[MUSIC] English for teaching purposes. [MUSIC] Question management. [MUSIC] >> What makes a good question? Good question. [MUSIC] And what to do when you don't understand a student's question? We'll find out soon enough. Whenever and wherever learning happens, there're a lot of questions flying back and forth. [MUSIC] On one side of the court we have teachers shooting questions to enhance learning, to verify comprehension, or to draw students' attention to a particular point. On the other side, we have students filling their information or knowledge gaps, looking for clarification, or testing their own knowledge. When everyone can play their game, communication flows and learning is enhanced. But, sometimes there are breakdowns in communication. Let's start by explaining what good questions look like. Questions should have a point, a purpose. When you ask a question you have a mission. Help students learn. That's why we should avoid yes-no questions in the classrooms. As their name implies, yes-no questions can only be answered by yes or no. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with these questions, but if you want your students to do some thinking, you have two choices. The first one is to keep using yes-no questions and to expand them. That means, asking questions like, is X the same as Y? Yes. Why do you think so? How are they the same? In which specific cases are they the same? Or, is x the same as y? No. Why not? How are they different? In which specific cases are they different? By adding an expansion question, you have let students to do some better and higher thinking, which usually accompanies more efficient learning. The second option you have is to go straight for information questions. They look exactly like the expansion questions we mentioned before. With information questions, you can travel all the way up Bloom's pyramid and back. How do you call X? Where can we find X? Why does X work as it does? How does X work? Students questions are usually motivated by either the need to confirm their understanding of a particular issue, or by the existence of a real information gap. When confirming comprehension, students' questions will likely rephrase, summarize, or synthesize something that's been dealt with in class in the form of a yes/no question. They could also rephrase and then add a short yes/no question at the end. So I would be right if I say that X is Y. I'm sorry, do you mean that X is Y? Excuse me, you've just said that X is Y, is that correct? Or, is that right? Or, simply, right? So X is similar to Y, isn't it? I'm not sure I got it right. We've concluded X is Y, haven't we? And so on. This is not a strategy used by students in classrooms. It is a strategy used by anyone trying to communicate. The party in need of conformation, seeks it. And is sure that the party who can help confirmed the information will do it. When there is an information gap, students will tend to use information questions that will look very much like your own information questions. Why do we go through X to get to Y? When do we need X? How does X behave when Y? When asking their questions in the middle of the lesson, students are likely to introduce their questions using a polite expression like, I'm sorry Ms. M, I didn't get Y. Sorry to interrupt, but I have a question. Mr. T, I have a question, if you don't mind. In all the years that I've been teaching English for teaching purposes face to face, one of the things that worries lecturers more is not being able to understand their students' questions. It's a situation in which many delicate factors come to play. You don't want to discourage students being polite or lose face. So what to do? Along the years, my lecturer students have come up with a very useful set of strategies that will help you succeed at dealing with this kind of breakdown. Let's take a look at them. Ask the student to repeat or rephrase the questions. Remember to add a short politeness formula like, sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you please repeat your question? Sorry, I'm afraid I didn't get that. Sorry, what did you say? Sorry, what was that again? Sorry, come again? Would you mind repeating your question? In the next segment, Monica Frasier from the School of Education here at the UAB, will ask for repetition in her class. >> Yes, of our- Say, say it again. >> Organization. >> Organization or gain. interest. Okay, thank you. >> If the problem is one part of the question, then, sorry, could you repeat the last word, or the last part, or the beginning of your question? If that works, you're fine. But sometimes it doesn't. Rephrasing what you think the student meant to say is a very efficient way to make sure you got the message right. Take a look at what Laura Arnao, also from the school of education, did in one of her classes. >> 'Kay, let me know if I get you properly. So you mean at the, at the end of, of the research project. >> We deliver the report. >> Okay. >> They can read it. >> Yeah, okay. >> And after that. >> Mm-hm. >> They will. >> Organize a meeting or. >> Say, we organize a meeting. >> Okay. >> And we exchange ideas and, I don't know. >> That's, yeah, that's very good. And I think it's that compliments with your with your strategies. >> Mm-hm. >> Rather than discouraging students by asking them to repeat the same question again and again, you can move on to the next strategy. Ask the student to rephrase the question. Do it explicitly. Sorry I didn't catch that. Can you please rephrase, or restate the question? That should work. But if it doesn't, you can try and use the strategies we present next if they fit your own teaching style, or if you feel comfortable with them. Ask other students to rephrase the question. Be careful with this one, because it could make students feel uncomfortable. Ask the student to come to the board and write his question. Or even better. Move toward the student and ask her to write the question down in her notebook. Ask other students for a translation. If there's a shared language in the classroom, by all means, use it to clarify the question. Sometimes when you have multicultural classes in which there many languages happening at the same time, you will see that students naturally translate from one to the other till they go back to English. And that's perfectly fine. As a last resort, you can simply ask the student to stay for a couple of minutes after the class, or give him an appointment to meet up in your office. Don't forget to use sorry and please at all times. Oh, and use modal verbs to mitigate the whole situation. Use could instead of can, and would you mind, instead of imperatives. Look how much the requests change. Can you please repeat your question? Versus, could you please repeat your question? Come again? Versus, would you mind repeating your question? Try to make students feel comfortable whenever they are facing these situations. Be encouraging, and everything will be fine, you'll see. See you next time. [MUSIC] [SOUND]
