The ZPD Perspective on Teachers' Question-Answer Strategies In Mathematics Classroom

As teaching methods continue to change, the ability of students to think and solve problems autonomously has become one of the main focuses of teaching, and therefore teachers' question answering strategies have become essential. Many researchers have raised the importance of the zone of proximal development theory in question answer strategies, but few have summarized the specific type of question-answer strategies need to be used in different scenarios. For this reason, this paper will research on teacher question-answer strategies in mathematics classrooms from the perspective of ZPD. A case study was conducted based on two videos of mathematics class, and qualitative analysis was conducted through conversation analysis transcript. Research shows that the selection of question-answer strategies is related to identifying the zone of proximal development of students. If students’ questions are in their ZPD, then teacher will allow learners to explore the solution on their own and will follow up by asking more questions to students. On the other hand, answers should be provided directly for removing meaningless barriers that restricts discovery. Having different question-answer strategies is to balance learners’ cost of learning in the discovery process. This will enhance students to be autonomous learners by reaching achievable learning goals at potential developmental levels.