| Summary: | <p>This study explores the beliefs and practices of two beginning primary mathematics teachers participating in a short-term collaborative action research project. The aim of the project was to investigate how they asked questions, what kind of questions they asked and how they responded to children’s answers. It then investigated the impact of a short intervention that aimed to encourage growth in their questioning techniques, in particular growth in two of the domains of Clarke and Hollingsworth’s (2002) Interconnected model: their personal domain (knowledge and beliefs) and their domain of practice.</p> <p>The study was carried out in a context where teachers generally have not participated in any pre-service education. The Ministry of Education curriculum and the approach to teaching and learning can be most accurately described as instrumentalist. The participating teachers work in a group of Egyptian schools where mathematics is taught through the medium of English. Improving the quality of classroom discourse is a priority for the owners of the group.</p> <p>In the lessons before the intervention, questioning consisted predominantly of short, highly scaffolded testing questions asked of the whole class, with children ‘chorusing’ answers. Both teachers mostly reacted to children’s answers to acknowledge whether they were correct or incorrect or sometimes ignored incorrect answers. After the intervention the questioning was much more targeted. Both teachers asked considerably fewer testing questions and scaffolding was greatly reduced. There was qualitatively different discourse in the post-intervention lessons, with both teachers attempting to follow-up incorrect as well as correct answers and involve more children.</p> <p>The study suggests that even a short intervention within this context can encourage growth in beginning teachers’ questioning techniques and highlights possible areas for further research and support. </p>
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