TEACHER’S QUESTIONING STRATEGIES IN
CLASSROOM
INTERACTION
(A Case Study)
A Research Paper
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana
Pendidikan Degree
Siti Nur Hadiani
0908880
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
Teacher’s Questioning Strategies in
Classroom Interaction (A Case Study)
Oleh Siti Nur Hadiani
Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Siti Nur Hadiani 2014 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Januari 2014
Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.
PAGE OF APPROVAL
SITI NUR HADIANI (0908880)
TEACHER’S QUESTIONING STRATEGIES IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION (A Case Study)
Approved by:
First Supervisor
Pupung Purnawarman, M.S.Ed., Ph.D. NIP. 196810131998031001
Second Supervisor
Fazri Nur Yusuf, S.Pd., M.Pd. NIP. 197308162003121002
Head of Department of English Education Faculty of Language and Fine Arts Education
Indonesia University of Education
Siti Nur Hadiani, 2014
Teacher’s Questioning Strategies In Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the questioning strategies employed in classroom interaction in one public senior high school in Cimahi. This study, thus, intends to explore what questioning strategies are applied by the teacher in the classroom interaction along with teacher’s and students’ perceptions of the questioning strategies applied in the classroom interaction. To meet the purposes of the study, a case study was employed. The data were obtained from classroom observation, interview with the teacher and interview with students. The basic frameworks of questioning strategies analysis are relied on Chaudron (1988), Wu (1993), Anwar (2000) and Tsui et al (2004) frameworks. This study revealed that the teacher employed several questioning strategies namely rephrasing, blank-filling, code-switching, probing, simplification, exemplification, repetition, and decomposition
in eliciting the students’ responses. However, the most dominant questioning strategy employed by the teacher was rephrasing strategy since this strategy was
effective in eliciting the students’ responses in the classroom interaction. This result was supported by the result of the interview with the students which revealed that the most helpful questioning strategy for the students was rephrasing strategy. The teacher and the students generally gave positive perceptions toward questioning startegies. For the teacher, questioning startegy is one of the teacher’s
tools in eliciting students’ responses. Meanwhile, for the students, questioning strategies are really helpful in comprehending the teacher’s questions and also helpful in gaining confidence to express their ideas verbally. Based on the findings, it is recommended that future research concerning the implementation of questioning strategy in Indonesia should be enriched with more attention to the correlation between the implementation of questioning strategies and students’ achievement.
Siti Nur Hadiani, 2014
Teacher’s Questioning Strategies In Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini meneliti strategi bertanya yang digunakan guru dalam interaksi kelas di sebuah SMA negeri di Cimahi. Maka dari itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelaah strategi bertanya apa yang digunakan oleh guru dalam interaksi kelas beserta persepsi guru dan siswa mengenai penggunaan strategi bertanya tersebut dalam interaksi kelas. Dengan mempertimbangkan tujuan dari penelitian ini, studi kasus dipilih sebagai metode yang cocok untuk digunakan. Data yang dibutuhkan dikumpulkan dari beberapa instrumen yang digunakan, yakni observasi kelas, wawancara dengan guru dan wawancara dengan siswa. Kerangka kerja dasar yang digunakan dalam menganalisis strategi bertanya dikembangkan berdasarkan kerangka kerja dari Chaudron (1988), Wu (1993), Anwar (2000) dan Tsui et al (2004). Berdasarkan hasil temuan, rephrasing, blank-filling,
code-switching, probing, simplification, exemplification, repetition, dan decomposition
