ERIC Number: EJ1109439
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2222-1735
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Teacher Questioning Strategies in Mathematical Classroom Discourse: A Case Study of Two Grade Eight Teachers in Tennessee, USA
McCarthy, Peter; Sithole, Alec; McCarthy, Paul; Cho, Jea-pil; Gyan, Emmanuel
Journal of Education and Practice, v7 n21 p80-89 2016
Teacher questioning in mathematics is an important diagnostic tool for teaching as well as measuring the academic progression and comprehension of the learner. While teacher questioning enhances student learning and self-assessment of the teacher's lesson delivery effectiveness, if not presented properly can have negative impacts on the student learning process. Identifying "good" and/or "effective" questioning strategies is a major challenge to mathematics teachers. To increase teacher effectiveness and student success in mathematics, a self-assessment of teacher questioning techniques is essential. This study examines the questioning strategies used by two grade 8 teachers, selected at random, from twelve middle school teachers each handling quadratic mathematical modeling as one of their lessons in a project. The purpose of this study was to determine the questioning strategies used by the two teachers in their mathematical classroom discourse. Each class was videotaped over a six-month period but only a section from each of the two selected classes, on quadratic modeling, was watched for about 45 minutes long for the purpose of this paper. A common theme "teacher questioning strategies" was the basis for analyzing the data. The strategies include: probing and follow-up, leading, check-listing and student-specific questioning. Findings from the study indicate that guiding teachers (pre-service and in-service) through an analysis of questions they ask and the responses they get from students during mathematical discourse, may enable them to recognize both effective and ineffective questioning strategies in their mathematical classroom discourse. This study may help both pre-service and in-service teachers as well as teacher-researchers to be well aware of their questioning practices by reflecting on the questioning strategies they use in their own mathematical classroom discourse.
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Questioning Techniques, Grade 8, Mathematics Instruction, Case Studies, Middle School Teachers, Mathematical Models, Video Technology, Teacher Effectiveness, Check Lists, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Qualitative Research
IISTE. No 1 Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong SAR. Tel: +852-39485948; e-mail: JEP@iiste.org; Web site: http://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 8; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Tennessee
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A