Term Four Week Two: Communication

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This term we will start on the three key focus points for students preparation for the examinations and the ending of the course programmes:



  1. Listening – listen to where your students are at in their examination preparation or in the course completion.

  2. Questioning – what do your students need, what are they asking for, and what questions are you asking them.

  3. Analysing - identifying, clarifying and developing solutions and answers to the questions – fine tuning the learning and the examination preparation.


Communication is a difficult art. Good communication ensures that what is communicated is received in the same manner and tone as was intended, not merely as it was said.


The key to good communication is context, i.e. the framework one communicates within. For example, a question may be made in class which each student may perceive very differently, as they will come from very different contexts or starting points.


The secret of good communication is to take these differences in context into account, align them, and allow the students to develop an understanding of the differences.


It's about seeing eye to eye – seeing, respecting and being attentive. Noticing where the student is taking the answer and guiding the answer so that it addresses the purpose of the question.



So, what are the purposes of your classroom questions?


When you reflect on your practice, a variety of purposes may emerge. From your analysis, you may include the following:


  • To develop interest and motivate students to become actively involved
    in lessons

  • To evaluate students’ preparation for the next phase of their learning

  • To develop critical thinking skills and inquiring attitudes

  • To review and summarize previous lessons

  • To nurture insights by exposing new relationships

  • To assess achievement of your instructional goals and objectives

  • To stimulate students to pursue knowledge on their own

These purposes are generally part of the context of classroom learning, defined as a series of your questions, eliciting your students responses and your reaction to that response.


Within this process your students follow a series of steps (consciously or unconsciously) in order to produce responses to the questions posed. These steps include:


  • Attending to the question

  • Deciphering the meaning of the question

  • Generating an initial covert response (i.e., formulating a response in the student's mind)

  • Generating an overt response through discussion; and often revising the response (based on teacher probing or other feedback)

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