Facilitative styles of asking questions

If the intention of the questioner is really to prompt the interlocutor in disclosing information freely, then question techniques may not be appropriate at all. Instead it might be better to echo and to reformulate in order to give the interlocutor the opportunity to expand.

Illustrative dialogue

Well, I live in a flat in a rather poor part of town.考生如果怕自己錯過考試報名時間和考試時間的話，可以 免費預約短信提醒，屆時會以短信的方式提醒大家報名和考試時間。

Poor part of town…?

Yes, it's quite dirty and the streets are badly lit. That's why I don't like going out alone at night.

So you're frightened to go out alone?

Well, yes because we hear of attacks and muggings. That's why I want to leave.

In this dialogue, speaker B doesn't try to take the initiative, but merely echoes and reformulates to prompt speaker A to say what worries her.

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