Compared was the relative effectiveness of two teacher questioning styles on the motivation and learning of eight intermediate educable mentally retarded pupils. Interactive process data and pupil achievement on a recall posttest were examined for two different types of lessons: one utilizing "episodic" questions (that encouraged the child to relate his personal experiences to lesson content) and the other utilizing "semantic" questions (which emphasized only the recall and processing of factual material). Results revealed differences in teacher behavior, pupil responses, pupil language production, teacher-pupil interaction, and pupil recall. For example, greater self-initiated pupil response, individual pupil verbal output, and teacher probing of pupil responses occurred during episodic teaching; but teachers provided more positive feedback and students were more able to recall new information during semantic teaching. (LH)