Introduction

The following research paper will aim to explore and analyse the effectiveness of using oral questioning as a form of Assessment for Learning (AfL) within the Primary School classrooms. Moreover, the research will touch upon different oral questioning methods that can be used for AfL and will also contribute recommendations for my Lead Partnership School (LPS) in Cardiff.

When talking about assessment and assessing a student, the process of assessment usually consists of gathering evidence and information, in this context, gathering evidence and information on a student’s learning progress (Berry and Kennedy, 2008). However, Assessment for Learning is slightly different in the way that assessment is predominantly carried out informally through social interaction between teachers and students, or even students interacting with other students (Berry and Kennedy, 2008 Black et al, 2003). Assessment for Learning or formative assessment has been defined by academics as an everyday practice of gathering evidence on student learning and using it to adapt and alter the teaching and learning strategies needed to meet specific learner needs (Berry and Kennedy, 2008 Black et al, 2003 Wiliam, 2011).

The Curriculum for Wales 2022 heavily emphasises the importance of assessment especially ongoing Assessment for Learning within the Welsh classrooms (Welsh Government, 2020). The LPS that this Critically Annotated Bibliography (CAB) is written for reinforces the curriculum’s enthusiasm for AfL and elaborates how the school implements such practice in one of their school policies made accessible on their website (Assessment, Recording and Reporting Policy, 2017). This policy goes into extensive detail on AfL highlighting how the teachers in the school will use a variety of different AfL methods like questioning to measure the student’s learning and how they will use that information to adjust plans to help advance the student’s progress (Assessment, Recording and Reporting Policy, 2017).

Six academic pieces of literature that focuses on the use of oral questioning as a strategy of Assessment for Learning will be analysed and evaluated to portray the effectiveness of this assessment strategy. This selection of literature will be used to assemble a CAB which will provide valuable insight on oral questioning in primary school classrooms. The literature chosen all met the criteria of being relevant to the study and having been published within the last 10 years.

Article 1 of the CAB written by Sardareh et al (2014) focuses on questioning in the context of AfL and whether it is an effective strategy. Article 2 created by Ruiz- Primo (2011) assesses the role of questioning and instructional dialogue and how they are used to gauge a student’s learning by analysing and elaborating surrounding literature. Jiang (2014) contributes by exploring teacher questioning as a formative strategy within Chinese primary schools in article 3. Mahmud et al (2021) writes about the implementation of oral questioning during math lessons in Malaysian primary schools for article 4. Article 5 focuses on the work of Tay and Kee (2019) where they go into detail on how effective questioning can be when assessing learners with autism. Finally, article 6 written by Heritage and Heritage (2013) adds to the discussion by further exploring the characteristics of effective oral questioning as an assessment strategy. Altogether, this CAB will illustrate how oral questioning can be an effective AfL strategy as well as providing valuable recommendations to my LPS on how to effectively use questioning to assess their students.

Article 1: Sardareh, S. A., Saad, M. R. M., Othman, A. J and Me, R. C. (2014) ‘ESL teachers’ questioning technique in an assessment for learning context: Promising or problematic?’, International Education Studies, 7(9), pp. 161-174.

This article focuses on the importance of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in primary schools situated in Malaysia where the practice of AfL is still at its early stages. The main AfL technique that is subject to the article is oral questioning and its importance in helping students to learn and gauging their learning progress. The article’s method of research involves interviewing and observing two teachers and their use of questioning in a highly regarded Malaysian primary school. The research goes into detail of what kind of questions the teachers use and reasoning behind the questions they pose.

An important argument that the author of this article presents is that teachers who are not well versed in AfL often use simple questions to only assess the learner’s ability to recall information from lessons. Weiland, Hudson and Amador (2013) reinforces that simple questions are insufficient in aiding students in their learning, instead properly formulated questions that ensures that all students reflect on their own learning are more effective and allows the students to become ‘owners of their own learning’. Students being the owners of their own learning is a key component for AfL and is emphasised by the new curriculum in Wales highlighting that student has as much as of a part to play in their learning as teachers do.

