Metodika skripta I.

kolokvij

6.10.2014.

Introduction
1. What are the reasons for choosing the teaching profession according to the teachers?
- teachers can make a huge difference, they can shape their students' future
- creativity
- job satisfaction, variety of days no dull day!
2. Which qualities are most frequently mentioned by the students and the parents?

children
- enthusiastic, supportive, happy, friendly, fun, fair, caring about children, ready to help,
honest, truthful, making sure everyone is always included, keeps explaining, aware of
ones standard
parents
-

be able to get to know children quickly

be able to work out what makes individual child tick

adaptable, flexible aware of different types of children they teach

What makes a good teacher? (video)

-

firm but fair

sense of humour

gets you involved in the subject

enthusiastic

friendly, but able to control the class

1

listens to you

involved in the lesson

able to inspire, passionate, relating subject to real life

good communicator

consistency

approachable if you have a problem

like a big kid

Discussion (odavdje smo zapravo poeli konkretno zapisivat)

Are good teachers born or made?
the t factor - (born) teacherness
There is something called the t-factor it consists of some general and some
specific qualities. We are born with some of these qualities and some we acquire with training
or (-)
Perhaps there are people born with certain qualities that make them more ready to
teach, but this is not enough, training helps you develop good teaching skills. Training is
perhaps more important than the qualities you are born with! (-)

T - factor: general qualities

1. Content knowledge the teacher should be an expert in his field, he/she should know a
lot about his/her subject; he/ she should also follow the new developments in his/her field
(-)
2. Intelligence
1. ability to think creatively and rationally(-)
2. problem-solving(-)
3. ability to conclude form specific to general and vice versa(-)
3. Inter-personal relationship a teacher should have the ability to get on with people;
people person (outgoing person with good communication skills)
4. Organization - ability to think systematically; teachers should be systematic and
organized in what they do
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5. Responsibility - ability and willingness to take on responsibility for the others (teachers
are responsible for their students during the lesson/school day/school trips; they have to
make sure nothing bad happens to their students)
6. Confidence - good self-image, belief in own abilities; teachers must believe in what they
do, they have to be, in a way, complete persons with good self-image; students will
notice immediately if you feel insecure, if you are not confident this happens quite often
and the students lose their respect
7. Motivation - drive to succeed and do your job well; dedication to excellence good
teachers want the best from their students and themselves
8. Sense of mission - strong belief in value of what you are doing as a teacher
9. Enjoyment - satisfaction and personal fulfilment a good teacher will let you know
he/she is glad you got a good grade/you are successful at something you do
10. Desire to learn
11. Industry - ability and willingness to work hard
12. Charisma, leadership not many people have this quality; this is something you are born
with

Discussion
- Have you got anything to add to this list? PATIENCE!

T - factor: specific qualities(-)

1. sensing where the learners are at; feeling what they know and dont know
2. knowing how to transform own knowledge about the language into a form that is
accessible to learners
3. knowing how to design and administer activities that will foster learning
4. knowing when learning is or is not happening by way the learners behave
5. getting ones buzz from when the students succeed, learn, progress

Discussion point
- Students read a part of an article on effective and ineffective teachers
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The Characteristics of Effective and Ineffective Teachers (Teacher Education Quarterly,

Winter 2002)
key words:
- apprenticeship of observation
- affective/cognitive issues improving student self concept is a more worthy goal than
promoting students academic achievement; immediacy physical and psychological
closeness of the teacher to the students
categories
- emotional environment
- teacher skill
- motivation
- student participation
- rules and grades
Conclusions (-)

beliefs about teaching are well formed before preservice teachers enter teacher preparation
because students have experienced thousands of hours of their teachers classroom
behaviour before entering teacher training programme; preservice teachers enter teacher
preparation programs with well established filters for what constitutes effective teaching

apprenticeship of observation

conceptions of teachers and teaching focus more on affective than cognitive issues!

