An analysis of fifth grade elementary school teachers' questioning behaviors

Problem Statement: Questions play an important role in teaching and learning process. The use of questioning technique continues to be vital part of classroom instruction second only to lecturing in popularity. Effective questioning helps students to develop creative thinking skills and helps teachers to achieve their academic goals. Reviews of research findings on questioning contend that it is an effective way to stimulate student interaction, thinking and learning. In order to improve teachers questioning skills, the questioning strategies that are presently being used by the teachers should be determined.Purpose and Questions: The purpose of this research is to analyze fifth grade teachers' questioning behaviors. Main principles of questioning such as equal distribution of questions in respect of gender, achievement level and sitting place, balance among different types of questions, stimulation of creative thinking, use of overhead technique (question, pause, name) are considered vital part of a perfect questioning. Therefore the research questions of this study are as follows: (1) What levels of questions are being used by 5(th) grade teachers in social studies courses'? (2) What questioning strategies are being used by 511, grade teachers in social studies courses? (3) What is the distribution of the questions in 5(th) grade teachers' classrooms in respect of gender, academic achievement, and sitting place of the students? (4) What are the views of teachers about using questioning technique in their classrooms?Methods: The study group of this descriptive research consisted of 16 fifth grade teachers of Kinkkale province. The data of this research were gathered through interviews and classroom observations. In addition to the researcher, five graduate students were trained and used as observers. Frequency-cow-it recording procedure was used to record questioning behaviors of the teachers. Observers conducted 12 hours of observation for training purposes. Interobserver reliability was found .81 for the training session and .79 for the real observations. Each teacher was observed three class hours in social studies courses and then interviewed by two observers.Findings and Results: The findings of this research showed that the teachers use mainly factual/recall questions (75%), ask more questions to male students (59%), to successful students (57%), and to the students who sit in front of the classroom (44%).The teachers listed questioning technique second as frequently used technique after lecturing. It is also found that the teachers partially follow the main steps and principles of the questioning.Suggestions: A practical and theoretical training about questioning must be provided for teachers in their preservice training to develop their questioning skills. Inservice education should also be provided for practicing teachers by the Ministry of National Education. Teachers should categorize the type of questions asked in the one or more lessons and analyze the proportions of, e.g. lower order to higher order, open to closed questions. Teachers should also tally how often they question students of differing abilities or gender. Observation by a colleague is recommended for such an audit.