Asking Question and Eliciting
The most important key to creating an interactive language classroom is the
initiation interaction by the teacher. Teachers need to be able to stimulate
these interactions. One of the best ways to develop a teacher's role as an
initiator is a repertoire of questioning strategies (Brown, 2001, p.169). In some
classrooms over half of class time is taken up with question-and-answer
exchanges. Researchers who have examined the contribution of teachers’
questions to classroom second language learning state that questions play a
crucial role in language acquisition. They mention that questions can be used
to allow the learner to keep participating in the discourse and even modify it
so that the language used become more comprehensible and personally
relevant ( Richard and Lockhart, 2004, p. 185)
Discussion 1: Reason for Questioning
Ur (2006 p. 229) reveals that there are various reasons why a teacher might ask
a question in the classroom. Here are some reasons why a teacher asks
questions:
● To provide a model for language or thinking.
● To find out something from the learners (facts, ideas, opinions)
● To check or test understanding, knowledge or skill.
● To get learners to be active in their learning.
● To direct attention to the topic being learned
● To inform the class via the answers of the stronger learners rather than
through the teacher’s input.
● To provide weaker learners with an opportunity to participate.
● To stimulate thinking (logical, reflective or imaginative); to probe more
deeply into issues.
● To get learners to review and practice previously learnt material.
● To encourage self-expression.
● To communicate to earners that the teacher is genuinely interested in
what they think
Discussion 2 : Effective Questioning
There have been many ways to identify characteristics of effective questioning
techniques in the classroom. Brown (2001, p. 169 -170) states that appropriate
questioning in an interactive classroom can fulfill a number of different
function:
● Teacher questions give students opportunities to produce language
comfortably
without having to risk initiating language themselves.
● Teacher questions can serve to initiate a chain reaction of student
interaction among themselves.
● Teacher questions give immediate feedback about student
comprehension, because after posing a question, a teacher can use the
student response to diagnose linguistic or content difficulties.
● Teacher questions provide students with opportunities to find out what
they think by hearing what they say.
In addition, Ur (2006, p.230) reveals that as a language teacher, the motive in
questioning is usually to get the students to engage with the language materials
actively through speech, so an effective questioning technique is one that
elicits prompt, motivated, relevant and full response. Therefore, there are
some criterias that need to be considered as teachers designing their questions:
● Clarity: do the learners immediately grasp not only what the question
means, but also what kind of an answer is required?
● Learning value: does the question stimulate thinking and responses
that will contribute to further learning of the target material? Or is it
irrelevant, unhelpful or merely time filling?
● Interest: do learners find the question interesting, challenging,
stimulating?
● Availability: Can most of the members of the class try to answer it? Or
only the more advanced, confident, knowledgeable? (Note that the
mere addition of a few second ”wait time before accepting a response
can make the question available to a significantly larger number of
learners.)
● Extension: Does the questions invite and encourage extended and/or
varied answers?
● Teacher reaction: Are the learners sure that their responses will be
related to with respect, that they will not be put down or ridiculed if
they say something inappropriate?
Discussion 3 : Questioning Skills
Richards and Lockhard (2004, p.187) mention that because of the importance
of questioning as a teaching strategy, the skill with which teachers use
questions has received a considerable amount of attention in teacher
education. They reveal some issues that have been identified for that need:
a. The range of question types teachers use.
The discussion on this issue will involve the three kinds of questions:
1. Procedural questions: This question relates to classroom procedure
and routine as well as classroom management, for example:
”Did everyone bring their homework?”
”Do you all understand what I want you to do?”
”Did anyone bring a dictionary to class?”
2. Convergent question : This question encourages similar student
responses as it sometimes focuses on a central theme. Teacher usually
uses such questions for leading into a particular topic of reading, for
example:
“How many of you have a personal computer at home?”
“What are some other machines that you have in your home?”
3. Divergent question : This question encourages diverse student response
and require students to engage in higher-level of thinking, for example:
“How have computers had an educational impact on society?”
“Do you think computers have had any negative effects on society?”
Considering those three types of questions, a research reveals that teachers
tend to ask more convergent than divergent questions. It means that
teachers tend to ask questions to recall information rather than to generate
student ideas and classroom communication.
b. Student participation
In many classroom, students have few opportunities to ask questions on their
own, although they may be given the opportunity to answer question
c. Wait – time
Wait – time 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 an answer. Teachers often use a
very short wait-time, which is rarely sufficient to enable students to respond.
