The Use of Questioning in a Collaborative Professional Development Group on the Problem-Solving Skills and Knowledge Use of Special
Education Teachers Providing Reading Instruction
Contact information
Melinda Leko
leko@ufl.edu
Melinda M. Leko, Mary T. Brownell
University of Florida
Overview of Project LLC
Purpose/Research Questions
Project Literacy Learning Cohort (LLC) is a longitudinal, multi-faceted
professional development project designed to improve special educators’ word
study and fluency instruction
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the use of questioning
during a collaborative professional development group shapes
special educators’ problem-solving skills and knowledge use.
Research Questions:
What questions increase problem-solving and knowledge use?
How does questioning differ in face to face meetings compared to online
discussions?
What types of questions are most prevalent?
Who are the predominant questioners?
2. Treatment teachers only are assigned to an ongoing collaborative structure
entitled the Literacy Learning Cohort (LLC) that is designed to extend
teachers’ learning beyond the TI, helping them to develop the procedural
knowledge and support needed for implementation. This component includes ongoing scaffolding through monthly meetings, an e-learning community, and
observation/feedback
Years 1 & 2- Development phase in which we develop, pilot test, determine initial
efficacy of, and revise the professional development model and instrumentation
to be used in the experimental phase
Year 1 Discourse Analysis Study
For decades scholars have examined teachers’ use of questioning during classroom
instruction (Bloom et al., 1956; Duffy & Roehler, 1986; Gall, 1970; Gillies &
Boyle, 2008; Redfield & Rousseau, 1981; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988).
Similar studies examining the use of questioning during professional development
efforts and the impact of such questioning on teacher learning, however, are
virtually nonexistent.
For her dissertation, Williamson (2006) investigated how dialogue shaped teacher
problem and response constructions during inclusion team meetings. Although the
use of questioning was not her primary interest, Williamson found that productive
dialogic features included: (a) asking questions highly related to teacher concerns
and (b) requests for entire group participation.
While Willamson’s findings shed some light on the use of questioning in teacher
meetings, we know little about how questioning can facilitate or hinder teacher
problem-solving and knowledge use during professional development efforts.
The most common types of questions are yes/no.
questions compared to wh- questions (why, what).
Facilitators
Fact
59
Teachers
The most common responses are factual statements
Fact
22
that describe what is or what was.
E-community
Facilitators ask more wh- questions.
Facilitators
Fact
2
Teachers ask more yes/no questions.
Teache
r
s
The most common responses are factual statements
Methods
that describe what is or what was.
Participants
Fact
2
Fewer questions elicited fewer responses.
Yes/No
61
Pred
2
Yes/No
23
Pred
1
Yes/No
25
Pred
0
Yes/No
10
Pred
0
Eval Fact
0 39
Eval Fact
0 14
Eval
0
Fact
21
Eval
0
Fact
2
Wh52
Pred Eval
5
0
Wh16
Pred Eval
0
0
Wh53
Pred Eval
3
0
Wh4
Pred Eval
1
0
A 4-member literacy coaching team (hereafter referred to as facilitators)
•
4 special educators who taught reading to students with disabilities in grades 3-5
•
Data Sources
Years 3 & 4- Experimental phase in which we will fully implement the model
twice and collect efficacy data of the LLC on students with LD and their teachers
*A primary goal of years 3 and 4 is to determine if the LLC intervention
holds potential for improving the student achievement of participating
teachers with regard to word attack, word identification, and fluency
abilities.
*Additionally, we want to know if teachers participating in the LLC
intervention, compared to teachers only receiving the 2-day Training
Institute, demonstrate greater gains in overall practices in reading
instruction, specific word study and fluency practices, and knowledge for
teaching reading.
LLC Meetings
Both facilitators and teachers ask more yes/no
1. Special education teachers (both treatment and control) from Florida, Colorado,
and California participate in a 2-day Training Institute (TI) designed to provide
teachers with the knowledge and skills to teach word study and fluency from
basic to advanced levels
Study Timeline
Results: What types of questions are most prevalent?
Transcripts of 2 videotaped LLC meetings
•
Electronic artifacts from the e-learning community discussion forums
•
Data Analysis
Discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2003)
1. Open coding of all transcripts and e-learning artifacts (Strauss & Corbin,
1998)
2. Identification of knowledge used in the question-response exchange
3. Categorization of speech functions as either questions or statements including:
(a) statements of fact, (b) prediction statements, and (c) evaluations
Results: Who are the questioners?
Facilitators posed the most questions in the face to face LLC meetings and on
the e-learning community.
The total number of questions was higher in the LLC meetings compared to the
e-learning community
LLC Meetings
Raw Score Percentage
Facilitators 113
74%
Teachers 39
26%
Total Ques. 152
100%
E-community
Raw Score Percentage
78
85%
14
15%
92
100%
Results: What questions increase problem-solving & knowledge use?
Produ ctiveQu e stion s/
Phrase s
T ell us how your strategies have gone.
(To whole group) If I asked you to describe
the difference between progress monit oring
and diagnostic assessment, what would you
tell me?
(To whole group) What happens when you
have data coming back to you and it shows
that the kids are not growing enough? What
do you do?
I wonder if you can monitor what weÕre
talking about t oday?
Why donÕt you tell use what you were doing
t oday.
How are your students doing on the CORE?
Un produ ctiveQ u e stion/Phrase
s
s
Do they know short vowels?
th
This is 4 grade, right?
You know right now what your kids have
mastered, right?
Discussion & Implications
•It seems the types of questions and phrases that lead to greater problem-solving and
knowledge use are: (a) directed to the whole group, (b) grounded in the teachers’
classroom experiences, (c) encourage teachers to think about hypothetical situations, and
(d) couched in tentative language such as “I wonder”, “perhaps”, “maybe” etc.
•Facilitators should be aware of the prevalent use of yes/no questions which do not seem
to elicit rich, detailed responses.
•While the use of an online discussion format seems to increase the number of whquestions, fewer online questions elicit responses overall. This could be attributed to the
asynchronous nature of discourse in online forums. Facilitators may need to follow-up
with teachers more frequently when using an e-community.