschool Years. Orlando: Grune & Stratton, Inc.