ABSTRACT
Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teachers’ Questions in a Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
In a classroom context, typically teachers ask a lot of questions. Research indicates that whether in a content classroom or in a language classroom, teachers ask many questions. The standard pattern in the classroom is one in which the teacher asks questions, one or more students respond to the questions, and then the teacher evaluates the responses. Thus, in terms of a classroom context, a questioning session happens naturally as a process of learning.
This research deals with teachers’ questions in a junior high school English classroom. The study was conducted to answer questions What types of questions do the teachers tend to use in the daily practices of teaching in the EFL classroom, what are the function of the questions asked by the teachers, and how do the students respond to the questions.. The study was conducted at Public Middle School 2 in Soe, South Central Timor. The study was carried out by observing and taking video recordings of two eighth grade English teachers. Eight observations were conducted in four classes of two weeks of lessons.
The findings indicate that in the question type, display questions (92%) were highly uttered by the teachers rather than referential questions (8.1%). In display questions, the biggest category of questions asked by the teachers was complete pronominal questions (49.05%), which are questions in the form of WH questions. Meanwhile, for 7 (8.1%) referential questions, there were 4 complete pronominal questions and 3 complete verbal questions posed by the teachers.
As the purposes of learning English in a junior high school context is to engage students to communicate in spoken and written language, all the questioning functions are related to eliciting information, checking students’ understanding of the lesson being taught, and encouraging them to participate more in the classroom. Therefore, the questions posed by the teachers were highly distributed.
▸ Baca selengkapnya: my teacher were angry because i …… lazy
(2)ABSTRAK
Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teacher’s Questions in Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Lumrahnya, guru mengajukan banyak pertanyaan di dalam kelas. Penelitian tentang pertanyaan menunjukan bahwa guru mengajukan banyak sekali pertanyaan baik di kelas pembelajaran bahasa maupun di kelas lainnya. Pola standar di kelas adalah guru bertanya, satu atau lebih siswa menjawab/merespon pertanyaan tersebut, kemudian guru mengevaluais jawaban tersebut. Jadi, di dalam konteks ruang kelas, sesi tanya jawab terjadi secara alami sebagai sebuah proses pembelajaran.
Penelitian ini berhubungan dengan pertanyaan guru di kelas bahasa Inggris SMP. Studi ini dilakukan untuk menjawab beberapa pertanyaan menyangkut tipe pertanyaan yang digunakan guru selama jam pelajaran berlangsung, fungsi dari pertanyaan tersebut, dan respon siswa terhadap pertanyaan guru tersebut. Studi ini dilaksanakan di SMP Negeri 2 Soe, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan melalui observasi kelas dan pengambilan video mengajar tiga guru bahasa Inggris pada kelas dua. Terdapat delapan kalo observasi yang dilakukan pada empat kelas selama dua minggu pelajaran.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa untuk tipe pertanyaan, Display question (92%) lebih banyak ditanyakn dari pada Referential question (8,1%). Pada display question, kategori pertanyaan yang paling sering ditanyakan adalah Complete Pronominal Question (49,05%), dalam bentuk WH question. Sementara itu, untuk tujuh (8,1%) Referential question, terdapat empat complete pronominal question dan 3 complete verbal question yang ditanyakan oleh guru.
Tujuan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris dalam konteks SMP adalah menghantar siswa agar dapat berbicara bahasa Inggris. Tentu saja semua fungsi pertanyaan yang dilontarkan oleh guru adalah untuk mendapatkan informasi, mengetahui pemahaman siswa terhadap pelajaran yang diajarkan, dan mendorong mereka untuk lebih berpartisipasi di dalam kelas.
TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH
SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theMagister Humaniora (M. Hum)Degree in English Language Studies
by
LESLY NARWASTI NDUN 126332042
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
A THESIS
TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
CLASSROOM
by
LeslyNarwastiNdun Students Number:126332042
Approved by
Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A.
A THESIS
TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
CLASSROOM
Presented by
LeslyNarwastiNdun Students Number:126332042
Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson :Drs.F.X. MukartoPh.D ….………
Secretary : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko,M.A ……….
Members : 1.Dr. J. Bismoko ……….
2.JSM.Pudji Lestari, S.Pd. M.Hum ……….
Yogyakarta, February 27, 2015
The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University
Statement of Originality
This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands of the fuIl consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else's ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta, February 27, 2015
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Lesly Narwasti Ndun
Nomor Mahasiswa : 126332042
Demi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Dermikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 27 Februari 2015
Yang menyatakan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I gave my highest gratitude to Jesus Christ, my Lord, for without His guidance and blessing, this thesis would have never been finished. Amidst the wonderful people, I would like to say my deepest gratitude, first, to Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A., my supervisor, for his advice, help, support, understanding, and especially his patience. Many times I forced him to examine my thesis. Thus I know without his patience and care, I would not finish it. I also deliver my gratitude to the examiners of my thesis, Dr. J. Bismoko, Drs. F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D. and Dr. F.R. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. for their help in reading my thesis and giving their idea for the improvement of this thesis.
My huge and untold thanks go to my family. The first is my husband, Marthen, who gave me a chance to study regardless his hard time for being a father and a “mother” for the kids. Next is my three beloved kids, Jonathan and Bryan and Vionna who always made me laugh every time I am desperate.
I would like to send my great thanks for my best friends in KBI, Dinar, Indes, Mayang, and Andrew. Thank you all for help that accompany me during my study. I cannot mention all help one by one that you have ever shared with me. My family in PD Kasih, Andhy, Veven, Ani, Luki, Vhian, and Kak Vid, Living with you people was my best time in Yogyakarta. Thanks for all the support and all memorable joys we have ever shared together, thanks for helping me to be a better person.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……… 2) Arousing Interest and Curiosity Concerning a Topic…………
a. Number of Words Students Produced………..
