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

• Published in: Journal of advanced academics Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 101 - 128
• Main Authors: Gilson, Cindy M., Little, Catherine A., Ruegg, Ashley N., Bruce-Davis, Micah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2014; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Classroom Communication; Conferences (Gatherings); Education; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 5; High Achievement; Individualized Instruction; Learning; Listening comprehension; Low Achievement; Mathematics Education; Qualitative Research; Questioning Techniques; Reading Achievement; Reading comprehension; Reading Instruction; Reading Readiness; Reflective teaching; Studies; Teacher Student Relationship; Teachers; Thinking Skills; United States (Northeast); Verbal communication; follow-up questions; differentiated instruction; reading; higher-level questioning
• ISSN: 1932-202X; 2162-9536
• DOI: 10.1177/1932202X14532257

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.