adalah jenis strategi bertanya yang sering digunakan oleh guru dalam usaha memperoleh respon siswa. Meskipun demikian, strategi bertanya yang paling dominan digunakan oleh guru dalam interaksi kelas adalah strategi rephrasing karena, berdasarkan hasil analisis, strategi ini efektif dalam mendorong siswa untuk memberikan respon. Hasil analisis ini juga didukung oleh hasil wawancara dengan siswa yang mengungkapkan bahwa strategi bertanya yang sangat membantu siswa dalam memahami pertanyaan guru adalah strategi rephrasing. Secara umum, guru dan para siswa memberikan persepsi positif terhadap penggunaan strategi bertanya. Bagi guru, strategi bertanya merupakan salah satu cara guru dalam memperoleh respon dari siswa. Sedangkan bagi para siswa, strategi bertanya sangatlah membantu mereka dalam memahami pertanyaan yang diberikan oleh guru dan juga sangat membantu siswa dalam menumbuhkan kepercayaan diri untuk mengemukakan pendapat maupun ide mereka secara verbal. Berdasarkan hasil temuan, direkomendasikan untuk penelitian selanjutnya untuk lebih memfokuskan penelitian terhadap korelasi antara pengimplementasian strategi bertanya dan pencapaian siswa.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT... i
PREFACE... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... iii
ABSTRACT... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS... vi
LIST OF FIGURE... ix
LIST OF APPENDICES... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1Background of the Study ... 1
1.2Research Questions ... 3
1.3Aims of the Study ... 3
1.4Scope of the Study ... 4
1.5Significance of the Study ... 4
1.6Research Methodology ... 4
1.6.1 Design ... 4
1.6.2 Subjects of the Study ...5
1.6.3 Data Collection ... 5
1.6.4 Data Analysis ... 6
1.7Clarification of Terms ... 7
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 2.1 Teacher’s Questions in Classroom ... 9
2.2 Functions of Teacher’s Questions...13
2.3 Teacher’s Questioning Strategies in Classroom ... 15
2.4 Types of Teacher’s Questioning Strategies ... 16
2.5Classroom Interaction and Questioning Strategies ... 26
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3.3.1 Classroom Observation (Video Recording)... 33
3.3.2 Interview...33
3.4Data Analysis... 35
3.5Validity and Reliability... 37
3.6Concluding Remarks... 38
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1Findings... 40
4.1.1 Teacher’s Questioning Strategies in Classroom Interaction... 40
4.1.1.1 Rephrasing...45
4.1.2 Teacher’s Perceptions of the Questioning Strategies Applied in Classroom Interaction...59
4.1.2.1 Teacher’s Perceptions toward the Implementation of Questioning Strategies...60
4.1.2.2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Applying Questioning Strategies in Classroom Interaction...64
4.1.2.3 Students’ Perceptions of the Implementation of Questioning Strategies Applied by the Teacher...67
4.1.3 Students’ Perceptions of the Questioning Strategies Applied by the Teacher in Classroom Interaction... 64
4.2Discussions...72
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4.2.2 Teacher’s Perceptions of the Questioning Strategies Applied in Classroom
Interaction... 74
4.2.2.1 Teacher’s Perceptions toward the Implementation of Questioning
Strategies...74
4.2.2.2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Applying Questioning Strategies in
Classroom Interaction...77
4.2.2.3 Students’ Perceptions of the Implementation of Questioning Strategies
Applied by the Teacher...79
4.2.3 Students’ Perceptions of the Questioning Strategies Applied by the Teacher in
Classroom Interaction... 79
4.3Concluding Remarks... 81
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
4.4Conclusions... 83
4.5Suggestions...85
BIBLIOGRAPHY...86
APPENDICES
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Teacher’s Questioning Strategies In Classroom Interaction
LIST OF FIGURE
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Teacher’s Questioning Strategies In Classroom Interaction
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Lesson Transcripts
Appendix 2 Interview Transcript with Teacher
1
the research questions, aims and significance. It also discusses clarification of terms
used in this study as well as the paper organization.
