旁征博引（二）：关于CCQ（Concept Checking Questions）
2013-07-14 23:10阅读：
Checking Understanding
原文地址：http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/checking-understanding
摘录原因：最近听课中发现不少老师总是忽略了这个环节，即新知之后并没有去确认娃娃们是否真的理解新知的含义，如果给孩子一个有偏差的意义还不如不讲。想起CELTYL
Tutor David 
，告诫我们千万不要问孩子：Do you
understand？因为他们的答案肯定除了沉默就是Yes！也想起前几周听赛课，有一位老师在万般解释famous这个单词，底下学生还是一头雾水时，他无奈地说了一句很经典的话：You
know，“famous” means famous。。。 
）
In a standard
language focus lesson following a PPP (present, practise, produce)
or similar format, the target language (structure or vocabulary) is
normally presented in context, then isolated and analysed. Analysis
of the language consists of two sub-stages, often known as
highlighting and concept checking.
Highlighting is taking the model sentence and
showing, telling or eliciting what the problems are in terms of
form, function, and phonology.
Concept checking is
checking the understanding of difficult aspects of the target
structure in terms of function and meaning. Concept checking is
vital, since learners must fully understand the structure before
any intensive practice of form and phonology is carried out.
- Ways of checking understanding
- Learning to construct concept questions
Ways of checking
understanding
Concept checking is normally
achieved by the use of a set of questions designed to ensure
comprehension of the target language, raise awareness of its
problems, and to indicate to the teacher that the learners have
fully understood.
The question '
Do you understand?', or the
remark '
OK?' do not achieve any of these
aims, and are unlikely to receive a truthful answer from all the
learners. Concept questions are one way of checking understanding,
but are often used in combination with other methods, often visual,
depending on the nature of the target language involved. Here are
some other methods:
- Time lines to establish tenses. Time lines are not a substitute
for concept questions.
- Truth lines to establish probability e.g. must be / could be /
might be / can't be.
- Reality lines to establish degree of reality or imagination
e.g. conditional sentences
- Clines to show grades or scales e.g. yellow-amber-orange,
frequency adverbs
- Pictures to distinguish between similar objects e.g. cup / mug,
lane/ road / highway
- Discrimination to check function and register e.g. Do I say
'hey!' to my boss?
- Negative checking e.g. Do I say 'I were'?
- Translation (where appropriate and possible).
- Extensions to consolidate understanding. Homework often reveals
lack of understanding, as do guided practice exercises.
（非常完整的列出来可以确认概念的方法，每一项都是一个课题值得去深入挖掘，后续再找文）
Concept
questions
Concept questions themselves are often
difficult to construct since they involve clarifying function and
meaning using simple language but not the target language
itself.
（所以那位说 famous means famous
就是犯了这个大忌了，use simple language but not the target language itself
）
Apart from their classroom value, thinking of good questions also
helps inexperienced teachers to understand the complexities of
form, function and meaning, and to practise grading their language.
Some basic tips for good concept questions are:
- Make sure the questions are simple and that no difficult
language is required to answer the question. Yes/no questions,
either/or questions and simple 'wh' questions are particularly
effective
- Don't use the new (target) grammar in your questions
- Don't use unfamiliar vocabulary
- Bring out basic concepts such as 'time' and 'tense' in your
questions
- Use as many questions as possible to check various aspects of
the language and to cover as many learners as possible.
Some
examples
These examples show how concept questions
could be used to help differentiate between the main functions of
the present simple and present continuous.
(非常棒的例子！想当年天天在那里想破头这些句子，当然针对小小孩的经常用其他方式就可以concept
checking了，比如图片、实物等等。)
Target sentence:
Look!