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Type of display question ………...36
Table 4.2 Referential question asked in class A ……….46
Table 4.3 Function of question ………..49
Table 4.4 Checking learners’ understanding class A ……….49
Table 4.5 Checking learners’ understanding class B ………..51
Table 4.6 Checking learners’ understanding class D ……….52
Table 4.7 Checking learners’ understanding class E ……….53
Table 4.8 Arousing interest and curiosity class A ………54
Table 4.9 Arousing interest and curiosity class B ………55
Table 4.10 Arousing interest and curiosity class D ………..56
Table 4.11 Focusing learners’ attention on particular issue or concept class A ……… 57
Table 4.12 Focusing learners’ attention on particular issue or concept class D ……… 57
Table 4.13 Controlling classroom class D ………58
Table 4.14 Eliciting information ………58
Table 4.15 The length of students’ responses ………..62
Table 4.16 Ways of responding ………. 64
Table 4.17 Correctness ………..65
ABSTRACT
Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teachers’ Questions in a Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
In a classroom context, typically teachers ask a lot of questions. Research indicates that whether in a content classroom or in a language classroom, teachers ask many questions. The standard pattern in the classroom is one in which the teacher asks questions, one or more students respond to the questions, and then the teacher evaluates the responses. Thus, in terms of a classroom context, a questioning session happens naturally as a process of learning.
This research deals with teachers’ questions in a junior high school English classroom. The study was conducted to answer questions What types of questions do the teachers tend to use in the daily practices of teaching in the EFL classroom, what are the function of the questions asked by the teachers, and how do the students respond to the questions.. The study was conducted at Public Middle School 2 in Soe, South Central Timor. The study was carried out by observing and taking video recordings of two eighth grade English teachers. Eight observations were conducted in four classes of two weeks of lessons.
The findings indicate that in the question type, display questions (92%) were highly uttered by the teachers rather than referential questions (8.1%). In display questions, the biggest category of questions asked by the teachers was complete pronominal questions (49.05%), which are questions in the form of WH questions. Meanwhile, for 7 (8.1%) referential questions, there were 4 complete pronominal questions and 3 complete verbal questions posed by the teachers.
As the purposes of learning English in a junior high school context is to engage students to communicate in spoken and written language, all the questioning functions are related to eliciting information, checking students’ understanding of the lesson being taught, and encouraging them to participate more in the classroom. Therefore, the questions posed by the teachers were highly distributed.
ABSTRAK
Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teacher’s Questions in Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Lumrahnya, guru mengajukan banyak pertanyaan di dalam kelas. Penelitian tentang pertanyaan menunjukan bahwa guru mengajukan banyak sekali pertanyaan baik di kelas pembelajaran bahasa maupun di kelas lainnya. Pola standar di kelas adalah guru bertanya, satu atau lebih siswa menjawab/merespon pertanyaan tersebut, kemudian guru mengevaluais jawaban tersebut. Jadi, di dalam konteks ruang kelas, sesi tanya jawab terjadi secara alami sebagai sebuah proses pembelajaran.
Penelitian ini berhubungan dengan pertanyaan guru di kelas bahasa Inggris SMP. Studi ini dilakukan untuk menjawab beberapa pertanyaan menyangkut tipe pertanyaan yang digunakan guru selama jam pelajaran berlangsung, fungsi dari pertanyaan tersebut, dan respon siswa terhadap pertanyaan guru tersebut. Studi ini dilaksanakan di SMP Negeri 2 Soe, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan melalui observasi kelas dan pengambilan video mengajar tiga guru bahasa Inggris pada kelas dua. Terdapat delapan kalo observasi yang dilakukan pada empat kelas selama dua minggu pelajaran.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa untuk tipe pertanyaan, Display question (92%) lebih banyak ditanyakn dari pada Referential question (8,1%). Pada display question, kategori pertanyaan yang paling sering ditanyakan adalah Complete Pronominal Question (49,05%), dalam bentuk WH question. Sementara itu, untuk tujuh (8,1%) Referential question, terdapat empat complete pronominal question dan 3 complete verbal question yang ditanyakan oleh guru.
Tujuan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris dalam konteks SMP adalah menghantar siswa agar dapat berbicara bahasa Inggris. Tentu saja semua fungsi pertanyaan yang dilontarkan oleh guru adalah untuk mendapatkan informasi, mengetahui pemahaman siswa terhadap pelajaran yang diajarkan, dan mendorong mereka untuk lebih berpartisipasi di dalam kelas.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the background of the study related to teachers’ questions that was conducted in a junior high school setting in Soe, South Central Timor. It begins with the background of the research and explains what prompted the researcher to conduct the research. It then moves to identify the problem that the researcher wants to discuss throughout this thesis and clarifies the objectives and benefits of doing this research.
A. Background
The aim of education according to law no. 2 year of 1989, is to generate the knowledge, skill, and scientific progress that improve the life of nation and develop Indonesian people. It should then help learners acquire knowledge through comprehension. Because of its potential to promote comprehension and learning, questioning is considered as one of the most influential teaching strategies. Academic research confirms that students develop critical thinking skills through teacher facilitated questions (Ennis, 1996). Ennis emphasizes that asking students questions is a way to build complex conceptualizations and foster critical thinking. Thus, this research will deal with one aspect of classroom interaction, which is questioning.
obliging learners to contribute to the interaction. Learners’ responses also provide the teacher with feedback which can be used to adjust content and expression in subsequent teacher-talk. Second, questions serve as a device for controlling the progress of the interaction through which a lesson is enacted. It has been found that questions can also be used to motivate students, to revise, control, test or assess, explore, explain, encourage students to focus on a particular topic, elicit information, and check understanding and to control behavior (Young 1992; Richards and Lockhart 1994).