effective/ineffective teachers:
effective teachers

ineffective teachers

EMOTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
care about their students; warm, friendly,
caring

create a tense classroom; cold, abusive

uncaring

TEACHER SKILL
know how to create an effective learning

unproductive learning environment

environment
organized, prepared, clear

boring lectures
TEACHER MOTIVATION

care about learning and teaching; enthusiastic

hate teaching; burned-out, just going

through the motions

STUDENT PARTICIPATION
activities involving students in authentic
learning; interactive questioning, discussion

requiring isolate behaviour with little

interaction, activity or discussion

RULES AND GRADES

motivate their students; little difficulty with
classroom management

unreasonable or unfair assignments, tests and

grades

caring about students accomplishment;

advocacy for student success; fair rules and
grading
require and maintain high standards of
conduct and academic work

20.10.2014.

Lesson planning

Lesson planning - definition

the activities of a teacher that are concerned with organizing lessons prior to the
lesson; such organization may concern the students, materials, tasks, aids, teacher
language and so on.

involves the ways in which the teacher draws these diverse elements of a lesson plan
in one cohesive whole

THE PLANNING PARADOX

- What happens in the lesson is a result of an interactive system which is extremely

complex. As the lesson progresses - and students interact with the teacher and the
language they are studying things evolve and develop, depending on what has happened
and what is happening minute by minute. However, by encouraging future teachers to write a
lesson plan we might be producing teachers who are unaware of the complex patterns which
are woven in the interactions between the teachers and the students and students and the
language.
- To conclude: on the one hand, it makes no sense to go into any situation without thinking
about that situation, without planning the tasks and outcomes, without planning what we want
to do. Yet, at the same time, if we pre-determine what is going to happen before it has
taken place, we might be in danger of missing what is in front of us, and we may be
closing off avenues of possible evolution and development.

The planning continuum

Most teachers do think about what they are going to teach before they go into the
lesson:
Three types of teaching are represented by these photos. How would you call a teacher who is
represented by the photo of a jungle path/corridor etc.?
1. Jungle-path teacher the teacher has no real idea what he or she is going to do before
the lesson starts; the lesson is created moment by moment with the teacher and the students
working with whatever is happening in the room.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of jungle-path teachers?
advantages

disadvantages

creativity

laziness

high skill

lack of organization

ability to react quickly and

appropriately

learning value

interesting lessons

a degree of carelessness
negligence

interesting/real-life topics
flexibility

unprepared teacher

2. corridor teacher they prepare a plan in their head as they walk towards the class
advantages

disadvantages

similar to jungle-path teacher

a certain degree of planning still
present

similar to jungle-path teacher

3. formal teacher they write a very detailed lesson plan partly to give themselves
confidence that they have done their best to plan for any eventuality

advantages

disadvantages

high degree of preparation

organized

lack of creativity

high learning value

not flexible

control/classroom management

boring/de-motivating

efficiency

Harmer (p. 365): The actual form the plan takes is less important than the thought
that has gone into it; the overriding principle is that we should have an idea of what we
hope our students will achieve in the class, and that this should guide our decisions how
to bring it about.

The purposes of lesson planning

gives the lesson a framework
allows teachers to think about what they are going to do
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 acts as a reminder for the teacher reminds the teacher to cover the required content in an
organised way
raises the teachers confidence and reduces anxiety
improves the teachers timing
acts as an aid to reflection and development (future lessons!)
basis for evaluation (by observers and supervisors)

Content of the lesson plan

- the content of the plan may consist of the various elements; possible elements include:

goals and objectives

procedures (warm-up, presentation, activities)

aids and materials

teaching strategies (eliciting, error treatment)

class organization (whole class, group work, pair work)

timing

concept questions
Concept questions - also referred to as concept check questions or CCQs - are questions
designed to check learners understanding of a language item

possible problems

alternative procedures

additional activities

Goals vs. objectives

goals

general, longer-term aims which may cover several lessons

for example, to improve students reading comprehension

objectives

specific aims of one lesson or part of a lesson

for example, to practice Past Tense

Guidelines for ordering components of a lesson

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1. Put the harder tasks earlier (why?)

