Teacher question in the junior high school English classroom.

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ABSTRACT

Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teachers’ Questions in a Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

In a classroom context, typically teachers ask a lot of questions. Research indicates that whether in a content classroom or in a language classroom, teachers ask many questions. The standard pattern in the classroom is one in which the teacher asks questions, one or more students respond to the questions, and then the teacher evaluates the responses. Thus, in terms of a classroom context, a questioning session happens naturally as a process of learning.

This research deals with teachers’ questions in a junior high school English classroom. The study was conducted to answer questions What types of questions do the teachers tend to use in the daily practices of teaching in the EFL classroom, what are the function of the questions asked by the teachers, and how do the students respond to the questions.. The study was conducted at Public Middle School 2 in Soe, South Central Timor. The study was carried out by observing and taking video recordings of two eighth grade English teachers. Eight observations were conducted in four classes of two weeks of lessons.

The findings indicate that in the question type, display questions (92%) were highly uttered by the teachers rather than referential questions (8.1%). In display questions, the biggest category of questions asked by the teachers was complete pronominal questions (49.05%), which are questions in the form of WH questions. Meanwhile, for 7 (8.1%) referential questions, there were 4 complete pronominal questions and 3 complete verbal questions posed by the teachers.

As the purposes of learning English in a junior high school context is to engage students to communicate in spoken and written language, all the questioning functions are related to eliciting information, checking students’ understanding of the lesson being taught, and encouraging them to participate more in the classroom. Therefore, the questions posed by the teachers were highly distributed.

The study is beneficial for both teacher and students in English language classroom. Questioning and answering session happen to force students to speak English even though it is only telling what they know about the lesson. It is also beneficial for teachers who facilitate students’ language ability through asking effective question in an effective way. Once teacher pose certain type of question, it can be developed into some other question that engage students to speak using the language.

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ABSTRAK

Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teacher’s Questions in Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

Lumrahnya, guru mengajukan banyak pertanyaan di dalam kelas. Penelitian tentang pertanyaan menunjukan bahwa guru mengajukan banyak sekali pertanyaan baik di kelas pembelajaran bahasa maupun di kelas lainnya. Pola standar di kelas adalah guru bertanya, satu atau lebih siswa menjawab/merespon pertanyaan tersebut, kemudian guru mengevaluais jawaban tersebut. Jadi, di dalam konteks ruang kelas, sesi tanya jawab terjadi secara alami sebagai sebuah proses pembelajaran.

Penelitian ini berhubungan dengan pertanyaan guru di kelas bahasa Inggris SMP. Studi ini dilakukan untuk menjawab beberapa pertanyaan menyangkut tipe pertanyaan yang digunakan guru selama jam pelajaran berlangsung, fungsi dari pertanyaan tersebut, dan respon siswa terhadap pertanyaan guru tersebut. Studi ini dilaksanakan di SMP Negeri 2 Soe, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan melalui observasi kelas dan pengambilan video mengajar tiga guru bahasa Inggris pada kelas dua. Terdapat delapan kalo observasi yang dilakukan pada empat kelas selama dua minggu pelajaran.

Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa untuk tipe pertanyaan, Display question (92%) lebih banyak ditanyakn dari pada Referential question (8,1%). Pada display question, kategori pertanyaan yang paling sering ditanyakan adalah Complete Pronominal Question (49,05%), dalam bentuk WH question. Sementara itu, untuk tujuh (8,1%) Referential question, terdapat empat complete pronominal question dan 3 complete verbal question yang ditanyakan oleh guru.

Tujuan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris dalam konteks SMP adalah menghantar siswa agar dapat berbicara bahasa Inggris. Tentu saja semua fungsi pertanyaan yang dilontarkan oleh guru adalah untuk mendapatkan informasi, mengetahui pemahaman siswa terhadap pelajaran yang diajarkan, dan mendorong mereka untuk lebih berpartisipasi di dalam kelas.

Studi ini berguna bagi guru dan siswa pada kelas pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Sesi bertanya dan menjawab terjadi sebagai cara untuk mendorong siswa berbicara bahasa dalam Inggris, sekalipun jawaban para siswa hanya seputar pemahaman mereka tentang topik pembelajaran. Hal ini juga berguna bagi guru sebagai fasilitator kemampuan berbahasa siswa melalui bertanya secara efektif. Ketika guru menanyakan tipe pertanyaan tertentu, hal ini kemudian berkembang menjadi beberapa pertanyaan lain dengan tujuan yang sama yaitu membuat siswa berbicara menggunakan bahasa Inggris.

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TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH

SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theMagister Humaniora (M. Hum)Degree in English Language Studies

by

LESLY NARWASTI NDUN 126332042

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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A THESIS

TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

LeslyNarwastiNdun Students Number:126332042

Approved by

Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A.

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A THESIS

TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Presented by

LeslyNarwastiNdun Students Number:126332042

Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable

THESIS COMMITTEE

Chairperson :Drs.F.X. MukartoPh.D ….………

Secretary : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko,M.A ……….

Members : 1.Dr. J. Bismoko ……….

2.JSM.Pudji Lestari, S.Pd. M.Hum ……….

Yogyakarta, February 27, 2015

The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University

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Statement of Originality

This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands of the fuIl consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else's ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.

Yogyakarta, February 27, 2015

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Lesly Narwasti Ndun

Nomor Mahasiswa : 126332042

Demi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Dermikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal: 27 Februari 2015

Yang menyatakan

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I gave my highest gratitude to Jesus Christ, my Lord, for without His guidance and blessing, this thesis would have never been finished. Amidst the wonderful people, I would like to say my deepest gratitude, first, to Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A., my supervisor, for his advice, help, support, understanding, and especially his patience. Many times I forced him to examine my thesis. Thus I know without his patience and care, I would not finish it. I also deliver my gratitude to the examiners of my thesis, Dr. J. Bismoko, Drs. F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D. and Dr. F.R. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. for their help in reading my thesis and giving their idea for the improvement of this thesis.

My huge and untold thanks go to my family. The first is my husband, Marthen, who gave me a chance to study regardless his hard time for being a father and a “mother” for the kids. Next is my three beloved kids, Jonathan and Bryan and Vionna who always made me laugh every time I am desperate.

I would like to send my great thanks for my best friends in KBI, Dinar, Indes, Mayang, and Andrew. Thank you all for help that accompany me during my study. I cannot mention all help one by one that you have ever shared with me. My family in PD Kasih, Andhy, Veven, Ani, Luki, Vhian, and Kak Vid, Living with you people was my best time in Yogyakarta. Thanks for all the support and all memorable joys we have ever shared together, thanks for helping me to be a better person.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER PAGE……….… APPROVAL PAGE……….. ACCEPTANCE……….. STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY……… LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS………. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….. TABLE OF CONTENT………. LIST OF TABLES………

ABSTRACT……… ABSTRAK………..

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……… A. Background……… B. Problem Identification……… C. Research Question………. D. Research Objective………

E. Research Benefit………

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE………. A. The Meaning of a Question………. B. The Importance of Question………

1. The Importance of Question in English Classes……… 2. Teacher Question and Language Learning………. C. The Purpose of Question………. D. D.Types and Classification of Question……….. E. Wait-time……….. F. Related Research……… G. Theoretical Framework……….

i ii iii ix v ix x xi 1 1 4 5 6 6 8 8 9 12 13 15 16 24 25 27

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CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……… A. Nature of Research……….. B. Data Setting and Sources……….. C. Data Collection Instrument……….