If we take a look at the practice of teaching English in Timorese secondary schools today, you may observe a complex problem. Studies made by Daniel (2006) on technical and vocational training institutes confirm that students have difficulties in using the language and in interacting in the classroom. Most scholars agree about the importance of questioning to lighten some of these problems. Supporting this view, Moghadam and Barjesteh 2014 states that, “Teachers’ questions serve as a mean of engaging learners’ attention to promote verbal responses and evaluate learners’ progress.” Therefore, one of the measures that can be taken to improve teachers’ questioning skills is in assessing how teachers ask questions in an EFL classroom.
interactions will happen when students respond to the teacher’s questions, and vice versa. This implies that students can actively participate in the classroom when they are questioned, and at the same time they need to answer the questions by using the target language. Moreover, students’ language proficiency can be improved through interactions between the teacher and the students and among the students themselves.
Research on questioning indicates that teachers, whether in content classrooms or language classrooms, ask many questions (Ellis, 1993). In a study of six ESL teachers, Long and Sato (1983 in Ellis 2008 ) found that 938 questions were asked by teachers in six elementary ESL lessons. Young, as cited in Nhlapo (1998), states that questioning is a favorite teacher methodology, and that roughly 60% of all classroom talk is composed of questions and nearly all of them are asked by teachers. Another study done by Gambrell in Qashoa (2013) revealed that teachers asked questions every forty three seconds. Furthermore, Brualdi (1998) points out that eighty percent of a teacher’s school day is taken up asking questions to students. Thus, classroom teachers spend most of their lesson time conducting questioning sessions.
knowledge and promote creative thinking. Thus, asking a good question is cognitively demanding.
However, Cotton (2010) says that the content of the questions and the manner in which teachers ask them determines whether or not they are effective. Some mistakes that teachers make during the question and answer process include asking vague questions, asking trick questions, and asking questions that may be too abstract for children of their age. When questions such as those mentioned are asked, students will usually not know how to respond and may answer the questions incorrectly. Thus, their feelings of failure may cause them to be more hesitant to participate in class.
Teachers’ questions, in relation with the contributions that they can make to language learning, will depend on students’ responses. the responses can be recitation or discussion The question type and the time given to students help them formulate their answers as responses to the question. Sometimes students have no time to formulate or even to think about the answer to a certain question asked by the teacher. That is why the wait time is also crucial in having good responses to questions being asked.
B. Problem Identification
students or even no responses at all. By asking the right type of question and giving enough time for students to formulate their answers, a teacher automatically gets two benefits in language learning. First, a teacher can check students’ comprehension of the lesson being taught, and second, he/she can monitor students’ language proficiency.
Thinking back of my own days in elementary and secondary school, after listening to the teacher’s explanation, I would wait for the teacher to call on me with a quick question; it usually required a brief reply. It did not matter whether the subject was language or social studies or science, the question revealed whether or not I remembered the material. Sometimes, the questions she asked resulted in no responses from the students. That is why questions should be used in a way in which they can create an effective and powerful learning environment. Based on the above statement, a teacher should be aware of asking such a question for the students to consider the question type, the function that it serves, and the wait-time given to students. It is also important to acknowledge how students respond to a question. After knowing what the teacher should do, hopefully, he/she can obtain or even raise students’ comprehension in using the target language.
C. Research Questions
This study aims to examine the types of questions which are used by teachers in the class and to find out what purposes the questions convey in the process of teaching. The study is based on the following questions:
2) What are the functions of the questions asked by the teachers? 3) How do the students respond to the questions?
D. Research Objectives
This research is aimed to identify the types of questions that are used in the EFL classroom. Therefore, it is important to examine what kinds of questions are used to devise a communicative classroom. That is an EFL classroom that helps students acquires the target language better, so they can interact with one another using the target language.
Since every question serves a different function in language learning, this research also examines the reason why certain questions are asked in the classroom. It happens because typically a teacher has no specific intention to ask a certain question other than to check students’ learning comprehension. That is because most of the questions are intended to identify a superficial understanding of the material.
The last reason why this study is conducted is to explore students’ responses toward teacher questions to examine whether they give the intended answers or not. In a classroom setting, students typically respond to a teacher’s question superficially. They do not give an answer that is provoked by the critical thinking process. By analyzing the responses the students give, the researcher will know which questions are suitable to use in order to encourage students’ critical thinking process.
E. Research Benefits
leonard, and Dufresne 2006 ). This research will benefit teachers in the context of effective teaching and learning. In order to be an effective teacher, one must be an effective questioner. One way to teach effectively is by recognizing that questioning serves various functions and creates a different level of thinking. Some questions require only a superficial understanding, while others cause students to go beyond memory and use other thought processes in forming an answer. By learning different kinds of questions and the different functions they serve, it is a crucial step in being able to use all types of questions effectively.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents and discusses literature on teachers’ questions. It
begins with examining the conceptual meaning of a question. Given the
importance of questioning as a teaching strategy, the chapter also surveys the type
of questions teachers ask in their classrooms and the contributions those questions
have during classroom interactions. It then ends with a brief theoretical review of
research that has been reported on teachers’ questions in foreign language
classrooms.
A. The Meaning of a Question
A question is any sentence which has an interrogative form or function. In
classroom settings, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli
that expose students to the content elements to be learned (Azerefegen, 2008). It
has become an essential part of instruction in that it allows teachers to monitor
student competence and understanding as well as increase thought-provoking
discussion (Critelli & Tritapoe 2010). This deals with leading students to acquire
certain knowledge.
In a teaching and learning context, question refers to any idea that requires
a response from listener. It is used to make a request for information.
Furthermore, the request itself is made by such an expression and the information
is provided with an answer. The situation takes place when the teachers want to
get students’ responses and the first step is to answer questions.
From these definitions, it can be generalized that the word ‘question’ refers
classroom settings, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli
that convey content elements to be learned by students and directions for what
they are to do and how they are to do it. It involves hints about what students are
about to experience and techniques that call on students’ prior knowledge.