On the whole, students are fresher and more energetic earlier in the lesson, and get
progressively less so as it goes on, particularly if the lesson is a long one. So it makes sense to
put the tasks that demand more effort and concentration earlier on (learning new material, or
tackling a difficult text, for example) and the lighter ones later. Similarly, tasks that need a lot
of student initiative work better earlier in the lesson, with the more structured and controlled
ones later.
2. Have quieter activities before lively ones (why?)
It can be quite difficult to calm down a class particularly of children or adolescents
who have been participating in a lively, exciting activity. So if one of your central lesson
components is something quiet and reflective it is better on the whole to put it before a lively
one, not after. The exception to this is when you have a rather lethargic or tired class of adults;
here stirring activities early on can actually refresh and help students get into the right frame
of mind for learning.
3. Think about transitions (how?)
If you have a sharp transition from, say, a readingwriting activity to an oral one, or
from a fast-moving one to a slow one, devote some thought to the transition stage. It may be
enough to frame by summing up one component in a few words and introducing the next; or
it may help to have a very brief transition activity which makes the move smoother.
4. Pull the class together at the beginning and the end (why?)
If you bring the class together at the beginning for general greetings, organization and
introduction of the days programme, and then do a similar full-class rounding off at the end:
this contributes to a sense of structure. On the whole, group or individual work is more
smoothly organized if it takes place in the middle of the lesson, with clear beginning and
ending points.
5. End on a positive note (how?)
This does not necessarily mean ending with a joke or a fun activity though of course
it may. For some classes it may mean something quite serious, like a summary of what we
have achieved today, or a positive evaluation of something the class has done. Another
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possibility is to give a task which the class is very likely to succeed in and which will generate
feelings of satisfaction. The point is to have students leave the classroom feeling good.

What are the reasons for modifying the lesson plan?

magic moments - some of the most affecting moments in language lessons happen when
a conversation develops unexpectedly or when a topic produces a level of interest in our
students we had not predicted

sensible diversion - students might start trying to use some new grammar or vocabulary
which we had not planned to introduce - yet this suddenly seems like an ideal moment to
do some work on the language which has arisen, and so we take a diversion nd teach
something we had not intended to teach

unforseen problems - some students may find an activity that we thought interesting

What did we learn?

1. Always have extra activities in case there is some time left you must keep your
students busy, otherwise youll have problems with discipline.
2. Try to give homework in the middle of the lesson if you try to do this after the bell,
they wont listen to you.
3. It is not so difficult to prepare an interesting lesson. Use available media, such as the
internet.
4. Learn your students names as soon as possible. It is a sign of respect. At the
beginning, ask them to write their names on a piece of paper.
5. Coursebook is not a Bible. Feel free to supplement it with additional activities.
6. Combine work and fun (games). Try to make your lesson as dynamic as possible.
7. Plan your lessons so as to encourage your students to particpate as much as possible.
8. And remember: you can only get back from your students what you invest in them.

27.10.2014.
Lesson plan - structure
TITLE PAGE
10

aim (goal)

objectives
What is the difference between goals and objectives?

teaching strategies (instructing, explaining, questioning, evaluating - activities you do

as a teacher - terms you use to describe these activities are quite general; another
example would be eliciting, error correction etc)

learning activities (terms you use to describe what the students will be doing brainstorming, guessing, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, answering
questions, copying)

aids and materials

student groupings (whole-class grouping, individual work, pair work, group work)

summary of a lesson

- phases of the lesson:

INTRODUCTION

DEVELOPMENT

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

housekeeping

warm up

objective

procedures

estimated time

aids and materials

student grouping

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE 1: Brainstorming

objective: to introduce a new topic

procedures

ask students to say as many facts

put students answers on the board

if there are not many facts on the board give some hints

help students make some conclusions

11

estimated time

aids and materials: board, chalk

student grouping: whole class

STAGE 2: First listening (global listening)

objective: to check students listening comprehension

procedures

tell students to close their books

tell them they are going to listen to the text about Ireland

tell them to try to remember as many facts as they can

play the tape

upon listening ask students

estimated time

aids and materials

student grouping

STAGE 3: (title)

objective(s)

procedures

estimated time

aids and materials

student grouping

IMPORTANT: each activity has the same elements!