1. Video-tape……… 2. Questionnaire………. D. Data Analysis……… E. Data Validation and Reliability………

CHAPTER IV: RESULT AND DISCUSSION……….. A. Brief Summary of the Lesson……… B. Result………. 1. Types of teachers’ Questions……….

a. Display Questions……….. 1) Complete Verbal Question……….

2) Incomplete verbal Question……… 3) Complete Pronominal Question……… 4) Incomplete Pronominal Question………

5) One-word Question………

6) Phrase Question………

7) Indonesian-English Mixed Question……… 8) Pure Indonesian Question………

b. Referential Questions……… 2. Functions of the Questions………

a. Function of Display Questions………

1) Checking Learners’ Understanding……… 2) Arousing Interest and Curiosity Concerning a Topic…………

3) Focusing Attention on a Particular Issue or Concept………… 4) Controlling Classroom………. b. Functions of Referential Question………..

1) Eliciting Information………

3. Students’ Responses toward Teachers’ Questions………. 28 28 29 30 30 30 31 32 34 34 35 35 36 36 38 38 41 41 42 42 43 45 46 48 48 53 56 57 57 57 60

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a. Number of Words Students Produced……….. b. Ways of Responding………..

c. Correctness………

d. Wait-time………..

C. Discussion……… 1. Type of Teacher Question………. 2. Function of Question……….. 3. Students Responses……… CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……… A. Conclusion……… B. Recommendation………

BIBLIOGRAPHY………. APPENDICES………..

Appendix 1 Display Question in Class A……… Appendix 2 Display Question in Class B……… Appendix 3 Display Question in Class D……… Appendix 4 Display Question in Class E……… Appendix 5 Referential Question in Class A……… Appendix 6 Student’s Questionnaire………

Appendix 7 Teacher’s Questionnaire……….. 60 62 64 65 66 66 70 71 75 75 78 81 85 82 88 90 92 94 95 97

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Type of display question ………...36

Table 4.2 Referential question asked in class A ……….46

Table 4.3 Function of question ………..49

Table 4.4 Checking learners’ understanding class A ……….49

Table 4.5 Checking learners’ understanding class B ………..51

Table 4.6 Checking learners’ understanding class D ……….52

Table 4.7 Checking learners’ understanding class E ……….53

Table 4.8 Arousing interest and curiosity class A ………54

Table 4.9 Arousing interest and curiosity class B ………55

Table 4.10 Arousing interest and curiosity class D ………..56

Table 4.11 Focusing learners’ attention on particular issue or concept class A ……… 57

Table 4.12 Focusing learners’ attention on particular issue or concept class D ……… 57

Table 4.13 Controlling classroom class D ………58

Table 4.14 Eliciting information ………58

Table 4.15 The length of students’ responses ………..62

Table 4.16 Ways of responding ………. 64

Table 4.17 Correctness ………..65

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ABSTRACT

Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teachers’ Questions in a Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

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ABSTRAK

Lesly Narwasti Ndun. 2012. Teacher’s Questions in Junior High School English Classroom. Yogyakarta. The Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the background of the study related to teachers’ questions that was conducted in a junior high school setting in Soe, South Central Timor. It begins with the background of the research and explains what prompted the researcher to conduct the research. It then moves to identify the problem that the researcher wants to discuss throughout this thesis and clarifies the objectives and benefits of doing this research.

A. Background

The aim of education according to law no. 2 year of 1989, is to generate the knowledge, skill, and scientific progress that improve the life of nation and develop Indonesian people. It should then help learners acquire knowledge through comprehension. Because of its potential to promote comprehension and learning, questioning is considered as one of the most influential teaching strategies. Academic research confirms that students develop critical thinking skills through teacher facilitated questions (Ennis, 1996). Ennis emphasizes that asking students questions is a way to build complex conceptualizations and foster critical thinking. Thus, this research will deal with one aspect of classroom interaction, which is questioning.

Teachers ask a lot of questions. In fact, the standard pattern in the classroom is one in which the teacher asks a question, and one or more students respond to the question (Richards, 2000). Then, the teacher evaluates the response. That is why Ellis (2008) proposes two reasons why teachers ask questions in their

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obliging learners to contribute to the interaction. Learners’ responses also provide the teacher with feedback which can be used to adjust content and expression in subsequent teacher-talk. Second, questions serve as a device for controlling the progress of the interaction through which a lesson is enacted. It has been found that questions can also be used to motivate students, to revise, control, test or assess, explore, explain, encourage students to focus on a particular topic, elicit information, and check understanding and to control behavior (Young 1992; Richards and Lockhart 1994).

If we take a look at the practice of teaching English in Timorese secondary schools today, you may observe a complex problem. Studies made by Daniel (2006) on technical and vocational training institutes confirm that students have difficulties in using the language and in interacting in the classroom. Most scholars agree about the importance of questioning to lighten some of these problems. Supporting this view, Moghadam and Barjesteh 2014 states that, “Teachers’ questions serve as a mean of engaging learners’ attention to promote verbal responses and evaluate learners’ progress.” Therefore, one of the measures that can be taken to improve teachers’ questioning skills is in assessing how teachers ask questions in an EFL classroom.

The situation in which the questioning session dominates the teaching learning process exists in a Timorese educational setting. In the classroom, teachers ask a lot of questions related to the lessons being taught. One of the reasons for doing that is to get students to speak up. Related to English learning, students are expected to produce in the target language. One way to make this expectation come true is by answering the questions using English. Classroom

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interactions will happen when students respond to the teacher’s questions, and vice versa. This implies that students can actively participate in the classroom when they are questioned, and at the same time they need to answer the questions by using the target language. Moreover, students’ language proficiency can be improved through interactions between the teacher and the students and among the students themselves.

Research on questioning indicates that teachers, whether in content classrooms or language classrooms, ask many questions (Ellis, 1993). In a study of six ESL teachers, Long and Sato (1983 in Ellis 2008 ) found that 938 questions were asked by teachers in six elementary ESL lessons. Young, as cited in Nhlapo (1998), states that questioning is a favorite teacher methodology, and that roughly 60% of all classroom talk is composed of questions and nearly all of them are asked by teachers. Another study done by Gambrell in Qashoa (2013) revealed that teachers asked questions every forty three seconds. Furthermore, Brualdi (1998) points out that eighty percent of a teacher’s school day is taken up asking questions to students. Thus, classroom teachers spend most of their lesson time conducting questioning sessions.

Considering the great quantity of teacher talk in the classroom, questioning plays a role as a reflection of teaching. Vogler, in Qashoa (2013), states that questions can monitor comprehension; it can make connections to prior learning and can stimulate cognitive growth. In a classroom setting, teacher questions and student answers are considered as a powerful teaching approach if they are used to expose contradictions, challenge assumptions, and lead to new knowledge.

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knowledge and promote creative thinking. Thus, asking a good question is cognitively demanding.

However, Cotton (2010) says that the content of the questions and the manner in which teachers ask them determines whether or not they are effective. Some mistakes that teachers make during the question and answer process include asking vague questions, asking trick questions, and asking questions that may be too abstract for children of their age. When questions such as those mentioned are asked, students will usually not know how to respond and may answer the questions incorrectly. Thus, their feelings of failure may cause them to be more hesitant to participate in class.

