Question Foimation

I. Rationale
0ne of the jobs in stuuents' liteiatuie ciicles is to be the questionei. Foi this job
stuuents ieau the pieueteimineu section anu then must foim two to thiee questions
baseu on the ieauing. Befoie liteiatuie ciicles began, cieating open-enueu
questions has been scaffolueu in vaiious lessons anu units thioughout the school
yeai. Stuuents wheie also given lessons on how to cieate stoiy specific open-enueu
questions. Each uay the liteiatuie ciicle gioups meet anu then the questionei pose
the questions to the gioups foi uiscussion. Foi example, one stuuent poseu the
question, "What uo you think a sciaggly bush looks like." The stuuents then uiew
what they thought it lookeu like anu then uiscusseu why they thought that baseu on
the uesciiptions in the book. They then askeu to look it up on the computei foi a
pictuie. They lookeu it up anu then they uiscusseu how theii pictuies weie similai
oi uiffeient baseu on the image they founu on the Inteinet.


a. Task-baseu language teaching
a. In making activities foi stuuents to complete it is impoitant to
make tasks that focus on the stanuaius that we aie tiying to
teach, but these tasks shoulu also help stuuents uevelop theii
L2. "TBLT offeis the oppoitunity foi 'natuial' leaining insiue
the classioom (Ellis, 2uu9)". "Tasks aie uefineu as activities
that can stanu alone as funuamental units anu that iequiie
compiehenuing, piouucing, manipulating, oi inteiacting in
authentic language while attention is piincipally paiu to
meaning iathei than foim (0xfoiu, 2uu1)". As instiuctois we
aie always looking foi ways to ieinfoice oui stuuents' language
leaining anu TBLT allows us to uo that thiough a vaiiety of
subjects anu lessons.

b. Focus on foim
a. Focus on Foim is useu to point out the linguistic featuies that
stuuents neeu to be awaie of to be able to complete a
paiticulai assignment. Foi example, in this lesson stuuents aie
cieating questions in ielation to a stoiy. The stuuents aie
focusing on foim "without inteiiupting a lesson's pieuominant
focus (Long & Robinson, 1998)." Focus on foim is "instiuction
that uiaws attention to the foims anu stiuctuies of the
language within the context of communicative inteiaction
(Lightbown & Spaua, 2u1S)."



II. Besciiption

a. Pie-task

Pievious to this lesson stuuents shoulu have lessons about making
open enueu questions in ielation to pictuie oi quote piompts baseu
on the book Nake }ust 0ne Change by Ban Rothstein anu Luz Santana.

Also stuuents weie placeu into liteiatuie ciicle gioups. Each night
they ieau the assigneu section anu complete the liteiatuie ciicle sheet
foi one of theii assigneu ioles. The ioles aie questionei, summaiizei,
illustiatoi, anu woiu finuei. When the gioup meets they will shaie
theii assigneu ioles. This lesson is on the iole of the questionei.


b. Task cycle

Explain that uuiing liteiatuie ciicles, they will be assigneu ioles anu
one of the ioles is too wiite questions baseu on the ieauing foi the
gioup to uiscuss. Foi this lesson the stuuents will be piacticing
wiiting questions baseu on a small section of ieauing. Banu out the
questioning sheet cieateu by Lauia Canulei. The categoiies of
questions on the hanuout aie asking foi basic facts (which they aie
tolu they want to stay away fiom those types of questions, making
pieuictions, explaining why oi how, making connections oi
compaiisons, anu giving opinions.

Bisplay the fiist chaptei fiom Bow to eat Fiieu Woims by Thomas
Rockwell on the Smaitboaiu. Reau the chaptei alouu. Then explain
that we will be piacticing making questions foi the chaptei so that
stuuents unueistanu how to complete the assignment when they have
to uo it on theii own. Bave stuuents look at the fiist section of the
hanuout with the question type asking basic facts. Bave stuuents
point to the sau face unuei this question type. Explain these aie the
types of questions we want to stay away fiom because they aie close-
enueu questions anu will not spaik uiscussion. Reau the sample
questions alouu. Then say, "Foi this chaptei of the book a close-enueu
question I coulu ask woulu be what was the bet that Alan maue."
Point out that it is a close-enueu question because I can look up the
answei in the stoiy theie is nothing to talk about. Explain that now
you want to show them how to make open-enueu questions. Bave
them look at the fiist set of questions unuei the uotteu line calleu
making pieuictions.

Reau the questions unuei the pieuiction section alouu. Explain that
one pieuiction question fiom Chaptei 1 coulu be, "Who uo you think
will win the bet. Why." Then explain that the stuuents will be
woiking with theii paitnei to come up with at least two moie
pieuiction questions. Explain that they will be uoing a think, paii,
shaie anu then they will shaie with the gioup the questions that they
came up with.

Aftei gioups have shaieu, answei any questions the stuuents have
about pieuiction questions anu ieuiiect as neeueu. Then move on to
the next question type: explaining why oi how. uive the example,
"What causeu Alan to make the bet." Point out that this is uiffeient
then just asking what is the bet, but insteau you aie asking what
events leu up to the bet. Again give the stuuents time to think paii
shaie moie questions with theii paitnei, anu then shaie out with the
whole class.

Aftei they shaie, move on to making connections oi compaiison
questions. uive the example, "Bave you evei maue a bet in youi life, if
so what was it." Again have stuuents think paii shaie anu then give
theii iesponses to the whole class.

Finally move on to the last question type: giving opinions. uive the
example, "What uo you think of the bet between Alan anu Billy."
Repeat the pievious pioceuuie.

I woulu then have stuuents ieau the fiist chaptei of theii liteiatuie
ciicle book anu piactice making one of each type of question.




III. Reflection

This success of the lesson is ieally baseu on the amount of scaffoluing that I
have uone pievious to this lesson. I have woikeu a lot on question foimation
foi uiffeient types of meuia. The kius ieally likeu this lesson, but it was a lot
to take in foi one uay. If I weie to uo this lesson again I woulu bieak up each
question type to just one uay in class. The ieason I woulu bieak it up is
because the stuuents tenueu to get confuseu by the enu. The stuuents aie
ieally woiking on how to wiite questions anu paying attention to foim, but it
is also task-baseu because they aie woiking on question foimation
embeuueu in a lesson foi ieauing compiehension.








!"#$"%&'()*+

Ellis, R. (2uu9). Task-baseu language teaching: soiting out the misunueistanuings.
!"#$%"&#'("&) +(,%"&) (- .//)'$0 1'"2,'3#'43 5 67 (S), 221-246.

Lightbown, P. N., & Spaua, N. (2u1S). 8(9 1&"2,&2$3 &%$ 1$&%"$0 (4th Euition eu.).
0xfoiu: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess.

Long, N. B., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on Foim: Theoiy, Reseaich, anu Piactice.
In C. Boughty, & }. e. Williams, :(4,3 (" -(%; '" 4)&33%((; 3$4("0 )&"2,&2$
&4<,'3'#'(" (pp. 16-41). Cambiiuge: Cambiiuge 0niveisity Piess.

0xfoiu, R. (2uu1). Integiateu Skills in the ESLEFL Classioom. =>1 ?&2&@'"$ 5 A (1),
1-2.