CONCLUSION

Ending the lesson

objectives

procedures

Additional activities

Board plan

Appendices

Beginning lessons

12

Questions:
1. How do the authors define the term lesson beginning?
The part of a lesson between the moment when the teacher starts to interact with
students and the commencement of the first major activity.
The procedures teacher uses to prepare students for learning in that lesson (Todd).
Time frame: three to fifteen minutes!
2. Make a short overview of the information/advice the authors found in the relevant
literature.
- not much is said about lesson beginnings in EFL methodology textbooks!

management of resources (checking equipment, the room, the furniture)

practical suggestions: say briefly what the plan for the lesson is

the review: to motivate the need for the new material + review might be followed by
homework correction in the form of a short quiz (to give the students a sense of
achievement if they have done well and to give the teacher insight into students
difficulties)

social interaction: greetings + chat

purpose: to establish an appropriate atmosphere (playing a song, a warm-up + a

review)

teacher should arrive early the few minutes before the lesson is due to start can be
used for interaction with individual students, socialising or giving back homework and
discussing individual problems

beginning should be clearly signalled

inductive presentation/an indication of the topic/brief description

pre-instructional procedure (set induction) the procedure teachers use to get learners
into the state of readiness for learning: various functions

conclusion: atheoretical approach to discussion of lesson beginnings!

Purposes of lesson beginnings

1. to establish appropriate AFFECTIVE FRAMEWORK
- create friendly relaxed atmosphere
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activities: music, introductions, greetings, joke, chat

- create suitable physical environment
getss to arrange furniture
- focus attention
activities: greetings, listening activity, visual stimulus (video)
- make class enjoyable
activities: game, light-hearted oral activity
- get everyone involved
activities: game, pair work, go over homework
- raise confidence
activities: chat (familiar questions), controlled activities, review, homework
(because prepared), plenary choral activity
- stimulate interest
anything lively or unusual
2. to establish appropriate COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK
- provide organising framework
activities: make connections with last lesson, describe activities or objectives

for

the lesson, introduce topic

- stimulate awareness of need (linguistic/cultural)
activities: questions (based on picture), quiz
- elicit relevant linguistic knowledge
activities: brainstorming, oral activity
- elicit relevant experience
questions
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3. to encourage student responsibility and independence

makingss aware of learning skills and strategies memorisation game,

elicitation of

ss individual strategies
4. to fulfil a required institutional role
- give feedback
homework
- check on previous learning
activities: quiz, game, brainstorming, asking for summary, questions, check
homework
5. to fill in time
- to minimise the problems of late arrivals
activities: chatting, revision activities

3.11.2014.
Beginning lessons - nastavak

Strategies for beginning lessons

1. GREETINGS
2. CHATTING TO THE STUDENTS
advantages: an opportunity for real communication with a focus on meaning; teacher should
focus on the message and try to disregard mistakes(-)
disadvantages: such chat is often artificial, large groups make exchange of views difficult, not
everyone has something to say and not everyone is willing and able to talk; thus, chat often
results in the teacher talking to two or three keenest students while the rest of the class is
ignored(-)
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3. WARM-UP ACTIVITIES (warmers)

