Using questions to develop students' higher-order thinking skills : a primary English teacher's beliefs and practices

Abstract

Many studies have repeatedly revealed that the level of teachers’ questions determine the level of students’ thinking. However, until now, most of the questions teachers ask are lower-order questions, which are not as effective as higher-order questions in helping students to develop higher-order thinking skills. Furthermore, there has been little research done on levels of questions asked in ESL context and similarly, very few studies have been carried out to find out teachers’ beliefs in this issue. Therefore, the author attempted to identify levels of questions asked by a teacher in ESL context, investigate her beliefs towards the use of questions in developing higher-order thinking skills, and lastly, to find out possible elements that attribute her questioning practices. Audio recording of three English lessons and semi-structured interview were used as data collection instruments. The findings revealed 79 per cent of the total questions asked were lower-order questions whereas only 5 per cent was targeted to higher-order questions. The analysis of two data sources suggested that there was a discrepancy between the teacher’s beliefs and her actual questioning practices. Questions have a great impact on the development of students’ thinking skill. It is crucial that teachers ask lower-order questions and higher-order questions on balance. The best way to begin the higher-order thinking movement is with teachers themselves. Teachers need to be better thinkers first and be familiar with different levels of questions in order to generate well-crafted questions. Teachers should continuously monitor their in-class questioning behaviours and strive for progress in their questioning practices.