The study found that for all the students to be assessed, teachers need to question all students and give them ample time to answer. It also shows that teachers need to have a form of question progression, building on the student’s knowledge and that creating an environment where student participation is praised is essential to using questioning as an AfL strategy.

Sardareh, Saad, Othman and Me are the academics involved in this study and are all affiliated with the faculty of education at the University of Malaya, indicating that the content of study is valuable because they have extensive knowledge on AfL and the faculty they belong to focuses on educating and improving the existing field of education.

This study does draw criticism because the sample size of teachers being observed only includes 5 teachers which some would argue as insufficient to draw reliable findings from (Clarke and Braun, 2013). Furthermore, the study only focused on one highly reputable primary school rather than from a wider range of primary schools, making the findings less reliable as it just shows the practice of questioning as an AfL strategy for that specific school rather than a general outlook of how it is practiced.

The LPS can find this study to be useful as the new curriculum places an emphasis on AfL. This study also mentions the need for all students to be questioned when using this method of AfL to assess them. The LPS may want to implement a seating plan in the class to easily aid the teacher in keeping track of which students have been questioned, ensuring that the teacher has received information on all their student’s learning progression.

Article 2: Ruiz-Primo, M. A. (2011) ‘Informal formative assessment: The role of instructional dialogues in assessing students’ learning’, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37(1), pp. 15-24.

In this article Ruiz-Primo ventures into the practice of informal formative assessment (AfL) in classrooms concentrating on the role that instructional oral dialogues play in the assessing of student’s learning.

The paper first elaborates on informal formative assessment and that there is a plethora of opportunities that teachers can use to assess their learner’s progress. Ruiz-Primo follows this up with explaining the importance of informal formative assessments arguing that it provides the teachers with necessary information needed to evaluate and analyse how each learner will move towards reaching the learning outcomes set.

The article then directs the attention towards instructional dialogues within the context of AfL, stating that instructional dialogue between teacher and student is an assessment conversation. Instructional dialogue is often started through questioning, and it also directs the structure of the assessment conversation.

Ruiz-Primo further goes into detail on the importance of assessment conversations and the influential part they play in the learning progress while also touching on the conditions needed for an effective assessment conversation, assessment conversation strategies and evidence on the impact it has on student learning.

One critical focal point that Ruiz-Primo elaborates on is that questioning between teacher and student allows the teacher to collect accurate data of the student’s progress frequently. This allows the teacher to guide and supply the necessary scaffolding to continuously develop their learning. Being able to use the data collected through questioning and using that to effectively guide the students coincides with Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) where he states the children’s learning is developed through the guidance and collaboration with more knowledgeable adults like teachers.

Ruiz-Primo is an associate professor for the University of Colorado and is a director for the Laboratory of Educational Assessment, Research and Innovation (LEARN). This is significant because the study brings an element of reliability as Ruiz-Primo specialises on assessment in education bringing invaluable knowledge and research regarding questioning as an AfL strategy in classrooms.

This article discusses the theory behind formative assessments (or AfL) rather than collecting and analysing data on questioning as an assessment strategy which can be seen as a limitation for this study because despite providing valuable information on assessment through questioning, it does not supply evidence on the use of oral questioning as an assessment strategy or its effectiveness.

This study concludes that having the knowledge on the learning status of their students is essential to providing them with suitable scaffolding to progress them on their learning journey. The LPS can use AfL questioning in every lesson and adapting it to the learners needs to effectively gauge their understanding, allowing them to provide the necessary steps needed for their students to advance their learning on the topic.

Article 3: Jiang, Y. (2014) ‘Exploring Teacher Questioning as a Formative Assessment Strategy’, RELC Journal, 45(3), pp. 287–304.

