Literature Class Ms. Shiela Aringo Importance of Teacher Questioning Skills
Could you live without asking
questions in the classroom? Why do you think questioning skills are extremely important to teachers? Stages students go through to produce a response
Whenever teachers ask questions,
students go through the following stages before they are able to answer a question. Attending to the question Deciphering the meaning of the question Generating a covert response (i.e., formulating a response in one's mind) Generating an overt response; and often Revising the response (based on teacher probing or other feedback) Levels of Questioning
Classroom questions may be
classified into several levels from the low inquiry to the higher inquiry types. Sanders
Four of the categories; Application,
Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation are the same as those in Bloom's classification of cognitive objectives. Sanders
Memory was placed instead of Knowledge
In place of Comprehension, Sanders has two separate categories, Translation and Interpretation. Sanders
Translation refers to changing a communication into a new form.
Example: "What idea is expressed in the picture?" Sanders
Interpretation questions require
students to relate information of different kinds facts, concepts, and generalizations. Example: Compare the effects of technology in rural areas to the effects in urban areas. Pate and Bremer
Convergent questions have only one
possible answer. "What are the three branches of the federal government?" Pate and Bremer
Divergent questions have more than one
possible answer. "Should federal income taxes be increased? Why or why not“? carner Concrete questions show special concern for what is observable and tangible. "What services do policemen provide for the community?" carner Abstract questions, requiring more complex mental activity, cause students to generalize, classify, and relate. "What are the similarities of the Soviet and American economic systems?" carner Creative questions represent the highest level of complexity. These questions are characterized by both concrete and abstract applications. "What are the possible courses of action that the United States might take to alleviate the problems of poverty?" Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Knowledge - Remembering: Retrieving, Remembering recognizing, and recalling previously learned relevant knowledge from material, e.g., long-term memory. definitions, concepts, principles, formulas. Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Comprehension - Understanding: Understanding the Constructing meaning from meaning of oral, written, and graphic remembered messages through material, usually interpreting, exemplifying, demonstrated by classifying, summarizing, explaining in one's inferring, comparing, and own words or citing explaining. examples. Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Application - Using Applying: Carrying out or information in a new using a procedure through context to solve a executing, or problem, to answer a question, or to perform implementing. another task. The information used may be rules, principles, formulas, theories, concepts, or procedures. Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Analysis - Breaking a Analyzing: Breaking piece of material into material into constituent its parts and parts, determining how explaining the the parts relate to one relationship between another and to an overall the parts. structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing. Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Synthesis- Putting Evaluating: Making parts together to judgments based on form a new whole, criteria and standards pattern or structure. through checking and critiquing. Bloom’s Taxonomy Anderson’s Taxonomy Evaluation - Using a Creating:Putting set of criteria, elements together to form established by the a coherent or functional student or specified whole; reorganizing by the Teacher, to elements into a new arrive at a reasoned pattern or structure judgment. through generating, planning, or producing. A N D E R S O N ’ S Lower and Higher Level Questions
At times instead of referring to a specific
level of the taxonomy people refer to "lower- level" and "higher-level" questions or behaviors. Lower and Higher Level Questions
Lower level questions are those
at the knowledge, comprehension, and simple application levels of the taxonomy. Usually questions at the lower levels are appropriate for:
evaluating students' preparation and
comprehension. diagnosing students' strengths and weaknesses. reviewing and/or summarizing content. Lower and Higher Level Questions Higher-level questions are those requiring complex application (e.g., analysis, synthesis, and evaluation skills). Questions at higher levels of the taxonomy are usually most appropriate for:
encouraging students to think more deeply
and critically problem solving encouraging discussions stimulating students to seek information on their own Open/Divergent and Closed/Convergent Questions Open/Divergent and Closed/Convergent Questions (A CLARIFICATION)
Generally, teachers believe
that closed questions are low level ones, while open questions are high level ones. Open/Divergent and Closed/Convergent Questions (A CLARIFICATION)
Closed/Convergent question - there are a
limited number of acceptable answers, most of which will usually be anticipated by the Teacher. Open/Divergent question - there are many acceptable answers, most of which will not be anticipated by the Teacher. Both open and closed questions may be at any level of the taxonomy.
An open low-level question might be:
"What is an example of an adjective?" An open high-level question might be: "What are some ways we might solve the energy crisis?" Both open and closed questions may be at any level of the taxonomy.
A closed low-level question:
"What is an adjective?" (Recall question that requires one answer) A closed high-level question: What is the adverbial in the given sentence below? (Analysis question that requires one answer) Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Incorporate questioning into classroom teaching/learning practices. Ask questions which focus on the salient elements in the lesson; avoid questioning students about extraneous matters. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning When teaching students factual material, keep up a brisk instructional pace, frequently posing lower cognitive questions. With older and higher ability students, ask questions before (as well as after) material is read and studied. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Question younger and lower ability students only after material has been read and studied. Ask a majority of lower cognitive questions when instructing younger and lower ability students. Structure these questions so that most of them will elicit correct responses. Ask a majority of higher cognitive questions when instructing older and higher ability students. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Insettings where higher cognitive questions are appropriate, teach students strategies for drawing inferences. Keep wait-time to about three seconds when conducting recitations involving a majority of lower cognitive questions. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Increase wait-time beyond three seconds when asking higher cognitive questions. Be particularly careful to allow generous amounts of wait-time to students perceived as lower ability. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning Use redirection and probing as part of classroom questioning and keep these focused on salient elements of students' responses. Avoid vague or critical responses to student answers during recitations. Guidelines for Classroom Questioning During recitations, use praise sparingly and make certain it is sincere, credible, and directly connected to the students' responses. Activity! Questioning Strategies Reinforcement The Teacher can reinforce by making positive statements and using positive nonverbal communication. Proper nonverbal responses include smiling, nodding, and maintaining eye contact, while improper nonverbal responses include looking at notes while students speak, looking at the board or ruffling papers. Reinforcement
Thetype of reinforcement provided will be
determined by: The correctness of the answer The number of times a student has responded Probe Ask probing questions to make students explore initial comments. Probes are useful in getting students more involved in critical analysis of their own and other students' ideas. Example:
Teacher: What do you think about what the Wolf
did to the Second Little Pig? Student: I think the Wolf is really bad after all. Teacher: Why do you think so? Adjust/Refocus When students provide responses which appear out of context, ask refocusing questions to encourage them to link their responses to the content being discussed. This technique is also used to shift attention to a new topic. Example:
Teacher: Why was the Wolf explaining his side of
the story? Student 1: I guess he wants to show what really happened. Teacher: OK, but let’s look at the last part of the story. What could be his real motive for speaking up and defending himself? Redirect. When a student responds to a question, the teacher can ask another student to comment on his statement. One purpose of using this technique is to enable more students to participate. This strategy can also be used to allow a student to correct another student's incorrect statement or respond to another student's question. Redirect. Teacher: Joshua, do you agree with Jake’s comment? Teacher: From your experience, Roger, does what Carol say seem true? Teacher: Jaine, can you give me an example of the concept that Andrei mentioned? Rephrase. This technique is used when a student provides an incorrect response or no response. Instead of telling the student she is incorrect or calling upon another student, the Teacher can try one of three strategies: Rephrase. Example: Teacher: How would you characterize the wolf? Student 1: (No response). Teacher: Can you describe the wolf in the story?