Teacher Questioning: The Epicenter of Instruction and Assessment

Abstract

In this article we examine some sequences of teacher–student interaction in which a teacher generates and acts on formative assessment data. We look at the teacher's practices of question construction and her decisions about in situ next pedagogical steps made in real time to support and further student learning. Our observations are guided by the following research questions: (a) What are the interactional practices that constitute formative assessment? (b) Are there observable classroom routines and organization that support these interactional practices? Our observations suggest that open and respectful pedagogical questioning is a key resource in eliciting students' current learning status, and for making decisions about next steps in student learning. Stable classroom routines and mutually understood interactional goals and practices are significant supports for these processes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

An earlier version of this article was presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 2011, New Orleans, LA. We thank Heidi Andrade, Ron Gallimore, and Fritz Mosher for their comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

¹That learning this agenda for classroom questions is a central aspect of early classroom socialization is illustrated by an anecdote told by Peter French about a first-grade classroom in which a child is looking down a microscope. Asked by the teacher what he could see, the child replied “Have a look!” French commented that almost all students abandoned this response within the first week or two of formal schooling.