Teachers’ questions, in relation with the contributions that they can make to language learning, will depend on students’ responses. the responses can be recitation or discussion The question type and the time given to students help them formulate their answers as responses to the question. Sometimes students have no time to formulate or even to think about the answer to a certain question asked by the teacher. That is why the wait time is also crucial in having good responses to questions being asked.

B. Problem Identification

This research examines teachers’ questions in the EFL classroom and the impact they have on the language learning process. Teachers’ questions are one of the teaching strategies that can help students acquire the target language better. Typically, a teacher asks a question without considering what type of question is being asked and how much time he/she gives for the students to formulate their answers. Consequently, he/she does not get sophisticated responses from the

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students or even no responses at all. By asking the right type of question and giving enough time for students to formulate their answers, a teacher automatically gets two benefits in language learning. First, a teacher can check students’ comprehension of the lesson being taught, and second, he/she can monitor students’ language proficiency.

Thinking back of my own days in elementary and secondary school, after listening to the teacher’s explanation, I would wait for the teacher to call on me with a quick question; it usually required a brief reply. It did not matter whether the subject was language or social studies or science, the question revealed whether or not I remembered the material. Sometimes, the questions she asked resulted in no responses from the students. That is why questions should be used in a way in which they can create an effective and powerful learning environment. Based on the above statement, a teacher should be aware of asking such a question for the students to consider the question type, the function that it serves, and the wait-time given to students. It is also important to acknowledge how students respond to a question. After knowing what the teacher should do, hopefully, he/she can obtain or even raise students’ comprehension in using the target language.

C. Research Questions

This study aims to examine the types of questions which are used by teachers in the class and to find out what purposes the questions convey in the process of teaching. The study is based on the following questions:

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2) What are the functions of the questions asked by the teachers? 3) How do the students respond to the questions?

D. Research Objectives

This research is aimed to identify the types of questions that are used in the EFL classroom. Therefore, it is important to examine what kinds of questions are used to devise a communicative classroom. That is an EFL classroom that helps students acquires the target language better, so they can interact with one another using the target language.

Since every question serves a different function in language learning, this research also examines the reason why certain questions are asked in the classroom. It happens because typically a teacher has no specific intention to ask a certain question other than to check students’ learning comprehension. That is because most of the questions are intended to identify a superficial understanding of the material.

The last reason why this study is conducted is to explore students’ responses toward teacher questions to examine whether they give the intended answers or not. In a classroom setting, students typically respond to a teacher’s question superficially. They do not give an answer that is provoked by the critical thinking process. By analyzing the responses the students give, the researcher will know which questions are suitable to use in order to encourage students’ critical thinking process.

E. Research Benefits

This research has theoretical and practical benefits. Theoretically, teaching and questioning have been viewed as integrally related activities (Beatty, Gerace,

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leonard, and Dufresne 2006 ). This research will benefit teachers in the context of effective teaching and learning. In order to be an effective teacher, one must be an effective questioner. One way to teach effectively is by recognizing that questioning serves various functions and creates a different level of thinking. Some questions require only a superficial understanding, while others cause students to go beyond memory and use other thought processes in forming an answer. By learning different kinds of questions and the different functions they serve, it is a crucial step in being able to use all types of questions effectively.

Practically, this research will benefit teachers to have a well-planned lesson. In the planning stages, teachers need to prepare materials that meet the objectives of the lesson. By doing so, teachers can prepare questions which completely analyze the content of lessons and engage students in active interactions during classroom participation.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents and discusses literature on teachers’ questions. It begins with examining the conceptual meaning of a question. Given the importance of questioning as a teaching strategy, the chapter also surveys the type of questions teachers ask in their classrooms and the contributions those questions have during classroom interactions. It then ends with a brief theoretical review of research that has been reported on teachers’ questions in foreign language classrooms.

A. The Meaning of a Question

A question is any sentence which has an interrogative form or function. In classroom settings, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli that expose students to the content elements to be learned (Azerefegen, 2008). It has become an essential part of instruction in that it allows teachers to monitor student competence and understanding as well as increase thought-provoking discussion (Critelli & Tritapoe 2010). This deals with leading students to acquire certain knowledge.

In a teaching and learning context, question refers to any idea that requires a response from listener. It is used to make a request for information. Furthermore, the request itself is made by such an expression and the information is provided with an answer. The situation takes place when the teachers want to get students’ responses and the first step is to answer questions.

From these definitions, it can be generalized that the word ‘question’ refers to any idea that requires a response from the listener or audience. Above all, in

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classroom settings, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli that convey content elements to be learned by students and directions for what they are to do and how they are to do it. It involves hints about what students are about to experience and techniques that call on students’ prior knowledge.

B. The Importance of Questions

Questions are vital to acquire knowledge. People usually ask questions to one another to know something about unknown things. They are instruments to examine new ideas, facts, in formation, knowledge and experiences (Azerefegen 2008). In line with this, Brown and Wragg (1993) say that we normally ask questions when we really want to know something and, if we already know the answer, then we don’t need to ask.

On top of that, questions play a great part in communication. It is used as a learning tool to promote interaction (Ma 2008). Therefore, questions in the language classroom enable the teacher to evaluate his or her students and motivate students to attend lessons attentively.

In line with this, Richards and Lockharts (1994:185) have stated the following as justifications for the important questions in teaching.

They stimulate and maintain students’ interest.

They encourage students to think and focus on the content of the lesson.

They enable teachers to check students’ understanding. They enable a teacher to elicit particular structures or vocabulary items.

They encourage students’ participation in a lesson.

This implies that in the teaching and learning process, questions are the core by which all communication between a teacher and pupils takes places. Also, they

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Questions, after all, are crucial features of the language and part of teaching process (Hamiloglu, 2012).

One aspect to consider in a teaching learning context is students’ involvement in asking and answering questions, which is significant to language teaching and learning. That is why it is important to handle and utilize such questions properly in question and answer exchanges. Nhlapo (1998) also corroborates this by saying that teachers’ questions are the quickest and the easiest techniques for moving students toward real conversation. This confirms that questions are essential in the teaching and learning process.

Questions in the language classroom play a significant role in promoting learners’ language proficiency. They are employed to check students’ comprehension, to see if they have acquired the knowledge imparted, to focus their attention and involvement in the lesson, to control behavior, and to encourage the students to use the target language for communication (Tsui, 1995). In line with this, (Klippel, 1983, as cited in Azerefegen (2008), suggests, “Learning is more effective if learners are actively involved in the process.” Since learners’ participation is really demanding, effective questions will stimulate learners to use the target language more.

In order to promote effective teaching and learning, questions are one of the techniques that are widely used in ESL classrooms. If they are properly handled and employed, they may facilitate interactions and bring about the necessary changes in the students’ language proficiency. In this regard, English teachers are expected to develop the skills of asking effective questions (Sadker and Sadker, 1988). As questioning is believed to be one of the tools of effective teaching

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(Perrott, 1986), it is increasingly important for teachers to avoid ineffective questioning patterns, for the questioning process is crucial to classroom instruction.

Thus, to improve the learning opportunities for the class and to motivate students to talk more and provide responses, teachers are expected to develop questioning skills and employ different types of questions in EFL classrooms. Besides that, students should also be encouraged to ask questions and give responses to teachers’ questions. If students are given opportunities to talk, teachers will be able to obtain feedback on students’ problems in understanding some parts of the lesson.

