Asking Diagnostic Questions

B1 · Intermediate1 hr 6 minIT & TechnologyLesson 2 of 8 · Outline

Aims

Goal: find the root cause of a technical problem — not just the symptom — by asking "why" in a calm chain until you reach something you can actually fix.

The lesson, stage by stage

  1. Warm up5 min

    Warm-up: Symptom or cause?

    2 warm-up questions

  1. Reading10 min

    Reading: Systematic Diagnostic Questioning

    Read a 185-word text about Systematic Diagnostic Questioning

  2. Vocabulary8 min

    Vocabulary: Diagnostic Vocabulary

    7 items

  3. Framework6 min

    Framework: The 5 Whys Technique

    The 5 Whys, 5 steps

  4. Reading10 min

    Reading: A 5-Whys walkthrough, out loud

    Read a 299-word text about A 5-Whys walkthrough, out loud

  5. Practice7 min

    Practice: Diagnostic Conversations

    Gap-fill exercise, 5 items

  6. Dialogue10 min

    Dialogue: Diagnosing a Printer Problem

    Role-play: A colleague reports that they can't print. You need to ask systematic questions to find the cause. (8 lines)

  7. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Your mission: reach the root cause

    3 discussion questions

Open the full lesson

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Target vocabulary

In a Tuton account these words become your student's vocabulary deck, so they come back in practice between lessons.

diagnosereplicateroot causeworkaroundintermittentsymptomisolate

This plan comes from the Tech Support & Troubleshooting course in the Tuton library. Browse all free lesson plans.