QUESTION

Purposes of Teachers' Questions (Gebhard: 2006)

There are five kinds of purposes of Teachers' questions, namely: display question, referential question, comprehension check, confirmation question, clarification check.

Display question: A question in which the teacher the teacher already knows the answer and wants the students to display knowledge, e.g.: What colour is your shirt?

Referential question: A question in which the teacher does not know the answer, e.g.: What is your favorite colour?

Comprehension check: A question to find out if a student understands, e.g.: Do you understand? This question is usually never answered properly by Indonesian students. It is influenced by Indonesian character traits i.e. introvert. I usually change this question to "Do you know what you have to do?", "Can you analyse this?", and et cetera.

Confirmation question: A question to verify what was said, e.g.: You said you got up at 6.00?

Clarification check: A question to further define or classify, Did you say thirty or thirteen? 

The Content of Teachers' Questions (Gebhard: 2006)

Procedure: questions that ask students about procedural matters (Did you do your work?)

Study of Language: Questions that ask students about aspects of language (What is the past tense of “eat”? What does the word “acculturation” mean?

Study of Subject: Questions that ask students about content other than the study of language (How big is the Little Prince? How many countries are there in the US?

Life-General: questions about the lives of groups of people (Do Japanese women like hot tea in the summer? How do Nigerians celebrate birthdays?

Life-personal: Questions about the lives of individual (Do you like to drink hot tea in the summer? How do you celebrate your birthday?