In this study, Jiang explores how teachers use questioning as a strategy for assessment in Chinese classrooms. His method of research for this study includes observing teachers using questioning in practice as well as conducting interviews with the participants, dissecting their thinking behind the questions they pose to their learners.

Jiang’s study first delves into the literature surrounding formative assessment (AfL) by mentioning how formative assessment can be carried out through different forms and then goes into exploring the literature surrounding questioning as a strategy to carry out assessment in classrooms.

Jiang’s research consists of firstly observing the teachers and their use of questioning during a handful of sessions, recording the questions and responses from all participants. Yiang then proceeds to interview the participants, asking a set of questions to explore their reasoning behind their actions

Similar to Article 1, Jiang further enforces the notion that in order for questioning to be an effective AfL strategy there needs to be an apparent use of different questions that fits the learners needs. For instance, Jiang mentions how most teachers observed used more lower cognitive questions that assessed the student’s ability to recall information which has limited range of higher cognitive questions being asked to elicit deeper thinking. This idea fits into the notion of Blooms taxonomy (1956) where he places cognitive processes in a pyramid structure based on their complexity, with recalling information at the bottom and higher cognitive processes higher up. This theory shows that questions that ask students to recall information doesn’t require as much cognitive thinking to answer compared to questions that ask students to evaluate or analyse.

Jiang’s findings are also supported by Antoniou and James (2014), as well as Duckor and Holmberg (2019) who all came to a consensus that for questioning to be utilised as an effective and efficient AfL strategy, a balance of different question types needs to be posed to students and teachers must enact quality questioning.

Jiang is an academic who is associated to the faculty of education for the University of Hong Kong which implies that this study has an element of reliability as his main intention is to improve the field of education as well as having knowledge on Assessment for Learning, specifically questioning as a strategy.

Jiang’s study draws criticism on the basis that his research only observes classrooms in tertiary institutions which can affect the findings because the academic level of students is different compared to primary school students, thus questioning may influence them differently. Another criticism for this study is that it only involves educational institutions in China which can affect the findings because China and Wales have different curriculums, methods of teaching and other pedagogical processes.

A strength that the study incorporates is the sample size which includes total of 6 teachers and 30 students with each interaction being observed and analysed allowing the study to draw reliable and accurate conclusions from a wide range of interactions and a reasonable sample size (Clarke and Braun, 2013).

The LPS may find this useful because the findings reinforces effective questioning for AfL needs to include a balance of lower cognitive questions and high cognitive questions. The LPS needs to incorporate and find a balance between lower cognitive questions which tests student textual knowledge and higher cognitive questions that engage higher order thinking during their lessons (Volante and Beckett, 2011) perhaps consistently starting with lower cognitive questions at the beginning of the lesson, progressing into more complex questions that elicits deeper thinking.

Article 4: Mahmud, M. S., Sulaiman, T., Ayub, A. F. and Yunus, A. S. M. (2021) ‘Implementation of oral questioning in assessing student learning in mathematics teaching in primary schools’, Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(5), pp. 137–143.

In this article conducted by Mahmud et al the primary focus is to explore how oral questioning is implemented in Malaysian primary schools to assess the student’s learning during math lessons.

The researchers carried out this study at 6 Malaysian primary schools using different techniques like observation, interviews, document analysis and field notes to gather the necessary information. The data gathered are then analysed and compared with one another to find the similarities and differences between questioning methods.

This study showed that questioning and using it as a method of AfL plays a very important role in providing learners with quality teaching because it allows the teachers to obtain information on their student’s learning and allows them to alter their teaching to ensure that the students achieve their predetermined learning goals.

It also highlights in the study that oral questioning is an effective AfL strategy because it allows the teacher to use the data collected from the questioning process to help evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching practice. The responses to the questions will help determine whether the students were able to comprehend the content through the teacher’s method of teaching or whether or not the teaching method needs to be altered in order to help the students, ensuring that they are progressing their learning. Correia and Harrison (2020) also believed that the data provided by oral questioning help teachers ‘regulate’ their teaching practice by raising questions on the next steps, and the pace of the lesson or what content needs to be repeated.

