SKILL OF QUESTIONING

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

To enable the students

• Define microteaching.
• Grasp the meaning of microteaching.
• List out the objectives of microteaching.
• Identify the principles of microteaching.
• Follow the steps of microteaching.
• Aware of the purpose of Questioning.
• Classify questions.
• List the levels of questions
• State the three types of Questions.
• Use the components of Skill of Questioning.

DEFINITION

“It is a scaled down teaching encounter in class, size and class time” – Allen D.W.

DEVELOPED BY

Microteaching was developed by Prof. Dwight Allen & Robert Bush of Stanford
University between 1960-1967.

MEANING

*Microteaching is an innovative teaching technique that allows for increased control

of practice till the teacher trainee achieve the expected level of mastery.

*It reduces

-Number of Students

-duration

-Subject Matter

OBJECTIVES

To enable the teacher trainee

 *Learn practice one skill at a time.

*Gain confidence.

*Modify teaching.

*Gain maximum advantage with minimum time, material and money.

PRINCIPLES

The following are the principles of microteaching.

*Practice.

*Reinforcement.

*Experimentation.

*Evaluation.

*Precise supervision.

*Continuity.

STEPS/CYCLE OF MICROTEACHING

1. Plan
2. Teach – 6 minutes
3. Feedback – 6 minutes
4. Replan – 12 minutes
5. Reteach – 6 minutes
6. Refeedback – 6 minutes
Total = 36 minutes

OBJECTIVES BEHIND ASKING QUESTIONS

1. To get the pupil to speak correctly in English.

2. To test previous knowledge.
3. To develop the topic.
4. To create and maintain interest in the lesson.
5. To stimulate thought.
6. To enable them to recall something.
7. To enable them to recognize something.
8. To enable them to think over something.
 9. To enable them to reason about something.
10. To elicit something from students.
11. To keep the children mentally alert.
12. To promote initiative and originality.
13. To stimulate the curiosity of the students.
14. To ascertain whether they are following the lesson or not.
15. To link new knowledge with old.
16. To revise the lesson and thus fix the facts in the minds of the students.
17. To secure the cooperation of the students.
18. To diagnose the weak points of students.
19. To formulate general rules.
20. To synthesise.

TECHNIQUES OF ASKING QUESTIONS

The following points should be remembered by the teacher while posing questions:

1. The questions should be correctly framed. Some teachers ask such questions as,
“What you have done?” “Why you went there?” which are wrong. The teacher should
ensure that his questions are correctly worded.

2. The questions should be suited to the level of attainment of the pupils. Simple
questions to test comprehension should be asked at the early stage, but difficult questions
to test the pupils’ grasp of the subject matter should be asked in the higher secondary
classes.

3. The questions should be well thought out. Many teachers have the tendency to
change the wording of their questions while repeating them. This only shows that they were
not satisfied with the first version.

4. Double parallel questions should be avoided. A question containing two or more

ideas to consider at a time is called a double parallel question. For example, when and
where did the accident take place? is a double parallel question. We should put two
questions: (1) When did the accident take place? (2) Where did it take place?

5. The question should be well-defined and not vague. The teacher should not ask,
“What do you see in this picture?” for the pupils see so many things. Let the question be
definite, “How many men are there in this picture?”
 6. While asking questions, the teacher should not move about in the classroom. He
should face the whole class.

7. The question should be addressed to the whole class and not to any individual
pupil. After putting the question the teacher should name a pupil to answer it. If, on the
other hand, the teacher names a pupil first and then puts the question, some of the pupils in
the class are likely to lose interest.

8. The questions should not be asked in a set order, that is to say, asking questions
one-by-one to the pupils according to their seating arrangement. If the teacher adopts this
practice, the pupils are likely to lose interest because they know in advance whose turn to
answer a question is coming next. The teacher, therefore, should not ask questions in a
fixed order but at random so that the whole class is alert.

9. The teacher should ensure that every pupil in the class gets an opportunity to
answer a question. Weak pupils should be encouraged to answer by putting them easy
questions.

10. Yes/No-type questions should be asked as this type of questions only bring out
we can get information. For example, “Did you go to Delhi yesterday?” “Do you go out
for a walk every morning?” are Yes/No-type questions, but they cannot be avoided.

11. The teacher should encourage the pupils who give correct answers by saying,
“Right”, “Good”, “Correct” etc. He should not discourage those who fail to make the right
response by using such expression as “Sit down”, “That’s wrong”. This discourages them.
In case, a pupil makes a wrong answer, the teacher should ask other pupils to give the
answer.

