Author(s): Caravaca, R. V.
Published: October 2019 in English Language Teaching Journal
URL to article
Research Focus Area: Strategies for using questioning and discussion techniques to deepen student understanding
Abstract:
This research explores the types of questions teachers ask their students in CLIL classrooms and how they can optimize their use of these questions. It came about as a result of a slowdown detected in the learning capacity of students after the first two years of CLIL programmes in the region of Murcia, Spain. The first data collected demonstrated that most classroom interactions only involved responding to display questions, which required the mere remembering or understanding of oncepts. Hence, we implemented a testing methodology to determine whether stimulating higher-order thinking would result in a significant improvement in student outcomes. The results showed that this methodological intervention succeeded in its aim, as a marked improvement in student responses was achieved. These findings highlight the value of optimizing the use of questions to foster critical thinking and empower students for the knowledge economy in which we live.
Research Question(s):
Does stimulating higher-order thinking in CLIL programs result in a significant improvement in student outcomes? How can questions be optimized to foster critical thinking and empower students for the knowledge economy?
Methods:
Literature Review, Survey, Intervention
Setting:
CLIL classrooms in Murcia, Spain, with students aged 9 and 10 years old. Both schools were located in rural areas, student families belonged to a lower sociocultural level and 40 per cent of them were immigrants.
Key Findings:
- In CLIL programs, a language other than the mother tongue is used to teach the content of a non-language-related subject, in addition to the second language being studied for its own sake.
- CLIL goes beyond developing mere communicative competence. Instead, it aims to turn students into active participants who gain knowledge and skills through a process of inquiry and active cognitive engagement. This direct involvement results in the effective learning of content
- The authors found that if learning contexts were based on the transmission of content alone and checking what students remembered or understood, students would not learn to think for themselves and there would be few opportunities for language development.
- Effective questioning requires a certain conscious preparation, because not every question raises a stimulating response, fosters critical thinking, or enlivens knowledge processing.
- We must be cognizant of the ways in which the nature of a question predetermines the type of answer. For example, the authors observed that in almost all cases where students answered with a single word, the questions asked could be answered correctly with just one word.
- Depending on how a question is formulated, it can address a lower dimension such as ‘remembering’ or a higher one such as ‘creating’.
- The development of metacognition requires an intense cognitive effort by students in terms of both content and language; this is why teacher guidance is crucial when bringing about student reflection on the learning process.
Implications:
- In order to provide learning opportunities for language development, classroom interaction should be more dialogic; and effective questioning can be one of the ways of providing the catalyst.
- The questions formulated during content explanations should be especially meaningful. In this way, if they draw learners’ attention to recall mere facts, they will focus on listening for and finding just this type of information.
- The authors encouraged the two teachers involved in the classroom intervention to adopt the following strategies. Teachers should:
- use questions that involve linking the content with students’ prior knowledge to imply higher-order thinking
- start each lesson by clarifying the learning objectives for students, then end it with a reflection on what learners had gained in that lesson.
- focus on creating a positive atmosphere for learning by implementing classroom rules that fostered student participation
- increase the time students have to answer questions.
- learn to create short and concise questions that make use of the appropriate lexis for the students’ level.
- Teachers should not ask questions whose answer has already been given, or it becomes impossible to discern if students reached the solution by using higher cognitive processes such as ‘analysing’, ‘evaluating’, and ‘creating’, or if they just remembered a previously learned fact.
Limitations:
- Given the small sample size, the authors remain cautious of applying their conclusions too generally.