An Investigation of Elementary Teachers’ Use of Follow-Up Questions for Students at Different Reading Levels

Abstract

Asking questions to promote higher-level thinking is often promoted as a way to challenge students, especially talented readers, to think more deeply about text and share their thinking. Recent research in a variety of educational fields has indicated that follow-up questions may be used to move all students forward in their abilities to understand and respond to such questions accessing higher-level thinking. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to identify the types of follow-up questions frequently asked by three teachers at a small, urban elementary school in the Northeastern region of the United States and whether those types varied by students' reading readiness levels. Results indicated that the teachers asked a variety of follow-up questions accessing both higher-and lower-level thinking during reading conferences with students whose reading levels varied; the results also indicated that each teacher tended to ask a greater percentage of higher-level questions of his or her higher-level students than of other students. The identified follow-up question types may be helpful in supporting other elementary reading teachers to expand their repertoire of questions to ask students during discourse around text.

Self-efficacy and Differentiated Instruction: A Study among Malaysian School Teachers

“…The findings also showed that in overall, teachers' practice of differentiated instruction is at a good level. This finding contradicted with the findings reported in previous differentiated instruction related studies by Dixon et al [11], Gilson, Little and Ruegg [12], Mohd Hasrul Kamarulzaman, Hazita Azman and Azizah Mohd Zahidi [13], De Neve, Devos and Tuytens [14], Butt and Kausar [38] and Kaur [39]. One possible explanation for this finding is that teachers acknowledge that differentiated instruction is the only method to cater to students' different needs and level in a mixed-ability classroom.…”

Understanding How Teachers Listen in a Reading Enrichment Program

“…First, we initially assigned open codes (e.g., listening so students talk ) and in vivo codes (e.g., “ listening like a teacher ”) to the teachers’ RCs with high-ability readers. We also applied a priori deductive codes (Saldaña, 2009; e.g., scaffold, clarify, go deeper ) for the teachers’ use of follow-up questions (Gilson, Little, Ruegg, & Bruce-Davis, 2014), because we used those codes in a related study of follow-up questioning. However, we remained open to coding any new follow-up questions.…”

Gifted Adolescent Readers’ Perceptions of How Teachers Should (or Should Not) Listen During Dialogic Discourse

“…Theme 1, Teachers as Active Listeners and Theme 4, Listening as a Pedagogical Tool , are inextricably linked in that they provide potential suggestions on how teachers could listen pedagogically by using active listening as a tool to inform their decision making when responding to gifted readers during dialogic discourse. Selecting the appropriate follow-up comments or questions to support student learning within their ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978; Zambo, 2009) is an example of how to differentiate for gifted readers during such exchanges (Gilson et al, 2014; Reis, 2005). In Sangster and Anderson’s (2009) study, students expected teachers’ listening behaviors to include, “being able to ‘read’ the situation and know when, and how, to offer support” (p. 134).…”

“…Specific to literacy, Gilson et al (2014) delineated 10 higher level and 7 lower level follow-up questions types that three teachers asked to struggling, average, and advanced elementary readers while discussing self-selected books as part of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model Reading–Framework (SEM-R; Reis, 2005). Although the teachers asked all students, regardless of ability levels, a range of lower level and higher level follow-up questions, there was some evidence that they asked the advanced students a greater percentage of higher level questions.…”