Language teaching itself can refer to the interactive process between
students and teacher or among the students themselves (Flanders, 1960). At this
point, interaction becomes an important part in language teaching since the students
can learn English through interaction with a teacher and sometimes with their
classmates (Spratt et al, 2005). Interaction is a major part of educational practices
that is also acknowledged as a major source for language acquisition (Suherdi,
2010; Damhuis and De Blauw, 2008). The interaction that is expected to happen in
the classroom is an active interaction between the students and the teacher, where
the students and the teacher are interactive. Unfortunately, the expected active
interaction desired rarely occurs during teaching and learning process due to the
less motivation to participate possesed by the students, especially in Indonesia.
Students in Indonesia are still shy in participating during teaching and
learning process. In addition, Husnaini’s (2005) and Stianingrum’s (2010) findings
in their studies show the percentage of teacher talk is more than 60%. The
percentage shows that teacher mostly dominate the interaction in the classroom.
Meanwhile, the students are rarely active and participative in the whole classroom
interaction. Teacher’s domination of classroom interaction can discourage the
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initiator and sustainer of interaction (Brown, 2001). Regarding this, teacher may
differently have their own ways to activate and to initiate the interaction in their
communication established between teacher and students when the students give
answer (Sari, 2011; Caesin, 1995). Regarding questioning, Brown (2001) points
out that appropriate questioning in an interactive classroom can fulfill a number of
different functions, such as giving the student opportunity to produce language
comfortably, initiating a chain reaction of student interaction among themselves,
and providing students with opportunities to find out what they think by hearing
questioning strategies employed by the teacher since developing a repertoire of
questioning strategies is also one of the best ways for teacher to establish and
sustain the interactive classroom interaction (Brown, 2001). Questioning strategies
may also provide necessary stepping stones for the students to communicate
(Brown, 2001).
Teacher, as the initiator and sustainer of interaction in the classroom, can
select and apply appropriate questioning stretegies in order to encourage the
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questioning strategies that can be applied by the teacher. However, from so many
types of questioning strategies applied by a teacher, this study will only be based on
typical questioning strategies proposed by Chaudron (1988), Wu (1993), Anwar
(2000) and Tsui et al (2004) frameworks. According to the aforementioned
frameworks, repetition, rephrasing, simplification, decomposition, probing,
exemplification, blank-filling, code switching, and wait-time are the most common
strategies used by the teacher to get the desired answer or responses from the
students.
Departing from the explanation above, this study is aimed to investigate the
questioning strategies applied by the teacher in classroom interaction along with teacher’s and students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies applied in classroom interaction. A public senior high school in Cimahi is selected to be the
2. What are teacher’s perceptions toward the questioning strategies
applied in classroom interaction?
3. What are students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies
applied by the teacher in classroom interaction?
1.3 Aims of the Study
Given the aforementioned research questions, the main purpose of the study
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students’ perceptions are focused on the most helpful questioning strategy for the students along with the students’ perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The study will be limited merely on finding out the questioning strategies
applied by the teacher in classroom interaction. In addition, the scope of the study
will also be expanded on investigating the teacher’s and the students’ perceptions
toward the questioning strategies employed by the teacher in the classrooms. Teacher’s perceptions are focused on three aspects, namely teacher’s perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies, the advantages and
disadvantages of questioning strategies and teacher’s considerations in applying questioning strategies. Meanwhile, the students’ perceptions are focused on the most helpful questioning strategy for the students along with the students’ perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The results of the study are expected to provide a comprehensive
description about the questioning strategies in classroom interaction in order to elicit students’ responses, so that the teacher can trigger the students to be more engaged and be active in the lesson. In addition, it is also expected to give valuable
contributions to the English teacher regarding classroom interaction that can be
used to cope with problems encountered while encouraging the students to speak
more so as to give effective English teaching to the language students.
In relation to the study program of English Education, this study is expected
to contribute a positive impact for English teaching models, particularly for the
better and the more effective questioning strategies.
