The Role Of Questioning In Effective Teaching

Introduction

Using questioning as a pedagogical approach is an old practice that has been used in education for very many centuries. These questions are normally used to stimulate the remanence of past knowledge and establish critical thinking skills in a learning environment. In this case, teachers are likely to ask questions that would help children to remember whatever they have learnt in the due course so that they can have an in-depth understanding of the subject matter, and at the same time evoke peer to peer interactions (Wei 2018, p. 13). Questions asked by students are likely to enhance higher-orders of knowledge by needing them to assess information, connect seemingly to the disparate concept, and articulate various thoughts. Admittedly, questions are omnipresent, but are the right kinds of questions asked at the appropriate time – ones that enhance motivation, not recall? Bad questions will stifle learning by causing uncertainty, bullying students, and restricting constructive thought. Successful questions posed in a socially healthy learning atmosphere promote learning outcomes by endeavoring to clarify, promoting imagination, promoting analytical skills, and improving student motivation. The art of answering the right questions at the right moment is not innate (Jia and Zhong 2017). Bloom 's thinking categorization classifies intelligence rates into many categories. Issues that evoke replies in the realms of information, interpretation, and implementation are sometimes known as lower-order problems, whereas issues in the realms of examination, formulation, and assessment are seen as higher-order questions (Sahamid, Aziz, and Syaheeda 2016: Doherty, 2017). Questions of higher-order help students to have a broader and more analytical thinking; thus, teachers are required to pursue questions in such fields. This doesn't imply you shouldn't ask lower-order questions. .As long as the optimal learning result is held in consideration and a reasonable combination of queries is used throughout each training session, it is acceptable to ask questions that cover all mental domains. Provided that the educational objectives of most undergraduate and technical degree courses are mostly supposed to enhance intellectual functions of a high order, one could anticipate higher-order questions. Nevertheless, studies by classroom-based educators have demonstrated consistently that lower-order questions are utilized even more frequently. Probably teachers may not appreciate higher-order questions and believe they are inadequate, or maybe the underlying cause is a lack of standardized instruction about how to design questions to enhance learning.

To fully assess the efficacy of questioning as a pedagogical approach in an economics class the paper will broadly defining questioning as a strategy about other similar pedagogical approaches that are correlated. The paper will also highlight the essence of questioning in a pedagogical class, and how it is linked to the theories of cognitivism, the advantages and disadvantages of questioning as a learning approach, and the drawbacks of the approach. The second section of the paper will majorly deal with the applications of questioning in a grade 10 economic class on the topic of market shares. The subsection will majorly involve questions on how this pedagogical approach was effective- that is if it worked or not, what students learned from it, the effects it would have on the future practice and how it can be improved. Then lastly the paper will draw a conclusion on the general discussions and recommendations that the author makes on the paper.

Meaning of Questioning

Questioning is a major aspect by which instructors find out what learners know, recognise know and comprehend various deficits in a subject, and trusses their awareness growth to help them to narrow the rift between what they understand and the educational objectives. Questions are by far the most frequent mode of contact among teachers and students, but evidence shows that most of them are recall and understanding — lower-order problems that do not allow pupils to consciously interpret knowledge. The student reaches deep-level understanding even through intensive preparation (Liu and Jin 2017, p. 4; Ribeiro, Rosário, Moreira, and Cunha 2019, p. 611). Consequently, they need regular practice in higher-order thinking-analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating to increase the standard of performance of the learners.

The relations between Questioning and Other Techniques

Discussion is among the techniques that effectively work in tandem with the questioning technique. Practically, students can only discuss issues if the teacher has posted the relevant questions to them. That is a discussion that can only be revoked if a question is present. When using the questioning and discussion in tandem, teachers are required to ask more engaging questions that would encourage students to discuss. A simple yes or no question would not be able to foster a discussion mode (Yuliawati, Mahmud, and Muliati 2016, p. 240). Thus, a teacher needs to take a role of a facility in the discussion process where the teacher is taking a central stage, but at the same time allowing students to become engaged in the dialogue and the discussion is majorly among them rather than between the teacher and the students (Watson 2018, p. 18). Thus, for a teacher to use both questioning and discussion at the same time, the questions ought to be open-ended to allow room for discussion, divergent in nature, challenge the student’s way of thoughts, and make connections to learning techniques. When combining teaching and discussion in a classroom, the teacher changes the perspective of questioning from a measure of assessing the understanding of students to a technique of advancing the learning process of the students.

