Teacher Talk:why Questions Are Important

Teacher talk is one of the basic pillars of classroom interaction. It's hard to imagine learning taking place in a classroom without some form of verbal interaction between teacher and student. The problem often arises, however, when teachers talk too much. Lecture style delivery is one of the least favourite forms of class interaction for students; they will accept it as a necessity up to a point but smart teachers know that unless they establish quickly a two-way dialogue their students will soon switch off. Smart teachers develop effective ways to ask questions, because questions turn teacher talk into verbalised learning.

The benefits of questions in class

There is a difference between knowing and understanding: if teachers tell students information we can say that students know the information, at least temporarily; but they only know this information in the precise context in which it was told. If, on the other hand, the teacher presents information by asking questions students get the chance to see the information in a wider context, which makes the information transferable to other situations and areas of learning and thererfore much deeper and useful.

Take the example of a teacher introducing the concept of the perfect tense in French [the passé composé]. One way is to explain the verb paradigm of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person in singular and plural forms; to show a detailed graphic of the verb paradigm on the screen or board; to explain that an auxiliary verb - avoir and sometimes etre - is needed along with the past participle of the verb in question in order to make a meaningful phrase or sentence, and so on. This is complicated territory for most students and even after the most expert exposition by the teacher, many students will still only have a vague grasp of the fundamental information.

Contrast this with the teacher who from the start involves students directly by asking them questions. So,the teacher might ask questions such as:
How many words do you see in this phrase?
Which is the extra word in each phrase?
If this is the phrase that means 'I played tennis', what is the phrase for 'she played tennis'?
Why do you think each of these words is different, but the word for 'played' remains the same?
Where have you seen this verb before? and so on.

The questioning technique has the following advantages for learning:

it makes the students active participants in the learning process
it requires students to think about what they already know[prior learning]
it gives the teacher immediate feedback about the level of student understanding, and therefore gives the teacher the opportunity to repeat key points, or change the pace of the lesson, or remedy any misconceptions or misunderstandings that will hinder learning
above all, it makes the learning process inherently more interesting because not only does it require students to think, but it also gives them the chance to demonstrate their understanding of the information in a direct and dynamic way:getting the right answers to questions is a quick and rewarding measure of success

So effective questioning has the advantages of focusing on understanding, not just knowing, builds learning into something that can be transferred to other contexts, encourages students to engage actively and directly with the learning process, and provides both student and teacher with feedback on how effectively the information has been understood.

Are there any disadvantages?

Learning how to master this aspect of teacher talk takes time and practice, just like everyhting else in the teacher's toolkit.
It can be time consuming, especially if the information is complex and needs to be broken down into smaller 'chunks'.
It takes real skill and knowledge of your students to ensure that over time each student is directly involved, but if we think of questioning as an ongoing process rather than a series of events, the benefits appear over time, and our teaching expertise is further developed.

One final thought: a key to effective learning is student motivation, and nothing is quite as motivating to a student as being able to answer a question correctly and immediately; not only does the student get warm praise from the teacher, but they aslo experience the inner satisfaction of realising that they not only know but are beginning to understand.

By: Bill Alexander

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You can find out more about teacher talk and how to develop teacher expertise and improve classroom management skills at Classroom Management Success. You may publish this article provided that you publish the article in full, as well as the resource box, in the original form.