1.6 Research Methodology
1.6.1 Design
In relation to the research questions above, this research will use qualitative
5
instruments namely classroom observation and interview. The data collected will be
coded and labelled by using IRF (Initiation-Response-Follow up) coding system
proposed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975). Then, the data will be analyzed using
some related frameworks, such as Wu’s framework, Tsui et al, Anwar, and Chaudron’s framework. Those frameworks will be further discussed in chapter II. The use of those frameworks are intended to acquire and to discuss some findings
effective questioning strategies in eliciting students’ responses, to find out the
teacher’ perceptions of the effective questioning strategies applied in their
classrooms, and also to investigate the students’ perceptions toward the questioning
strategies applied by the teacher.
1.6.3 Data Collection
There are two kinds of data that will be gained in this study. They are field
notes and interview notes. Field notes are gained through classroom observation,
while interview notes are collected through interview.
- Classroom observation
The observation will be equipped by video recording. Video recording is
employed to get the details of teacher’ questioning strategies in eliciting students’
responses and students’ responses toward the questions given by the teacher that are
not covered through direct observation.
The primary data will be collected through this process of observation. The
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and questioning strategies applied, and also students’ responses toward the
questions and questioing strategies given by the teacher. After being transcribed,
the data collected through classroom observation will be coded using IRF
(Initiation-Response-Follow up) system proposed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) then to be further analyzed and discussed using Wu’s framework, Tsui et al, Anwar, and Chaudron’s framework. The frameworks are further explained in chapter II.
- Interview
participation during teaching-learning process. The interview process will be
recorded by audio recorder to create an interview transcription. The classroom
observation and interview will be conducted several times in order to get the more
detailed description of questioning strategies that are effective in eliciting students’
responses as well as the teacher’s and the students’ perceptions of the questioning
strategies applied by the teacher in the classroom.
1.6.4 Data Analysis
The data are collected from classroom observation and interview. In
addition, classroom observation will be equipped by video-recording. The data
collected from both instruments will be analyzed through several steps in order to
answer the research questions stated beforehand.
The data taken from video recording will be analyzed to find out what kind
of questioning strategies that are used by the teacher and are effective to elicit students’ responses. Therefore, the transcription from the video recording will be firstly explored and coded by using IRF (Initiate-Response-Follow up) coding
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and labelling the teacher’s and students’ utterances during the whole process of teaching and learning. It is expected that by using IRF coding system, the
transcription can be easier and clearer to be analyzed.
After being coded, the transcription will be analyzed, classified and
inner thoughts toward the questioning strategies applied in classroom interaction.
Finally, the data gained through interview is also expected to be able to validate the
previous data collected from classroom observation.
1.7 Clarification of Terms
In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, some terms are clarified as
follows:
1.7.1 Teacher’s Questions
Questions asked by the teacher during the teaching-learning process as
one of the best ways to encourage the students to be involved in the
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learning process in classroom interaction. It also refers to the teacher’s
strategies to elicit verbal responses from the students which are
manifested in modification of question (Wu, 1993).
1.7.3 Classroom Interaction
Classroom interaction can be defined as the whole interactions
occurring inside the classroom between teacher and students or among
the students themselves. Flanders includes teacher talk and students talk
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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER III
students’ perceptions toward the use of questioning strategies in managing classroom interaction. Teacher’s perceptions are focused on three aspects, namely
teacher’s perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies, the
advantages and disadvantages of questioning strategies and teacher’s considerations
in applying questioning strategies. Meanwhile, the students’ perceptions are
focused on the most helpful questioning strategy for the students along with the
students’ perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies. Therefore, the findings from this study are expected to provide information
regarding teacher’s questioning strategies in classroom interaction.
Considering the issue which were investigated in this study and also
cosidering that this study was focused on the process of classroom interaction in a
natural setting, a qualitative study embracing the characteristics of case study is
considered appropriate to be applied in this study.