B. The Importance of Questions
Questions are vital to acquire knowledge. People usually ask questions to
one another to know something about unknown things. They are instruments to
examine new ideas, facts, in formation, knowledge and experiences (Azerefegen
2008). In line with this, Brown and Wragg (1993) say that we normally ask
questions when we really want to know something and, if we already know the
answer, then we don’t need to ask.
On top of that, questions play a great part in communication. It is used as a
learning tool to promote interaction (Ma 2008). Therefore, questions in the
language classroom enable the teacher to evaluate his or her students and motivate
students to attend lessons attentively.
In line with this, Richards and Lockharts (1994:185) have stated the
following as justifications for the important questions in teaching.
They stimulate and maintain students’ interest.
They encourage students to think and focus on the content of the lesson.
They enable teachers to check students’ understanding. They enable a teacher to elicit particular structures or vocabulary items.
They encourage students’ participation in a lesson.
This implies that in the teaching and learning process, questions are the core
by which all communication between a teacher and pupils takes places. Also, they
Questions, after all, are crucial features of the language and part of teaching
process (Hamiloglu, 2012).
One aspect to consider in a teaching learning context is students’
involvement in asking and answering questions, which is significant to language
teaching and learning. That is why it is important to handle and utilize such
questions properly in question and answer exchanges. Nhlapo (1998) also
corroborates this by saying that teachers’ questions are the quickest and the easiest
techniques for moving students toward real conversation. This confirms that
questions are essential in the teaching and learning process.
Questions in the language classroom play a significant role in promoting
learners’ language proficiency. They are employed to check students’
comprehension, to see if they have acquired the knowledge imparted, to focus
their attention and involvement in the lesson, to control behavior, and to
encourage the students to use the target language for communication (Tsui, 1995).
In line with this, (Klippel, 1983, as cited in Azerefegen (2008), suggests,
“Learning is more effective if learners are actively involved in the process.” Since
learners’ participation is really demanding, effective questions will stimulate
learners to use the target language more.
In order to promote effective teaching and learning, questions are one of the
techniques that are widely used in ESL classrooms. If they are properly handled
and employed, they may facilitate interactions and bring about the necessary
changes in the students’ language proficiency. In this regard, English teachers are
expected to develop the skills of asking effective questions (Sadker and Sadker,
(Perrott, 1986), it is increasingly important for teachers to avoid ineffective
questioning patterns, for the questioning process is crucial to classroom
instruction.
Thus, to improve the learning opportunities for the class and to motivate
students to talk more and provide responses, teachers are expected to develop
questioning skills and employ different types of questions in EFL classrooms.
Besides that, students should also be encouraged to ask questions and give
responses to teachers’ questions. If students are given opportunities to talk,
teachers will be able to obtain feedback on students’ problems in understanding
some parts of the lesson.
Moreover, it might facilitate interactions and production of the target
language (Perott, 1986). It is believed that motivating students to communicate
with the language entails knowledge of the types of questions on the part of the
teacher. The teacher has to be well aware of the types of questions and the
purposes of questioning. Despite the fact that teachers have a major role in
classroom questioning, students also need to practice the ways of forming
different questions.
The teachers' questions can be considered as the most powerful device to
lead, extend, and control communication in the classroom. Actually, the style of
interaction between the teacher and students can be seen as a recycling process: “a
teacher's question, students' responses, and feedback” (Dillon, 1990; Westgate &
Hughes, 1997; Yang, 2002, as cited in Yang, 2006). This illustrates the dominant
Students’ skills in questioning, critical thinking, and negotiation of meaning
and interaction abilities can be promoted if language teachers are well aware of
the students’ right to ask questions. Allowing students to ask questions can
motivate, initiate, and engage them in various language activities to discover
answers to teachers’ questions and find out solutions to problems posed by their
teachers and classmates. Thus, it is essential for language teachers to acquire
questioning techniques which encourage students to reply.
1. The Importance of Questioning in English Classes
Questioning is a common technique used in English language teaching. The
goal is to check if the students understand what they have been taught, and to
enhance students’ involvement and to promote students’ creative thinking in
classroom interactions (Ennis, 1996). Questioning is considered as one of the
most essential and important techniques during instructional processes since
Socrates’ time (Sadker and Sadker, 1988). Questioning takes up most of teacher
talk, and it has been improved to have a great influence on classroom interactions.
Questioning has always been the most ubiquitous phenomenon observed in the
classroom, as well as one of the most frequently-adopted devices favored by most
teachers (Ellis, 2012). This implies that questioning sessions are unavoidable in
the teaching and learning process.
Questioning is one kind of active teaching procedure. It is one way of
teaching through teachers’ and students’ interactions in checking learning,
promoting thought, consolidating knowledge, using knowledge, and achieving
teaching skill between the teacher and students. It has been used widely in
teaching till now.
Thus, it can be understood that classroom questioning is the main part of
classroom teaching, and it is one of the teaching methods to get the aim of
classroom teaching. Teachers want to get students’ responses and the first step is
to answer questions. Through consistent dialog and communication, teachers can
get the answers they want and evaluate the students accordingly.
Questioning, as a general way used by teachers in the class, plays an
important role in classroom teaching. Questions are used to evaluate students’
knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. Questions can help to review
essential content in a subject. Questions can be used to control the social behavior
of students.
2. Teacher Questions and Language Acquisition
Acquiring a new language means being able to use the language in any
given situation. In language classroom, communicative competence has become a
goal that best achieved by giving attention to language use, to fluency, and to
students need to apply the language in classroom context as the rehearsal in the
real world (Brown 2002).
C. The Purpose of Questioning
Research indicates that questioning is one of the most familiar techniques
used by teachers in their classrooms (Lewis, 1990). Different researchers provide
various reasons why this is so. For example, Ellis (1992) proposes two reasons
First, questions require responses and, therefore, they serve as a means of
obliging learners to contribute to the interactions. Learners’ responses also
provide the teacher with feedback which can be used to adjust content and
expressions in subsequent teacher-talk. Second, questions serve as a device for
controlling the progress of the interactions through which a lesson is enacted. It
has been found that questions can also be used to motivate students, to revise,
control, test or assess, explore, explain, encourage students to focus on a particular
topic, elicit information, check understanding, and control behavior (Young, 1992;
Richards and Lockhart, 1994).
