Questioning and Assessment Strategies
- Describe and explain reasons for the selection of three (3) oral questioning strategies and align
each with your objectives and your students.
- Recommend and describe three (3) methods a teacher can use to demonstrate culturally
responsive questioning with culturally and linguistically diverse students. - Recommend and explain three (3) methods you will use for assessing students on the content of
your unit and align each with your objectives and students. Include one (1) type of performance
assessment (e.g., project or portfolio).
- Analyze and discuss the issues, benefits, and recommendations involved in preparing students for
standardized tests. Explain your views and your recommendations regarding preparing students for
standardized tests.
- Use at least five (5) scholarly sources published within the last ten (10) years to support your views
and recommendation
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 2
Questioning and Assessment Strategies
The demographics of public schools in the United States are a reflection of the
country’s linguistic, cultural, and ethnic diversity. For these culturally and linguistically
diverse learners to learn and develop optimally, educators need to be prepared to meet diverse
education, linguistic, cultural, and developmental needs (Savage et al., 2011). Questioning
and assessment strategies are some of the critical strategies that educators use with such
students. Building on the Lesson Plan Part 3, this paper describes the reasons for the selection
of three oral questioning strategies. Three methods that an educator could utilize in
demonstrating culturally responsive questioning with culturally and linguistically diverse
students are recommended. Lastly, the paper discusses issues, benefits, and recommendations
that are involved in preparing students for standardized tests.
Reasons for the Selection of Three Questioning Strategies
Three oral questioning strategies that a teacher can use with culturally and
linguistically diverse (CLD) students are as follows: firstly is asking higher order questions
equitably of low-achieving and high-achieving learners. This may be done in their native
language. Classroom questioning plays a vital role in equitable classroom practice. Compared
to instruction conducted without questioning students, Krasnoff (2016) reported that posing
oral questions during lesson instruction is, in fact, more effective in producing achievement
gains. This is important because learners would perform better on test items that were posed
before as recitation questions than on items which they have never been exposed to in the
past. It is notable that oral questions that are posed in classroom recitations generally tend to
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 3
be more effective in promoting student learning in comparison to written questions (Krasnoff,
2016). On the whole, oral questioning in the student’s native language and that focuses on
student attention to most essential elements in the classroom lesson lead to better
understanding and comprehension (Nieto, 2010).
The second oral questioning strategy that an educator could utilize is to use relatable
questions from the learners’ real-life experiences or their communities. The reason for using
this oral questioning strategy is that it will enable the students to understand the question
correctly and give appropriate answers (Nieto, 2010). The third oral questioning strategy that
could be used is to use probing and clarifying techniques to help the learners to answer. The
oral probing questions should reflect various levels of cognitive complexity. The techniques
of oral questioning should vary from using scaffolded question, to giving a prompt, clue or
hint, to asking a related question, to rephrasing the question (Gay, 2010). The reason for
using this oral questioning strategy is that it will assist the students to answer the questions
properly. The three oral questioning strategies are in alignment with the students and the
teacher’s objectives.
Methods a Teacher can Use to Demonstrate Culturally Responsive Questioning
To demonstrate culturally responsive questioning with CLD students, the methods
that a teacher can use include posing culturally-relevant questions. This may entail, for
example, referencing diverse cultures, such as asking the students to determine the diameter
of a particular ethnic food platter; linking the questions to the students’ interests, for instance
by measuring the height of a popular football player; and including the names of students for
the purpose of making the subject matter relatable (Krasnoff, 2016). This method will help
the teacher to establish a culturally-responsive classroom and also engage the learners more.
Secondly, it is recommended that the teacher should pose questions that are connected to the
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 4
students’ racial, linguistic, and cultural experiences. Scenarios, vignettes, and examples from
the students’ community may be used. Equally important, the teacher can pose questions that
relate to the children’s communities, and families in culturally accurate ways that respect and
honor the students’ home culture. Using culturally sensitive questioning in the classroom will
allow the students to perform better since they will be able to understand the question better
in a manner that they can relate to (Gay, 2010).
Thirdly, it is recommended that the teacher should use student-centered language and
vocabulary in the questioning. This is of great importance in getting the attention of the
students and making them more focused on the question. Besides, the use of the students’
language and vocabulary has been shown to be effective in helping the culturally and
linguistically diverse students understand the questions and makes it easy for them to answer
(Gay, 2010). On the whole, the teacher should pose questions that each of the learners in the
class could relate to and understand, using some facets of their cultures. Using student-
centered language and vocabulary also involves the use of the student’s native language
especially if the student is not yet proficient in the English language (Morrison, Robbins &
Rose, 2014). The three methods are each in alignment with the students and the teacher’s
objectives.
