Questioning Skill : A Basic Teaching Skill

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Introduction

Questioning is a verbal saying that asked for the process of a person being charged. The response given can be knowledge up to things that are the result of consideration. So asking is an effective stimulus that encourages thinking ability.Asking questions well means teaching well. Questioning ability plays an important role in the teaching process in the classroom. By asking questions while teaching, teachers can increase the students' curiosity and motivation in learning, and can also build critical and analytical thinking skills.

Many studies show the teacher's ability to question very less. Thus, it gives insignificant effect on the results of learning achievement. Teachers tend to ask questions that can not stimulate students' critical thinking skills. Students also tend to feel bored if the teacher only explains the lesson without asking which raises the students' curiosity. Therefore, questioning is a very crucial skill in teaching.

The purpose of questioning

Since questioning is a very vital factor in teaching , there several reason purposes of asking questions in teaching. Kyriacou (2007) in his book Essential Teaching Skills mentions that the purposes of asking question as follow:

To encourage students' thoughts and understanding on the lesson they learn
To check students' knowledge, skills, and understanding
To gain students' attention on learning and to warm up their interest on learning new thing before engaging in learning activities
To review or to reinforce students' previous learning points before teach them new topics
To teach a whole class members from a student' answer
To encourage students' participation in learning activities
To allow students to express their feeling by answering the question

Types of questions

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Based on the type of question, the question can be divided into two forms; Open Question and Close Question. Open Question is a question that has a number of correct answers to one question. Whereas Close Question is a question that only has one correct answer to one question.

Whereas when viewed from the level of difficulty, then the question can be categorized into two forms as well: Low Order and High Order. Low Order is a question that requires only simple analysis or knowledge to answer the question. High Order is a question that requires reasons, analysts and in-depth evaluation of students to be able to answer the question

How to ask questions effectively

In questioning, the teacher has to deliver the question effectively to students in order to avoid the ambiguity of the question. Based on Kerry (2002) there are several ways to ask questions effectively:

The teacher use the language that appropriate to the level of students' understanding
The teacher has to distribute the question around the class to give each student chance to answer
The teacher gives clues of answer when necessary
The teacher gives times and pause of each question so that students provide their best answers
The teacher has to received all answers even the incorrect ones.
When the teacher use written questions, he or she must use effectively

Conclusion

As an ability to teach, questioning is one of the most important skills for teachers. This teaching skill is considered important because it can increase students' motivation and curiosity in learning, as well as build analytical and critical thinking skills. To achieve learning objectives, the teacher should be able to ask questions in an effective way to avoid students' boredom and to involve students in classroom learning activities.

References
Essential Teaching Skills
Kemampuan Bertanya

Regards,
ALFYD, English Language Teacher