Brown & Wragg (1993) list several functions of questions, such as “to
arouse interest and curiosity concerning a topic, to focus attention on a particular
issue or concept, to develop an active approach to learning, and to stimulate pupils
to ask questions of themselves and others.” However, with reference to language
teaching, Nunan & Lamb (1996) state that teachers ask questions mainly to check
learners’ understanding, to elicit information, and to control their classrooms.
Peacock (1990, in Ezerefgn 2008), says that, “More often than not teachers appear
to ask questions either to find out what pupils do or do not know and understand,
or to remind them about work completed in a previous lesson, or perhaps to
challenge, stimulate, and develop their thinking.” Morgan and Saxton (1991 cited
in Brualdi 1998), add that teachers ask questions for several reasons. They ask
questions to keep their learners involved during lessons, to express their ideas and
thoughts, to enable learners to hear different explanations of the material, and to
help teachers evaluate their learners’ learning and revise their lessons when
However, Nunan and Lamb (1996) warn researchers that, “Questions do not
necessarily serve one function.” Nunan and Lamb point out that a question to elicit
information may be directed (for purposes of control) to a student whose attention
is wandering, and only an extended context would show whether a question was
designed to elicit information or check understanding. What is more crucial though
is that the type of question asked might determine the nature of information the
teacher would like to elicit from students.
D. Types and Classifications of Questions
Teachers in the EFL classroom employ different types of questions to make
teaching effective and enhance learners’ proficiency in the target language. As it
has been explained by Richards and Lockharts (1994), there are three types of
questions. They are procedural, convergent, and divergent questions.
First, procedural questions have to do with classroom procedures and
routines and classroom management as opposed to the content of learning. For
example, Richards and Lockharts (1994:186), state that the following questions
usually occur in classrooms while teachers are checking that assignments had
been completed, that instructions for a task are clear, and that student are ready for
a new task.
Did everyone bring their homework? Do you all understand what I want to do? How much more time do you need?
Can you all read what I have written on the blackboard? Did anyone bring a dictionary to class?
Why aren’t you doing the assignment?
Procedural questions are designed to engage students in the content of the lesson,
Second, convergent questions encourage similar student responses or
responses which focus on a central theme. These responses are often short
answers, such as “yes” or “no” or short statements. This means they do not
usually require students to engage in higher level thinking in order to come up
with a response but often focus on the recall of previously presented information
(Richards and Lockharts, 1994).
In general, convergent questions may expect the student to repeat some
conventional wisdom. Richards and Lockharts (1994:186) recommend the
following questions as convergent used by a teacher in introducing a reading
lesson focusing on the effects of computers.
How many of you have a personal computer in your home? Do you use it every day?
What do you mainly use it for?
What are some other machines that you have in your home? What are the names of some computer companies?
What is the difference between software and hardware?
The last is divergent questions that encourage student responses which are
not short answers and which require students to engage in higher level thinking.
They encourage students to provide their own information rather than to recall
previously presented information. In general, divergent questions often require
students to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate a knowledge base and then project or
predict different outcomes.
Therefore, divergent questions often require new, creative insights. After
asking the convergent questions above, the teacher goes on to ask divergent
questions such as the following:
Do you think computers have had any negative effects on society?
What are the best ways of promoting the use of computers in education?
There are also other scholars who have explained the art of asking
questions. For instance, Erickson (2007) revealed that there are three types of
questions as being factual, conceptual, and provocative. However, this type of
classification is similar with the ones that have been discussed earlier. For
example, factual questions are the ones that are easily answered with definitive
and comparatively simple answers. Conceptual questions might be ones that are
convergent, divergent, or evaluative in construction. Provocative questions are
ones that entice and cannot be answered with easy answers. They are questions
that can be used to motivate and frame content or are essential questions.
Barnes, in Ellis (2012), distinguishes four types of questions he observes in
the secondary school classroom: (1) factual questions “what”, (2) reasoning
questions “how and why”, (3) open question that do not require reasoning, and (4)
social questions that influence student behavior by means of control or appeal.
Barnes makes much of the distinction between closed questions which are framed
with only acceptable answers in mind and open questions that permit a number of
different acceptable answers. He also points out that many questions seem to be
open questions but, in fact, when the teacher’s response to a student’s answer is
examined, it turns out to be closed, that is a pseudo-question.
Long and Sato (1983) have classified questions as display and referential
questions. Moreover, Nunan (1989) has indicated the distinction between display
person asking the question does not know the answer.” He further commented that
referential questions provide an opportunity for to students to express their ideas
without any restrictions and develop the output of the target language.
Ellis (1992: 700) defines a display question as “one designed to test whether
the addressee has knowledge of a particular fact or can use a particular linguistic
item correctly”. Lightbown & Spada (1999) note that teachers ask display
questions not because they are interested in the answer, but because they want to
get their learners to display their knowledge of the language.
Nunan & Lamb (1996: 88) define referential questions as “those to which
the asker does not know the answer”. Ellis (1992: 721) also explains that these are
questions which are “genuinely information-seeking”. Lynch (1996) argues that
teachers should ask referential questions because (a) learners tend to give longer
answers than they do to display questions and (b) learners will be less willing to
answer questions if their purpose is always to test knowledge.
However, research also shows that there is considerable variation among
teachers (Ellis, 1992). Long and Sato’s study shows that in naturalistic discourse,
referential questions are more frequent than display questions, whereas display
questions are more frequent in whole-class teaching in ESL classrooms (Richards
and Lockhart, 1994). On the other hand, Johnson’s study indicates that one
teacher divided her questions more or less equally between display and referential
ones (Ellis, 1992).