Moreover, it might facilitate interactions and production of the target language (Perott, 1986). It is believed that motivating students to communicate with the language entails knowledge of the types of questions on the part of the teacher. The teacher has to be well aware of the types of questions and the purposes of questioning. Despite the fact that teachers have a major role in classroom questioning, students also need to practice the ways of forming different questions.

The teachers' questions can be considered as the most powerful device to lead, extend, and control communication in the classroom. Actually, the style of interaction between the teacher and students can be seen as a recycling process: “a teacher's question, students' responses, and feedback” (Dillon, 1990; Westgate & Hughes, 1997; Yang, 2002, as cited in Yang, 2006). This illustrates the dominant role the teacher's questions play in classroom interactions.

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Students’ skills in questioning, critical thinking, and negotiation of meaning and interaction abilities can be promoted if language teachers are well aware of the students’ right to ask questions. Allowing students to ask questions can motivate, initiate, and engage them in various language activities to discover answers to teachers’ questions and find out solutions to problems posed by their teachers and classmates. Thus, it is essential for language teachers to acquire questioning techniques which encourage students to reply.

1. The Importance of Questioning in English Classes

Questioning is a common technique used in English language teaching. The goal is to check if the students understand what they have been taught, and to enhance students’ involvement and to promote students’ creative thinking in classroom interactions (Ennis, 1996). Questioning is considered as one of the most essential and important techniques during instructional processes since Socrates’ time (Sadker and Sadker, 1988). Questioning takes up most of teacher talk, and it has been improved to have a great influence on classroom interactions. Questioning has always been the most ubiquitous phenomenon observed in the classroom, as well as one of the most frequently-adopted devices favored by most teachers (Ellis, 2012). This implies that questioning sessions are unavoidable in the teaching and learning process.

Questioning is one kind of active teaching procedure. It is one way of teaching through teachers’ and students’ interactions in checking learning, promoting thought, consolidating knowledge, using knowledge, and achieving teaching goals. Questioning is usually used as one kind of mutual exchange

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teaching skill between the teacher and students. It has been used widely in teaching till now.

Thus, it can be understood that classroom questioning is the main part of classroom teaching, and it is one of the teaching methods to get the aim of classroom teaching. Teachers want to get students’ responses and the first step is to answer questions. Through consistent dialog and communication, teachers can get the answers they want and evaluate the students accordingly.

Questioning, as a general way used by teachers in the class, plays an important role in classroom teaching. Questions are used to evaluate students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. Questions can help to review essential content in a subject. Questions can be used to control the social behavior of students.

2. Teacher Questions and Language Acquisition

Acquiring a new language means being able to use the language in any given situation. In language classroom, communicative competence has become a goal that best achieved by giving attention to language use, to fluency, and to students need to apply the language in classroom context as the rehearsal in the real world (Brown 2002).

C. The Purpose of Questioning

Research indicates that questioning is one of the most familiar techniques used by teachers in their classrooms (Lewis, 1990). Different researchers provide various reasons why this is so. For example, Ellis (1992) proposes two reasons why teachers ask questions in their classrooms.

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First, questions require responses and, therefore, they serve as a means of obliging learners to contribute to the interactions. Learners’ responses also provide the teacher with feedback which can be used to adjust content and expressions in subsequent teacher-talk. Second, questions serve as a device for controlling the progress of the interactions through which a lesson is enacted. It has been found that questions can also be used to motivate students, to revise, control, test or assess, explore, explain, encourage students to focus on a particular topic, elicit information, check understanding, and control behavior (Young, 1992; Richards and Lockhart, 1994).

Brown & Wragg (1993) list several functions of questions, such as “to arouse interest and curiosity concerning a topic, to focus attention on a particular issue or concept, to develop an active approach to learning, and to stimulate pupils to ask questions of themselves and others.” However, with reference to language teaching, Nunan & Lamb (1996) state that teachers ask questions mainly to check learners’ understanding, to elicit information, and to control their classrooms. Peacock (1990, in Ezerefgn 2008), says that, “More often than not teachers appear to ask questions either to find out what pupils do or do not know and understand, or to remind them about work completed in a previous lesson, or perhaps to challenge, stimulate, and develop their thinking.” Morgan and Saxton (1991 cited in Brualdi 1998), add that teachers ask questions for several reasons. They ask questions to keep their learners involved during lessons, to express their ideas and thoughts, to enable learners to hear different explanations of the material, and to help teachers evaluate their learners’ learning and revise their lessons when necessary.

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However, Nunan and Lamb (1996) warn researchers that, “Questions do not necessarily serve one function.” Nunan and Lamb point out that a question to elicit information may be directed (for purposes of control) to a student whose attention is wandering, and only an extended context would show whether a question was designed to elicit information or check understanding. What is more crucial though is that the type of question asked might determine the nature of information the teacher would like to elicit from students.

D. Types and Classifications of Questions

Teachers in the EFL classroom employ different types of questions to make teaching effective and enhance learners’ proficiency in the target language. As it has been explained by Richards and Lockharts (1994), there are three types of questions. They are procedural, convergent, and divergent questions.

First, procedural questions have to do with classroom procedures and routines and classroom management as opposed to the content of learning. For example, Richards and Lockharts (1994:186), state that the following questions usually occur in classrooms while teachers are checking that assignments had been completed, that instructions for a task are clear, and that student are ready for a new task.

Did everyone bring their homework? Do you all understand what I want to do? How much more time do you need?

Can you all read what I have written on the blackboard? Did anyone bring a dictionary to class?

Why aren’t you doing the assignment?

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Second, convergent questions encourage similar student responses or responses which focus on a central theme. These responses are often short answers, such as “yes” or “no” or short statements. This means they do not usually require students to engage in higher level thinking in order to come up with a response but often focus on the recall of previously presented information (Richards and Lockharts, 1994).

In general, convergent questions may expect the student to repeat some conventional wisdom. Richards and Lockharts (1994:186) recommend the following questions as convergent used by a teacher in introducing a reading lesson focusing on the effects of computers.

How many of you have a personal computer in your home? Do you use it every day?

What do you mainly use it for?

What are some other machines that you have in your home? What are the names of some computer companies?

What is the difference between software and hardware?

The last is divergent questions that encourage student responses which are not short answers and which require students to engage in higher level thinking. They encourage students to provide their own information rather than to recall previously presented information. In general, divergent questions often require students to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate a knowledge base and then project or predict different outcomes.

Therefore, divergent questions often require new, creative insights. After asking the convergent questions above, the teacher goes on to ask divergent questions such as the following:

How many computers had an economic impact on society? How would business today function without computers?

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Do you think computers have had any negative effects on society?

What are the best ways of promoting the use of computers in education?

There are also other scholars who have explained the art of asking questions. For instance, Erickson (2007) revealed that there are three types of questions as being factual, conceptual, and provocative. However, this type of classification is similar with the ones that have been discussed earlier. For example, factual questions are the ones that are easily answered with definitive and comparatively simple answers. Conceptual questions might be ones that are convergent, divergent, or evaluative in construction. Provocative questions are ones that entice and cannot be answered with easy answers. They are questions that can be used to motivate and frame content or are essential questions.

