Professional Inquiry Project Findings

– Professional Experience 4

Context & Curriculum Area and Focus

My placement was conducted at a category 7 school located in the Adelaide Hills. The
classroom I taught consisted of 26 Year 2 students with four students on “One Plan”, an
individual learning plan. A School Services Officer (SSO) came to support the “One Plan”
students for one lesson, three days a week. The aim of the Personal Inquiry Project, known
throughout the report as inquiry, was to investigate my use of questioning strategies and if
they challenged students learning;
“How can I use a range of questioning strategies to challenge students learning?”.
The purpose was to develop my teaching abilities within the Australian Institute for
Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2017) Standard 3 – Plan for and implement
effective teaching and learning, with focus area 3.3 - Include a range of teaching strategies
(AITSL 2017).

Within the English Curriculum, found on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Reporting Authority (ACARA) webpage, I focused my questioning when conducting reading
groups. The ACARA links were in the Language for interaction category, ‘Identify language
that can be used for appreciating texts and the qualities of people and things’ (ACELA1462)
and under Phonics and word knowledge, the ACARA link was ‘Orally manipulate more
complex sounds in spoken words through knowledge of blending and segmenting sounds,
phoneme deletion and substitution in combination with use of letters in reading and writing’
(ACELA1474) (ACARA 2019). When students read their books to me, I asked questions
about their prediction, general knowledge of the book and the overall summary. The
questions I gave were to investigate what the students knew and to gain specific responses
tailored to my questions. This provided me with instant feedback I needed to adjust, clarify
or correct answers. Strategies I used included the Question Answer Relationship (QAR)
method and various before, during and after questions.

Claudia Norris-Green Student ID: 110169422 1

Justification of Teaching Behaviour & Curriculum Area Focus and
Design & Data Collection Techniques

Raphael and Au (2005, p. 208) notes with the increase in student diversity within
classrooms, teachers have become accustomed to instruction focused on lower level skills
rather than on higher level thinking and reading comprehension. This is accompanied with
the lack of confidence regarding teaching different strategies (Raphael & Au 2005, p. 208).
Using a range of questions that opens up the opportunities for higher-order thinking to
occur was an objective I kept in mind. Higher-order thinking within reading can be described
as ‘goal-directed, responsive, and self-regulated’ (Afflerbach, Cho and Kim 2015, p. 204).
This was a feedback point suggested by my mentor teacher. In order to engage all students
in learning, Koch and Worsham (2017, p. 14) explains how educators can no longer just
ask literal questions and expect students to be able to think at higher levels.

As the inquiry was about my questioning strategies, I asked my mentor teacher to assist in
tracking questions I asked to the group of students who were reading to me. This can be
seen in Appendix 1. Specific guiding questions I formulated prior to reading sessions where
utilised, however, this was adaptable allowing further questioning as students read on.

Feedback on my questioning skills and verbal discussions with my mentor teacher were
conducted after the lesson. Bookmarks were created consisting of QAR questions on one
side, and a list of questions ranging from levels 1-4 as seen in Appendix 2. The QAR uses a
variety of questioning techniques that incorporates open and closed questions. There are
four categories; Right there (in the text), Think and search (in the text), Author and me (not
in the text) and On my own (not in the text).

Through meetings with my mentor teacher, guidance in how to structure questions were
discussed (Appendix 1) that could engage in higher-order thinking and allowed students to
think critically about the texts they read. Afflerbach, Cho and Kim (2015, p. 204) notes that
‘reading is goal-directed and accomplished readers use strategies to identify, select, apply,
revise, and evaluate the means to achieving reading goals’, and that ‘teachers initially pose
questions to uncover operational knowledge and subsequently to seek conceptual, factual,
and meta-cognitive knowledge’ (Dös et al.2016, p. 2075). With each session the students
were grouped according to their reading level and then the group had overall focuses
(Appendix 2). My questioning would be tailored to these goals and I would reply in
conversation, ask clarifying questions so I knew the students were understanding the text.

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Data results & analysis

From the feedback I received, I found to be asking closed questions more often than open
questions. Appendix 1 shows the variety of questions my mentor teacher would hear me
ask, and the questions I had planned over three sessions as well as feedback.

The various abilities of students became apparent when I conducted these guided reading
sessions. I asked one student firstly to summarise the page we had just read: “What have
we read on this page?” This student was thinking about it but could not articulate what had
happened. I then asked another student the same question and they were able to explain
their interpretation. Koch and Worsham (2017, p. 14) notes how teachers need to use
questioning that allow students to problem solve, analyse, and synthesise to come to their
own solutions. In this moment, the one question did not meet the needs of all the students
in that group.

There would be instances where students would retell and sythesise the page or entire
book from their perspective. At times however, I required a specific response; for example,
what a word meant. A study conducted in South Korea found when questions were given to
students and if their responses were not what the teacher wanted, they would encourage
the students to think again and respond (Grow-Maienza, Hahn and Joo 2001, p. 373). This
strategy did assist students who had a go and were on the right track. I would encourage
students to read the text again, think about their response and have another try.