The effects of display questions on students’ discourse patterns were
generally considered to be negative but positive for referential questions. Brock
ESL classroom discourse were investigated. As a result, the students’ responses in
the experiment group who were asked referential questions were significantly
longer and syntactically more complex than those in the control-group class. This
suggests a positive correlation between asking referential questions and students’
production of the target language.
In another study, an ethnographic research done by Ernest (1994), it was
discovered that when the teacher asked display questions, students’ responses
were brief with little elaboration. As Goodwin (2001, cited in Myhill, Jones,
&Hopper, 2006) argues, learners tend to give short responses, and the teacher
does not encourage elaboration of those responses when display questions are
asked.
In brief, classroom data from a number of studies shows that display
questions are commonly asked while referential questions are rarely asked. For
the display questions, the learners’ responses tend to be brief with little
elaboration, but the responses elicited by referential questions are usually longer.
One of the best known classifications of questions is based on Bloom’s
taxonomy (1956). There are six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy and questions at each
level require the students responding to use a different kind of thought process.
These six levels are: knowledge comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
and evaluation (Cooper, 1986 and Perott, 1986).
Knowledge questions require the students to recognize or recall information.
The student is not asked to manipulate information, but merely to remember it just
simply remember facts, observations, and definitions that have been learned
previously (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).
Unlike knowledge questions, comprehension questions require learners to
select those facts that are pertinent to answer the questions by describing,
comparing, or contrasting; that is, to answer comprehension questions, students
should go beyond the memorization or recalling of specific information, facts,
ideas, or procedures (Perrott, 1986; Cooper, 1986). In the words of Cooper, the
student “must demonstrate a personal grasp of the material by being able to
rephrase it to give a description in his or her own words, and to use it in making
comparisons” (1986:146).
Besides recalling, application questions call for students to apply
information they have learned in order to search for and find an answer to a
problem (Perrott, 1986). On top of that, questions at the application level of
taxonomy ask students to apply a rule or process to a problem so as to determine
the single correct answer to that problem (Cooper, 1986). There are key words
that help teachers to ask application questions. These are: apply, classify, use, give
an example, solve, design, and demonstrate (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).
Moreover, student learning can be enhanced not only by requiring them to
memorize ideas or procedures and asking them to rephrase and relate what they
have memorized, but also by helping them learn how to apply their learning in
new situations. Thus, at the application level, students must decide what
information to use so as to solve problems (Kissock and Iyortsuun, 1986, in
Analysis questions are questions which have higher levels which indicate
cause and effect relation. These questions are designed to help students analyze
information so as to reach a particular conclusion. Some of the key words that are
frequently found in analysis questions are: identify causes, draw conclusions,
analyze, why, determine evidence, etc. (Perrott, 1986).
Synthesis questions are also higher order questions that ask students to
perform original and creative thinking (Cooper, 1986). These questions help
students produce original communications, make predictions, and solve problems.
There are key words that can help the teacher to ask questions. To mention some,
create, plan, construct, formulate, put together, produce, design, develop,
synthesize, how can we improve, etc. (Cooper, 1986).
Another kind of higher order question is an evaluation question, which is a
higher order process and does not have a single correct answer. Evaluation
questions require the students to judge the importance of an idea, a solution to a
problem, or an aesthetic work, and also ask the students to offer an opinion on an
issue. Examples evaluation questions are: Which approach offers the best method
for addressing this problem? Which picture do you like most? There are also key
words which indicate evaluation questions. These are: judge, argue, decide,
evaluate, assess, etc.
Bloom’s taxonomy is divided into ‘lower order’ questions and ‘higher
order’ questions. Bloom describes lower order questions as those that are
comprised of knowledge, comprehension, and application while higher order
However, Bloom’s taxonomy has been criticized on the grounds that the
categories are too broad and some topics, such as personal qualities, have no space
within it (Carter, 1985, as cited in Nhlapo, 1998). Another criticism is that the
taxonomy does not distinguish between knowledge and skills, by which Carter
means that Bloom does not distinguish between knowing how to do something
and being able to do it.
Thus, to categorize teachers’ questions, it is very important to determine the
kind of thinking required on the part of the learners to answer the questions.
Lower order questions, for example, require the students to recall information,
whereas higher order questions require the pupils to manipulate information for
some purpose (Perrot, 1986). In relation to this, he further states that most
teachers’ questions call for specific fact answers or lower cognitive thought. But
higher cognitive questions have an important role to enhance students’ thinking
ability beyond recalling facts.
E. Wait-Time
An important dimension of teachers’ questioning skills is uncertain time, or
wait-time, that is, the length of time the teacher waits after asking the question
before calling on a student to answer it, rephrasing the question, directing the
question to another student, or giving the answer. That is called wait-time, and it
is amazing how few teachers use this important questioning skill. In fact, when we
consider the steps that are involved for a second language speaker in answering a
question, an argument can be made that the individual needs an even longer
wait-time than a native speaker. In fact, it seems clear that if teachers ask questions,
responses, and they will need time to think about the responses before reacting to
them (Ma, 2008).
Research shows that the mean amount of time a teacher waits after asking a
question is approximately one second. Sadker and Sadker (1988) point that if the
students are not able to think quickly enough to come up with a response at this
second pace, the teacher usually repeats the question, rephrases it, asks a different
question, or calls on another student. Moreover, in the classroom, when teachers
learn to increase their wait-time from one second to three to five seconds after
asking a question, many significant changes occur in their classroom (Richards
and Lockhart, 1994).
It takes time to answer questions. Many studies show in their investigations
that students are rarely given sufficient time to formulate their answers before the
teacher repeats, rephrases, or goes on to ask another student the question. Rowe
(1986) found that teachers, on average, waited less than a second before calling a
student to respond, and that only a further second was then allowed for the student
to answer before the teacher intervened, either supplying the required response
themselves, rephrasing the question, or calling on some other student to respond.