There are several characteristics of a case study in analyzing a subject. The
characteristics are identified by activities during the investigation to the respondents
in naturalistic setting. Bassey (1999) mentions that case study is a study involving
taking extensive data from the subject being questioned or observed, trying to
extract some meaning from the data obtained through the observation, and then
trying to express and describe the meaning in a cogent way. Therefore, in this
study, the primary data were collected through classroom observation equipped by
video recording. The observation was conducted three times by focusing on the
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this sense, this study is occured in nature where there is no manipulating data given
by the respondents since the data are obtained through direct observation.
In case study, the data usually collected and analyzed are in the form of
interview data, observation data, document data, and audio-visual data (Cresswell,
2009). Therefore, the instruments such as observation, video recording, and
interview are usually employed in the process of collecting the data. This is relevant
to this study where the data were collected through observation by using video
recording and the supported by interview.
3.2 Research Site and Subjects of the Study
The site of this study was one of public senior high schools in North
Cimahi. An English teacher and her students in XI IPA 2 class were the subjects of
this research. The class consists of 38 students in their first semester. The school
was chosen due to the availability of access to conduct the study there.
The teacher is selected to be the subject of this study on the basis of several
considerations. The considerations are the availablity and the experience of the
teacher. The English teacher involved in this study has taught at the school for more
than 10 years. It is obviously not a short period to have an experience in teaching.
In addition, the teacher also mostly uses English as the medium of instruction in her
class. Hence, the teacher and the class taught by the teacher were considered to be
the potential subjects in this study. It was expected that this study is able to
investigate the effective questioning strategies applied by the teacher in eliciting
students’ responses. Moreover, this study was intended to find out the teacher’s and the students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies employed in the
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3.3.1 Classroom Observation (Video Recording-based observation)
In this study, observation was used in collecting the data needed. The
observation was specifically conducted in the classroom setting, since this study
attempts to investigate the questioning strategies applied by the teacher. Classroom
observation was conducted in this study in order to obtain the data directly from the
investigated. Unfortunately, there was a difficulty in carrying out the observation. It
was true that several behaviors of interest occur rapidly in an educational setting.
Then, this kind of behavior may be missed by the observer while doing the
observation. Therefore, video-recording was utilized as the primary strategy in
gathering and collecting the data needed in this study in order to get the details of
the behaviors that were not covered through direct observation. Based on Hatch
(2002), the use of video recording in collecting the data can provide a way of
capturing contextualized face-to-face social behavior in greater detail that can be
accomplished using other means.
In order to get the best understanding of the site and the individuals,
conducting multiple observations over time is purposefully suggested (Cresswell,
2012, p. 215). Hence, observation and video-recording were conducted several
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classroom interaction. In addition, personal interview was chosen to be applied in
this study.
The interview process was conducted after finishing the classroom
observation and video-recording process. The interview was conducted from 6
January 2014 to 11 January 2014. There were totally ten subjects interviewed in
this study. Those ten subjects included a teacher and nine students. The nine
students are chosen based on their level of participation in the classroom. They are
considered the representatives of the students who perform high, fair, and low
participation in the whole classroom interaction. Therefore, there were three
students from each level of participation. The students were selected based on the
interviewer still needs to follow some predetermined questions and procedures. For
the teacher, the questions in the interview included teacher’s questioning habit in classroom interaction, teacher’s perception toward the questioning strategies
applied in classroom interaction, teacher’s rationales in applying questioning
strategies and the advantages and disadvantages of applying questioning strategies
from the teacher’s perspective. Meanwhile, for the students, the questions given
were related to students’ perceptions and opinions of the questioning strategies
applied by the teacher in classroom interaction, the most helpful questioning
strategy from the students’ perspective, and the advantages and disadvantages of
the implementation of questioning strategies in classroom interaction. (The full
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1992, p. 153). Cosenquently, the data gained from this instrument were in the form
of interview notes and audio-recording. The audio recording was transcribed and
analyzed to answer the second and third research questions regarding teacher’s and
students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies applied by the teacher in the
classroom interaction.
observation and post observation. Pre-observation was intended to know the
general situation and general characteristics of the teacher and the classrooms who
were the subjects of this study. Also, it was intended to get the focus of what is
going to be observed. Meanwhile, post observation was intended to collect the
primary data needed for this study.