Importance of questioning

Miguel and Carvalho (2016) state that questions in the classroom, such as organizational and operational, can have a variety of roles to enable and build new perceptions. Educators should encourage children to think by moving towards questions that require emphasis and cooperation. Zhang (2016, p. 981) says that there are only two valid motives for asking, to trigger confusion as already described, but also to give the instructor details on what to do next. Efficient questioning may give many valuable details to educators regarding the children they are teaching. Fitriani, Makhsum, and Samad (2016, p. 121) points out how that will enable educators’ figure out where children are about their learning. It can show proof of current information, technical inaccuracies, and any stereotypes. When an instructor has decided where the comprehension of a child is at, they are also in a condition to decide some changes to their instruction to facilitate the development of the infant. There may be improvements to the actual course, where it is being applied in practice, or it may also prepare ahead for the classes that come. Instructors would ask students various questions so that students can increase their retention of information, dissect the information being presented to them, guide the student’s development of various skills and concepts so that they can promote their thinking capacity and evaluate learning outcomes (Stokhof, De Vries, Martens, and Bastiaens 2017, p. 123). In a class, questions would help a teacher to see if students are likely to understand what is presented to them. At the same time questions help to keep students attentive on the task.

Cognitive approach and the Questioning Approach

The cognitive approach deals with a mental activity that involves thinking, learning, remembering, and learning a new idea. When teachers use the cognitive approach to teach and learn, the major focus is always on the understanding of information and various concepts. If a student can comprehend the relationship between concepts, break down information and rebuild the logical connection then there are chances that their information retention of material and understanding will be enhanced (Aziza 2018, p. 482). When a student or a teacher is aware of such mental processes and can monitor them and control their learning processes the action is referred to as metacognition. One way of making sure that a student understands a concept is through questioning. Thus, questioning acts a process to the cognitive approach or rather it supports the cognitive approach in ensuring that students can understand various concepts and principles that were being taught in class and hence reinforces the cognitive approach.

Advantages of Questioning

In most cases, teachers will never use questioning to gain new knowledge rather they ask questions to get the knowledge of what students already know. The same argument is supported by Mueller (2016) who states that one of the fundamental factors that influence learning is the learners existing knowledge. The other advantage of questioning is that it helps to stimulate recall, to deepen understanding, foster imagination, and encourage the process of solving problems. Weihua (2018, p. 9) also identified the advantages of questioning in a classroom as having the ability to arouse interest and curiosity on a certain topic. For example, when a teacher asks a student a question that the student does not know it is most likely that the student will go to read more on the topic so that they can understand the topic better. Soysal (2019, p. 17) also added that questioning helps the student to focus their attention on a particular concept. Meaning that through questioning a student can identify various gaps in the process of learning and establish interests in these gaps. Teachers can also use questioning to ensure that students develop an active approach to learning activities. Besides, since the teacher initiates the process of questioning, students are also encouraged to ask questions among themselves and outside parties that would help in broadening their knowledge (Nuryani, Tarjana, and Hersulastuti 2018, p. 112). At the same time, questioning allows teachers to structure the learning processes in a manner that their learning experiences ought to be maximized. Through the use of questioning pupils can infer cognitive operations in the perception that it will help them to develop their thinking skills (Feng and Wei 2019). The process of questioning also allows students to reflect and comment on the responses that have given by their peers and also the answers that the teacher gives about the question asked. Furthermore, questioning helps students to allow learning vicariously via discussions.

Disadvantages of Questioning

Questioning is a good teaching technique in a classroom, but its effects are only affirmative if done using the right parameters, otherwise, it might be detrimental in the process of learning. One parameter is the way the questions ought to be asked. If a teacher asked too many questions at a time, they are likely to be confused on what to answer, which would lead to more confusion in class, which is not a positive underlying for education (McCarthy, Sithole, McCarthy, Cho, and Gyan 2016, p. 82). Besides, closed-ended questions that only call for yes or no answers have been proven to be ineffective when it comes to invoking the existing knowledge among students. Additionally, when a teacher poses a closed-ended question student might start guessing on what the teacher is thinking and provide an answer that is based on what the teacher is thinking. Students also became more anxious that they are going to give a wrong answer, which will reduce their willingness to answer these questions posed. Lastly, these questions could also limit a student’s opportunity to broaden an answer and provide the reasoning behind the answer.

Drawbacks of Questioning

Teachers are only limited to question students on what they have leaned only and cannot question students on a new concept. Meaning that teachers can use questioning for the sake of recalling an existing length of knowledge and not to introduce a new topic, subject, or principles as witnessed in other pedagogical techniques (Lu and Rongxiao 2016). Therefore, questioning is limited in terms of introducing a new topic.