Heaton (1985, p.34) suggests some points that should be considered for asking
questions or questioning techniques:
● One of the primary purposes of questioning is to find out if students know
or understand certain fact, and concepts being taught. The teacher asks
questions during the lessons, therefore, to diagnose the students’
strengths and weaknesses so that he can adjust his teaching accordingly.
Question can thus be a means of evaluating and reviewing what has been
learnt.
● Another important purpose of questions is to arouse students’ interest
and encourage their active participation in the lesson. The kind of
questions asked for this purpose will be different from those asked to
find out the extent of the students’ knowledge and understanding since
their purpose is to lead students to draw certain solutions and to form
their own ideas.
● In asking questions, it will be better if we pause briefly and then make
one student. In this way, we will encourage all the students to remain
alert and to respond mentally to each question.
e.g. What does ”secure” mean, Tony?
NOT Tony, what does ”secure” mean?
● Vary the difficulty level of your question, and language level to suit both
the brighter and lower students.
e.g “At what age did the writer become an orphan?”
“How old was the writer when his parents died? “
Discussion 4 : Eliciting
What is eliciting? What makes it so important in language learning? The following
source is from: [Link]
development/teachers/managing-lesson/articles/eliciting
Eliciting
Eliciting (elicitation) is a term which describes a range of techniques which
enable the teacher to get learners to provide information rather than giving it
to them. Commonly, eliciting is used to ask learners to come up with vocabulary
and language forms and rules, and to brainstorm a topic at the start of a skills
lesson. The definition of the term in the Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics, ‘Techniques or procedures which a teacher uses to get
learners to actively produce speech or writing', suggests that there may be
wider applications.
Eliciting is based on several premises:
● Collectively, students have a great deal of knowledge, both of the
language and of the real world. This knowledge needs to be
activated and used constructively;
● The teaching of new knowledge is often based on what the learners
already know;
● Questioning assists in self-discovery, which makes information
more memorable.
Eliciting helps to develop a learner-centered classroom and a stimulating
environment, while making learning memorable by linking new and old
information. Eliciting is not limited to language and global knowledge. The
teacher can elicit ideas, feelings, meaning, situations, associations and
memories. For the teacher, eliciting is a powerful diagnostic tool, providing key
information about what the learners know or don't know, and therefore a
starting point for lesson planning. Eliciting also encourages teachers to be
flexible and to move on rather than dwell on information which is already
known.
Tools for eliciting
Language and ideas cannot be elicited without some input from the teacher,
and eliciting is certainly not an excuse for not presenting language in a clear
context. Students also need prompts, associations and reminders in order to
jog their memories.
● The teacher often provides stimulus using visuals or the board. When
working on the simple present for daily routines, for example, a
picture or drawing of a house and a clock combined with mime can
be used to elicit both the names of household items and common
verbs:
T: Six o'clock. Where is she?
S: Bed
T: Yes, she's in bed, sleeping. Seven-thirty, every day?
S: Get up
T: Good, she gets up at seven-thirty. Eight o'clock, every day?
S: Eat. Breakfast
T: Well done. Listen: She has breakfast at eight o'clock
● The teacher may also model new structures or lexis before it is
introduced as the target language:
T: Do you like coffee?
S: Yes (I do).
T: Do you like tea?
S:Yes I do
T: Do you like milk?
S: No (I don't)
T: What's the question? Ask me.
● A situational dialogue, example sentences or a listening/reading text
may provide the context from which the target language is elicited. In
this case, the teacher is asking the learners to notice how a particular
function is expressed, and eliciting is combined with concept
questions. In a text or dialogue about the future:
T: Is he talking about the past, present or future?
S: Future
T: Does he know / is he sure about the future?
S: No
T: Right. It's a prediction. What verb does he use?
S: Will
T: Good. Can you give me an example?