In short, few teachers give their students enough wait-time to think about
the questions or to form meaningful answers. The average wait-time, when the
teacher waits after a question, is less than a second. There should be at least 2 to 4
seconds after any question before any student is called on to answer it. Wait-time
allows the reflective student a chance to respond and well as the impulsive student
after 15 seconds, leave it unanswered. Tell the students to think about the answer
and you will raise the question again at the beginning of the next class period.
F. Related Research
Research on questioning indicates that teachers, whether in content
classrooms or language classrooms ask many questions (Ellis, 1993). In their
study of six ESL teachers, Long and Sato (1983) found that 938 questions were
asked by teachers in six elementary ESL lessons. Young (1992: 90) states that,
“Persistence of questioning is a favorite teacher methodology. Roughly 60% of all
classroom talk comprises questions, and nearly all of them are asked by teachers.”
A research conducted by Ying (2011) investigated the present situation of
English teachers’ questioning in senior high school both from teachers’ and
students’ views, and to provide positive strategies. He proposes positive strategies
for teachers’ questioning that are firstly, teachers should make an effort to get
students interested in the questions. Teachers can provide different kinds of
questions just beyond students’ current level and relate the contents of questions
with students’ daily life experiences. Secondly, teachers should pay more
attention to the referential questions, guiding students to think actively and apply
them into practice flexibly to improve students’ abilities of logical thinking,
integrating analysis, and communication. Appropriate teacher questioning plays
an important role in classroom teaching. In a senior high school English
classroom, the types of questions are not only those with exact answers but also
the questions need students to think and discuss.
Another study was done by Hamiloglu (2012) on examining types of
EFL classroom. The findings show that in terms of the purposes teachers’
questions convey in the class, convergent questions are the most frequently used
ones with 52 in 98 questions. As these types of questions generally include
Yes/No, short answer and display type questions, over use of convergent
questions are not favored in an EFL context.
A significant number of research findings related to classroom questions
indicate that questions play a crucial role in the classroom and that teachers need
to improve their questioning strategies (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).
The above studies lack the teachers’ aims of asking such type of a question
to their students. This has guided my study in a junior high school context and
helped me justify why teachers use questions in their classrooms. In this study I
focus on finding out type of question that teachers used in daily teaching and
learning process. Soon after I find it, I quantify the frequency of which type of
questions used at the most. By doing so, I can relate the findings into the goal of
language learning in which students can
G. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework used for this study is Long and Sato’s display
and referential questions, and the classification of Brown and Wragg (1993)
related to the teacher’s question function. The first is to analyze and interpret the
nature and types of classroom questions and the different ways classifying
questions can be used. A display question is one in which the questioner knows
the answer, whereas a referential question is one in which the person asking the
for students to express their ideas without any restrictions and develop the output
of the target language.
The second part of the theoretical framework of the study is based on the
classification of Brown and Wragg (1993) related to the teacher’s question
function. It is a tool to arouse interest and curiosity concerning a topic, to focus
attention on a particular issue or concept, to develop an active approach to
learning, to stimulate pupils to ask questions of themselves and others, to check
learners’ understanding, to elicit information, and to control their classrooms.
Through well-planned questioning, teachers can find out and recall not only what
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This section describes the methodology used regarding the types of
teachers’ questions and students’ responses in the EFL classroom to carry out the study. It also provides a brief description of the participants, the procedures used to collect the data through classroom videotaping, and questionnaires. Hence, an
exploratory approach of data collection is used.
A. Nature of the Research
This study employs qualitative techniques to what types of questions are used in EFL classes and to what extent they are used. The main data was gathered from the videotaping of 2 student teachers. The data is the document of teachers’
talk includes the questions being asked by the teachers during the lesson.
I adopted a classroom process research because it “is concerned with the careful description of the interpersonal events which take place in the classroom
as a means of developing understanding about how instruction and learning take place” (Ellis, 1990). The purpose is to study a teacher’s questions in ESL
classrooms, and classroom process research aims at documenting the events that take place in an ESL classroom. I observed and explored how teachers in junior high school in Soe ask questions in ESL classrooms and keep records of events to
enhance my understanding of how teachers and learners “accomplish classroom lessons” (Gaies, 1983, as cited in Nhlapo, 2008). Therefore, I used a qualitative
research as the method of inquiry to investigate my concerns.
responses that students give during the questioning session, data from the
observed lessons and the videotaping of teachers’ talk are analyzed. In addition to that, the questionnaire method is used as a triangulation of the research.
B. Data Setting and Sources
The setting of this research was at Public Middle School 2 in Soe, which was located in South Central Timor Regency. There are several reasons to conduct
the study at this school. First, the school is one of the best schools in Soe, since it is a pioneer school that has acceleration classes. Second, I know the school, its
organization, and the students. So I will have considerable advantages with regards to access, entry, and establishment of my role. I want to use that knowledge, but at the same time set aside my preconceptions and stereotypes in
order to understand what happens in the EFL classroom in this specific context. Third, considering the time limit, I have decided to conduct the study in the school. However, I am also aware of the fact that my familiarity with the place
might influence me in the way I carry out the research and might lead me to take some of the things at school for granted.
The research was conducted on 2nd year students of Public Middle School 2 in Soe. There are seven classes in the second year of this middle school, but I was only recording four classes: A, B, D, and E. Each class will be recorded twice and
the recording last for 90 minutes.
The participants of this study were two English teachers and the students of
C. Data Collection Instruments
To achieve the objectives of this study, the necessary data has to be collected. To this end, two data gathering instruments were used which are
videotaping and questionnaires,. The main instrument was videotaping and while the questionnaires were used to verify that the teachers ask questions.