Barnes, in Ellis (2012), distinguishes four types of questions he observes in the secondary school classroom: (1) factual questions “what”, (2) reasoning questions “how and why”, (3) open question that do not require reasoning, and (4) social questions that influence student behavior by means of control or appeal. Barnes makes much of the distinction between closed questions which are framed with only acceptable answers in mind and open questions that permit a number of different acceptable answers. He also points out that many questions seem to be open questions but, in fact, when the teacher’s response to a student’s answer is examined, it turns out to be closed, that is a pseudo-question.

Long and Sato (1983) have classified questions as display and referential questions. Moreover, Nunan (1989) has indicated the distinction between display

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person asking the question does not know the answer.” He further commented that referential questions provide an opportunity for to students to express their ideas without any restrictions and develop the output of the target language.

Ellis (1992: 700) defines a display question as “one designed to test whether the addressee has knowledge of a particular fact or can use a particular linguistic item correctly”. Lightbown & Spada (1999) note that teachers ask display questions not because they are interested in the answer, but because they want to get their learners to display their knowledge of the language.

Nunan & Lamb (1996: 88) define referential questions as “those to which the asker does not know the answer”. Ellis (1992: 721) also explains that these are questions which are “genuinely information-seeking”. Lynch (1996) argues that teachers should ask referential questions because (a) learners tend to give longer answers than they do to display questions and (b) learners will be less willing to answer questions if their purpose is always to test knowledge.

However, research also shows that there is considerable variation among teachers (Ellis, 1992). Long and Sato’s study shows that in naturalistic discourse, referential questions are more frequent than display questions, whereas display questions are more frequent in whole-class teaching in ESL classrooms (Richards and Lockhart, 1994). On the other hand, Johnson’s study indicates that one teacher divided her questions more or less equally between display and referential ones (Ellis, 1992).

The effects of display questions on students’ discourse patterns were generally considered to be negative but positive for referential questions. Brock (1986) conducted a study in which the effects of referential questions on adult

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ESL classroom discourse were investigated. As a result, the students’ responses in the experiment group who were asked referential questions were significantly longer and syntactically more complex than those in the control-group class. This suggests a positive correlation between asking referential questions and students’ production of the target language.

In another study, an ethnographic research done by Ernest (1994), it was discovered that when the teacher asked display questions, students’ responses were brief with little elaboration. As Goodwin (2001, cited in Myhill, Jones, &Hopper, 2006) argues, learners tend to give short responses, and the teacher does not encourage elaboration of those responses when display questions are asked.

In brief, classroom data from a number of studies shows that display questions are commonly asked while referential questions are rarely asked. For the display questions, the learners’ responses tend to be brief with little elaboration, but the responses elicited by referential questions are usually longer.

One of the best known classifications of questions is based on Bloom’s taxonomy (1956). There are six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy and questions at each level require the students responding to use a different kind of thought process. These six levels are: knowledge comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Cooper, 1986 and Perott, 1986).

Knowledge questions require the students to recognize or recall information. The student is not asked to manipulate information, but merely to remember it just as it was learned. To answer a question at the knowledge level, the students must

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simply remember facts, observations, and definitions that have been learned previously (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).

Unlike knowledge questions, comprehension questions require learners to select those facts that are pertinent to answer the questions by describing, comparing, or contrasting; that is, to answer comprehension questions, students should go beyond the memorization or recalling of specific information, facts, ideas, or procedures (Perrott, 1986; Cooper, 1986). In the words of Cooper, the student “must demonstrate a personal grasp of the material by being able to rephrase it to give a description in his or her own words, and to use it in making comparisons” (1986:146).

Besides recalling, application questions call for students to apply information they have learned in order to search for and find an answer to a problem (Perrott, 1986). On top of that, questions at the application level of taxonomy ask students to apply a rule or process to a problem so as to determine the single correct answer to that problem (Cooper, 1986). There are key words that help teachers to ask application questions. These are: apply, classify, use, give an example, solve, design, and demonstrate (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).

Moreover, student learning can be enhanced not only by requiring them to memorize ideas or procedures and asking them to rephrase and relate what they have memorized, but also by helping them learn how to apply their learning in new situations. Thus, at the application level, students must decide what information to use so as to solve problems (Kissock and Iyortsuun, 1986, in Azerefegen, 2008).

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Analysis questions are questions which have higher levels which indicate cause and effect relation. These questions are designed to help students analyze information so as to reach a particular conclusion. Some of the key words that are frequently found in analysis questions are: identify causes, draw conclusions, analyze, why, determine evidence, etc. (Perrott, 1986).

Synthesis questions are also higher order questions that ask students to perform original and creative thinking (Cooper, 1986). These questions help students produce original communications, make predictions, and solve problems. There are key words that can help the teacher to ask questions. To mention some, create, plan, construct, formulate, put together, produce, design, develop, synthesize, how can we improve, etc. (Cooper, 1986).

Another kind of higher order question is an evaluation question, which is a higher order process and does not have a single correct answer. Evaluation questions require the students to judge the importance of an idea, a solution to a problem, or an aesthetic work, and also ask the students to offer an opinion on an issue. Examples evaluation questions are: Which approach offers the best method for addressing this problem? Which picture do you like most? There are also key words which indicate evaluation questions. These are: judge, argue, decide, evaluate, assess, etc.

Bloom’s taxonomy is divided into ‘lower order’ questions and ‘higher order’ questions. Bloom describes lower order questions as those that are comprised of knowledge, comprehension, and application while higher order questions include analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Nhlapo, 1998).

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However, Bloom’s taxonomy has been criticized on the grounds that the categories are too broad and some topics, such as personal qualities, have no space within it (Carter, 1985, as cited in Nhlapo, 1998). Another criticism is that the taxonomy does not distinguish between knowledge and skills, by which Carter means that Bloom does not distinguish between knowing how to do something and being able to do it.

Thus, to categorize teachers’ questions, it is very important to determine the kind of thinking required on the part of the learners to answer the questions. Lower order questions, for example, require the students to recall information, whereas higher order questions require the pupils to manipulate information for some purpose (Perrot, 1986). In relation to this, he further states that most teachers’ questions call for specific fact answers or lower cognitive thought. But higher cognitive questions have an important role to enhance students’ thinking ability beyond recalling facts.

E. Wait-Time

An important dimension of teachers’ questioning skills is uncertain time, or wait-time, that is, the length of time the teacher waits after asking the question before calling on a student to answer it, rephrasing the question, directing the question to another student, or giving the answer. That is called wait-time, and it is amazing how few teachers use this important questioning skill. In fact, when we consider the steps that are involved for a second language speaker in answering a question, an argument can be made that the individual needs an even longer wait-time than a native speaker. In fact, it seems clear that if teachers ask questions, which they do not already know the answers, they will find it natural to wait for

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responses, and they will need time to think about the responses before reacting to them (Ma, 2008).

Research shows that the mean amount of time a teacher waits after asking a question is approximately one second. Sadker and Sadker (1988) point that if the students are not able to think quickly enough to come up with a response at this second pace, the teacher usually repeats the question, rephrases it, asks a different question, or calls on another student. Moreover, in the classroom, when teachers learn to increase their wait-time from one second to three to five seconds after asking a question, many significant changes occur in their classroom (Richards and Lockhart, 1994).

