Display Question VS. Referential Question Asked by English Teachers of Seven Graders

Abstract

McComas and Abraham (2004) mentioned that the first step to ask a better question in classroom is that teacher is able to identify types of question he or she will ask. It is important for teacher because types of questions have different characteristics, purposes, and output. This study was aimed to see which type of questions (Display Question or Referential Question) was dominantly asked by four English teachers from three different Junior High Schools through observations. Then, the questions gathered from the observations were sorted out based on the characteristic of Display Question and Referential Question. At last, it was put in a table to be counted and analyzed. The results showed that teachers asked more Display Question than Referential Question. And in order to see the value of asking Display Question and Referential Question, this paper attempted to analyzed the purposes of each types of questions. It was found that none of the participants asked Display Question to confirmation checks. Whereas, Display Question to comprehension check was asked by all teachers. For Referential Question, it was found that mostly teacher asked this type of question to invite students to share their ideas toward certain topics.