Structure of English Lesson Plan(3)

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Running Head: INFORMATION SEEKING WH-QUESTIONS

Information Seeking Wh-Questions

Claire Ballon, Takako Kobayashi, Lina Shehu

Structure of English

May 8th, 2013

John Hedgcock



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INFORMATION SEEKING WH-QUESTIONS

Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) write that “wh-questions are very important

structures for ESL/EFL students” (p. 241) because of the numerous functions they serve, such as:

when requesting specific information, in social interactions, in seeking explanations and so forth.

However, despite their multitudinous use they are not easily acquired by ESL/EFL students

because of their variety and the inverted and non-inverted structure. The latter oftentimes leads

to errors such as, why you are here? instead of the correct, why are you here? inversion. Another

difficulty that many ESL/EFL students encounter when forming wh-questions is, according to

Cowan (2008), the lack of do-insertion in, for example, the Romance languages. It is not

uncommon for a L2 learner to say, why you said that? because these speakers are not familiar

with the auxiliary do. Therefore, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman suggest that wh-questions

should be taught early, not only for their usefulness, but also because of their complex structure.

Wh-questions are used when the speaker is missing one specific piece of information

(Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999), and formed with an interrogative word: who, whom,

whose, what, which, when, where, how, why. They are also encountered as a lexicalized unit:

How are you? Where are you from? Wh-questions are in turn categorized into three types and,

“according to the purpose they serve” (Cowan, 2008, p. 72): information questions, repeat please

questions, and elaborate please questions. Additionally, wh-questions can be about an object, i.e.

when an object in a declarative sentence is questioned, or a subject, when the subject of a

declarative sentence is questioned. They can appear embedded as in: “I have no idea how much

this sandwich cost,” (Cowan, 2008, p. 72) or formed with a how + adjective or adverb: How

many classes are you taking?

In this linguistic analysis, however, we will focus on wh-questions for the purpose of

gathering information.



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Wh-questions: Form and Meaning

Interrogative words are required to form wh-questions. Like all information seeking

questions, information wh-questions are used to convey that the speaker is missing information

and that they are seeking it from their interlocutor. Information wh-questions “...are used to

request information that has not been previously mentioned,” (Cowan, 2008, p. 72). They differ

from yes/no questions in their higher degree of specificity. According to Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Freeman, “Underlying a wh-question is the assumption that some event/action has taken

place or some state of affairs exists” (1999, p. 242). This is because wh-questions are formed like

statements, where every aspect of the question that is not the interrogative word is already

presupposed to be true. For example, the question What does Takako do for a living? contains

the assumption that Takako does something for a living; it is only the livelihood that is unknown

to the speaker.

The interrogative words used in wh-questions also have meaning embedded within them

that give us more information about the object of inquiry. The embedded meanings of each of

these interrogative words are listed below:

Who: The object of inquiry is a person and also the subject.

Whom: The object of inquiry is a person and also the object.

What: The object of inquiry is a thing or a concept.

Where: The object of inquiry is a location.

When: The object of inquiry is temporal.

Why: The object of inquiry is a reason for something.

Which: The object of inquiry is narrowed down to a smaller category defined by the noun phrase

that follows it.



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How: The object of inquiry is a means by which something was done.

How+ADJ/ADV: The object of inquiry concerns the degree to which something is described by

the adj/adv.

There are two basic types of wh-questions: one is a question associated with the subject,

whereas another is a question related to the predicate (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, &

Finegan, 1999; Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Cowan, 2008).

Wh- Questions of Subject

In the case where the subject of a declarative sentence is questioned, the appropriate

interrogative word replaces the position as follows (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999):

Declarative sentence: Claire wants a cup of tea.

Wh-Question about a subject : Who wants a cup of tea?

Wh- Questions of Object

When questioning the predicate in a declarative sentence that has an auxiliary, a modal,

or copular be there are two phrase structure rules to be applied: wh-movement and subject-aux

inversion (Cowan, 2008). The steps to produce a wh-question are shown below:

Declarative sentence: Lina was watching the movie.

In a declarative sentence, the movie is the direct object in the predicate. What is the

appropriate interrogative word for this object.

Wh-movement : What Lina was watching.

In this step, what is moved to the beginning of the sentence, which refers to wh-movement.

Sub-aux inversion: What was Lina watching?



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After wh-movement is applied, the subject (Lina) and the copula (was) switch positions

with each other, which is defined as sub-aux inversion.

In the case of declarative sentences which do not have an auxiliary, a modal, or copular

be, the steps are slightly different from those identified above.

Declarative sentence: Takako bought a new laptop.

Wh-movement : What Takako bought.

In this case, wh-movement is also applied. Regarding this declarative sentence, what is

the appropriate interrogative word because a new laptop is the direct object.

Operator addition and subject-operator inversion: What did Takako buy?

