Extent of alignment between elementary science teachers' beliefs about classroom questioning and their classroom practices /

النوع : Mémoire

Teachers’ beliefs about classroom questioning can play a significant role in shaping their behavior and classroom practices. Teachers’ questions are an essential component of classroom talk and determine the nature of discourse during classroom instruction. Thus, the role of questioning-based discourse practices and teachers’ questioning approaches in science instruction are fruitful areas to explore. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of alignment between Lebanese elementary science teachers’ beliefs about questioning approaches that stimulate thinking and their classroom practices. Specifically, this study was guided by the following research questions: 1) What beliefs do Lebanese elementary science teachers hold about the use of questioning approaches that stimulate thinking?, 2) Which patterns of interaction, types of question and questioning approaches, and communicative approaches are teachers using in Lebanese elementary science classes?, and 3) To what extent are teachers’ beliefs about questioning approaches and their classroom practices aligned? To answer the first research question, teachers were asked to fill out two types of questionnaires, one open-ended and another of the Liker-type, that gauge their beliefs about questioning approaches that stimulate thinking and their beliefs about the degree to which certain activities (i.e. questioning) occur in their classrooms. Seven teachers were then selected using convenient sampling to be interviewed and observed. To answer the second and third research questions, the classrooms of teachers who were interviewed were video- and audio-taped to document the actual questioning approaches that were taking place in the classrooms. Results from the Likert-type questionnaire indicated that all teachers held constructivist beliefs whereas results from the interviews indicated that 43% of the teachers held objectivist beliefs while 57% held intermediate beliefs. Moreover, analysis of the videotapes showed that all teachers were implementing objectivist practices in their science classrooms. Overall, results indicated that there is no direct alignment between teachers' beliefs about classroom questioning and their classroom practices.