The questions are divided into two categories, which are high-end questions and low-end questions. Researchers have revealed that most teachers are not willing to use the high-end questions probably because of the complexities that they might present in terms of the students not understanding the questions in the manner intended by the teacher. Some researchers have also reported that those most teachers are not adequately trained to ask students high-end questions. High-end questions are known to yield more positive outcomes as compared to the low-end questions (Yang 2017, p. 158). In short, most teachers are not adequately trained to make the maximum use of the questioning technique. Therefore, as much as the technique is commonly used in its schools, it should be noted that its efficacy has been compromised in the long run.

Applications of Questioning

The first step was to establish a safe and collaborative classroom environment to facilitate effective questioning. Another critical skill was to understand the depth of knowledge and higher-order thinking for a refresher on the depth of knowledge and higher-order thinking. To have a clear vision of high-end questions, I had to review Bloom's taxonomy to ensure that I was moving the student thinking to higher cognitive levels, by asking deeper questions. There are many types and styles of questions each with a different purpose. So, it was important to be intentional about when I should use different types of questions. A hook question was intended to be motivating and engaging, while reflective questions were used to support metacognitive thinking (Chen, Hand, and Norton-Meier 2017). Other types of questions such as diagnostic questions were used to activate prior knowledge questions, to check for understanding as a formative assessment practice, probing questions was used to get into student thinking and predictive questions that strengthen cause and effect thinking.

After creating a classroom culture of respect, reflection, and positive relationships, students’ needs informed the need for strong prompts so that there could be an appropriate discussion. The questions used in the class were that of higher-order questions from the upper levels of Bloom's taxonomy or Webb's depth of knowledge levels to keep the students engaged and interested in continuing the discussion. The topic which was on market shares and starter questions were related to the students’ concerns and interests. Even with such an interesting topic, I had to keep the discussion going by asking, clarifying, and using follow up questions. Since the discussion was majorly on market share an effective discussion had to go beyond turn and talk. The discussions involved the whole class or a smaller group. Although research reports that students ask less than 5% of the questions in elementary and secondary classrooms questioning and discussions do not always need to be led by the teacher (Iksan and Saper 2016). The discussions were more powerful because they are student-led. My work was major to encourage all learners to ask and answer questions. Some tips and tricks that were used to effectively facilitate the discussion included, working with the class to create a set of ground rules, also known as norms to be followed during discussions and post it in the classroom. One example of a norm is all initial thoughts and perceptions were welcomed. Secondly, I directed my questions to the entire class and waited at least 30 seconds for a response before repeating or changing the questions as advocated by Hu, Chiu, and Chiou (2019, p. 572; Al-Zahrani and Al-Bargi 2017, p 142). I encouraged the students to write down a response to their question before discussing as a whole class. So, they were better prepared to respond. I avoided standing at the front of the room and preferred to sit down with the students as a symbol that I was no longer lecturing. To take the focus off of the teacher, rather than responding to student comments, I had other students respond to comments, divided a large class into smaller groups to discuss questions or problems, and then pull the groups back together to report out and respond to each other.

Why was it good

Mason, Wong, and Sari (2018, p. 47) reasoned that if a student can get better at asking questions, then they can get better answers, better answers result in a whole host of benefits, for example, is better informed and allow the student to make better decisions. Obtaining information on the level of students’ understanding of the topic was just one outcome of questioning. Besides, the approach was good in controlling conversations. This was particularly useful during an argument or negotiation in the class process. Furthermore, these questions were also used as a way of showing interest from the students. In other words, the questions asked by students could help to pinpoint if they were interested in the theme or not. Shared an interest among students could help to build relationships and showing an interest in a subject can open up opportunities to become involved.

Did it work?

In terms of assessing the efficacy of the approach, it would be fair to examine it in terms of its strong points (advantages) rather than its weaknesses (disadvantages). The first outcomes that were noted were that most students were more attentive in comparison to other sessions because they were more engaged in the whole process and at the same time the process was student-driven and hence students were more motivated to participate more. Secondly, I was able to identify various weaknesses among students, which I helped to bridge. Similarly, students were able to show how deep they understood the subject matter by answering various questions. Those who were not able to answer these questions had an opportunity to learn more from the answers that were being given as a response to various questions. Thus, through the discussions that were evoked from the questions, students were able to learn new information and at the same time broaden their understanding of market shares. The only problem that was witnessed was the fact that some students felt like the other class members were more knowledgeable than then and thus had lower self-esteem and felt shy in taking part in the discussion. As much as I tried to ensure that these students took part in the sessions, I notice that most of them felt somehow shy and could not participate as other members, or rather they were not as active as their counterparts.