- activities primarily aimed at creating atmosphere and preparing the students for learning
(games, jokes, riddles, tongue-twisters)
4. CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
- the teacher can help the students become more aware of something they need or lack in their
learning (she may help them realize that they do not know how to express a certain concept in
English)
- the teacher may elicit the strategies the students use for certain tasks as a lead-in to strategy
training for example, through a memory game the teacher might elicit what strategies the
students us to remember words as a lead-in to training in other vocabulary memorization
strategies
5. PREVIEWING THE LESSON
- directly: the teacher tells the students what to expect in the lesson
- indirectly: the teacher guides the students to form their own expectations (brainstorming)
6. REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS LESSON
- it provides additional opportunities to learn previously taught material and allows correction
and re-teaching of problematic areas; it also raises the students confidence as the material
will already be familiar to them
- questions, quizzes, summaries, games, practice exercises, going over homework
7. HOUSEKEEPING
- activities not directly related to learning, but required by

the institution

(checking

attendance, giving announcements and other administrative tasks)

8. TIME-FILLING warmers, chatting, playing music if there is the problem of late
arrivals
9. ZERO OPTION going straight into the first activity without any preparatory opening

Classroom managment
16

Classroom managment vs. discipline

- classroom management deals with how the things are done in the classroom
(procedures and routines)
- responsibility of the teacher (organization, lesson planning, students strategies,
routines)

Discipline
- Deals with how the students behave
- The actual act of self-control and appropriate behaviour as modelled by the teacher
- Responsibility of the students (depends on their choice)

Classroom management
- The way in which student behaviour mobement and interaction during a lesson are
organized and controlled by the teacher to enable teaching to take place most effectively.
(Todd)

A component of general pedagogical knowledge

A repertoire of strategies

effective classroom management=student achievement

Classroom management is enhanced when procedures are:

Explained to the students

Modelled for the students
Practiced by students
Reinforced by practicing again and periodically (when necessary)
Practiced again

17

Learn to use nonverbal language a nod, a smile, a stare, a frown, a raised eyebrow or a
gesture is often all that is needed and it does not even disturb the class at work

Body lanaguage can speak volumes use it to manage the classroom and minimize
disruptions

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT (lanak, nauit bar 5-6 strategija)

Discipline problems are listed as the major concern for most new teachers. What can teachers
expect and how can they effectively handle discipline problems? Classroom management
combined with an effective discipline plan is the key.

Strategies:

1. Begin each class period with a positive attitude and high expectations. If you expect
your students to misbehave or you approach them negatively, you will get misbehavior.
This is an often overlooked aspect of classroom management.

2. Come to class prepared with lessons for the day. In fact, overplan with your lessons.
Make sure to have all your materials and methods ready to go. Reducing downtime will
help maintain discipline in your classroom.

3. Work on making transitions between parts of lessons smooth. In other words, as you
move from whole group discussion to independent work, try to minimize the disruption
to the class. Have your papers ready to go or your assignment already written on the
board. Many disruptions occur during transitional times during lessons.

4. Have a posted discipline plan that you follow consistently for effective classroom
management. Depending on the severity of the offense, this should allow students a
warning or two before punishment begins. Your plan should be easy to follow and also
should cause a minimum of disruption in your class. For example, your discipline plan
might be - First Offense: Verbal Warning, Second Offense: Detention with teacher,
Third Offense: Referral.
18

5. Meet disruptions that arise in your class with in kind measures. In other words, don't
elevate disruptions above their current level. Your discipline plan should provide for this,
however, sometimes your own personal issues can get in the way. For example, if two
students are talking in the back of the room and your first step in the plan is to give your
students a verbal warning, don't stop your instruction to begin yelling at the students. Instead,
have a set policy that simply saying a student's name is enough of a clue for them to get back
on task. Another technique is to ask one of them a question.

6. Try to use humor to diffuse situations before things get out of hand. Note: Know your
students. The following example would be used with students you know would not elevate the
situation to another level. For example, if you tell your students to open their books to page 51
and three students are busy talking, do not immediately yell at them. Instead, smile, say their
names, and ask them kindly if they could please wait until later to finish their conversation
because you would really like to hear how it ends and you have to get this class finished. This
will probably get a few laughs but also get your point across.

