What are Blank’s Levels of Questioning?

What happens when you use Blank’s Levels of Questioning*

So what are these questions? Blank’s Levels of Questioning is a framework of questioning that was developed by Marion Blank, a developmental psychologist. They are used widely in the Speech Pathology field to help children and adults develop key oral language comprehension skills. They are split into four stages which become progressively more complex. These are:

Stage 1: Matching perception / naming

This stage usually involves questions relating to objects in the person’s immediate environment. They are very concrete questions which makes it a great place to start off. These are some examples of Stage 1 questions:

• Can you find the one that matches?

• What is this?

• Who is this?

• What can you see?

What does it look like in practice? While playing with your child, you might use common farm animals to ask “what is this?” or “who is this?”.

Stage 2: Selective analysis of perception / describing

This stage builds on the first and we start to see questions relating to description of an object or person. Here are some examples of Stage 2 questions:

• What happened?

• Describe characteristics of objects: What size/shape/colour is it?

• Identifying the function of objects: Show me the one we use for cutting.

• How are these different?

What does it look like in practice? While playing with your child, you might use 2 blocks which differ in shape and size and ask “how are these different?”.

Stage 3: Reordering perception / retelling

This stage starts to deal with more abstract concepts i.e., not dealing with immediate surroundings. Children are required to start drawing on past experiences, memories, and knowledge of the world to answer these questions. Here are some examples of Stage 3 questions:

• What will happen next?

• Find one to use with this

• What could that person say?

• How are these the same (identifying similarities)

What does it look like in practice? While reading a book with your child, you might ask them before turning to the next page “what do you think will happen next?”.

Stage 4: Reasoning about perception / justifying

This is the final stage and involves questions requiring the person to problem-solve, predict consequences, and provide more detailed explanations. Here are some examples of Stage 4 questions:

• What will happen if the alarm doesn’t go off? (prediction)

• Why did the referee stop the game? (justification)

• Why can’t we throw rubbish on the ground? (explaining an obstacle to a solution)

• How can we tell if it’s day time? (explaining observation)

What does it look like in practice? These questions can be asked anywhere at anytime which is a bonus! You might be driving in the car with your child and you can ask them “why do you think that person is throwing out that table?”.

Blank’s Levels of Questioning are a fantastic way to build language, and can be used at any time within play, reading, and conversation tasks. The more a person is exposed to these concrete and abstract questions, the better they will be able to comprehend information and interact with others.

Language development happens everywhere and anywhere!