It takes time to answer questions. Many studies show in their investigations that students are rarely given sufficient time to formulate their answers before the teacher repeats, rephrases, or goes on to ask another student the question. Rowe (1986) found that teachers, on average, waited less than a second before calling a student to respond, and that only a further second was then allowed for the student to answer before the teacher intervened, either supplying the required response themselves, rephrasing the question, or calling on some other student to respond.

In short, few teachers give their students enough wait-time to think about the questions or to form meaningful answers. The average wait-time, when the teacher waits after a question, is less than a second. There should be at least 2 to 4 seconds after any question before any student is called on to answer it. Wait-time allows the reflective student a chance to respond and well as the impulsive student or one who instantly knows the answer. If no one wants to tackle the question

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after 15 seconds, leave it unanswered. Tell the students to think about the answer and you will raise the question again at the beginning of the next class period. F. Related Research

Research on questioning indicates that teachers, whether in content classrooms or language classrooms ask many questions (Ellis, 1993). In their study of six ESL teachers, Long and Sato (1983) found that 938 questions were asked by teachers in six elementary ESL lessons. Young (1992: 90) states that, “Persistence of questioning is a favorite teacher methodology. Roughly 60% of all classroom talk comprises questions, and nearly all of them are asked by teachers.”

A research conducted by Ying (2011) investigated the present situation of English teachers’ questioning in senior high school both from teachers’ and students’ views, and to provide positive strategies. He proposes positive strategies for teachers’ questioning that are firstly, teachers should make an effort to get students interested in the questions. Teachers can provide different kinds of questions just beyond students’ current level and relate the contents of questions with students’ daily life experiences. Secondly, teachers should pay more attention to the referential questions, guiding students to think actively and apply them into practice flexibly to improve students’ abilities of logical thinking, integrating analysis, and communication. Appropriate teacher questioning plays an important role in classroom teaching. In a senior high school English classroom, the types of questions are not only those with exact answers but also the questions need students to think and discuss.

Another study was done by Hamiloglu (2012) on examining types of teachers’ questions and the frequency of the use of those types of questions in the

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EFL classroom. The findings show that in terms of the purposes teachers’ questions convey in the class, convergent questions are the most frequently used ones with 52 in 98 questions. As these types of questions generally include Yes/No, short answer and display type questions, over use of convergent questions are not favored in an EFL context.

A significant number of research findings related to classroom questions indicate that questions play a crucial role in the classroom and that teachers need to improve their questioning strategies (Sadker and Sadker, 1982).

The above studies lack the teachers’ aims of asking such type of a question to their students. This has guided my study in a junior high school context and helped me justify why teachers use questions in their classrooms. In this study I focus on finding out type of question that teachers used in daily teaching and learning process. Soon after I find it, I quantify the frequency of which type of questions used at the most. By doing so, I can relate the findings into the goal of language learning in which students can

G. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework used for this study is Long and Sato’s display and referential questions, and the classification of Brown and Wragg (1993) related to the teacher’s question function. The first is to analyze and interpret the nature and types of classroom questions and the different ways classifying questions can be used. A display question is one in which the questioner knows the answer, whereas a referential question is one in which the person asking the question does not know the answer. Referential questions provide an opportunity

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for students to express their ideas without any restrictions and develop the output of the target language.

The second part of the theoretical framework of the study is based on the classification of Brown and Wragg (1993) related to the teacher’s question function. It is a tool to arouse interest and curiosity concerning a topic, to focus attention on a particular issue or concept, to develop an active approach to learning, to stimulate pupils to ask questions of themselves and others, to check learners’ understanding, to elicit information, and to control their classrooms. Through well-planned questioning, teachers can find out and recall not only what students know about a topic but also can identify their needs and present gaps.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section describes the methodology used regarding the types of

teachers’ questions and students’ responses in the EFL classroom to carry out the

study. It also provides a brief description of the participants, the procedures used

to collect the data through classroom videotaping, and questionnaires. Hence, an

exploratory approach of data collection is used.

A. Nature of the Research

This study employs qualitative techniques to what types of questions are

used in EFL classes and to what extent they are used. The main data was gathered

from the videotaping of 2 student teachers. The data is the document of teachers’

talk includes the questions being asked by the teachers during the lesson.

I adopted a classroom process research because it “is concerned with the

careful description of the interpersonal events which take place in the classroom

as a means of developing understanding about how instruction and learning take

place” (Ellis, 1990). The purpose is to study a teacher’s questions in ESL

classrooms, and classroom process research aims at documenting the events that

take place in an ESL classroom. I observed and explored how teachers in junior

high school in Soe ask questions in ESL classrooms and keep records of events to

enhance my understanding of how teachers and learners “accomplish classroom

lessons” (Gaies, 1983, as cited in Nhlapo, 2008). Therefore, I used a qualitative

research as the method of inquiry to investigate my concerns.

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responses that students give during the questioning session, data from the

observed lessons and the videotaping of teachers’ talk are analyzed. In addition to

that, the questionnaire method is used as a triangulation of the research.

B. Data Setting and Sources

The setting of this research was at Public Middle School 2 in Soe, which

was located in South Central Timor Regency. There are several reasons to conduct

the study at this school. First, the school is one of the best schools in Soe, since it

is a pioneer school that has acceleration classes. Second, I know the school, its

organization, and the students. So I will have considerable advantages with

regards to access, entry, and establishment of my role. I want to use that

knowledge, but at the same time set aside my preconceptions and stereotypes in

order to understand what happens in the EFL classroom in this specific context.

Third, considering the time limit, I have decided to conduct the study in the

school. However, I am also aware of the fact that my familiarity with the place

might influence me in the way I carry out the research and might lead me to take

some of the things at school for granted.

The research was conducted on 2nd year students of Public Middle School 2

in Soe. There are seven classes in the second year of this middle school, but I was

only recording four classes: A, B, D, and E. Each class will be recorded twice and

the recording last for 90 minutes.

The participants of this study were two English teachers and the students of

the setting above. The reason for choosing these classes was because the teachers

are available and willing to be my participants. One teacher has been teaching for

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C. Data Collection Instruments

To achieve the objectives of this study, the necessary data has to be

collected. To this end, two data gathering instruments were used which are

videotaping and questionnaires,. The main instrument was videotaping and while

the questionnaires were used to verify that the teachers ask questions.

1. Videotaping

A videotape is an audiovisual material which consists of images or sounds

that researchers collect to help them understand the central phenomenon under

study. It is used with increasing frequency in qualitative research, images, or

visual materials such as photographs, videotapes, digital images, paintings, and

pictures. The use of videotaping is to record all the teachers’ talk during the

lesson. The documentation of the teachers’ talk then will be transcribed regarding

all questions that the teachers’ ask.

The videotaping was conducted eight times and each last for 90 minutes

lesson. I used videotaping as the primary classroom procedure to record the way a

teacher asks questions in the ESL classroom. I videotaped two weeks lessons in

the four classes of the eighth grade; each class will have two periods of

videotaping (forty five minutes each). Since I adopted a non-participatory role, I

positioned myself at the back of the class from where I recorded the lesson.

2. Questionnaire

To increase the data obtained from videotape, questionnaires was employed.

A questionnaire is designed to catch up on the limitations caused by the recording.

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open-ended and closed-open-ended questions which are prepared and administered. It was

designed to measure the validity of the data gained through videotape.