Methods to Use for Assessing Students on the Unit Content
The following three methods are recommended for use to assess the students on the
unit content: two traditional forms of assessments namely summative and formative
assessments; and one authentic or alternative assessment, namely portfolio assessment, which
is a type of performance assessment. Summative assessments refer to the assessments that are
carried out at the ending of a substantial chunk of learning. The results are mainly to be used
by the school and the educator. The results might take quite long to be given back to the
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 5
learner or parents. Also, there is no opportunity for reassessing the students and feedback to
the learners is also very limited (Dixson & Worrell, 2016). Parents and students could utilize
the summative assessment results to see where the performance of the learner lies about other
students.
Formative assessments occur in the short term as the students make meaning of new
content and integrate into what they know already. The teacher gives immediate feedback to
allow the students to alter their understandings and their behavior right away. This type of
assessment is crucial in improving students’ performance and understanding. It enables the
educators to rethink the unit content, activities and strategies basing on the performance and
understanding of the learners (Dixson & Worrell, 2016).
As a form of performance assessment, a portfolio assessment entails collection of
materials that illustrate or reflect the students’ skills, knowledge, experience, achievement,
progress or performance over a period. Portfolio assessment can also be described as the
systematic and purposeful collection of a student’s work that reflects achievement about
certain instructional objectives or goals (Krasnoff, 2016). A portfolio is not just a folder
containing a student’s work samples. It is a collected record of the student’s work which
represents various learning modes to demonstrate the development, breadth, and depth of the
student’s competence. A portfolio provides a source of information for a teacher to make
decisions about a student’s progress and curriculum evaluation, and to document the
development and growth of the student (Dixson & Worrell, 2016).
Issues, Benefits, and Recommendations Involved in Preparing Students for
Standardized Tests
Without proper preparation, culturally and linguistically diverse students might dread
standardized testing in the English language. The biggest impediment faced by these students
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 6
when taking a standardized test is uncertainty about English vocabulary and meaning. This
doubt could cause the students to lose their focus, waste time worrying, and second-guess
answers (Gay, 2010). Standardized tests such as GRE, ACT, as well as SAT, are typically
designed for native English speakers. As such, besides the academic knowledge that a student
requires to perform well on these examinations, culturally and linguistically diverse students
also have to navigate through possibly unfamiliar language usage and terminology.
It is therefore recommended that teachers should do the following to prepare their
CLD students for standardized testing: firstly, they should strive to improve the English skills
of their students as much as possible before they take these tests. The better their English
skills, the easier it would be for them to navigate the standardized tests in the English
language (Aquino, 2016). Secondly, teachers should teach the learners that standardized tests
are necessary and they matter. Many culturally and linguistically diverse students do not hear
anything about standardized tests until just a few weeks before the tests. If they do not know
about the test, they will not care (Morrison, Robbins & Rose, 2014). The teacher should share
information with them regarding what standardized testing is for when the tests will happen,
and how they would impact the school and the community. When they know about it and
understand its importance, they will care. Thirdly, it is recommended that teachers should
provide practice tests to prepare the learners for the standardized testing. Any new situation
comes with some uncertainty, which could be in the form of excitement or anger. This could
prevent the learners from performing at their best. However, Aquino (2016) reported that
familiarizing the learners with procedures, formats, and questions of standardized tests could
get rid of the angst on the testing day.
Conclusion
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 7
In sum, the reasons for the selection of three oral questioning strategies are that the
strategies will allow the CLD students to focus and better understand the question to give
appropriate answers. To demonstrate culturally responsive questioning with CLD students,
the methods that a teacher can use include posing culturally-relevant questions; posing
questions that are connected to the students’ racial, linguistic, and cultural experiences; and
using student-centered language and vocabulary in the questioning. The recommended
methods for users to assess the students on the unit content are summative and formative
assessments, as well as portfolio assessment. To prepare their CLD students for standardized
testing, the teachers should strive to improve the English skills of their students before they
take these tests, teach the learners that standardized tests are essential, and provide practice
tests.
QUESTIONING AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 8
References
Aquino, L. (2016). Helping ELL students navigate standardized-testing season.