● Eliciting ideas and background information also requires input. This
may come from a teacher's anecdote or story, a text, pictures, or a
video, and involves the sharing of knowledge between teacher and
learners. Information is often elicited onto a mind-map on the board,
but it is important that all the students have a record of collective
knowledge, and may find one of the many kinds of graphic organizers
useful. Reading lessons often begin with a photo or headline from the
text which serves a dual purpose in providing a stimulus for eliciting
and a prompt for predicting content. KWL charts are ideal records of
what students already Know, what they Want to know, and what they
have learned by the end of the lesson, and point to the conclusion that
eliciting can take place at any stage of a lesson and often indicates
what should happen next.
Cultural Consideration
While eliciting clearly contributes to student involvement, it does not always
produce the desired or expected results. Questions such as ‘Who can tell me
something about....?' may be greeted with stony silence. Students are wrongly
labeled as lacking knowledge or being too shy when there are often cultural
reasons for their reticence.
In many cultures, students are not encouraged to volunteer information or ask
questions while in others the teacher is seen as the sole provider of knowledge.
The problem is reinforced by the fact that many units in course materials begin
with open elicitation questions which create the possibility of making
grammatical or pronunciation errors and therefore losing face in front of
classmates.
In cultures where the group is more important than the individual it is
unacceptable to stand out either as a success or as a failure. Even with constant
encouragement, it is difficult to break down entrenched attitudes and beliefs,
and certain strategies may be required:
● Nominate students rather than waiting for volunteers. The student is
then not responsible for being made to stand out from the group.
● Give learners time to prepare an answer. Spontaneity may be ideal, but
students will be more confident if they are given a moment to think
about or even to write down an answer.
● Ensure that there is no right or wrong answer involved. General questions
such as ‘What's your favourite colour?' or ‘What kind of music do you
listen to?' are more likely to produce answers than those requiring
specific knowledge.
● Encourage rather than correct. When eliciting language, comments such
as ‘nearly right' and ‘try again' are more constructive than ‘no, does
anyone else know the right answer?' Try not to correct when learners are
volunteering background information about a topic - confidence-
building, not accuracy is important here.
Tips for eliciting
● Eliciting is a basic technique and should be used regularly, not only at
the beginning of a lesson but whenever it is necessary and appropriate.
● Don't try to ‘pull teeth'. Prolonged silence or incorrect answers suggest
that input is required from the teacher.
● Don't ask students to repeat incorrect answers, but ask a variety of
students to repeat a good answer.
● Acknowledge or give feedback to each answer with gestures or short
comments.
● Provide sufficient context or information. Eliciting differs from Socratic
questioning in that it is designed to find out what the learners know
rather than to lead them to a conclusion which only the teacher knows.
● Learners can elicit from each other, particularly during brainstorming
activities. This helps to build confidence and group cohesion as well as
shifting the focus away from the teacher.
● At lower levels, more guided questioning is needed. Open-ended
questions should be avoided as the learners are unlikely to have the
language to answer them to their own satisfaction.
The success of eliciting depends largely on the attitudes of teachers and
learners to their respective roles. Ideally it promotes the notion of an exchange
of information, helps to break down traditional teacher-centeredness, and
begins to establish a variety of interaction patterns in the classroom. It is also
fundamental to the inductive approach to teaching language and to learning
through tasks and self-discovery, and a simple and effective way of getting
learners to produce language.
Example of elicitation in which teacher is showing how s/he manage strategies
for elicitation :
Teacher : OK. Now then. Look at what I’m drawing...what’s this?
Student : Mans
Teacher : Yes, a man, and what’s he got in here?
Students : Ice cream
Teacher : Yes, is he eating the ice cream? Eating them? (miming
eating)
Santi : No. Buying
Teacher : Buying? Is he buying them or selling them?
Students : Selling
Teacher : He’s selling ice cream, isn’t he? Who to? Look, here are
some children. What are they going to do? What will they
say? Yes, Andi?
Andi : Children...er...going to buy ice cream.
Teacher : The children are going to buy ice cream, yes, so what will
they say to the man? Tony?
Tony : Please, want ice cream
Teacher : Anyone else?
Students : want ice cream...some ice cream..
Teacher : Well, perhaps. OK. Listen to this dialogue, now, and tell
me how these children ask for their ice creams. OK? See
what they say
Mary : Sorry, don’t understand.
Teacher : I’m going to read you a dialogue between the ice
cream, that’s him and the children. So listen to how
the children ask, when they want to buy some ice
cream. What do they say?
Students : OK
(Sumber : Willis, 1986, p. 96)