The data collected from post observation were in the form of video
transcriptions transcribed from the video recording. The data gained from video
recording were analyzed to find out what kind of strategies that are effective to
elicit students’ responses. Then, the stages of analyzing the data from video recording were as follows:
1. Transferring the video into computer in order to make it easier to
analyze the data.
2. Watching and observing the video carefully.
3. Taking notes of some significant events or situation that may occur
during the teaching-learning process. There was no check-list equipped
in this taking notes process.
4. Transcribing the video to display the language used in the classroom.
5. Coding the data obtained from the video. The data were coded by using
IRF (Initiation-Response-Follow up) coding system proposed by
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6. Classifying and categorizing the questioning strategies appeared in the
three lessons then make a tally of the frequences of questioning
strategies in the lessons video.
7. Calculating the number of questioning strategies employed by the
teacher in the whole classroom interaction. This was intended to see the
percentage of questioning strategies applied by the teacher.
8. Classifying and categorizing the questioning strategies employed by the
teacher using Chaudron (1988), Wu (1993), Anwar (2000) and Tsui et
al. (2004) frameworks. The questioning strategies were classified into
several categories, such as repetition, rephrasing, simplification,
decomposition, probing, exemplification, blank-filling, code switching,
and wait-time according to the characteristics of the questioning strategy
itself.
9. Interpreting and discussing the data to address the research questions
regarding the effective questioning strategies applied by the teacher in
the classroom.
10.Concluding/drawing conclusions of the findings. The findings and
discussions place into conclusions and suggestions to exemplify the
study entirely.
It is expected that from this analysis, the study can investigate the strategies
applied by the teacher in eliciting information needed and in eliciting students’
responses through the aspect thoroughly observed.
Meanwhile, the data collected from interview was in the form of an
interview transcription. The transcriptions were also explored and coded to acquire
teacher’s and students’ inner thoughts toward the questioning strategies applied in establishing communicative classroom interaction.
In order to support the result of the analyzed data from video recording, an
interview was conducted in this study. The interview involved the teacher and some
nine students. The nine students were selected based on their level of participation
in the classroom; high, middle, and low level of participation. Therefore, there were
equally three representatives from each level of participation.
The questions of the interview were focused on the teacher’s and the
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by the teacher in the classroom interaction. Audio recorder was utilized during the
interview process. Hence, the data were analyzed similarly with how the data
collected through video recording was analyzed. The stages of analyzing the data
collected through interview can be seen as follows:
1. Transferring the audio file into computer in order to make it easier to
analyze the data.
2. Listening to the audio carefully.
3. Selecting the data, which was the appropriate data and which was not.
4. Transcribing the audio file to make it easier to be analyzed.
5. Analyzing the transcription of the data collected through interview. The
analysis was focused on addressing the second and the third research
questions, which were related to teacher’s and students’ perceptions toward the effective questioning strategies applied in classroom
interaction. The result of this analysis was intended to support the result
of video recording data analysis.
6. Interpreting and discussing the data taken from the interview process to
address the research questions.
7. Concluding the findings into conclusions and suggestions for further
study.
3.5 Validity and Reliability of Research Instruments
Throughout the process of data collection and analysis, it is important for a
the research findings namely triangulation and member checking.
To apply this trustworthiness, three instruments of collecting the data were
employed which were video recording, classroom observation, and interview. It
was expected that by using multiple or various methods in collecting the data, this
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Meanwhile, member checks or member checking is a process in which the
misinterpretation of the subjects’ answers during interview process, (2) preventing
the misinterpretation of subjects’ behavior during observation process, and (3)
clarifying the subjects’ perspectives toward certain process occuring. Therefore, in
this study, the researcher involved taking the findings back to the subjects. Due to
some considerations, the subject involved in member checking process was the
teacher. The teacher, then, was asked to read and check the research findings
including the questioning strategies applied by the teacher in her classroom and her
perceptions toward the questioning strategies applied in her classroom interaction.