Students Learning Outcomes

Questioning allows individuals to focus their thinking as they try to integrate their previous experience with fresh insights into their efforts to render such concepts relevant. The questions of the learners play a significant part in effective learning and inspiration, which may be quite informative about the nature of the thought which intellectual comprehension of the students, their theoretical explanations and uncertainty regarding certain topics, their logic, and what they want to say. Student interrogation is also an important element of problem-solving, especially at the complex mental standard. Student questioning can also guide teachers in their work, in addition to helping students develop. Some scholars have investigated the ability to change the curriculum by raising questions from the students (Dahal 2017). Some questions reveal That the students thought about the arguments expressed and tried to expand and make connections between those theories and other conceptual frameworks they already know. Much can also be asked about the efficiency of learners' reasoning as well as critical thinking (Gong and Yanchar 2019), acceptable solution methodologies for students, and confusion about conflicting ideas, their thinking, and what they want to understand. The concerns of learners are typically the product of a distance or inconsistency in the experience of the teachers, or a need to broaden their awareness. Questions of students can be ignited by unfamiliar words or incongruities between their developments and personal information, resulting in "cognitive imbalance"

Furthermore, finding unanswered questions places learners in the mood for learning. Questions serve to attract the attention of students and enhance academic achievement. Teachers may train their learners to pursue thought-provoking questions and search for responses themselves by utilizing active inquiry and conversation approaches. Students share responsibility for learning in schools that illustrate the use of queries, and it is their inquiries and replies that solidify their comprehension.

Students learning from the process

Before embarking on the academic effects, it was evident that the questioning approach helped to build the confidence of various students through engaging in various discussions and counter-arguments. At the same time, students embraced the spirit of teamwork more because they were aware that their peers had some knowledge that they did not have and thus a group discussion or teamwork would enable them to exchange the relevant information. In terms of the academic outcomes, at the end of the session students showed more prowess and understanding of the subject matter. Besides, students were able to demonstrate how they could practically apply the principles learned in class in a real-life situation because of the questioning and subsequent brainstorming.

What to do better next time

Since this was the first attempt, I noted that the discussion was not inclusive, that is some students felt shy to answer some questions, while others did not dare to explain themselves in front of their peers. Therefore, in the next sessions, I would try to apply various pedagogical approaches that would help in encouraging these students to participate in class and answer some questions posed by either the teacher or their peers

Conclusion

When a teacher asks the right questions, they can gather a wealth of information that can help them achieve their teaching goals and gain insight into the situation or student at hand. At the same time questioning also helps the teacher to establish rapport with the student. However, when a student asks questions, they exhibit a caring and concerned attitude. So questioning shows that the student is truly interested and that questioning also the teacher to control the call by choosing the right types of questions to ask. The teacher can steer the call in the direction they want. So, for example, if a student is getting off-topic, a teacher can simply ask questions to get them back on track. Questioning helps the teacher to know if their lesson objective has been achieved. Open questions, elicit a larger response, and require the recipient to expand on their answer and give you more details. The next type of questions are closed questions and closed questions are quicker to respond to their answer with a specific answer or a yes or no answer. In most cases teachers can begin a conversation with open questions to get the student to open up and share ideas. Then they can use closed questions to get the specific information that they need.

For teachers they should consider thinking through their questions before asking it, think about how your question will be received. If a student perceives it as intrusive, they are likely to shut down or get defensive instead of answering the necessary questions or keeping in track with the objectives of the class. It is also a good idea to prepare calming questions like these in advance to help a student with low self-esteem or a disturbed student. Thus, in the long run a teacher is expected to apply their pedagogical training principles when conducting a questioning session. If possible, the teacher should also take notes on the reactions of various topics, especially when the discussion is on a social issue that might elicit divergent and contradictory discussions. Such a reaction would help the teacher in formulating the next set of questions.

