Display vs. Open-ended Questions Debate
“teachers in most schools around the world use many more display questions than open-ended questions. This might be due in part to the fact that most standardized tests are made up of right-or-wrong (display) questions that cover discrete pieces of knowledge and low-level skills.”
I feel compelled to critique this quote. Though I don’t completely agree with the philosophy of standardized tests and am not fond of them myself, answers for standardized tests are less arguable since they require relatively more objective answers than open-ended questions. This is why sometimes students fond of science do not particularly enjoy English exams because “it’s too open-ended” (I’m trained in the humanities, by the way) and the marking is “too subjective”. Of course, this is in the context of examination (written work). In the context of classroom academic oral discussion, I would imagine that, for the sake of the overall smoothness of the lesson, the ratio of display to open-ended questions would still result in a number greater than 1. While I agree and believe that teachers need to help students develop critical thinking skills, I have a hard time imagining that a class would go well when students are all over the place with their answers for open-ended questions. This may sound extreme, but for discussions about open-ended questions to go well the teacher would have to be experienced, have strong communication skills and excellent skills in managing different points of view. Also, I can picture a class of academically driven and intellectually motivated elite students who want to go to university after high school responding rapidly to open-ended questions…but what about those students who are not used to open-ended questions? What if answering open-ended questions is not the way they learn? What about those who are already struggling with understanding “discrete pieces of knowledge” and mastering what the author calls “low-level skills”? After all, a high school classroom is not a university seminar. However, I wonder if open-ended questions could be left for students to discuss and contemplate near the end of a lesson. In sum, the quantity of open-ended questions the teacher asks the class would depend on the language and academic level of the students, as well as cultural factors.
For some ELLs, as I mentioned in the last post, arguing and taking a side on an issue may not be something they are used to doing in the culture they came from, and so it may be the case that open-ended questions would confuse them. Furthermore, giving too many open-ended questions potentially threatens the teacher’s authority (I understand for some teachers this may not be an issue, as they see a different kind of power dynamics between the teacher and the student). In some cultures, if the teacher asks a lot of open-ended questions, the student may doubt the teacher’s competence. Hence, an appropriate quantity of open-ended questions is important.
In any case, I want to know your perspective on the debate of display vs. open-ended questions. Would you be, as a teacher candidate, comfortable giving open-ended questions in class and to what extent would you give them? What is the ratio of display and open-ended questions and where do we find the balance? Does your answer vary for different disciplines?