3.6 Concluding Remarks
This chapter has described the methodology underpinning the study. This
study was mainly aimed at investigating the questioning strategies applied by the
teacher in eliciting students’ responses. Furthermore, this study also attempts to
find out the teacher’s and students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies used by the teacher in classroom interaction. Since this study was focused on the
process of classroom interaction in a natural setting, a qualitative study embracing
the characteristics of case study is considered appropriate to be applied in this
study.
An English teacher and 38 students of a public senior high school in Cimahi
were involved in this study as the subjects. Qualitative approach was chosen to be
used in analyzing the data gained through classroom observation (video-recording)
and interview. The analysis of the data collected through video-recording were
based on some theoretical frameworks namely Chaudron (1988), Wu (1993),
Anwar (2000) and Tsui et al. (2004) frameworks. Further explanation regarding the
83
willing to employ questioning strategies in their teaching.
5.1 Conclusions
This section presents the conclusions of the study conducted based on the
three research questions mentioned in chapter I earlier. The main purpose of the
study is to investigate what questioning strategies are applied by the teacher in
classroom interaction. Furthermore, this study is also intended to find out the
teacher’s and the students’ perceptions of the questioning strategies in classroom
interaction. The perceptions were focused on three aspects, namely teacher’s
perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies, the advantages and disadvantages of questioning strategies and teacher’s considerations in applying questioning strategies. Meanwhile, the third section also discusses the students’ perceptions toward the questioning strategies applied in classroom interaction. The perceptions were focused on the most helpful questioning strategy
for the students along with the students’ perceptions toward the implementation of
questioning strategies.
In regards to the first research question, the findings showed that the teacher
employed several questioning strategies in classroom interaction namely
rephrasing, blank-filling, code-switching, probing, simplification, exemplification,
repetition, and decomposition. However, based on the analysis of data collected
from classroom observation, the most frequent questioning strategy applied by the
teacher in eliciting the students’ responses is rephrasing strategy.
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will analyze what kind of answer or response expected by the teacher by giving
certain clues or certain choice.
Meanwhile, from the nine questioning strategies proposed in chapter II,
there is an unidentified strategy in the three lessons of video-recording namely
wait-time. The teacher infrequently gave longer wait-time for the students to give
responses. Regarding this, the teacher stated that the students often fail to answer
the questions and they will just keep silent when the teacher applied wait-time
strategy. Therefore, the teacher prefered employing the other questioning strategies
to wait-time strategy.
For the second research questions, there were several findings that can be
pointed out. Firstly, related to the teacher’s perceptions toward the implementation
of questioning strategies, the teacher generally showed positive perception. She
found out that generally questioning strategies applied in her lessons were helpful
for her in managing classroom interaction. The questioning strategies that was
found to be the most helpful was rephrasing.
The second finding was related to the advantages and disadvantages of
applying questioning strategies. Based on the analysis, the advantages of applying
questioning strategies in classroom interaction were triggering the students to be
more active in participation, more confident in speaking English and to be more
engaged in the lesson. Meanwhile, by applying questioning strategies, the teacher
can check the students’ progress in comprehending the materials, check the
students’ knowledge of related materials, and also check the students’ readiness
before the teaching-learning process starts. Meanwhile, for the disadvantages,
employing questioning strategies inevitably takes longer time to wait for the
students to give the answer and response correctly. Then, sometimes employing
questioning strategies can be burdensome for the teacher since the teacher is
expected to be as creative as possible in modifying the questions.
Then, the third finding related to teacher’s perceptions was teacher’s
considerations in applying questioning strategies in classroom interaction. There
were some considerations to be considered carefully by the teacher in applying
questioning strategies in classroom interaction. The first consideration was the
students’ level of language mastery. In order to be able to elicit the students’
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have been planned can be achieved effectively in the classroom.