References

• Al-Zahrani, M.Y. and Al-Bargi, A., 2017. The Impact of Teacher Questioning on Creating Interaction in EFL: A Discourse Analysis. English Language Teaching, 10(6), pp.135-150.
• Aziza, M., 2018. An analysis of a teacher’s questioning related to students’ responses and mathematical creativity in an elementary school in the UK. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 10(4), pp.475-487.
• Chen, Y.C., Hand, B., and Norton-Meier, L., 2017. Teacher roles of questioning in early elementary science classrooms: A framework promoting student cognitive complexities in argumentation. Research in Science Education, 47(2), pp.373-405.
• Dahal, N., 2017. Understanding and usage of questioning by mathematics teachers: A narrative inquiry. Unpublished M Phil Dissertation). Kathmandu University School of Education, Dhulikhel, Nepal.
• Doherty, J., 2017. Skillful questioning: the beating heart of good pedagogy. Retrieved February, 5, p.2018.
• Feng, Z., and Wei, W., 2019, July. Study on Cultivating Students’ Critical Thinking Ability Through Higher Order Questioning. In 4th International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences, and Humanities (ICCESSH 2019). Atlantis Press.
• Fitriani, S.S., Makhsum, C.A., and Samad, I.A., 2016. The Investigation of Questioning Modifications Used in the EFL Classroom. Journal of English Education, 1(2), pp.118-123.
• Gong, S.P., and Yanchar, S.C., 2019. Question Asking and the Common Good: A Hermeneutic Investigation of Student Questioning in Moral Configurations of Classroom Practice. QualitatResearch in Education, 8(3), pp.248-275.
• Hu, H.W., Chiu, C.H., and Chiou, G.F., 2019. The effects of questions stem from pupils’ online questioning, science learning, and critical thinking. The Journal of Educational Research, 112(4), pp.564-573.
• Iksan, Z.H., and Saper, M.N., 2016. The process of validity and reliability for verbal questioning research in the classroom. Global Journal of Educational Studies, 2(1), pp.14-25.
• Jia, H., and Zhong, L., 2017, December. The research on strategy of effective questioning in junior high school mathematics class. In 2017 International Seminar on Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHR 2017). Atlantis Press.
• LIU, Y.P., and JIN, C.H., 2017. Characteristics of teacher questioning in ACC lecture class. Journal of Yunnan Normal University (Teaching and Research on Chinese As A Foreign Language), (1), p.4.
• Lu, W., and Rongxiao, C., 2016. Classroom Questioning Tendencies from the Perspective of Big Data. Frontiers of Education in China, 11(2), pp.125-164.
• Mason, J., Wong, S.L., and Sari, E., 2018, August. Mindset Change: Questioning Skills as a Focus for Educator Professional Development. In southeast Asian Higher Education Summit 2017 (pp. 45-52). Centre for Academic Development (CADe), Universiti Putra Malaysia.
• McCarthy, P., Sithole, A., McCarthy, P., Cho, J.P., and Gyan, E., 2016. Teacher questioning strategies in mathematical classroom discourse: A case study of two grade eight teachers in Tennessee, USA. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(21), pp.80-89.
• Miguel, D., and Carvalho, S., 2016, July. Teaching and learning music analysis through questioning strategies. In 32 nd World Conference on Music Education (p. 207).
• Mueller, R.G., 2016. Making Them Fit: Examining Teacher Support for Student Questioning. Social Studies Research & Practice (Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama), 11(1).
• Nuryani, T.S., Tarjana, S.S., and Hersulastuti, H., 2018, July. Students' Perceptions of Questions and Questioning Technique in English Classroom Interaction. In English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) Proceedings (Vol. 2, pp. 108-114).
• Ribeiro, L., Rosário, P., Moreira, I., and Cunha, R.S., 2019. An Investigation of First-Year Law Students' and Teacher's Questioning Practices and Perceptions. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, p.611.
• Sahamid, H., Aziz, N.A.A., and Syaheeda, N., 2016. Teachers Use of Questioning in the ESL Classroom: Questioning as a Teaching Strategy. JGAIESS, p.20.
• Soysal, Y., 2019. Investigating discursive functions and potential cognitive demands of teacher questioning in the science classroom. Learning: Research and Practice, pp.1-28.
• Stokhof, H.J., De Vries, B., Martens, R.L. and Bastiaens, T.J., 2017. How to guide effective student questioning: a review of teacher guidance in primary education. Review of Education, 5(2), pp.123-165.
• Watson, L., 2018. Educating for good questioning: A tool for intellectual virtues education. Acta Analytica, 33(3), pp.353-370.
• Wei, Z.O.U., 2018. Effective Questioning Strategies in Classroom Teaching. Contemporary Teacher Education, (2), p.13.
• Weihua, Y.U., 2018. A Study of Students’ Silence and Teachers’ Questioning Strategies in College English Classroom. Studies in Literature and Language, 16(3), pp.1-12.
• Yang, H., 2017. Research on effective questioning strategies in class. Science Journal of education, 5(4), p.158.
• Yuliawati, Y., Mahmud, M., and Muliati, M., 2016. Teacher’s questioning and students’ critical thinking in EFL classroom interaction. ELT WORLDWIDE, 3(2), pp.231-247.
• Zhang, Y., 2016. Group-activity-and new-lesson-based student questioning in College Chinese teaching. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 7(5), pp.979-984.