Proper Questioning Techniques for Better Student Participation

All teachers want students to pay attention and be active learners. To maximize participation teachers must ask positive and supportive questions.

A common topic of conversation among students at the beginning of the year addresses “Who’d you get?” Some teachers are favored over others, and many teachers have — rightly or wrongly — developed a reputation as a “bad” teacher. There are some common qualities and behaviors that effective teachers have to promote positive learning and participation.

Write My Paper 's teachers' researches indicate that proper oral questioning can enhance learning by increasing attention, improving student interactions, and generally boost overall participation.

Effective Teachers are in Charge of Student Behavior

The first task of effective teaching is classroom management, but some teachers who maintain quiet, orderly classes are poor teachers. Classroom management methods vary widely, and the wise teacher understands that silence doesn’t necessarily mean that learning is happening. Indeed, active learning is often a noisy process.

Healthy noise is acceptable. When students all want to speak at the same time about a point in the lesson, hands go up all over the room and shouts for attention demonstrate enthusiasm. The gathering storm of excitement can be effectively calmed by a teacher who stands composed before the noise, arms crossed, silent, and simply waiting for students to control themselves. A silent message is sent that says, “I am in control, and I don’t need to shout. My expectation is that you will come to order.” For teachers who have established respect it works.

Teachers Must Work at Student Involvement

Classroom design is important and should be a focus of all teachers. A classroom should invite students and be as comfortable as possible. Don’t use threatening or sarcastic posters.

Once class has started teachers must not assume that everyone is ready to listen and learn. More likely, they are still involved in what they talked about while coming to class or something that happened earlier — the possibilities are endless.

Teachers need “hooks” to get the class started. Public speakers know about hooks — that is why they often start with a joke or an activity that helps the audience focus on them. Teachers can work on a variety of hooks. Humor is usually welcomed and class can be started with a brief story or joke.

Some teachers are comfortable with the concept of teaching as a performing art and use a variety of props such as clown noses, wigs, simple costumes related to the lesson, or magic tricks. Students become accustomed to seeing something entertaining and settle down quickly.

Developing and Atmosphere to Encourage Participation

In any class some students will participate more than others and there is a temptation for teachers to rely on these students to “carry” the lesson, but doing so risks allowing others to tune out. The practice of grading participation to “encourage” students to be engaged is not recommended — such grades are not justified as legitimate assessments.

Students should understand that the teacher will call on everyone to contribute in some way — hands up or not. Teachers should establish expectations on the first day.

Use Proper Questioning Techniques to Enhance Student Engagement

Any question is not a good question, and the purpose of questions must be valid. Using questions to stop a student from misbehaving is not recommended by Write My Paper for Me, rather the student should simply be asked to stop talking. Students who are constantly called on whenever they talk can develop a negative feeling about participating. Questions are an instructional tool and should be used for teaching.

Learn student names and use their names when calling on them for answers;

Avoid questions that can be answered with “yes” or no;”

Help clarify incorrect answers without being critical — never embarrass a student for a poor response;

Use varied responses to recognize good answers — the use of the same phrase, like “excellent” will lose its effect as a motivator;

Give students time — perhaps ten seconds — to respond before calling on someone else; teachers tend to wait only a second or two, but longer wait time tends to produce better answers;

If a question does not elicit a correct answer, the teacher should not provide it, but withhold the answer until there has been some discussion after which the question should be asked again;

Use questions that are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, but remember that younger learners and poor readers will benefit more from lower level questions — knowledge, comprehension, application — and older and more competent learners benefit more from higher level questions —analysis, synthesis, evaluation.

Don’t use questions punitively by calling on students to that are chronically unprepared expecting that they will be motivated to study harder — they won’t, but they may withdraw from voluntary participation even more.

Once a teacher has established control of a class, good questioning can help maintain that control and enhance learning in a number of ways. There are good and bad ways to ask question. Teachers should practice good questioning techniques and use inquiry as a positive instructional tool.