In this step, two phrase structure rules are involved: operator addition and subject-

operator inversion (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999). Instead of auxiliaries, modals, and

copulas, auxiliary do appears. The auxiliary do is inflected for tense, number, and negation,

whereas the verb changes into the bare infinitive form (Celce-Murica & Larsen-Freeman, 1999;

Cowan, 2008). In this example, the auxiliary do is inflected for past tense; therefore, did appears

and bought becomes buy. Subsequently, subject-operator inversion is applied. Similarly to sub-

aux inversion, this rule switches the position of the subject, Takako, and the auxiliary, did .

In general, wh-questions begin with interrogative words. When questioning the object of

a preposition, however, there are two possible forms (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999;

Cowan, 2008).

Declarative sentence: They went to the park with their parents.

In the declarative sentence above , their parents is the object of the preposition with.

When asking about the object of the preposition, the interrogative word, who, is moved to the

front, which is wh-movement as identified below.



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Wh-question: Who did they go to the park with?

In another pattern, the preposition with is moved to the beginning of the sentence along

with the interrogative word. In this case, who changes into whom as following.

With whom did they go to the park?

Both of the patterns are grammatically correct. The latter is, however, more likely to be used for

formal or academic writing.

Wh-questions: Use

Wh-questions are used for a variety of reasons, and serve multifold social functions.

Many of our fixed formulaic expressions begin with wh-questions such as: What is your name?

and, How are you? Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman (1999) caution on how we would teach

uninverted wh-questions to ESL students, because incorrect use may sound rude or inappropriate.

She details an exchange between an ESL student and the dean, during which the student asked

‘You did what?’ thus offending the dean. This example shows the importance of teaching

students just how wh-questions are used, keeping context and register in mind. Wh-questions are

also used when making suggestions, e.g., Why don’t we see this movie? In the last example, why,

softens the suggestions, and invites the interlocutor to participate in the decision to watch the

movie. One can also say, Let’s see this movie, but the latter excludes the interlocutor from

making the decision.

Other social uses for wh-questions are responding positively to a suggestion: Why not?

challenging another’s opinion: How come? and asking for clarification: What about it? (Celce-

Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999) Given the many social functions served by the use of wh-

questions, it is crucial to present them to students in all the flavors in which they occur. Again,

the use of wh-questions must be taught within context, keeping register and audience in mind.



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Frequent uses of wh-questions are requests for information, e.g. directions to a specific

destination. We should not, however, only teach the formulaic expression: Where is...? but make

sure the students use this type of question appropriately, e.g. Can you please tell me where...is?

or simply begin by asking, excuse me, where is...? Obviously, with a certain degree of social

intimacy we can skip the formalities, but we would much rather have students err on being over

polite/formal than the other way around.

According to Biber et al, (2002), “questions are many times more common in

conversation than in writing” (p. 252) because most questions in news and in academic papers

are for rhetorical purposes. Figure 1 shows a distribution of questions according to field in which

they are used:

Figure 1.

In conversation, who is used in wh-questions whether its syntactic role is as subject,

object or prepositional object (Biber et al, 2002). In fiction, however, whom is still always used

for objects, e.g. whom did you go out with last night? whereas in spoken English the common

construction is who did you go out with last night? What does this mean regarding classroom

application? Certainly, not that we stop teaching whom to students, but that they are made aware

of the difference between spoken and academic English. Thus, our decision to use a corpus stems



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from the desire to develop lessons that take into account language as it is used by native speakers

in authentic, day-to-day situations. Reppen (2010) writes, “Corpora provide a ready resource of

natural, or authentic, texts for language learning.” (p. 4) We feel that it is important for our

students to develop communicative competence, and that includes an awareness that many native

speakers use who for objects instead of whom, while strongly encouraging them to pay attention

to the genre, which means teaching them to use whom in academic writing.

Hedberg et al’s, (2010) research reveals that most wh-questions in spoken English have a

falling intonation. Their corpus data reveal, that “wh-questions occur with a nuclear falling

contour 81% of the time, and with a rising contour 18% of the time.” (p. 4) Their data also

reveals that the wh-questions with a falling intonation are about information on an ongoing topic,

whereas the wh-questions with a rising intonation are associated with request for background

information, and for clarification. This information is particularly valuable for helping students’

build their spoken communicative competence through awareness of conventions of intonation.

Instructional Setting and Learners’ Description

Our lesson plan is developed for ESL junior high-schoolers attending a public school in

Northern California. They are from a mixed background, and of an intermediate level. Prior to

these lessons, students have had practice forming wh-questions for the purpose of gathering

information, and are familiar with the difference between wh-questions focusing on an object,

and wh-questions focusing on a subject. Special care is given to developing lessons that are

appropriate to not only students’ level of English, but are also appropriate to their age. Brown,

(2007) writes “contextual considerations in language teaching” must take into account “the

learner variable of age” (p. 100). He then lays out several principles that must guide teachers

when teaching teens such as, avoiding embarrassment of students at all costs, affirming each



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person’s talents and strengths, de-emphasizing competition and encouraging small-group work

(p. 106).

The term intermediate-level is indeed vague, and every teacher knows that within each

classroom students fall anywhere along a continuum of a beginner, intermediate or advanced

level. Yet, despite the potential pitfalls of generalizing variability, Brown suggests that in an

intermediate-level classroom, learner-centered work is possible for “more sustained lengths of

time,” that a teacher’s oral production must be articulate but at a natural pace, and that there

should be emphasis on the authenticity of language and promotion of fluency alongside accuracy

(p. 125).

Our lesson has been developed keeping not only the above in mind, but the context in

which our lessons are delivered. Nassaji & Fotos write that the “essential function of grammar is

its pragmatic meaning in context.” (p. 49) After all, wh-questions cannot be treated as an isolated

grammatical feature, but a useful tool for gathering information, and one, which takes into

account students’ interest and socio-cultural milieu.

Lesson Rationale

The focal point of our lesson is a focused task that attempts to elicit wh-question

production. Ellis (2010) emphasizes several main criteria for a task, namely:

1. There is primary focus on meaning.

2. The students choose the linguistic and nonlinguistic resources needed to complete the

task.

3. The task should lead to real-world processes of language use.

4. Successful performance of the task is determined by whether the students have achieved

the intended communicative outcome. (p. 35)



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In our information gap activity, students will investigate a crime by interviewing a fellow

student who is a witness to said crime. The purpose of this task focuses on meaning, because the

focus of the students is to discover more specific information about a crime. The task is also

focused in nature because the task is designed to specifically elicit wh-questions from the

‘detectives’ in order to obtain more specific information about the incident. However, the

students will not be provided with a script, and will be free to choose from their repertoire of

linguistics resources to accomplish their goal. Finally, the success of the activity is determined

by whether they can identify information about the perpetrator of a crime.

Our stimuli for the information gap activity are two videos of ‘crimes’ being committed

that the students playing the role of witness will watch before being interviewed by their partners.

Media such as videos “can help students process information and free the teacher from excessive

explanation, and they can provide the contextualization and a solid point of departure for

classroom activities” (Brinton, p. 461). We felt that a use of visual wordless media would be

more effective than a written description of a crime, as it provides the students with a clear

context but leaves the task of describing that context on their shoulders. This method of

introducing the task’s context will remove the chance that students will simply reword a

description of events.

In our design of this lesson plan, we were also concerned with providing opportunities for

collaborative dialogue. According to Swain (2000), “when a collaborative effort is being made

by participants in an activity, their speaking (or writing) mediates this effort. As each participant

speaks, their ‘saying’ becomes ‘what they said’, providing an object for reflection,” (2000, p.

113). Thus, we decided to use a post-task activity to further the students’ opportunities for

‘noticing’ their own linguistic forms in a setting where they can engage in collaborative dialogue.



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To this end, we intend for students to record their discussion during the information gap activity.

Then, during the post activity, they will listen to their recorded discussion, make a list of the wh-

questions the produced, and then discuss whether their questions were well formed. We hope that

this post-task will allow the students to communicate about language and reflect on their

language production.



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APPENDIX A

Witness Interview Transcript

Detective Murphy: Have a seat, Mr. Jacobs, and please state your name and address for the

record.

Charley Jacobs: Thank you. I'm Charley Jacobs and I live at 1904 Molly Barr Road.

Detective Murphy: That's here in Oxford?

Charley Jacobs: Yes, ma’am, sure is.

Detective Murphy: What is your occupation, Charley?

Charley Jacobs: I do construction work, renovating and the like.

Detective Murphy: Who is your employer?

Charley Jacobs: I work for Grantham Construction.

Detective Armstrong: How long have you worked there?

Charley Jacobs: For about 15 years now. My father worked for old man Grantham, Sonny. Dad

put in a good word for me, and they hired me. All I know I was taught by my dad. No special

schooling or anything. Sonny's boys, Brad and Barry, are great too. They pretty much run the

company now.

Detective Armstrong: Mr. Jacobs, tell me about the job you are doing right now.

Charley Jacobs: Well, we're kind of at a standstill at the moment. We're doing some renovation

work at the old Physical Plant Shop and Stores at the university.

Detective Armstrong: A standstill? Why is that?



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Charley Jacobs: Well, me and a couple of the guys were taking a break and having a small snack.

I was done eating, so I went and walked over to a demo area that we had done earlier, and that's

when I noticed that hidden room.

Detective Armstrong: You were just walking by and you happened to see it?

Charley Jacobs: Well, I mean, I kind of leaned up against the wall a little bit and it kinda gave.

So when I turned around, that's when, you know, I realized that it wasn't a wall at all. It was

actually a door, like a secret door. You just couldn't see it.

Detective Armstrong: So you were walking around by yourself in a place where y'all had been

demoing walls, and you just happened to lean up against one?

Charley Jacobs: Yeah. So?

Detective Armstrong: You didn't leave anything out of that story?

Charley Jacobs: No. What're you talking about?

Detective Armstrong: We saw some cigarette butts on the floor over there. You wouldn't know

anything about that, would you?

Charley Jacobs: All right, yeah. So you busted me smoking in an area that I wasn't supposed to.

So what?

Detective Armstrong: So what were you really doing when you found the room?

Charley Jacobs: All right. I was trying to get my lighter out of my pocket without dropping a

bunch of stuff on the floor. And that's when I fell against the wall and it gave in and I landed on

my ass. That's when I realized that, you know, there's a hidden room back there.

Detective Murphy: Did you go inside the room?

Charley Jacobs: No. Yeah. Yes, I did.

Detective Armstrong: Did you or not?



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Charley Jacobs: I did. I mean, I took a couple steps in. And then the door closed behind me, and

that's when I got this really bad feeling. You know, it was like the hair on the back of my neck

and arms just kind of like stood straight up. You know, it was like--it was like a really creepy,

creepy feeling, like something really bad had happened in there.

Detective Armstrong: Did you touch anything in the room?

Charley Jacobs: No! No. But I noticed the writing on the back of the door. It said, "I died here.

R B killed me." There was something else underneath that, but I wasn’t about to stick around and

figure out what it was. I mean, so I got out of there as fast as I could. I closed the door and made

sure that nobody else got in there until the cops got there.

Detective Murphy: How did the other workers react to the news of the hidden room?

Charley Jacobs: Well, I had to yell for them. Carl said, "You look white as a sheet." But he

promised me that he wouldn't let anyone in that room while I went out and called 911. So I

stepped outside, and I couldn't get a signal inside for some reason. Oh, and Jack was out with me.

Detective Armstrong: What made you think the police needed to know about this room?

Charley Jacobs: Just the feeling--like the writing on the back of the door wasn't enough? I mean,

I could just tell something creepy had happened in there. Something really bad had happened.

That's why you're talking to me, isn't it?

Detective Murphy: We are looking into it.

Detective Armstrong : Do you know if that room was on any blueprints or floor plans of the

building?

Charley Jacobs: No, it wasn't on any of the plans that we had.

Detective Murphy: Thank you for your time, Mr. Jacobs.

Charley Jacobs: Thank you. When you find out what went down in there, will you let me know?



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Detective Murphy: We can't do that. If something bad happened, it'll probably be on the news or

in the papers.

Charley Jacobs: OK, I'll check the papers then. Bye.

SOURCE: http://www.crimescene.com/currentcase/index.php/previous-cases-1473587461/the-

hidden-room-case/interviews-hroom/1144-interview-charley-jacobs-found-room



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APPENDIX B

SALINAS POLICE DEPARTMENT

WITNESS INTERVIEW REPORT

Officer Name:

Witness Name:

Location of

Crime:

Time of Crime:

Nature of

Crime:

Suspect(s)

Description(e.g.; age,

gender,

clothing):

Other details

(e.g.;

suspected



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reason for

crime, etc.):

APPENDIX C

Video of a crime 1

http://youtu.be/9TnEQ5cHxS0

Video of a crime 2

http://youtu.be/N3B5zoU2WVg



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REFERENCES

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of

spoken and written English. London: Longman.

Brinton, D. 2001. The use of media in language teaching. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching

English as a second or foreign language. (3rd ed.) (pp. 459-476). Boston: Heinle.

Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd

ed.). White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley Longman.

Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s

course (2nd ed.). Boston: Henle/Cengage.

Cowan, R. (2008). The teacher’s grammar of English: A course book and reference guide. New

york: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, R. (2010). Second language acquisition research and language-teaching materials. In N.

Harwood (Ed.). English language teaching materials. New York: Cambridge University

Press.

Hedberg, N., Sosa, J.M., Görgülü, E., & Mameni, M. (2010). The prosody and meaning of wh-

questions in American English. Retrieved from

http://www.sfu.ca/~hedberg/Hed_Sos_Gor_Mam_2010.pdf

Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2011). Teaching grammar in second language classrooms: Integrating

form-focused instruction in communicative context. New York: Routledge.

Reppen, R. (2010). Using corpora in the language classroom. New York: Cambridge University

Press.



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Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through

collaborative dialogue. In J.P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language

learning . London: Oxford University Press.

Documents

Structure of English Lesson Plan(3)