This study draws criticism for only observing a small sample of teachers teaching maths in primary school. Observing such a small sample of teachers is a limitation especially for qualitative research because the amount of data collected may not be sufficient to have reliable findings (Clarke Braun 2013).

Despite this study being conducted in Malaysia, the LPS school may still find the study’s findings useful and reliable because the schools being observed all met the criteria that Marshall and Rossman (2014) listed for efficient data collection.

The result of this study states that questioning as an assessment for learning strategy can be very significant because it allows the teachers to provide quality teaching by adapting their teaching using the information, they obtain from questioning the students. It can be suggested that the information gathered from questioning the students will be used to analyse and evaluate the lesson plan. This allows the teacher to adjust the following lessons to either go over the existing information taught if they are finding it difficult to comprehend or to go forward with the topic if the students understand the knowledge presented.

Article 5: Tay, H. and Kee, K.N. (2019) ‘Effective questioning and feedback for learners with autism in an inclusive classroom’, Cogent Education, 6(1), pp. 1-19.

This article from Tay and Kee primarily focuses on how proper oral questioning can be used as a method of assessment for learning for all learners and their needs, especially those with autism.

Tay and Kee’s research method incorporates case studies involving a teacher and a child with autism situated in a mainstream classroom. These participants are then observed and interviewed with their gathered data being compared to other paired participants allowing the researchers to explore the effectiveness of questioning as an AfL method for these specific learners.

The participants chosen involved 2 pairs from a primary school and 3 from secondary schools, the teachers being observed had undergone some sort of special needs training but if they were not available then teachers with effective inclusive classrooms were chosen.

This study found that for questioning to be effective in an inclusive classroom that fits all learners needs, cognitive considerations need to be addressed. This term is when a teacher must alter their questions and feedback to ensure that the students can process the information because ultimately not all learners are going to have the same needs as others.

Tay and Kee argues how oral questioning can be used as an AfL strategy for all learners because an important aspect of effective questioning involves tailoring the questions for a specific individual. For instance, their research mentions how the questions that are posed to students with learning difficulties differ from questions posed to students without special needs. Kanjee (2020) further supports this by stating that during the process of questioning, instead of posing questions to the whole class, teachers should target pupils. This is because when the question is posed to everyone, a handful of students will not engage with the question as their learning needs are different and they are unable to answer the question resulting in inefficient AfL.

Despite observing on 2 primary and 3 secondary teachers this study is still valuable because the new curriculum emphasises how it will seamlessly connect teaching between primary and secondary schools indicating that the questioning method of secondary teachers is as useful as observing primary teachers.

The inaccurate representation of teachers can also be criticised because the majority of teachers chosen had special needs training. Although teachers in Wales teach students with special needs, they aren’t obligated to have special needs training which can make the results less accurate especially since the aimed audience for this CAB was at teachers in general, not just those with special needs training.

This study is useful for the LPS because teachers need to consider needs of all learners as it is an important pedagogical standard and being able to alter questions depending on the student to gather more accurate information on their learning progress ensures that this standard is being upheld. When synthesising and planning questions, the teacher may want to differentiate which learners are similar in terms of their needs, sorting them in groups and then planning questions that match each group’s needs and ability thus promoting equality and equity.

Article 6: Heritage, M. and Heritage, J. (2013) ‘Teacher Questioning: The Epicenter of Instruction and Assessment’, Applied Measurement in Education, 26(3), pp. 176–190.

This article synthesised by Heritage and Heritage centres around teacher questioning as a method of formative assessment or Assessment for Learning just like the other articles mentioned. It initially goes into depth on the role formative assessment plays regarding a student’s learning journey and then following it with an exploration of pedagogical questioning and traditional questioning sequences used in a classroom context.