In the questionnaires, I asked some questions that are closed-ended and

some that are open-ended. The open-ended responses, however, permit me to

explore reasons for the closed-ended responses and identify any comments people

might have that are beyond the responses to the closed-ended questions. The

drawback of this approach is that I will have many responses, some short and

some long to analyze (Creswell, 2012).

D. Data Analysis

To analyze the data (document of teachers’ questions,), I have completed

the following steps. First, for the videotaping, I put the data into computer files

and filed folders after transcribing the raw data into text. The second step was

related to codes, themes, or categories. Miles and Huberman (1994, as cited in

Mukminin, 2012:56) wrote, “Coding is analysis”; and Creswell (2012) states that

coding is a process of marking content of data (usually text data) with symbols,

descriptive words, or categories. I then read all transcriptions and started to code

the data that was related to the research questions. I then listed all the code words

and grouped similar codes. After that, themes were obtained by grouping similar

codes that always appear during the research.

To answer the first research question related to the types of teachers’

questions, I coded each question into display and referential question. The

analysis of the results was presented as of percentage and frequency by tabulating

the data in direction of the categories determined. It was to quantify the frequency

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classroom questioning, it will be analyzed according to Brown and Wragg’s

(1993) function of questioning, which is checking learners’ understanding,

eliciting information, controlling the classroom, arousing interest and curiosity

concerning a topic, focusing attention on a particular issue of concept, developing

an active approach to learning, and stimulating students to ask questions of

themselves and others.

In order to analyze the students’ responses, I would simply analyze the

responses the students give to the teachers’ questions based on three categories,

which are whether or not they give the intended answers, the way they respond to

the teachers’ questions, and the number of words they produce in answering the

questions regarding the question type. The analysis is not on the students’

physical responses because it does not give significant result to the students

language learning.

E. Data Validation and Reliability

” Reliability means dependability or consistency” (Neuman 2006:188). It

signify that the same thing reoccur at the same situation. To measure the

reliability of the data, I videotape each class twice to ensure that the thing that

happens in certain class at the first recording is repeated in the same class at the

second recording.

Meanwhile, validity means trustworthy (Neuman 2006), It suggest

truthfulness that the data being presented by the researcher fits with the actual

reality in which the research takes place. Therefore to establish the trustworthiness

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the accuracy and credibility of the data, findings, and interpretations, and

conclusions. I arranged face-to-face meetings with participants to discuss the

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CHAPTER IV

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results of the data collection through classroom observations and questionnaires both for teachers and students. The structure of the analysis is divided into findings and discussion sections. The data will be analyzed in three main parts which are types of classroom teachers’ questions, the functions of those questions, and students’ responses toward teachers’ questions. A. Brief Summary of the Lesson

To begin the analysis, the researcher gives a brief summary of the topics of the lessons discussed in the classrooms. There were four main topics studied in the eight meetings, which were animals, jobs or occupations, parts of the human body, and health. Each topic contained some sub-topics that were discussed during the lessons. The lesson about animals was divided into physical characteristics, places to live, and their food. The topic about parts of the human body included parts of the body and their functions. When talking about health, the lessons were about occupations related to health, while jobs or occupations were divided into kinds of jobs, workplaces, and their responsibilities.

Classroom observations were conducted in classes A,B,D,and E. Each class was observed twice. Observations 1 and 8 were in class A. The teacher discussed types of animals, their physical characteristics, and their places to live. Observations 2 and 4 were conducted in class B. The teacher discussed parts of the human body and their functions. Observations 3 and 7 were in class D. The sub-topics were about kinds of jobs, workplaces, and responsibilities of certain

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discussed types of professions related to health. Therefore, one topic was discussed in two classes.

B. Result

1. The Type of Question

The types of teachers’ questions are classified into two main parts, which are display questions and referential questions. Based on the classification, I then find out which type of questions used at the most. Whether it is display or referential question. Each type of question is presented in the table of questions’ list, which is categorized based on the form of the question and followed by an explanation about the content of the questions.

a. Display Questions

According to Long and Sato’s (1983) classification of questions, types of questions consist of two main sections which are display and referential questions. Display questions refer to ones that teachers know the answer and which are designed to elicit or display particular structures. In contrast, referential questions refer to questions that teachers do not know the answers to, and can provide various kinds of subjective information.

In order to make the analysis easier, each section is coded into eight sub-sections. They are complete verbal questions, incomplete verbal questions, single word questions, two-word questions, complete pronominal questions, incomplete pronominal questions, Indonesian questions, and Indonesian-English mixed questions. Below is a table that illustrates the summary of the findings.

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Table 4.1: Types of Display Questions No. Types of questions Number of

Occurrences

Percentage (%)

1. Complete verbal questions 13 8.17%

2. Incomplete verbal questions 1 0,62s%

3. Single-word questions 6 3.77%

4. Two-word questions 20 12.57%

5. Complete pronominal questions 78 49.05% 6. Incomplete pronominal

questions

8 5.03% 7. Indonesian-English mixed

questions

9 5.66%

8. Pure Indonesian questions 20 12.57%

1). Complete Verbal Questions

The results from the observations and the videotaped transcripts show that overall there were 159 display questions asked in four classes. From the number of those questions, there were 13 (8.17%) complete verbal questions asked by the teachers.

In class A, there were 5 complete verbal questions posed to the students. One question served as a lead-in part of the lesson. For example,Can you mention the name of the animal? One other question was asked to check the students’ knowledge on animal classification, including an example of each classification. It can be seen in the question Can you give me an example of a wild animal?Another was asked to check students’ progress in doing the exercise as in Ok, can we start now?All the complete verbal questions asked here were done to elicit already known information related to the subject matter.

For class B, the results show that the teacher only asked 2 complete verbal questions. One question asked at the beginning of the lesson was to review the

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was seen in the question Do you know the function based on the part of your body?On the surface, this question seemed to require only yes/no responses from the students. However, what the teacher really meant was to get more than just yes/no answers. Indeed, she wanted them to mention the functions of their body parts.

As for class D, there was a total of 5 complete verbal questions asked by the teacher. The first question posed was to review the previous week’s topic discussed. The teacher wanted to refresh the students’ memory by asking Can you mention the name of the part of your body?Meanwhile, the next 3 questions were posed as an introductory point to the topic which would be studied on that day. For example,Can you mention what my occupation is? Can you mention the name of a job that you know?Can you mention another job? The last complete verbal question asked in this class was to draw students’ attention by mentioning a student’s name as in,Christin, do you understand what I mean?This question was meant for all the students in that class but the teacher only called Christin’s name.

In class E, there was just 1 complete verbal question asked to the students. It was related to the topic they discussed that day. The question was She helps the doctor in taking care of the patients, she is a …?This question was posed to elicit students’ comprehension about people whose jobs are related to health and medical fields.

To conclude, it was obviously seen that complete verbal questions were mostly asked in class A and class D. There were 5 questions in each class. While in class B and class E, the questions were only posed 1 and 2 times. However, all the questions served the same purposes as lead-in parts to the lesson, to review the

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previous week’s topic, to check students’ knowledge on a certain topic being discussed, and to direct students’ attention to classroom activities.

2). Incomplete Verbal Questions

The table 4.1 illustrates that from 159 display questions asked by the teacher, there was1 (0,62%) incomplete verbal questions. Incomplete verbal question is the questions asked as the continuation of complete verbal question. Those questions were posed only in class A. The question was to transfer the meaning from English into Indonesian at the word level as inIn Indonesian … is?. When asking this question, the teacher raised her intonation and the students knew that the sentence the teacher mentioned required an answer.