The last research question was related to the students’ perceptions of questioning strategies applied by the teacher in classroom interaction. The students’ perceptions were focused on finding out the most helpful questioning strategy for the students and the students’ perceptions toward the implementation of questioning strategies. Based on the findings, the students also find rephrasing strategy as the
questioning strategies, the students found that questioning strategies are really
helpful in making them comprehend the questions given by the teacher better.
Moreover, questioning strategies also help the students in gaining their confidence
to express their ideas verbally since several strategies, like rephrasing, provide
clues or choice of the answers. Clues and choices of the answer can build the
strategies. Teacher, as the initiator and sustainer of the classroom interaction should
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one of the best ways to create the interactive classroom interaction is by employing
questioning strategies. There are several questioning strategies that can be employed by the teacher in eliciting the students’ responses. The questioning strategies that can be applied are rephrasing, blank-filling, code-switching, probing,
simplification, exemplification, repetition, decomposition, and wait-time. However,
since the findings of this study showed that the teacher mostly applied rephrasing
strategy in classroom interaction. Employing rephrasing strategy can be suggested
to be applied more to elicit the responses from the students since the students
involved in this study also found that the most helpful strategy for them was
rephrasing strategy. Rephrasing strategy can be applied when the teacher wants to
ask certain questions related to concept or to check the students’ comprehension.
In addition, it is also suggested that the teacher can apply the other
questioning strategies as well. Based on the result of the analysis, there are some
strategies that are better to be applied more and there are some strategies that
should be considered carefully to be employed. Probing, simplification,
exemplification, and decomposition are categorized into better strategies to be
applied more. This is because the aforementioned strategies are strategies that can develop students’ thinking skills and develop the teacher’s creativity. Probing strategy can be applied when the teacher wants to check the students’ further knowledge or comprehension about certain learning material. Probing can also be applied in the beginning of the class when the teacher wants to check the students’ prior knowledge related certain topic.
Simplification and decomposition strategies can be employed when the
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aforementioned strategies need to be minimized. The teacher said that sometimes
blank-filling and repetition were not helpful in eliciting the students’ responses.
Blank-filling sometimes failed to elicit the expected responses from the students
since the students tended to give random answers freely. Meanwhile, repetition
strategy is also considered less helpful in helping the students to comprehend the
question better since the problem lies on the question itself from the start.
Therefore, it is suggested that teachers can minimize the use of blank-filling and
repetition strategies in classroom interaction. Blank-filling can be applied when the
expected answer is the key point or the key word of the learning material. Then, repetition strategy can be more applied in getting the students’ attentions to the questions.
In addition, it is also suggested that the teacher can apply more wait-time
strategy in the classroom interaction since wait-time is really useful in developing
students’ thinking skills. Wait-time can be applied everytime the teacher asks
questions to the students though the teacher still needs to consider the time
allotment carefully. Therefore, the teacher somehow needs to be more patient in waiting for the students’ response.
In applying the questioning strategies, the teacher should consider several
considerations related to the level of students’ language mastery, the goal of the
lesson, and the time allotment. Thus, the teacher should be selective in applying certain questioning strategy in eliciting the students’ responses. Besides helping the students to comprehend the questions given, the questioning strategy applied by the
teacher should also facilitate the students in developing their thinking skill.
The next suggestion proposed is related to the students’ perceptions of the questioning strategies applied in the classroom interaction. Since the students feel
that the implementation of questioning strategies is helpful to make them easier in
comprehending the questions given by the teacher, the students themselves should
be brave in expressing their ideas. The students are not expected to be always dependent on the teacher’s questions. They are expected to be more active and participative in the classroom interaction by triggering themselves to be willing to
learn more.
Then, finally the findings of the study are expected to be able to provide
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strategies in classroom interaction or any similar studies that will be carried out,
especially for the students of English Education Department at Indonesia University
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Teacher’s Questioning Strategies In Classroom Interaction
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