Abstract
This article examines how question-answer sequences are constructed in primary school instructional activities. The interaction between teacher and students in two 3rd-year groups is analyzed using a conversation-analytic approach. Four questioning patterns – yes-no, alternative, wh-questions, and a non-interrogative format very frequently used in this setting which I call the Eliciting Completion Device (ECD) – teachers use to address the class as a whole are examined in relation to their sequential uptakes: in-unison answers and bids to answer. The analysis shows that students recognize the conventions of question construction as methodical practices used by teachers to convey expectations as to whether the answer is accessible to students. Choral responses are produced when the question is constructed as eliciting information which is obviously known to students, while bids to answer are deployed when the answer is less transparent. The findings reveal that the practices used to construct collectively assembled knowledge are closely connected to the organization of the classroom social order.
Highlights
Imparting knowledge to a new generation of learners in an institutional setting is primarily an interactional activity, though the way in which participants construct and manage interaction is a matter not to be taken for granted
In many communities adults guide the construction of knowledge primarily through providing opportunities for observation and imitation of instructors/elders, while in other cultures, as in our Western societies, talking to pupils, and asking questions, seem to be the main instructional practices employed in institutional education settings
The investigation has focused on un-addressed question-answer sequences in classroom teacherled instructional sequences, offering a comparison between the design of questions that elicit choral answers and questions that are followed by bids to answer
Summary
Imparting knowledge to a new generation of learners in an institutional setting is primarily an interactional activity, though the way in which participants construct and manage interaction is a matter not to be taken for granted. For example, before the witholding of the turn’s last item and the one-second gap in line 3, the teacher produces a cluster of prosodic features, including rising intonation, emphasis, and pitch variations In this way, the teacher provides students with the opportunity to understand what is left unspoken and to display their knowledge and demonstrate that they are so attuned to the talk underway that they can complete the teacher’s unfinished turn. The way in which a question gets shaped has important consequences for the social order of the classroom, in terms of how the teacher keeps the students focused on the activities and controls the order and format of speaking turns. Before exploring the details of these questioning formats and their outcomes, some preliminary considerations on the categorization of addressed and non-addressed questions are necessary
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
