How Does Gershon Use Socratic Question In The Classroom

The author, Gershon, did not describe explicitly how Socratic methods are used in his classroom, however, two ways of using Socratic Method of questioning in a classroom will be considered. First, when it is used by the tutor to facilitate discussion in groups amongst pupils (Socratic seminar) and second, when it is used by the tutor to question an individual for an answer (one-on-one). The following case studies describe each of these methods. Al-Darwish (2012) conducted a case study in Kuwait based on comparing teaching English Language as a second language using both Socratic and traditional questioning. 15 female teachers were asked to carry out the teaching, 7 were newly graduate with experience of how Socratic questioning works and the remaining 8 were teachers with less than 10 years’ experience. The newly graduated teachers aimed at using Socratic questioning to evaluate individual student on what they know and also to communicate with them in the target language. The result shows that there was a little difference in the improvement of the vocabulary and grammar between the two groups. Some of the issues associated with this experiment are the lack of understanding of the target language between pupil and tutor as it makes it really hard for

In regards to Ofsted’s criteria of outstanding teaching, this method will struggle to engage all pupils, especially when it focuses more on able pupils. Garner, D (2000) describes this as vicarious learning and that a student spent 99% of the time listening to other people answering questions. From my experience in a secondary school, student will lose focus when they are not involved in the questioning and answering process. However, when students are questioned to work as a group there is a high level of participation from all