Preschool teachers’ perceptions on the use of questioning strategy during storytelling to develop children’s critical thinking in Central China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Preschool teachers’ questioning is an important part of the teaching and learning process as questions can drive children’s thinking (Nappi 2017). As one of the most common pedagogical tasks in preschool, storytelling has the potential to bring the world to the classroom using imagined or real stories. However, to date, there is limited knowledge about teachers’ use of questioning in storytelling classes to develop children’s thinking skills. Based on sociocultural theory (Vygotsky 1978) and revised Bloom’s taxonomy, this study aims to explore how preschool teachers use questioning during storytelling classes to develop children’s critical thinking. By employing a case study design, the study involved 13 preschool teachers in China who were teaching children aged 5 and 6. Data were gathered for 6 months using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The findings expanded the understanding of using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy as a reference in generating questions. The study suggested strengthening teachers’ practices in generating different types of questions for each of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.