Thursday, July 12, 2012

Levels of Questions

Question: What types of questions do teachers usually ask when dealing with literature?

Answer/Quote: “Evidence from previous research suggests that teachers in all academic disciplines are given to low-level, factual questions. Corey (1941) found that 71% of high school teachers’ questions required factual information; Fahey (1942) and Gallagher (1965) discovered that teachers asked 63 percent and 61 percent memory questions, respectively, in their studies. English teachers of low- ability students in the Hoetker study (1968) asked over 10 questions per minute, allowing the students only brief seconds to think and respond. Similarly, Guszak (1967) found that although elementary teachers require students to place a value on many things, they seldom ask students for their reasoning.” P. 269.

Comment: The study that follows this introduction suggests a method for building types of questions that help students think more deeply about the literature they are reading. RayS.

Title: “A Study of the Effects of a Hierarchically-Ordered Questioning Technique on Adolescents’ Responses to Short Stories.” RA Lucking. Research in the Teaching of English (Winter 1976), 260-276.

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