Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: An Analysis of the Cognitive Level of Teacher Questions in EFL Classroom of Junior High School in Semarang Residence

An Analysis on the Cognitive Level
of Teacher Questions in EFL Classroom
of Junior High School in Semarang Residence
Desi Ariani
Abstract
To help students achieve their optimum learning, teachers should apply questioning
strategies in their classroom. One of questioning strategy which can be applied is related to
various cognitive levels of questions. However, seeing teachers teaching during my teaching
practicum in a junior high school in Banyubiru, I noticed that some teachers did not really
optimize the questioning practice. This study aims to explore cognitive levels of questions used
by three EFL teachers in junior high school in Banyubiru. They taught seventh and eighth grade
students. In this study, observation was used to collect the data. The data were teachers’
questions, which were classified into six levels of cognition based on Bloom’s taxonomy. The
result of this study shows that the teachers used various cognitive levels of questions, but they
mostly used comprehension level questions which are in the lower order of cognition. This study
can be useful for teachers to be aware of various cognitive levels of questions and apply in the
classroom in order to help students to optimize their learning.
Keywords: questioning, cognition, level of question, Bloom’ taxonomy, higher order,
lower order