Questioning strategies in discourse analysis assessment

Abstract

The first step in the successful elaboration of discourse analysis assessment is to ensure that the foreign language teacher carefully conceives the questions and understands what should be asked. Many students spend their time writing around a question by failing to grasp immediately the core of the assessment. They are consequently unable to perceive what the instructor wants to discuss. Therefore, a large spectrum of questions in discourse analysis assessment may intimidate the students simply because of the language in which they are presented. The result in such cases is usually an aimless rambling in an answer filled with vacuous words and memorized facts. To propose a remedy to this kind of problem, the present work is based upon the hypothesis that extols the assessment of both content knowledge and language skills in discourse analysis. A quantitative research methodology has been adopted, and a survey questionnaire has been used as a research tool. Moreover, the main objective of this research work is to provide a practical procedure that would train FL students to present a critical assessment founded on the knowledge which they have acquired, not memorized, from the lectures and readings, about the prior indispensability of native and target culture contributions.

Keywords: questioning strategies; discourse analysis; assessment; language skills.