7. If a student becomes verbally confrontational with you, remain calm and remove them from
the situation as quickly as possible. Do not get into yelling matches with your students. There
will always be a winner and a loser which sets up a power struggle that could continue
throughout the year. Further, do not bring the rest of the class into the situation by involving
them in the discipline.

8. If a student becomes physical, remember the safety of the other students is paramount.
Remain as calm as possible; your demeanor can sometimes diffuse the situation. You should
have a plan for dealing with violence that you discussed with students early in the year. You
could also have a student designated to get help from another teacher. Send the other students
from the room if it appears they could get hurt. If the fight is between two students, follow
your school's rules concerning teacher involvement as many want teachers to stay out of
fights until help arrives.

9. Keep an anecdotal record of major issues that arise in your class. This might be
necessary if you are asked for a history of classroom disruptions or other
documentation.

19

10. Let it go at the end of the day. Classroom management and disruption issues should
be left in class so that you can have some down time to recharge before coming back to
another day of teaching.

10.11.2014.

Classroom management - nastavak

Good classroom managers:

-

Elicit the cooperation from the students

Prevent the occurance of problems
Respond efficiantly when problem occurs
Continuely ''scan'' behaviour of the class
Establish positive relationship
Are flexible
Understand students' needs
Control their own behaviour
Model good behaviour
Take into account individual differences (anxiety, motivation, aptitude, age,
intelligence)
Analyze their own classroom managment performance and learn from it
Assume diffrent roles effectively

Teaching style:
- organized
- prepared
-calm
- relased

Teacher roles (objanjavanje za svaku smo radili u parovima i nismo zapisivali)

1. Controller
leads from the front; teacher-fronted classroom
transmission of knowledge
20

 inspiring if teacher has knowledge and charisma

disadvantages
denies students access to their own experiential learning
cuts down on students opportunities to speak
can result in a lack of variety in activities

advantage when:
giving explanations, organising question and answer work and lecturing
giving announcements
order has to be restored

2. Organiser
organising students to do various activities (giving info, telling them how they
are going to do the activity, putting students into pairs/groups, closing things
down when time to stop)
1st step: get students involved and ready
2nd step: give instructions in logical order and check whether they have
understood them; demonstrate the activity; give them the time-frame
3rd step: when finished, organize feedback
3. Assessor
feedback, correction & grading students
important: the feeling of fairness
be sensitive to students possible reactions
give feedback with sensitivity and support
4. Prompter
T helps students move forward in a supportive and discrete way
T helps, but doesnt take over
balance between taking the initiative away from the students and not giving the
right amount of encouragement
5. Participant
21

 sometimes the T should join in - not as a teacher, but as a participant

T can enliven the things up from the inside, rather than standing back from
the activity
disadvantage: T can easily dominate the activity because s/he is perceived as
the authority
6. Resource
T should be helpful and available, but resist the urge to spoon-feed the students
offer guidance to where they can go and look for the info
its OK to say I dont know, but Ill tell you tomorrow
7. Tutor
working with individuals or smaller groups
combining the roles of prompter and resource
more personal contact: students have a real chance to feel supported and
helped
8. Investigator
T observes what students do in order to be able to give them useful feedback
T should sometimes take notes on students performance; T observes both for
success and for mistakes!
T judges the success of different materials and activities in order to make
changes in the future!
T investigates what works well in class and what does not
T tries out new techniques and activities and evaluates their appropriateness
T investigates the efficiency of new methods
T seeks to enrich his/her understanding of what learning is all about and what
works well

17.11.2014.

