Shifting the I-R-F paradigm : an action research approach to improving whole-class interactional questioning competence

Abstract

The Initiation-Response-Feedback (I-R-F) questioning sequence is perhaps the most common pedagogical discursive interaction, not just in classrooms, but in virtually every learning context; the educator asks a question, the learner responds and the educator gives feedback about that response. Children are introduced to these sequences from a very early age - usually through their formative communications with parents or adults - and continue to participate in them throughout their academic careers. In a whole-class school setting, these exchanges are notoriously teacher-dominated and tightly-controlled, characteristically offering students little time and opportunity to construct and develop their own ideas and thinking. Despite the myriad of changes in education over the last 20 years, it seems somewhat paradoxical that the stereo-typical I-R-F questioning sequence has exhibited such durability in its current form. The main aim of this research study was to investigate the degree to which the epistemological foundations of the whole-class I-R-F questioning sequence could be relocated from a traditionally behaviourist perspective towards a position more concomitant with social constructivism. Underpinning this philosophy is the belief that students should be given a much greater degree of interactional autonomy. The chosen methodology was based on an action research model with a multi-method approach for data collection. A framework of ‘best questioning practice’ was constructed in order to support teachers in improving their Interactional Questioning Competence (IQC) over the course of three action research cycles. In addition to this, three facilitators of change were employed as catalytic devices for enhancing teacher performance during the research; self-evaluation, focus group interviews and specialist coaching. The results show that although progress was made in many areas, other features of IQC were more resistant to change, largely as a result of the pedagogical goals of the teacher, the institutional motives of the school establishment and the political aspirations of current educational policy.