浅谈初中英语课堂中的提问式教学研究

论文总字数：32968字

摘 要

多年来，提问式教学得到了广泛地研究。关于提问教学，专家在大学研究的较多；而在初中研究的很少。在初中的英语教学中，提问式教学占有较大比重，同时它也是大多数教师普遍关心的问题。提问是课堂教学的一种重要技能,对促进师生间的交流有直接的影响。

本文以初中提问教学现状的研究为基础，分析了初中提问教学的分类及其作用。本研究还提出了实际的建议，探讨如何有效地提出问题。初中英语课堂中的教学提问是课堂活动中重要的部分之一，所以教师要多问学生问题，并注意问问题的角度。

关键词：有效提问；分类；策略

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. English Classroom Questioning in Secondary Schools 3

3.1 The definitions of questioning 3

3.2 The classifications of classroom questioning in secondary schools 4

3.3 The functions of classroom questioning 6

3.4 The current situation of classroom questioning in secondary schools 9

4. Strategies of Classroom Questioning in Secondary Schools 9

4.1 Questioning design 9

4.2 Questioning mode 10

4.3 Repeating the questions 11

4.4 Wait-time 11

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

As the economy rapidly develops, the various fields of production and social life have put forward different demands on talents. In our traditional English teaching, teachers spend most of class time imparting knowledge; while there is little time left for students to express their thoughts. Students may do well in writing in English, but they don’t understand how to express their inner thoughts in English. In class, the students have to answer some questions proposed by the teacher. Though a number of questions are asked in the classroom, there are some problems. For example, it’s hard to grasp the wait time; the difficulties of questions are very difficult to control: some questions are too easy or too difficult to be asked. These situations can decrease students’ study enthusiasm. In this case, this teaching mode should be changed. Asking and answering questions in English teaching are the most effective bilateral activities between teachers and students. They are very crucial to the classroom.

Einstein acclaims, “It’s more important to ask questions than to solve them.” Professor Li Zhengdao states, “The most important thing is to ask questions.” Similarly, in the classroom teaching, only when the questions are raised can the class proceed. In China, Wang Liying analyzes the functions and classifications of questioning in English teaching. The studies on classroom questioning in English classroom teaching have been of very significance. Consequently, questioning is imperative for teachers to master the art of classroom questioning.

Students have little idea of practicing English after class except for the homework assigned by teachers. In order to improve the using frequency of English, it is necessary for teachers to provide some opportunities for students to practice their oral communication. Appropriate questioning plays an irreplaceable role in focusing on students’ attention and exercising students’ brains and increase the chance to language usage. For these reasons, it’s vital to examine teachers’ questioning in secondary school.

Though questioning has been widespread analyzed and used in English classroom teaching, some problems still exist all the same. For instance, teachers do not accurately lay emphasis on the angles of questions and properly arrange the order of questions. People need to do deeper research about such a topic to provide more practical suggestions on how questions are asked effectively. This paper is expected to discuss some varieties of questioning and effective strategies in modern English classroom. Therefore, it’s beneficial for an English teacher to understand the arts of classroom questioning.

The whole dissertation is made up of five parts. The first part is a general introduction of the whole study. The author states the importance of classroom questioning and the significance of the study. The second part is mainly about the previous studies on question-answer teaching. The third part of the thesis presents a study of classroom questioning on the foundation of the present situation in secondary schools, including definitions, categories and functions of classroom questioning. The fourth part, this dissertation puts forward some strategies on how questions are asked effectively. The last part is the conclusion where the results are summarized and some suggestions are given based on the study.

2. Literature Review

Chinese and Western scholars have stressed the significance of classroom questioning all the time. The studies on questioning can be traced back to ancient times. For example, the Master said, “I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson” (Legge 27). Confucius laid more emphasis on enlightening students and stimulating students’ initiative. The teachings of Confucius on his disciples were carried out through the questions and answers of the teachers, which formed the unique teaching methods of Confucianism. Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and educator, firstly proposed the concept of Midwifery or The Socrates method. This teaching method had a great impact on later teaching thoughts. This was the starting point of western heuristic teaching. Theoretically, Bakhtin, a German literary theorist, first put forward the concept of ‘dialogue’. “Dialogue” refers to that two participants or a group of people communicate and discuss interactively. “Without dialogue, there is no communication; without communication, there can be no true education.” (Paulo 92) Communication and interaction between teachers and students account for a large proportion in class. Classroom questioning is an integral ingredient of English teaching. Whether in the traditional classroom or in the modern classroom, questioning is a good way that teachers tend to use in the classroom. Questioning is always the core element of classroom teaching activities. The teacher raises a great number of questions in each class. Studies have shown that the number of teachers’ questions is about one hundred. Teachers use these questions to check the basic comprehend of the content, arouse interests, promote students’ thinking and examine students’ participation in class. Nowadays, the function of questioning improves significantly in English teaching.