They're painting the wall
Checking questions
|
|
| Is it happening now? |
Yes |
Can you see it?
|
Yes |
| Is the painting finished? |
No |
| Are they painting now? |
Yes |
Is this the past, present or future?
|
Present
|
Target sentence:
She's a
shop assistant. She works in a shop
| Checking questions |
|
| Has she got a job? |
Yes |
| Is she working now |
Don't know |
| Does she work there every day? |
Yes |
Is this the past, present or future?
|
Present, but also past and probably future. |
This example shows how concept questions can be used to clarify the
meaning of more complex structures:
Target sentence:
If I
won the lottery, I'd buy a new car
Checking questions
|
|
| Have I won the lottery? |
No |
Am I going to win the lottery?
|
Probably not
|
| Am I going to buy a new car? |
Probably not |
| Has he got a lottery ticket? |
Maybe |
Is this real, or imaginary?
|
Imaginary |
Learning to construct concept
questions
（多种形式的ccq问题提问方式，值得收藏于练习）
One way of beginning to think about concept
questions is to break the meaning of a word or structure into
components. A vocabulary item might be diagramatically represented.
Here is an example of the concepts included in the word
'bed-sit'
Questions may be of different types:
- Yes/no questions. 'Is a bed-sit a
room?', 'Are there other rooms in the
house?', 'Can you sleep in it?'.
- 50/50 chance questions. 'Is it a room or a
building?', 'Is it cheap or
expensive?', 'Do you buy it or pay money
every week or month?'
- Information questions. 'Who lives in it?', 'How
many people live in it?'
- Discrimination questions. 'Do you only sleep in
it?', 'Can you cook a meal in it?', 'Is
it the same as a flat?'
- Shared experience questions. 'Is
there a bed-sit in this building?'
- Life experience/culture questions. 'Have you ever
lived in a bed-sit?' 'Are there bed-sits
in your city/country?'
- Remember that the answers
'sometimes', 'it
depends' and 'I don't
know' can tell you as much as
'yes' or
'no'.
Another way of constructing concept questions is by writing a
sentence containing all the elements of the concept, from which
questions can be formed. This is a useful method when
distinguishing between two functions of the same structure,
particularly where those functions would be expressed by different
forms or tenses in other languages. For example:
- 'He's been eating garlic.'
Concept: He isn't eating garlic now, and I didn't see him
eating it, but I know he was eating garlic because I can smell
it.
- 'Harry's been working here for two years.'
Concept: He started working here two years ago, he's still
working here, and he'll probably continue working here.
（作为教师先写出对句型概念理解，再设计问题，会更加全面和容易。）
Conclusion
The value
of concept questions should not be underestimated, but many
teachers either forget to use them or find them difficult to
construct. Teachers are often satisfied that the learners 'seem to
understand' on the basis of their performance in practice
exercises. A few important points to remember are:
- Concept questions are particularly valuable after the
presentation and explanation of an item, and may be asked at any
stage during a lesson. They are valuable after guided practice,
particularly if the learners seem not to have grasped the target
language fully, and at the end of a lesson, as a final check and
review.
- Time lines and other devices are not substitutes for concept
questions. They are aids to explanation, but do not necessarily
check understanding. Concept questions, however, may be used to
elicit a timeline from the learners.
- Concept questions are particularly valuable where a concept
does not exist, or is different in the mother tongue (e.g. the
perfect aspect, ways of expressing the future), and where a
language item is culturally loaded as in the case of the word
'subway' which has very different meanings in British and American
English. In such cases, concept questions often form part of the
initial teaching process.
- Concept questions are also useful for raising awareness of
association and connotation, and for drawing attention to
collocations and fixed expressions. They are also good listening
practice for learners, and can even lead on to class activities
such as guessing games in which the learners write their own
questions.
- The teacher does not have to concept check every new item. In
many cases, function and meaning are clear because the language has
been presented in a meaningful context.
- When learners perform poorly in guided or less guided practice,
it is often because they are not clear about the function or
meaning of the target language. This may well be because the
teacher has asked 'do you understand?' or 'is that clear' rather
than good concept questions.