For some students, these questioning techniques and encouragements did not work.
Students who were not as engaged or did not understand the text. Through research, I
have realised that not all questioning needs to be at the higher-order level and it is
important to be able to distinguish between different levels of questioning (Afflerbach, Cho
and Kim 2015, p. 204). From the questions I asked, I can make an assessment that I would
ask more lower level questions, ones Afflerbach, Cho and Kim (2015, p. 204) say are
‘...sufficient when readers identify written words and match them with word meanings from
memory, building an understanding of simple text’. My questioning linked with the QAR
method, where Raphael & Au (2005, p. 209) mentions that teachers tend to ask questions
limited to the ‘Right There’ category (Appendix 2) and the variety of questions students are
presented with have little critical thinking involved.

Claudia Norris-Green Student ID: 110169422 3

Reflection

From the inquiry and research, I have learned that it can be difficult to ask open ended
questions than I previously thought. In the initial stages of the guided reading sessions, I
had asked questions that were suited to the text students read, but at times did not extend
to a higher-order thought process. When evaluating at the end of a reading session and
looking at the range of questions I had asked, it become apparent that I would use more
closed and lower level questions over opened and more critical questions.

Therefore, I researched further into other strategies I can use to challenge the students
within the sessions. It is good to use the specific, more lower level questions to make sure
all students ‘can read the text, decode the text, synthesise and retell it to their
understanding’ (Afflerbach, Cho and Kim 2015, p. 204). Over time, my goal would to be to
ask questions to students which would lead into the higher-order thinking process as… ‘is
required when readers manage constructive and integrative processes to make complex
inferences using text information and prior knowledge and parse a text into the idea units to
grasp what the text says’ (Afflerbach, Cho and Kim 2015, p. 204).

My development from this placement has been primarily based on the content observed in
Appendix 1 while utilising the techniques seen in Appendix 2 where the strategies and
methods to ask questions resulted in an effective strategy in obtaining useful responses
from my students.

Conclusion

Questioning techniques are a valuable tool to both challenge and engage students learning.
However, some questioning strategies will challenge students learning over others where
alternative questioning techniques will have to be employed. In this inquiry scenario,
discussed in this report it was important to establish the general knowledge of a text first
before progressing onto higher-order thinking processes. This was experienced through
individual students’ readings where different needs and challenges presented itself during
reading sessions. It was discovered through a trial utilising a variety of strategies and was
recognised that all questions have a purpose no matter the level they are categorised in.

Claudia Norris-Green Student ID: 110169422 4

References:

Afflerbach, P, Cho, B-Y & Kim, J-Y 2015, ‘Conceptualizing and Assessing Higher-Order
Thinking in Reading’, Theory Into Practice, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 203–212.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2017, F-10

Curriculum, English, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 26 June
2019,
< https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-
curriculum/english/?year=11576&strand=Language&strand=Literature&strand=Literacy&ca
pability=ignore&capability=Literacy&capability=Numeracy&capability=Information+and+Co
mmunication+Technology+%28ICT%29+Capability&capability=Critical+and+Creative+Thin
king&capability=Personal+and+Social+Capability&capability=Ethical+Understanding&capa
bility=Intercultural+Understanding&priority=ignore&priority=Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+I
slander+Histories+and+Cultures&priority=Asia+and+Australia’s+Engagement+with+Asia&p
riority=Sustainability&elaborations=true&elaborations=false&scotterms=false&isFirstPageL
oad=false>.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) 2017, Australian
Professional Standards for Teachers, Australian Government, viewed 22 June 2019,
<https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards>.

Dös, B, Bay, E, Aslansoy, C, Tiryaki, B, Çetin, N & Duman, C 2016, ‘An Analysis of
Teachers' Questioning Strategies’, Educational Research and Reviews, vol. 11, no. 22, pp.
2065–2078.

Grow-Maienza, J, Hahn, D-D & Joo, C-A 2001, ‘Mathematics Instruction in Korean Primary
Schools: Structures, Processes, and a Linguistic Analysis of Questioning.’, Journal of
Educational Psychology, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 363–76.

Koch, A & Worsham, B 2017, ‘The effect of higher order thinking on reading achievement’,
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Raphael, TE. & Au, KH. 2005, ‘QAR: Enhancing Comprehension and Test Taking across
Grades and Content Areas’, Reading Teacher, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 206–221.

Claudia Norris-Green Student ID: 110169422 5

Appendix 1: Questions

Questions I Asked
Session 1
Focuses: Inferencing, retell, decoding and self-correction
 What does the cover tell us?
 Where do you think x-ray machines are used?
 What could they be used for?
 What has happened?
 How did you work it out?
 Why do you think the ring is yellow?
 What are keys made out of?
 What is this page about?
 What is the cartoon doing?
 What’s happened?
 What is it showing us?
 What have you read on this page?
 What does it mean?

Session 2
Focuses: Self-correcting, re-reading, word endings and expression
 What does the cover tell us?
 What is this word?
 Why is it underlined?
 What is the glossary?
 What is the subtitle telling us?
 What is this part here?
 What is at the end?

Mentor teacher feedback:

“G.R. Groups – trying a few new strategies”
“Lots of questioning and clarifying”
Session 3
Focuses: Inferencing, retell, decoding and re-reading
 What is the cover showing us?
 What do you think? x3
 What type of text do you think this is?
 How would you feel…?

Mentor teacher feedback:

“Richer conversations”
“Asked for retell”

Claudia Norris-Green Student ID: 110169422 6

Appendix 2: Question bookmark

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