Grouping students (ovo je zapisano s prezentacija)

22

Group work
-

Harder for the teacher to monitor

One student works, others have fun
Different personalities different goals
Social skills
Colaboration
Different ideas
Brainstorimng
Responsibility

Whole class grouping

-

Lockstep teaching: all of the students work on the same activity at the same time

Advantages
-

It reinforces the sense of belonging among the group members: students are all ''in it
together''
Suitable for the activities where the teacher acts as a controller
Often a preffered class style

Disadvantages
-

It favours the group rather than the individual

Everyone is forced to do the same thing at the same time at the same pace

Individual work
Advantages
-

It allows teachers to respond to individual learner differences in terms of pace and

learning styles

Group work
Advantages
-

It increases the number of talking opportunities for inidividual students

Personal relationships are usually less problematic than in pair work

Disadvantages
-

Noisy, teachers might feel they're loosing control

23

Not all students enjoy group work

Some students might become passive, while others dominate

What is a question? (ovo je iz njenih predavanja, mislim da se nije sve ovo pisalo na satu, u
boldu je ono sto se pisalo)
What is a question?
A question, in the context of teaching, may be best defined as a teacher utterance which has
the objective of eliciting an oral response from the learners. (P. Ur, A course in Language
Teaching)
- questions: one of the most common forms of interaction in the classroom (teachers spend
four-fifths of their time questioning)
Are the teachers questions always realized by interrogatives?
Teachers questions can be realized by:
1) Interrogative
What can you see in this picture?
2) Statement
Well describe whats going on in this picture.
3) Command
Tell me what you can see in this picture.
Purposes of questions
1. to facilitate communication the most frequent pattern of interaction in the classroom is
I - R F (Initiation Response Feedback); questions provide an easy way for teachers
to initiate interaction
2. to focus attention questions can be used to draw the students attention and highlight
important aspects of a topic
3. to evaluate the students questions can be used to test knowledge
4. to review reviewing content is frequently conducted through question-and answersession
24

5. to stimulate motivation, interest and participation - for example, asking questions

instead of giving a long explanation this gives the students the opportunity to participate
and discover certain things for themselves
6. to stimulate thinking if you ask demanding questions certain types of questions
require certain types of thinking or cognitive activity
7. to socialise questions can be used to establish relationship with the students for
example, when chatting to the students at the beginning of the lesson
8. to initiate student-student interaction sometimes, a teachers question can lead to
students discussing an issue among themselves
9. to control social behaviour questions may serve discipline purposes; if a student is not
paying attention, the teacher may ask him/her a question to regain his/her attention

Types of questions
1. Classification based on the communicative value of the question
- communicative value refers to the value of the information conveyed in an exchange
to the interlocutors; in much everyday conversation, the information conveyed has
value because it is new to one of the participants in the communication the
communicative value of questions in classroom discourse frequently differs from that
of questions in real life conversations
a) display vs. referential (genuine) question
Display questions

How do you spell busy?

What did Cinderella do at midnight?

the teacher already knows the answer and asks the question to test the students
knowledge
Referential questions

What did you do yesterday?

Have you ever been to Paris?

knowledge-seeking questions: these questions are asked to gain knowledge

the teacher really wants to know the answer

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- numerous research studies have shown that referential questions are predominant in
conversations outside the classroom in the classroom, teachers ask far more display
questions
b) echoic vs. epistemic questions
Echoic questions

do not call for any new information, but refer back to a previous response

comprehension checks

clarification requests

Does everyone understand the meaning of this word?

What do you mean?

confirmation checks

Did you say he?

Epistemic questions

ask for new information, even if that information is already known to both parties

both display and referential questions are epistemic

echoic questions occur far more frequently in the classroom

Which types of questions are frequent in the classroom?

2. Classification based on the possible answers to the questions

- some questions restrict the number of possible answers
a)closed vs. open questions

closed (convergent) questions

limit student responses to only one correct answer

Who is the president of the USA?

open (divergent) questions

allow for many possible correct student responses

What do you think about the main character?

b) polar/alternative/wh-questions

polar questions

require a yes/no response

Do you like chocolate?

