Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

This study described questioning techniques reported by mathematics teachers in selected low- and high-performing Mindanao State University (MSU) Community High Schools during the 2018–2019 school year. The present article focuses on five teacher-reported questioning practices: posing open-ended questions, asking probing or follow-up questions, restating questions and answers, tactfully transferring a question to another student when a student does not answer, and encouraging students to ask questions. The broader study included 42 mathematics teachers across nine schools; the aggregate questioning-technique data available for the present descriptive analysis were derived from 41 valid teacher questionnaires (18 from low-performing schools and 23 from high-performing schools). Responses were coded from 1 (Strongly Agree) to 5 (Strongly Disagree); therefore, lower mean scores indicate stronger agreement. In both school categories, encouraging students to ask questions received the strongest endorsement (low-performing schools: M = 1.33; high-performing schools: M = 1.22). Among teachers in low-performing schools, posing open-ended questions and asking probing or follow-up questions were tied next (M = 1.44), whereas among teachers in high-performing schools, restating questions and answers (M = 1.39) and asking probing or follow-up questions (M = 1.43) followed. Tactfully transferring a question to another student received the weakest endorsement in both groups, although mean scores remained towards the agreement end of the scale. The findings indicate broadly favourable self-reported use of participatory and elaborative questioning practices across both school categories. Because the study is descriptive, the observed differences should not be interpreted as causal explanations of school performance.