A good question is specific, tied to your own work, and answerable in a few minutes. Preparing two or three of them before a lesson helps you use the time on your real difficulty instead of on what is easiest to ask.
This skill appears in every part of language confidence and transfer, and it helps with email communication, speaking interaction and reading tasks alike.
Why do vague questions waste time?
“Can you help with writing?” is too wide. A teacher must guess where to start, and you may hear a good explanation of something you already knew.
A narrower question points to the gap. It also shows you where the gap is, which is half of solving it.
How do you build a question?
Use three parts.
- What I tried: the sentence, answer or plan you produced.
- Where I got stuck: the exact word, line or choice.
- What I want to see: a correction, a model, a rule or a choice between two options.
Then read the question aloud. If the teacher could answer it without seeing your work, it is probably still too wide.
Worked example
A student is practising a reply to an email from a school club. Her first worry is: “My email does not sound right.”
Step 1, what I tried. She wrote: Dear Mr Lim, I want to join your club. Please tell me the time.
Step 2, where I got stuck. She reads it and feels it sounds rude, but cannot say why. She marks the two sentences.
Step 3, what I want to see. She wants to compare a polite version with hers.
Final question: “In my email to Mr Lim, I want to join and Please tell me the time feel too direct. Can you show me a more polite way to say each one, and explain the difference?”
Possible teacher answer: I would like to join the club. Could you tell me when the meetings are held? The changes are would like instead of want and a question form with could instead of a command.
The student now has two reusable patterns, not just one corrected email.
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken question: “Is my English okay?”
This asks for a judgement on everything at once. The answer will be “mostly, yes, but work on a few things”, which gives you no next step.
The correction is to choose one piece of work and one doubt: “In this paragraph, is despite of correct, or should I write despite only?” The teacher can answer that in seconds. You learn that despite is never followed by of.
Check yourself
1. Rewrite this vague question using the three parts: “I do not understand listening.”
Show answer
Answers will vary. A strong version: “In the practice listening I tried, I chose B for question 3, but the answer was C. Where in the recording was the clue? Can we replay it and mark the sentence together?” It names what you tried, where you got stuck and what you want to see.
2. Which question is better, and why? (A) “Can you check my essay?” (B) “In paragraph two, I used however twice. Does the second one fit?”
Show answer
B. It points to one place in the work and asks one answerable question. A asks for a review of everything, so it gives the teacher no starting point.
3. You cannot find the English words for your doubt. What can you bring instead?
Show answer
Bring the work itself and mark the line. You can add a short note in your first language beside it. The teacher can then see the problem and help you find the English question.
Where this leads next
Once your questions are specific, practise the phrases they reveal with rehearsing a difficult phrase with a meaningful example. Then try the mixed practice set. The mistake log and retest queue is a good place to keep the questions you have already asked.
Some students prepare well and still find it hard to say what they do not know. That is one of the things our teachers work on in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition.