Methods of Teaching

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ASSOCIATE DEGREE IN EDUCATION/B.ED. (HONS) ELEMENTARY
Handout 7, Unit 4
Recitation and Discussion Require 
Different Questions
Questions are a very common event in primary school classrooms. Observers in 
primary schools in some English-speaking countries have counted as many as 84 
questions, most asked by teachers, in one hour. There are estimates that as many as 
1000 questions may be asked in primary school classrooms in the course of one day! 
Some of these questions are procedural, such as ‘Did everyone bring their homework 
back to school this morning?’ However, most questions occur in lessons with learning 
goals as one of two types of teaching methods: recitation and discussion. 
You have already studied discussion as a teaching method. The purpose here is to 
contrast discussion with recitation. At first glance the two methods look quite simi-
lar – both involve talk between a teacher and students. But recitation and discussion 
have different learning goals and use different types of questions. Both types of talk 
between and among a teacher and students have their place in classrooms.
Recitation
Recitation is a way of finding out what students know. The talk between a teacher and 
students is more like a quiz show than a conversation. The teacher asks a question and 
calls upon one student to answer. The teacher evaluates the answer and asks another 
question. Here is an example of a recitation from a fourth grade class in which 
students are studying Androcles and the Lion, the story of an escaped slave who earned 
a lion’s gratitude for removing a large thorn from one of the lion’s paws:
Teacher:
OK, let’s start from the beginning. What is the slave’s name?
Student 1:
Androcles?
Teacher:
Right. Now how was Androcles treated by his master?
Student 2:
Cruelly.