3). Complete Pronominal Questions

The table illustrates that for complete pronominal question, there were 78 (49.05%) questions raised and the distributions were various in each class. There were 12 questions posed in class A. Two questions served as a lead-in part of the lesson about animals as in Wherecan you find a wild animal? Or Where do you find a tame animal? Two questions were given to transfer the meaning from English into Indonesian as in What is the meaning of a tame animal? What is a monkey?The other 9 questions were meant to gage students’ understanding of the topic. It was seen when the teacher provided a picture of an animal and asked the students to answer some questions related to the picture. The questions were:What kind of animal is this? What is the name of this animal?How many legs does this animal have? There were also questions that were raised after the teacher read a description and characteristics of a certain animal. For example, Itcan swim in a

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Different from class A, the data from class B shows that there were 16 complete pronominal questions delivered. Some questions were asked to review the previous week’s topic as in What is the workplace of a teacher? How about a doctor? Some other questions were posed to check students’ knowledge of the function of each part of the body. For example, What is the part of the body that you use for holding something? What organ do you use for tasting food? There were also questions that required students’ non-linguistic reactions like pointing at the part of the body asked by the teacher. For example, Where is your foot? or Where is your hair?

The results in class D showed that there were 23 complete pronominal questions posed to students. Still, there were questions conveyed to review the previous week’s lesson as in What organ do you use for seeing something?Some others were asked to check students’ knowledge of the meaning of certain English words in Indonesian. For example, What is the meaning of a job or profession in Indonesian language?Or workplace, what is that?Other questions were asked to get students’ answers about a job and its responsibilities, workplace, and function of certain medical tools. For example, What is the workplace of students? Christin, what is the responsibility of a teacher? What is the function of a stethoscope? Here the teacher intentionally called Christin’s name to make sure that she was really paying attention to the discussion.

As for class E, most of the questions asked were complete pronominal questions. There were 26 questions. In the lesson, the teacher asked some questions to check students’ understanding of certain English words in Indonesian. For example, What is the meaning of health? What is the meaning of

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a pediatrician in Indonesian language? Some other questions were put forth to check students’ knowledge of certain professions dealing with health as in, Whatkinds of problems does a pediatrician deal with?Other questions were given to check students’ knowledge of vocabulary items. For example, If we get a skin disease, where should we go? How about an internal organ problem?

To briefly summarize, complete pronominal questions occurred more frequently than complete verbal questionsin terms of the distribution of those questions. Complete pronominal questions were asked mostly in every class, whereas complete verbal questions were found mostly in class A. However, those two questions served the same purposes as they had been asked.

4). Incomplete Pronominal Questions

The results for the incomplete pronominal questions show that there were 8 (5.03%) questions asked during the eight observations. The questions were only asked in class B and class E, four questions for each class. In class B, one question was asked to review the previous meeting’s lesson. The question was Anda driver? Literally, the question did not seem to be a real incomplete pronominal question, but the teacher asked this question as a continuation of a preceding question which was What is the responsibility of a teacher? Thus, the question Anda driver?was meant to be the same as if it was What is the responsibility of a driver?The same pattern emerged in the three other questions whose contexts followed the preceding questions. For example,this is found in the questionsFor seeing something? For holding something? For walking? These three questions followed the preceding question which was What organ do you

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Referential Question Asked in Class A.

No. Question Students’ Responses

1. Ok, can you mention the example of pet in your house?

… 2. What is your pet in your house? Cat, dog.

3. What else? Goat. Sapi.

4. Do you have puppy in your house? Yes.

5. What is the name? …

6. Can you give the description of your puppy? …

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95 Appendix 6

Student’s Questionnaire Dear Student,

This questionnaire is designed to know the types of questions English language teachers ask and identify the Function of the questions. It is believed that your response would help the researcher to get the necessary information.

Thank you for taking your valuable time to fill this questionnaire. Part one: put a tick mark” in the boxes give below

1. Sex : Male Female 2. Age : __________

1. Does your English teacher frequently ask questions? A. often B. little

2. Do you care about the English teacher’s questioning way? A. yes B. a little C. no

3. Do you think English teacher should take care of the students at all levels when questioning?

A. yes B. no C. indifferent

4. Do you think how much time English teacher should give you to prepare for answering question?

A. 3 second B. 5 second C. 10 second

D. more E. depending on difficulty F. indifferent

5. The time English teacher frequently lets you to think teacher’s question is? A. 3 second. B. 5 second. C. 10 second

D. more E. depending on difficulty

6. If English teacher gives you enough time to consider question carefully, your performance will be?

A. better B. worse (because of nervousness) C. hard to answer 7. When you can’t answer teacher’s question, the way teacher will deal with is?

A. to ask others B. to provoke thoughts or reduce difficulty C. to give more time

8. Difficulty of question, you think, should be?

A. Slightly higher than your level B. equal to your level C. below your level

9. Do you care about English teacher’s evaluation in your answer? A. yes B. no C. hard to answer

10. For wrong answer, you hope?

A. to correct at once B. to direct with smile and patience C. to have no response

D. to correct with covert way E. to be indifferent

11. Do you think the praise your English teacher give due to your good answer is?

A. very important B. not important C. indifferent

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answer

13. Do you understand every questions asked by your teacher?

A. Always B. Sometimes C. Rarely

14. How often do you answer the questions?

A. Always B. Sometimes C. Rarely

15. I like to answer the question in this way.

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97 Appendix 7

Teacher’s Questionnaire Dear teacher,

I am conducting a research on the types of teacher’s questions and function of the questions in Junior High School English classrooms. Hence, I politely request you to give your responses. Thank you for your help

Part one: Information About yourself

Instruction: To respond the following items dealing with yourself, put a tick mark ‘ ’ in the boxes provided.

Sex: Male Female

Education Background:

Experience in teaching Language:

5 yrs 6-10 yrs Above ten yrs

Total number of students in the class____________ 1. Do you know why you ask question?

2. Do you count the number of questions you ask during one period of lesson? Please explain.

3. What do you think the main aims of teacher questioning? You can answer accordingly.

A. Check whether students grasp the language points B. Lead to the topic

C. Attract them to think or pay attention to the language points D. Improve students’ communication

E. Provide opportunities to speak F. Control the classroom discipline

4. What type of question do you always ask at the beginning of the lesson? Yes/no question or W-H question?.

5. How often do you challenge students by asking question that arouses their participation in the lesson?

6. Do you want them to know more?

7. How often do you ask question that checks your students understanding of the lesson?

8. Do you get all students involve in class discussion?

9. How often do you ask question that provokes students’ critical thinking? 10. Do you ask a variety of question—recall Vs thought questions?

11. How much time do you hope your students to response to your question? 12. Which way do you prefer your students to answer the question?

A. Answer together B. By volunteer

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Teacher question in the junior high school English classroom.

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SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

A THESIS

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THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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Teacher question in the junior high school English classroom.

TEACHER QUESTION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH

SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

A THESIS

by

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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The English teacher's profile at State Junior High School in Bukit Tinggi

The Implementation Of English Teaching At ODD Semester Of Some Private Junior High Schools In Ciputat Subdistrict Based On 2006 School Level Syllabus

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