Annastasia Permatasari 11410019

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In life, questions have very important role for people. Every day, every time, and

everywhere, people ask questions to get information that they want to know. McKenzie, as

cited in Schuster and Anderson (2005, p.1) stated that question may be one of the most

powerful technologies invented by humans. Even though question require no batteries and

need not be plugged into the wall, questions are tools which help us make up our minds,

solve problems, and make decisions.

In education world questions also have important role. Questions play an important

role in the process of teaching and learning because students’ achievement and level of

engagement depend on the types of questions which are formulated and used by the teacher

in a classroom (Kerry, 2002, p.65). Asking question to the students can make the students

more understand and encourage problem solving as described by Wragg and Brown (2001,

p.6) other reason for asking question are to stimulate recall, to deepen understanding, to

develop imagination and to encourage problem solving. Many teachers believe that using

question in an effective way in terms of developing communication between teacher and

student.

In order to analyze the types and dimensions of questions delivered by teacher in

English classroom, the writer will used the theory of Wragg and Brown (2001). According to

Wragg and Brown (2001, pp. 16 – 22), there are three types of questions, namely: conceptual

questions, empirical questions, and value questions, and there are four dimensions of

questions, namely: the narrow/board (often referred to as the ‘close/open’) dimension, the

observation / recall / thought dimension, the confused / clear dimension, and the

encouraging/threatening dimension.

In this study, the writer will like to observe the types and dimensions of questions

related to the topic discussed by English teacher in Elementary School level. There is a

reason the writer chooses Elementary School level, according to Hyman (1979) asking

questions also gives good result if they are given to children. Questions make students,

especially children; participate in the class because they attract students’ attention.

The writer will like to conduct her research in Santo Carolus Elementary School in

Surabaya. There are two reasons the writer choose this school. First, this school has a lot of

achievement both in academic field and in non academic field, such as in 2011 the first

winner of National Competition Kulintang elementary, competition Winner Kulintang

elementary level in East Java, and winner of National Education Festival Kulintang

elementary level and the third winner in story telling competition held by Santo Joseph

Junior High school in February 20, 2014. Second this school having an ’A’ in accreditation

since 1999 is another fact which makes this school become one of the famous schools in

Surabaya district.

This school has eighteen classes starting from the first grade until sixth grade. There

are three classes for the first grade (1A - C), the second grade (2A – C), the third grade (3A –

C), the fourth grade (4A – C), the fifth grade (5A – C), and the sixth grade (6A – C). Each

class consists of 35 – 40 students. In this school the writer will conduct her observation only

from English subject.

The writer is not choosing every grade of English class. Only grade fourth, fifth, and

sixth are selected. It is because the teacher only teach English subject in class fourth, fifth,

and sixth. The teacher use the handbook entitled ‘English for Real Communication’,

authorized by Slivester Goridus Suku, published by Grasindo in 2010. Another reason is

because the writer wants to see the similarities and differences types and dimensions of

questions delivered by teacher in each class.

There is only one English teacher that teaches from the fourth until sixth grade. She

graduated from private college in Surabaya and started to teach in Santo Carolus Elementary

school in 2002.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study was done to find out the types and dimensions of questions related to the

topic discussed by English teacher of Santo Carolus Elementary School. Therefore, the

research questions are:

1. What are types of questions delivered by English teacher on fourth, fifth, and

sixth grades?

2. What are dimensions of questions delivered by English teacher on fourth, fifth,

and sixth grades?

3. What are the similarities and / or the differences of types and dimensions of

questions delivered by English teacher on fourth, fifth, and sixth grades?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

By conducting this research, the writer will identify the types and dimensions of

questions delivered by English teacher on fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. In addition, she will

find out the similarities and differences between types and dimensions of question delivered

by English teacher on fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.

1.4 Significance of the Study

By doing this research, the writer hopes that the findings of this research will give a

contribution other students of English Department especially those who major in English

Education Business if they want to do the further study of types and dimensions of questions.

This research is also important for teacher, so he or she can get some insight about different

kinds of types and dimensions of questions used by English teacher in teaching Elementary

school student.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

This scope of this study is questioning in the primary school on types and dimensions

of questions delivered by English teacher in English classroom. This study is limited to the

questions related to the topic discussed by English teacher in class fourth, fifth, and sixth in

Santo Carolus Elementary school. The class consists of 35 – 40 students. The data will

collect through classroom observation in September 2014. The classroom will be conducted

six times. The first two weeks observation will be conducted in class fourth, the second two

weeks observation will be conducted in class fifth, and the third two weeks observation will

be conducted in class sixth. Each meeting observation will be conducted for 2 hours.

1.6 Definition of the Key Terms

There are key terms which are essential in this study and the definition given below

are intended to help the reader to understand the terms:

Type of question:

“Kinds of questions that teacher ask their pupils and examine how those questions

may be classified” (Wragg and Brown, 2001, p. 15)

Dimension of question:

“Dimension that teachers have found useful when reflecting on the range and

nature of questions that they ask for their pupils” (Wragg and Brown, 2001, p. 20)

1.7 Organization of the Study

This study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is about introduction which

consists of background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study,

significance of the study, scope and limitation, definition of key terms, and organization of

the study. The second chapter is about the review of related literature, which consists of the

review of the related theories and studies. The third chapter is about the methods in which the

writer presents the approach of the study, data collection, and data analysis. The fourth

chapter is about the findings and discussion. The last chapter will give an overall summary of

this research. The writer also includes the bibliography and appendices.