1. Videotaping
A videotape is an audiovisual material which consists of images or sounds that researchers collect to help them understand the central phenomenon under
study. It is used with increasing frequency in qualitative research, images, or visual materials such as photographs, videotapes, digital images, paintings, and pictures. The use of videotaping is to record all the teachers’ talk during the
lesson. The documentation of the teachers’ talk then will be transcribed regarding all questions that the teachers’ ask.
The videotaping was conducted eight times and each last for 90 minutes
lesson. I used videotaping as the primary classroom procedure to record the way a teacher asks questions in the ESL classroom. I videotaped two weeks lessons in
the four classes of the eighth grade; each class will have two periods of videotaping (forty five minutes each). Since I adopted a non-participatory role, I positioned myself at the back of the class from where I recorded the lesson.
2. Questionnaire
To increase the data obtained from videotape, questionnaires was employed.
open-ended and closed-open-ended questions which are prepared and administered. It was
designed to measure the validity of the data gained through videotape.
In the questionnaires, I asked some questions that are closed-ended and
some that are open-ended. The open-ended responses, however, permit me to explore reasons for the closed-ended responses and identify any comments people might have that are beyond the responses to the closed-ended questions. The
drawback of this approach is that I will have many responses, some short and some long to analyze (Creswell, 2012).
D. Data Analysis
To analyze the data (document of teachers’ questions,), I have completed the following steps. First, for the videotaping, I put the data into computer files
and filed folders after transcribing the raw data into text. The second step was related to codes, themes, or categories. Miles and Huberman (1994, as cited in Mukminin, 2012:56) wrote, “Coding is analysis”; and Creswell (2012) states that
coding is a process of marking content of data (usually text data) with symbols, descriptive words, or categories. I then read all transcriptions and started to code
the data that was related to the research questions. I then listed all the code words and grouped similar codes. After that, themes were obtained by grouping similar codes that always appear during the research.
To answer the first research question related to the types of teachers’ questions, I coded each question into display and referential question. The
classroom questioning, it will be analyzed according to Brown and Wragg’s
(1993) function of questioning, which is checking learners’ understanding, eliciting information, controlling the classroom, arousing interest and curiosity
concerning a topic, focusing attention on a particular issue of concept, developing an active approach to learning, and stimulating students to ask questions of themselves and others.
In order to analyze the students’ responses, I would simply analyze the responses the students give to the teachers’ questions based on three categories,
which are whether or not they give the intended answers, the way they respond to the teachers’ questions, and the number of words they produce in answering the questions regarding the question type. The analysis is not on the students’
physical responses because it does not give significant result to the students language learning.
E. Data Validation and Reliability
” Reliability means dependability or consistency” (Neuman 2006:188). It signify that the same thing reoccur at the same situation. To measure the
reliability of the data, I videotape each class twice to ensure that the thing that happens in certain class at the first recording is repeated in the same class at the second recording.
Meanwhile, validity means trustworthy (Neuman 2006), It suggest truthfulness that the data being presented by the researcher fits with the actual
the accuracy and credibility of the data, findings, and interpretations, and
CHAPTER IV
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the results of the data collection through classroom
observations and questionnaires both for teachers and students. The structure of
the analysis is divided into findings and discussion sections. The data will be
analyzed in three main parts which are types of classroom teachers’ questions, the
functions of those questions, and students’ responses toward teachers’ questions.
A. Brief Summary of the Lesson
To begin the analysis, the researcher gives a brief summary of the topics of
the lessons discussed in the classrooms. There were four main topics studied in
the eight meetings, which were animals, jobs or occupations, parts of the human
body, and health. Each topic contained some sub-topics that were discussed
during the lessons. The lesson about animals was divided into physical
characteristics, places to live, and their food. The topic about parts of the human
body included parts of the body and their functions. When talking about health,
the lessons were about occupations related to health, while jobs or occupations
were divided into kinds of jobs, workplaces, and their responsibilities.
Classroom observations were conducted in classes A,B,D,and E. Each class
was observed twice. Observations 1 and 8 were in class A. The teacher discussed
types of animals, their physical characteristics, and their places to live.
Observations 2 and 4 were conducted in class B. The teacher discussed parts of
the human body and their functions. Observations 3 and 7 were in class D. The
sub-topics were about kinds of jobs, workplaces, and responsibilities of certain
discussed types of professions related to health. Therefore, one topic was
discussed in two classes.
B. Result
1. The Type of Question
The types of teachers’ questions are classified into two main parts, which
are display questions and referential questions. Based on the classification, I then
find out which type of questions used at the most. Whether it is display or
referential question. Each type of question is presented in the table of questions’
list, which is categorized based on the form of the question and followed by an
explanation about the content of the questions.
a. Display Questions
According to Long and Sato’s (1983) classification of questions, types of
questions consist of two main sections which are display and referential questions.
Display questions refer to ones that teachers know the answer and which are
designed to elicit or display particular structures. In contrast, referential questions
refer to questions that teachers do not know the answers to, and can provide
various kinds of subjective information.
In order to make the analysis easier, each section is coded into eight
sub-sections. They are complete verbal questions, incomplete verbal questions, single
word questions, two-word questions, complete pronominal questions, incomplete
pronominal questions, Indonesian questions, and Indonesian-English mixed
Table 4.1: Types of Display Questions
The results from the observations and the videotaped transcripts show that
overall there were 159 display questions asked in four classes. From the number
of those questions, there were 13 (8.17%) complete verbal questions asked by the
teachers.
In class A, there were 5 complete verbal questions posed to the students.
One question served as a lead-in part of the lesson. For example,Can you mention
the name of the animal? One other question was asked to check the students’
knowledge on animal classification, including an example of each classification. It
can be seen in the question Can you give me an example of a wild
animal?Another was asked to check students’ progress in doing the exercise as in
Ok, can we start now?All the complete verbal questions asked here were done to
elicit already known information related to the subject matter.
For class B, the results show that the teacher only asked 2 complete verbal
questions. One question asked at the beginning of the lesson was to review the
