Teachers’ Use of Questions and Responses to Students’ Contributions During Whole Class Discussions: Comparing Language Arts and Science Classrooms

The aim of this chapter is to explore how teachers use questions as an instructional tool in science and language arts classrooms, and how these questions enable dialogue between teachers and students and support student learning. The focus will be on investigating teachers’ use of questions and responses as an instructional tool during whole class sessions. There are many research reports on teachers’ use of questions as a key instructional tool (Barnes 2008; Chin 2007; Croom 2004; Mehan 1979) and also on how classroom dialogue is crucial to facilitate learning (Alexander 2008; Juzwik et al. 2008; Lemke 1993; Mercer and Littleton 2007; Nystrand et al. 1997). In this respect, scholars agree that teachers’ questioning can significantly improve the students’ performance. The analyses presented in this chapter draw on video recordings from teacher-led whole class instruction in lower secondary language arts and science classrooms. We are interested in exploring the role and type of teacher questions in these two distinct, and rather different, subject areas.