The compulsory education English curriculum standard points out, “The focus of Curriculum Reform is to change the situation that teachers play a leading role and overlook the main role of students in the classroom.” It emphasizes interactive classroom teaching and realizes communication, interaction and dialogue between teachers and students. Hence, teachers should change the traditional model and adapt to the transformation of the roles. Questioning isn’t separated from classroom teaching. Classroom questioning requires that teachers should be equipped with higher questioning skills. As one of the basic skills of a teacher, it’s very fundamental for teachers to design appropriate classroom questioning. Also, it is vital for class. There is no doubt that teachers should improve the arts of classroom questioning.

3. English Classroom Questioning in Secondary Schools

3.1 The definitions of questioning

Classroom questioning has been extensively studied in recent years. Specialists and scholars have proposed several opinions on this topic. Hence, they define the word “question” in several alternative ways. According to Wikipedia, “quaere” literally means “inquire” or “query”. “Conquest”, “acquire” and “require” which contain the meaning to get information from others share the same root with “question”. According to Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, a question is something that you say or write in order to ask a person about something. This word “questioning” originally evolved from the Latin word “quaere” which is meant to ask or seek. Similarly, “questioning means a sentence or phrase that asks for information.” (Zhu 91) For example, what subjects do you learn every day? Can you tell me the names of the subjects? Do you have any other attitudes towards this matter? In English teaching, these questions are asked by the teacher to test students’ understanding of what they have learned in class. The arrangements of questions are from easy to difficult. And it can inspire students’ creative thinking. “In English language teaching, classroom questioning is a widely applied skill. Meanwhile, it is an important means of training students’ listening, speaking ability and good verbal expression” (Wang 215). According to Slint G Calhan (an American pedagogy expert), classroom questioning is a kind of control methods, which can not only attract students’ attention to class and improve the classroom teaching proficiency, but also help students to attain the given goals. In English teaching, teachers first put forward questions about the content, and then students can express their inner thoughts by answering questions. Teachers can examine students’ performance from the answers. Therefore, questioning can be regarded as a major interaction between teachers and students.

3.2 The classifications of classroom questioning in secondary schools

Classroom interaction mainly put into effect through questioning. “The types of questioning should be based on different knowledge levels.” (Qiu 44) Many of scholars propose different classifications from different perspectives.

3.2.1 Previous studies on questioning categories

Long and Sato divided questions into two types: display questions and referential questions.

Display questions are the questions that have the only correct answer or teachers have grasped the answers. For instance, who is the fattest of her class? It is a very important tool and helps teachers to check students’ understanding.

Referential questions, teachers don’t know the given answer. For instance, what’s the main idea of the passage? Can you make a brief summary of this article? Usually, in secondary school, display questions are more extensively used than referential questions.

According to Kerry, the method is classified on the basis of differences in the form of questioning. Questions are made up of 2 types: open questions and closed questions.

On the basis of the differences between the students who answer questions, questions can be divided into 3 types: questions for all students; questions for parts of students; questions for individuals.

Above all the classifications, Bloom’s theory is the most representative and precise one. On the foundation of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (B.S 50), questions can be divided into six levels: knowledge questions, comprehension questions, application questions, analysis questions, synthesis questions, evaluations questions. The questions raised by teachers are developed from easy to complex. Bloom’s theory offers great help to teaching evaluation and the design of classroom questioning. However, some studies state that Bloom’s Goal Classification is only suitable for primary and secondary school.

3.2.2 Questioning categories on the basis of the revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy

After numerous studies and revisions, Anderson and a group of specialists formed ‘A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives’. Compared with the original Taxonomy, the revised Taxonomy has an innovative development on the six levels of the cognitive process dimension. The categories were ordered from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract. The revised Taxonomy can be divided into the following categories: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. (Anderson 60)

In accordance with the six categories, classroom questioning can be categorized into six levels:

1. Questions based on “remember” level, when a teacher puts forward a question, students can recall the relevant knowledge from the mind. This process is called “remember”. It involves extracting knowledge from long-term memory. The knowledge we remember is generally conceptual, factual and procedural. It is used to test the mastery of original and new knowledge. For example, at the beginning of the class, teachers may review the knowledge points of last class. “Remember” is a simple mechanical drill.

2. Questions based on “understand” level, when teachers impart knowledge, students can construct knowledge into their own cognitive structures. It lays more emphasis on the connection between the original knowledge and new knowledge. “Understand” plays a significant role in the process of teaching and learning. For example，what’s the main idea of the text?

3. Questions based on “apply” level, it examines whether students can come new knowledge into use. It refers to the application of concepts and principles in a familiar or unfamiliar task. In a familiar task, students can finish the questions with overall consideration. In an unfamiliar task, students need to take into account what kind of knowledge they want to use in advance. In English teaching, the teacher will use specific situation to help students develop the ability to solve questions. Some examples are: Who can answer this question? Can you complete this sentence?

