Abstract
This study aimed to identify teachers' why-question strategies employed in teaching social studies. First, it examined the practical problems related to why-questions, which interfere with interrogative utterances. Second, to find a solution, it determined the structures and components of why-questions and analyzed them by examining their several elements. The results revealed that (a) a "viewpoint of questioning" is key in using why-questions and connects the target of a question with its answer and (b) the four elements of background, requirement, intention, and criterion constitute the "viewpoint of questioning," which promotes the development of children's social recognition. Based on these results, three strategies for asking why-questions were ascertained: (1) recognizing that why-questions nurture students' social recognition based on "a viewpoint of questioning" comprising background, requirement, intention, and criterion; (2) changing the question by paraphrasing it as a what- or how-question to understand students' viewpoints; and (3) instructing students to reconsider the question by asking them to contemplate it from a different angle to understand their viewpoints. The study's results revealed that the knowledge gained by analyzing the structures and components of why-questions could be useful in developing, analyzing, and discussing social studies lessons and theories.
