This is the wrong way to ask questions in the TESOL classroom! In fact, it’s the wrong way to ask a question in any classroom. Why? The moment you speak the student’s name, two critical things happen. One you have put that student on the spot – the deer in the headlights moment – which has created a huge weight of pressure on the student to perform in front of classmates. And if the student learning English is not confident of their English speaking, or of their understanding of the content for which they are being questioned, and possibly without an answer to give, they will feel the classroom has suddenly become an environment where their weaknesses are exposed and open to judgement and ridicule. The second thing that has gone wrong is that the moment you named the student to answer the question, all the other students felt an overwhelming sense of relief – they don’t have to answer the question; this tells them that they can relax, which means they can tune out of the lesson. They might take this opportunity to send a text message, or close their eyes for a moment. The fact is, they are no longer focused on the lesson. So if Akiko cannot answer the question, whichever student you name next, they will be jarred back to reality, and will be left feeling disoriented and lost, all because you allowed them the chance to zone out of the moment.
So what is the correct way to ask questions in the TESOL classroom? It’s a very simple matter of rearranging the steps:
1. Pose the question to the entire class. No one is being singled out with an unnerving task of answering the question. All the students are asked to consider the question. A feeling of ‘We’re in this together’ is the atmosphere of the classroom. You are asking all the students the question.
2. Give the students a few seconds to think of the answer. Everyone is obligated to think about the question, and form an answer in their mind.
3. Randomly choose a student to respond. By this time, all of the students should have thought of an answer, and although that one student is called on to respond, if said student does not have an answer to give, or gives a wrong answer, you can now easily call on any other student, who will have their answer to give.
Don’t forget to acknowledge and praise the student’s response, to help build his/her confidence of speaking English in class!
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1836/Classroom-Questions.html
http://jacktan.stormpages.com/Wait%20Time%20Strategy%20in%20EFL%20Classroom.htm
https://questioninganddiscussionforteaching.wordpress.com/wait-time/
Michael Bunyak
English Teacher at Canadian Education College, Singapore
