EXAMINING QUESTIONING AND DISCOURSE PATTERNS IN STEM CLASSROOMS DURING TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMME: A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH

ABSTRACT

The study examined pre-service teachers’ questioning and discourse patterns in STEM classrooms and how their perceived agency influence their classroom instruction. A grounded theory approach was employed as the research design. Participants involved 30 pre-service teachers from Sokoto State University who enrolled in teacher training programme in the 2019/2020 academic session. In consistent with grounded theory, participants were selected using purposive and theoretical sampling techniques. Data sources include 40 video-taped classroom sessions, field notes, lesson plans and interview protocol. Four research questions guided the study, resulting to four theoretical propositions: (1) two interrelated interaction patterns (IRF_E and IRF_D) characterized STEM classrooms, and these patterns were determined by specific activities involved in the classroom; (2) few elicitation techniques were utilized by pre-service teachers; the prevalence of these techniques depends on students’ level and objectives to be achieved; (3) pre-service teachers are more selective in the use feedback strategies to drive STEM classroom, depending on classroom culture; (4) pre-service teachers are more concerned with classroom management and behavior control than teaching method; they also display more personal qualities than teaching skills; and their classroom culture is more of teacher-directed and discipline-defined. The study recommends among other things the need to engage pre-service teachers in intensive micro teaching programme before they are sent to schools.

Keywords: Classroom Discourse; Questioning; Patterns; Pre-service Teachers; STEM