In this study, classroom interactions are conducted in a fifth-grade class in Los Angeles where they are initially video recorded and later transcribed to examine and analyse different teacher questioning sequences during the assessment of a student. This study uses a qualitative method of analysis when comparing the different sequences just like other scholars researching questioning as an AfL strategy.

The study found that questioning as an AfL strategy is not one sided and involves collaboration between both student and teacher. The research also found that the student’s response heavily indicates where they are at the learning journey, and it is up to the teacher to use that information to cater to the needs of that student.

An argument that this article highlights is that when using effective questioning as an AfL strategy, students and teachers must collaborate with one another. Each party’s participation is essential for extracting and collecting accurate knowledge of the student’s learning development. This argument draws a connection with article 5 where adapting questions to specific students’ needs rather than asking a question to the class ensures that each student is given an equal opportunity to demonstrate their understanding. This attempts to eliminate students being unable to answer the teacher’s posed questions resulting in more students participating in the teacher’s questioning process. Hannel (2009) also agrees with this study and iterates how some students are reluctant to answer questions because they are hindered by their learning ability. Hannel then states that proper planning and structure of questions can help those disengaged students to participate and answer the posed questions resulting in a more effective assessment for learning.

Qualitative method of research is limited by the small sample size of only one teacher and 3 students being observed which is not enough of a sample size according to Charles and Braun (2013). This means that findings may not give an accurate depiction of how effective questioning is as an assessment strategy. However, although having only observed 3 interactions in total, each of them provided extensive detail on the teacher’s use of questioning while also including an explanation of all the questions she posed and the reasoning behind them.

The LPS can find this study useful because it elicits the idea of having all the students participate in the questioning, creating an effective AfL environment. The LPS can implement this by praising all students answer regardless on whether the answer is correct or not because this would encourage the students to answer questions without the fear of being embarrassed or told off, ultimately increasing the rate of participation during questioning, making for more effective assessment for learning.

Conclusion

Based on the findings and the evaluation of the six CAB entries, it can be concluded that oral questioning can be a highly effective method of Assessment for Learning when carried out correctly. Oral questioning is an ever-present teaching practice that is used in every classroom and thus can be used to assess a student’s learning as frequent as every lesson, compared to summative assessment methods that are used sporadically (Bartlett, 2015).

Some characteristics of effective oral questioning has been highlighted within the focused literature entries. For instance, in order for oral questioning to be an effective way to assess learning, the participation of all students is essential because the students are assessed through their responses which help the teachers act accordingly. Without the engagement and participation to the questions, assessment of their knowledge cannot be gathered (Sardareh et al, 2014 Heritage and Heritage, 2013). Furthermore, questions that are posed must be differentiated and specified to tailor the needs of all learners instead of presenting them to a whole class. This is because it takes into consideration the learner’s academic ability and needs, ensuring that they have the same opportunities to answer the question and showcase their learning (Tay and Kee, 2019). Different question types also need be presented to the students to help promote and elicit deeper thinking which will allow the students to take their understanding to the next level (Jiang, 2014). Effective oral questioning can also provide learners with quality teaching as the teachers are able to adjust their teaching and provide the proper scaffolding to help progress the students towards their learning outcomes (Mahmud et al, 2019 Ruiz- Primo, 2011).

The implementation of oral questioning may present some challenges of increased anxiety within the students and inefficient practice of questioning from teachers who have minimal experience of using this method for assessment (Hannel, 2009). As a result, the CAB has recommended the LPS to ensure that the classrooms provide an environment where all responses are acknowledged, and participation is praised to help ease the stress and pressure that students encounter when questioned. With regards to the challenge of teachers using questioning inefficiently due to inexperience, the LPS may benefit from thoroughly planning a range of low and high cognitive questions to ask while also considering the learner’s needs and ability. However, despite these challenges, oral questioning is still an effective method of AfL and can be very accurate and efficient if the findings and characteristics that this CAB has outlined is implemented correctly.