Teach Questions: When and How?

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Teach Questions When and How?

• CLTA-GNY 2009 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
• Seventh New York International Conference
• on the Teaching of Chinese
• Jun Kramer
• Lawrence High School
• 2525 Princeton Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08515
• junkramer_at_yahoo.com

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The Modes of Communication

• The most challenging communication is
  interpersonal mode of communication.
• Interpersonal communication in classroom
  Questions and answers are conducted between
  students spontaneously.

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Textbook Way

• The following are taught in different lessons
  during the whole year
• The question particle ? of Yes/no Questions
• Interrogative words of Wh-Questions, e.g. ??,
  ?, ?, etc.
• A-not-A question format

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Textbook Way ???? 1

• ?-lesson 1
• ?-lesson 2
• ??-lesson 2
• ??-lesson 3

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Textbook Way ????1(cont.)

• ?-lesson 13
• A-not-AFormat -lesson 16
• ??-lesson 23

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Textbook Way ????1(cont.)

• The following interrogative words are not in
  Textbook 1
• ???
• ??
• ??/???
• ????
• ??

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Textbook Way ????? 1

• ??- lesson 4
• ?-lesson 5
• ?-lesson 7
• ?-lesson 9
• ??-lesson 10
• ??-lesson 10
• ??-lesson 11
• ??-lesson 13

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Textbook Way ????? 1

• A-not-AFormat -lesson 13
• ????-lesson 20
• ?-lesson 21
• ???-lesson 23
• ???-lesson 26
• ??-lesson 31
• ??-lesson 34

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Problems of Textbook Way

• Spontaneous conversation, not mechanical
  reciting, will not happen until after two months
  at least.
• During the second half of the school year,
  students start confusing interrogative words that
  they studied.

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Cluster Way

• 1. The question particle ?, interrogative words
  and A-not-A format are introduced to students
  in Week One.
• 2. Make them part of classroom passwords.

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Examples of Passwords
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Benefits of Cluster Way

• 1. Spontaneous conversation, not mechanical
  reciting, starts immediately.
• 2. Comparing the textbook way, students have
  more accuracy when applying interrogative words.

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Examples of Classroom Commands

• ...,????
• ...,????
• ...,????
• ????(???)?
• ???(??)?
• ????

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Examples of Classroom Commands (cont)

• ???/???
• ???/???
• ????(??)?
• ???????
• ????
• ????

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Common mistakes of applying interrogative words

1. ???????(?)
2. ?????????(??)
3. ????????(???)
4. ????(??)
5. ??????????(?)

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Comparison - Speaking
Teacher-student oral inquiry (classroom commands) Teacher-student oral inquiry (classroom commands) Teacher-student oral inquiry (classroom commands) Teacher-student oral inquiry (classroom commands) Student-student interpersonal communication Student-student interpersonal communication Student-student interpersonal communication Student-student interpersonal communication Students staying with the target language overall Students staying with the target language overall Students staying with the target language overall Students staying with the target language overall
Week 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 8
Textbook Way 20 18 30 44 7 8 11 15 20 27 31 31
Cluster Way 80 84 93 100 9 15 39 65 40 41 50 67
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Comparison Accuracy
Occurrence (22 students, week 20) ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???..
Textbook Way 5 4 5 8 3
Cluster Way 0 1 0 3 1
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Accuracy Assessments

• 1.Correct mistakes in a sentence.
• 2. Picture-prompt skits Two students, who were
  randomly picked by the teacher, conducted
  spontaneous conversation according to the picture
  shown to them. (No preparation!)

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Accuracy Assessments Example 1
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Accuracy Assessments Example 2
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Accuracy Assessments Example 3
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My Sincere Appreciation

• If you want to practice the cluster way at your
  classroom, I will be really appreciative if you
  can let me know the results of your assessments.
• My email junkramer_at_yahoo.com

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