SUBTLE CUES AND HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY OF TEACHER QUESTIONING PATTERNS IN 7TH AND 8TH GRADE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS

Abstract

This action research project explores the link between a teacher's questioning patterns and the modes of thinking, analyzing, evaluating and communicating that are developed in his 7th and 8th grade math students. The highly qualitative analysis focuses on three videotaped lessons from his 7th and 8th grade classrooms, and evaluates the lessons according to four categories or "lenses": cognitive demand, task completion, self-efficacy, and metacognitive activity. It then seeks to identify and codify the predominant questioning pattern used in each lesson, and connect this pattern to the levels of success exhibited in each of the four categories. Four principal patterns are observed and discussed in the lessons: Unilateral Inquiry Response Evaluation, Multilateral Inquiry Response Evaluation, Inquiry Response Collection, and Inquiry Response Revoicing Controversy. The fourth pattern is proposed as a tool for managing classroom discourse that involves a variety of (sometimes competing) student opinions.