Teachers’ questions matter : exploring the attributes of mathematics teachers’ questions within the Lesson Study context

Abstract

Questions and questioning remain central to classroom conversations. Classroom interactions are mostly dominated by teachers’ questions and responses offered by learners. If used properly, questions can become tools that inspire deep intellectual thought in mathematics. Quality questions cultivate the habit of reflective inquiry and tend to transform learners into active participants during teaching and learning. Important as they are, questions and questioning appear to be neglected narratives within Lesson Study contexts. Against this background, this study was conducted to explore the attributes of questions developed and used by teachers as they engage in Lesson Study activities. In this study, I used Lesson Study as a context to learn how mathematics teachers incorporate questions during the three of the five stages of LS, i.e., collaborative lesson planning, lesson presentation and observation, and post-lesson reflection. The conceptual framework which guided the study was an amalgam of LS (the context), Variation Theory (theoretical lens) and Emanuelsson’s categories of classroom interactions. Extensive review of literature has shown that there is very little research conducted to explore how LS communities incorporate oral questions (questions they intend to use to facilitate learning) in their plans and how such questions filter into the lesson presentation and observation, and how they are eventually reflected upon during the post-lesson reflection stage. This study is an interpretive qualitative case study which involved five participants from four different schools and a single class of Grade 9 learners. Data were generated through observation, document analysis and informal conversational interviews. The findings show that although teachers were able to give consideration to questions they intend to use to facilitate learning, dorminant questions were those that mainly stimulated interactions in the topical zone. Evidence reported in this study also revealed that there is a policy implementation gap regarding the guidance teachers need when planning questions for informal assessment. This study has also contributed to extending the body of knowledge on how an LS team plan, implement and reflect on the questions.