4. Questions based on “analyze” level, “It is the question of splitting the material into constituent elements.” (Ding 87) It needs more creative thinking than “apply”. In English class, students usually analyze writers’ feelings, opinions and intentions.

5. Questions based on “evaluate” level, based on certain criteria or rules, teachers make judgments including “critiquing” and “checking”. Questions are often closed like: is it interesting?

6. Questions based on “create” level, it"s a question that can stimulate student"s creative thinking. At the end of the class, teachers are used to asking these types of creative questions. For example, who can share his speech with us?

Generally speaking, in the secondary school English teaching, teachers usually propose low-level questions and rarely propose high-level questions. If too many low-level questions are asked, they can damage the creativity of students.

3.3 The functions of classroom questioning

Questioning is one of significant skills in English teaching. Questioning runs through the whole class. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher tends to ask students several questions to introduce the related topic. It can not only arouse students" curiosity, but also create a kind of active atmosphere. When the teacher does a presentation of the content, he may ask questions to deepen the understanding of the passage. At the end of the lesson, the teachers can examine students’ mastery of knowledge by the aid of evaluative questions. Teachers use questioning as a vital part of their teaching. “Questioning is a method of heuristic teaching, which is applied almost every section of English classroom teaching.” (Wang 215) The effect of questioning has become the key to the success of an English class. Effective classroom questioning can not only help student comprehend the teaching content but also cultivate students’ expression ability. Various questionings have different functions. But generally speaking, they have the following functions:

First of all, they can arouse and maintain students’ interests. As the saying goes, “Interest is the best teacher.” The prime goal of teaching is to make students enjoy learning and the process of learning. If a student is not interested in a teacher or teaching content, his grades will not be improved. On the contrary, if a student takes interest in class, even if his English is poor, his grades will be significantly improved. The teacher elaborately designs various activities to help students create the ideal atmosphere. And questioning also can concentrate students’ attention and lead to a longing for knowledge.

Secondly, they develop students’ English creative thoughts and foster the consciousness of studying. In English teaching, questioning plays a major role in encouraging students to express their views and cultivating students’ thinking. Asking questions can touch students’ psychology and make students confused. When students are asked questions by the teacher, they are always absorbed in thinking and try their best to come up with answers. Normally, the principal way to help students develop the potential to creativity is proposing more “open questions”. For example, teaching clips of a teacher during her teaching of secondary school compulsory book 8A Unit 5 Wild animals Reading1 in the classroom:

T: If you were the chairperson of the “Wild Animal Club”, what should you do to help animal? Please make a speech before the whole class.

It’s evident that open questions have no less than one answer. Thus, they can cause the change of thoughts and develop creative spirit.

Thirdly, opportunities are offered to students to share inner thoughts. Due to individual differences like sexuality or grades, the degree of participation is not nearly the same. When a teacher puts forward a question, students can answer it actively. Students who are willing to answer this question are the best and extroverted; while inferior students dare not raise their hands to answer it. These students are afraid of being noticed by all their classmates. Even though they had right answers in their mind, they wouldn’t stand up and share their ideas with others. However, when the student is invited to answer the question by the teacher, he can share his opinions. Teacher questioning can exercise students’ courage. In addition, it helps students develop a good habit of answering questions voluntarily.

Fourthly, they enable teachers to examine class participation of students. Modern education theory states that education should open to all students. The purpose of teacher questioning is to make students think about what you have learned and then improve students’ learning proficiency. In the middle of a class, students may feel tired. If the teacher is still imparting knowledge, students will no longer take notice of the teaching content. It is difficult for the teacher to meet the requirements of education. Furthermore, the teacher doesn’t know if students are listening carefully. Classroom questioning enables students to devote themselves to class and follow teacher’s steps which can enhance communication between the teacher and students and achieve the requirements of teaching goals better.

Fifthly, questionings can improve the level of students’ English oral ability. Language is a key communicative tool for human beings. In modern society, we seldom have the chance to communicate in English. We spend most of our time studying English in the classroom. Hence, in English classroom, teachers not only impart English language knowledge but also pay attention to developing students’ communicative competence. Because of the particularity of English teaching, in some cases, teachers offer students an opportunity to practice oral ability by asking questions. “Classroom questioning provides students with a lot of opportunities for inter personal communication.” (Zhang 115) Therefore, students can exercise their communicative competence.

Sixthly, questionings help teachers assess what students have been learned. And they can test whether students can put knowledge into use. There are many approaches of evaluating information. Questioning is the most widely applied and effective methods. In the process of classroom teaching, the teacher poses a question and invites students to answer it. This can examine students’ understanding and mastery of the related knowledge. At the same time, according to the students" response, the teacher can adjust the classroom activities at any time. In addition, questioning is meant to test teacher’s teaching production. Some examples are:

T: What have we learnt today?

Key questions about the text:

1. Who is Howard carter?

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