Reading Graduate Student Showcase
Using Open Questions vs. Closed Questions During Picturebook Read-Alouds
Graduate Student Showcase
During read-alouds, a great deal of the benefit and enjoyment learners gain is due to the interaction from sharing the picturebook and the use of open questions is often recommended in Western-focused research. However, in the Asian classroom conversational norms as well as teaching styles can mean both teachers and learners can find open questions very challenging. This presentation discusses a small-scale case study which examined how 10-12-year-old Japanese low-level English learners respond to open and closed questions during interactive picturebook read-alouds. It will cover four main areas: the amount of interaction created by each question type, the different types of responses elicited, the situations where students could not respond to questions, and how class dynamics affected student responses. Participants will leave the presentation with a clearer idea of when the use of closed questions may be more appropriate than open questions during read-alouds in the low-level English language classroom.
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Emily MacFarlane has been teaching English in public schools in Sendai, Japan for over ten years. She recently finished undertaking master’s research in identifying and developing effective scaffolding techniques during picturebook read-aloud sessions for Japanese English language learners.