Questioning and oracy in a reading program

Abstract

This paper is about the questioning patterns of teachers in an early intervention reading program and the exceptions to this typical interactional pattern. Literacy experts recommend a rich diet of oral language for young learners of English literacy. Teachers offer this rich diet by creating an appropriate learning environment in the classroom through well-planned questions which elicit talk for learning from students. Thus, the way teachers ask questions is important because this determines oracy in a classroom. Analysis of the discourse of five teachers in Singapore reveals that 94% of questions are asked by teachers and these tend to be of the factual and procedural type. This pattern of questioning is emulated by the students. Exceptional moments of student voices result from a teacher's dialogic stance and the opportunity for students to use a non-standard code in the English class. Data for these conclusions come from 19 hours of classroom observations in a reading program for young learners (ages 5–7) in Singapore.