Hunting English

A Useful Blog

It was the name of this blog which first enticed me to read it.  Presumably, the choice was inspired by the York school, Huntington Secondary, where the blogger is employed.  But I thought it apt, and amusing, and it transpired that the blog was full of useful articles.  

Here is one entitled ‘Questioning and Feedback: Top Ten Strategies’, which I read recently with a view to considering and improving my own teaching techniques.  In it, Alex Quigley makes some interesting observations about how we can question our students more effectively; particularly in regard to what he calls ‘wait time’.  He says:  

“We think we give students ample time [to answer a question], but we too often don’t. Have you ever timed yourself? The average time allowed for students giving a response has been estimated at 1.5 seconds! The optimum time is nearer 5 seconds. Evidence shows that the depth (between 400 and 800% increase in length of response) & quality of answers greatly improves with this extra waiting time of just a few seconds.”

This forced me to stop and think.  I have not yet started teaching English to students, but as a ski instructor, I have been a teacher of sorts for over eleven years.  I often use questioning (instinctively, I might add – my methods are not based on research of any kind, but experience) to ensure that the information I’m presenting verbally is being absorbed.  But how long do I wait for an answer?

On average, I’d imagine my wait time is nearer 1.5 seconds than a seemingly interminable 5!  I am concerned, I suppose, about the hanging silence; I am worried that an extended wait would pressure or embarrass my learner rather than aid their thought process.  And perhaps, for some, it would.  But as Quigley is keen to point out, “There is no ‘one size fits every class’ strategy”.  I have always considered my ability to adapt to my learners to be one of the real strengths of my teaching.  Here, though, in the ‘wait time’ I employ after posing a question, is a place where I could potentially improve it.  It’s something I’ll be thinking about keenly in my future lessons.

There are, of course, nine other helpful questioning and feedback techniques included in the article, which I think is a lovely reference for new and experienced teachers alike.