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alternative questions

offer a choice of two possible answers

Did you go on Saturday or Sunday?

wh-questions

allow a wider range of longer answers

Where do you live?

Task 2: The Secondary A-Z of Effective Questioning (-)

1. Effective questioning
- an essential skill for a teacher
- waiting a long time for an answer
- happens in every lesson
2. Are all answers acceptable?
- yes-no
- you should encourage pupils to feel that their answers are acceptable
- all answers are acceptable as long as the students can support what they are saying
- it is a massive step for some students just to have that confidence needed to answer
a question
- ultimately, you have to reach the right answer that is the goal of teaching
- abusive answers are, of course, not acceptable
3. Classroom culture?
- if you dont have appropriate classroom culture, the students will not be prepared to
answer your questions
- nobodys answers should be put down
- students should know they wont be laughed at, and if they are, you will deal with it
- students should feel that they can be open and honest

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4. Differentiation?
- right question to the right child
- question which has an element of challenge but the students should feel safe
enough to have a go and answer it
- mixture of closed and open-ended questions
- low-ability students: try to get an answer; high-ability students: ask them about their
opinions
- being aware of the childs ability
- it will take you a long time to get to know your students, the level they are at and
what their limitations are
- each question is specific to the child
5. Hands - up? (strategies)
- variety / no hands rule
- name generator
- a pupil chooses another pupil to give an answer
6. Misunderstandings
- you can paraphrase your question
- ask other students if they misunderstood the question as well
- get the student to explain the question back to you
- ask other students what they think about the answer
7. Planning
- questions prepared in your head/written in your lesson plan
- you should also think about the possible answers
- effective questioning is a skill that needs to be developed
8. Unexpected answers (strategies)
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- you should make a snap decision whether this answer is useful for their learning
- some answers need to be ignored
- sometimes the unexpected answers get the lesson to take off
- sometimes you have to ask more questions to get the students back to the lesson
9. Waiting? - how much time (strategies)?
- you should wait until the students get restless
- 2 seconds/5 seconds
- waiting for an answer can be awful
- countdown
- dont leave it too long, because the students might get anxious
- if after 5 seconds nobody has answered, the question wasnt good enough
10. Questioning gone wrong
- closed questions, yes-no questions
- difficult questions
- wrong question to the wrong student lack of knowledge
- dont put people on the spot with your questions
- shy students: you should help them build their confidence

24.11.2014.
Questioning part 2

Questioning strategies

Repeating
Rephrasing
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Prompting (visual or verbal)

Providing
Asking supplementary questions
Redirecting (Asking sb else)
Changing the level of cognitive demand (from genuine questions to yes/no questions)

Effective questioning

Wait time

The pause which follows a teacher question either to an individual student or the
whole class
This pause lasts until either a students answers or a teacher adds a comment or poses
another question
Wait time of most teachers: less than a second!
Research: wait time should be increased to around three seconds

Instructing

Instructing students can be classified into:

-

Instructions: an important aspects of classroom interaction

Directives ''keep quite'', ''will you read this'', etc.
Isolated utterances which aim to get students to do something (imperatives,
interrogatives, declaratives)
Instructions consist of series of directives, mixed with explanations which aim to get
the students to do something, used to set up an activity

Areas of content to be included in a set of instructions are:

Goals and rationale (e.g. This activity will help you understand the use of modal
verbs)
Class organisation (e.g. You will do this in pairs)
Roles of learners (e.g. Student A explains how to get to the hotel while student B
follows A's directions on the map)
Materials (e.g. Look at the picture on page five)
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Procedures (e.g. First make a summary and then explain it to another group)
Language aspects (e.g. To do this you will need to use the second conditional)
Time (e.g. I will give you ten minutes)

Tips for giving effective instructions:

-

Use silence and gestures

Speak slowly
Check that students understand
Make eye contact
Plan ahead
Use logical order sequential signposts
Don't expalin what is obvious
Don't hand out materials before you give instructions
Provide an example or demonstrate

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