12. If a pupil is unable to answer a question, the teacher should not go on waiting
for him to answer and thus waste the precious time of the class. Let the teacher ask some
other pupil and then ask the first pupil to repeat the answer.

13. Let the pupils ask each other questions so that they know how to frame questions
correctly. Also encourage them to ask questions to clear up lesson difficulties.

CLASSIFICATION OF QUESTIONS

Introductory Questions/Preliminary Questions.

These questions are generally asked at the beginning of the lesson. These serve the
following objectives:
 (i) Test the previous knowledge of the students.

(ii) Link the new knowledge with the already learnt knowledge.

(iii) Motivate the child and arouse his curiosity.

These questions enable the teacher to test the readiness of the students’ mind and
their entering behaviour. Questioning at this stage enable the teacher to follow the
maximum ‘From known to the unknown’. Questions should be relevant to the topic and
the number of questions should be very less, three or four.

Developing questions. These questions are said to be the backbone of the lesson. They are
used:

(i) to develop a particular line of thought;

(ii) to lead pupils to discover facts for themselves;

(iii) to formulate new generalizations in an inductive way;

(iv) to focus attention on important points;

(v) to develop knowledge step by step;

(vi) to enable the students to use their powers of observations;

(vii) to break the narrative in order to ensure that the class is following; and

(viii) to make the inattentive students attentive ones;

A great skill is required on the part of the teacher to ask developing questions. The
teacher has to lead the students to think and discover facts for themselves. While narrating
a story, the teacher should not ask questions.

Recapitulatory Questions. Such questions are generally put at the end of a lesson or at the
end of each section of the lesson.

Such questions serve two purposes:

1. To enable the teacher to know if the children have picked up the ideas he wanted
them to learn.

2. To serve the purpose of revision and to give a good opportunity of practice.

Evaluating or testing questions. These questions relate to periodic internal as well as
external evaluation. The types of questions can be:

1. Comparison or contrast - What is the difference between wealth and capital?

2. Decision for or against -: Do you consider it correct to call Chandragupta Maurya

as the first Emperor in India?

3. Application in new situation - Suggest measures to remove illiteracy in your

village or town.

4. Classification - Are the following free goods or economic goods-air, sun-shine,

machinery, gold, food?

5. Relationship between cause and effect - What is the relation between population
and economic prosperity?

6. Example or Illustration -Describe cases when prices rise with the decrease in the
supply of some commodities.

7. Statement of aim - Why is the author interested in the study of problem children?

8. Criticism - Do you think Ashok was justified in following the policy of ‘Non-
violence’? Elucidate.

9. Inference - From the date given, which place do you consider to be more hotter?

10. Discussion - Discuss the most important proposals for bringing down the prices.

11. Definition - Define elasticity of demand.

12. Recall - What do you consider the three most important inventions of the last
century?

13. Summary - What were the causes of the downfall of Mughal Empire?

14. Observation - Observe this experiment.

15. Formation of new questions - What questions did occur to your mind after
listening to the exploits of Samudra Gupta?

Three Levels of Classroom Questions

Questions are broadly divided into three levels as under:

 1. Lower order questions.
2. Middle order question.
3. Higher order questions.
I. Examples of Lower Order Questions
Recall

1. When was Jawaharlal Nehru born? (Recall of fact)

2. What is the definition of force? (Recall of definition)
3. What are the laws of gravitation? (Recall of laws)
Recognition
1. What words in this sentence are adjectives? (Seeking recognition of certain words
as adjectives)
2. What is this? (Showing a barometer in the class) (Seeking recognition of an
object)
II. Examples of Middle Order Questions
Translation

1. What does this model represent? (Seeking the translation of an idea contained in
a model into the verbal form)
2. How can we represent ‘happiness’ of the child in a picture? (Seeking the
translation of an idea into a pictorial form)
3. Define ‘state’ in your own words. (Seeking a change in the mode of expression
of a definition)
Comparison

1.Compare the city life and village life. (Seeking comparison to search for
similarities and dissimilarities)

2. Compare the similarities between the powers of the Prime Minister and Chief
Minister? (Seeking the comparison through pointing out similarities).

Explaining Relationships. How is process rise related to demand and supply?

Application. Considering natural resources and climatic conditions of this place, which
industry can come up here?

