From Checking for Understanding to Pressing for Reasoning: High School Mathematics Teachers’ Questioning Repertoires
Keywords:
classroom discourse; dialogic teaching; mathematics questioning; reasoning; secondary mathematics; teacher practicesAbstract
This study examined how high school mathematics teachers plan and use questions to support both procedural understanding and mathematical reasoning. Questioning plays an important role in helping students explain ideas, justify steps, and connect concepts; yet many classrooms still rely on short answer-based questions. Guided by Dialogic Teaching Theory and an interpretivist perspective, this study explored how teachers plan questions and how they adjust them during instruction. A qualitative multiple case study design was employed, and through purposive sampling, four high school mathematics teachers from a large public school district in central Florida participated. Data were collected through individual open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted both remotely and in person. The study found that teachers planned both procedural and reasoning questions but continued to rely heavily on spontaneous questioning during instruction to respond to student thinking. Teachers also used structured routines and real-time adaptations to engage learners and better understand their reasoning. Based on these findings, the study recommends professional development that strengthens reasoning-based questioning, supports teachers in anticipating common errors, and promotes equitable participation routines. These results show that questioning is a flexible and deliberate practice shaped by teacher intentions, curriculum expectations, and emerging student ideas. The study offers insight into how questioning can support deeper mathematical thinking and how schools can help teachers build stronger questioning repertoires.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.4.13
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