III. Examples of Higher Order Question

Analysis. Does the evidence support the generalization that farmers in India are in debt?

Syntheses. What sort of life do you expect without printed material?

QUIZ QUESTIONS

1. Micro teaching is a _______________ teaching encounter.

2. ___________ are generally put at the end of a lesson.

3. ____________questions enable the teacher to test the readiness of the students’

mind and their entering behaviour.

4. ______________ lead the students to think and discover facts for themselves.

5. Weak pupils should be encouraged to answer by putting them _____________.

ANSWERS

1. Scaled down.

2. Recapitulatory Questions.

3. Introductory.

4. Developing questions.

5. Easy questions.

REFERENCES

1. Kohli, A.L. (2009). Techniques of Teaching English. Dhanpat Rai Publishing

Company (P) Ltd.

2. Vallabi, J.E (2011). Teaching of English - Principles and practice. Neelkamal

Publications Pvt. Ltd.
 MODEL LESSON PLAN FOR SKILL OF QUESTIONING

NAME OF THE STUDENT TEACHER:

STUDENTS: PEERS
SUBJECT: ENGLISH
TOPIC: PROSE- “THE POWER OF LAUGHTER”
DATE:
OBJECTIVE: TO PRACTISE THE SKILL OF QUESTIONING AND REINFORCEMENT
TEACHING MATERIALS: TEXTBOOK AND BLACKBOARD
STEPS/SPECIFICATIONS TEACHER’S ACTIVITY STUDENT’S ACTIVITY TEACHING AIDS

MODEL READING- I

Teacher reads The teacher reads the prose with The students listen carefully. Textbook.
correct pause and intonation and
the students are expected to
listen to the prose.

MODEL READING- II

Repetition by students
The teacher reads the prose again The students listen and repeat Textbook.
for the students to repeat. after the teacher.

MODEL READING- III

The students read individually.

The teacher directs one student One of the student reads the Textbook.
to read the prose aloud. prose aloud.

QUESTIONING

The teacher asks some Who was the stranger in the The stranger was a brave and Textbook and blackboard.
questions to students and village? experienced headman.
makes them to answer.
GOOD
How did stranger look like? Impressive, six feet tall, had a
face gashed with grim scars and
VERY GOOD a deep voice.

Who brought peace and The middle-aged women who Textbook and blackboard
happiness to people around? was a basket weaver brought
peace and happiness to the
GOOD people around.

What work does the middle-

aged women do for her living? She was a basket weaver.

VERYGOOD

Who were the three kinds of The three kinds of enemies Textbook and blackboard
enemies according to the according to the headman were:
headman? • Enemy who wants water
from the lakes and river.
GOOD • Enemy who wants all the
money
• Enemy who thinks of the
villagers as his enemy.

Where did the headman live? He lived in the best house in the
village which appeared like a
VERY GOOD bungalow.

What did he do all the day? Sitting all day in a huge, plush Textbook and blackboard
(luxurious) throne- like chair
GOOD talking about his growing band
 of war experts, weapon makers,
and astrologers.
What did the headman ask the
astrologer? When he would die.

VERY GOOD

What was the astrologer’s reply?

Not for a long time, not till the Textbook and blackboard
GOOD village overflows with fun and
laughter.

Why was the laughter banned in

the village? Headman wanted the villagers to
even eat and sleep and breathe
hate for the enemies. So, he said
there’s no time for silly things
like fun and laughter. Therefore,
he bans fun and laughter in the
village.
What did the basket weaver
notice? She noticed a Banyan tree that
GOOD had been in the village.

What did she decide to do?

She decided to spread a rumour
VERY GOOD that in the laughter less village,
there was a big old banyan tree,
which would laugh.
OBSERVATION SCHEDULE FOR THE SKILL OF FLUENCY IN QUESTIONING

Name of the student teacher___________________________________________________

Topic______________________________________________________________________

Name of the observer ________________________________________________________

Date __________________ Time Duration_________________________ Teach/Reteach

Components Not at all Very much

Structure
Questions were grammatically correct 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Questions were relevant to the topic 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

discussed
Questions were specific 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Questions were concise 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Process
Questions were put with proper speed 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
and pause
Questions were put to the class with 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
proper voice
Miscellaneous
Questions were not repeated 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
unnecessarily
Responses to the questions were not 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
repeated
Fluency
The teacher could put sufficient 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
number of questions in this lesson
Comments (if any):