TeacherQuestioning in the English Classroom.docx
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TeacherQuestioning in the English Classroom.docx
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TeacherQuestioningintheEnglishClassroom
Teacher-QuestioningintheEnglishClassroom
inJuniorMiddleSchool
1Introduction
Inrecentyears,moreandmorepeoplelearnEnglishfromtheirteachersintheclassroom.Thatistosay,classroominstructionisthemainmediaofEnglishlearning.LearnersareofferedalotofopportunitiestostudyEnglishintheclassroom,sovariouskindsofinteractionstakeplacethere.Amongthevariouskindsofinteractions,teacherquestioningandstudentansweringisthemostimportantaspect.Asateachingstrategy,thehighincidenceofquestioninganditsconsequentpotentialforinfluencingstudentlearning,haveledmanyinvestigatorstoexaminerelationshipsbetweenquestioningmethodsandstudentachievement.Teachers’questionsalsoprovidestudentswithopportunitiestofindoutwhattheythinkbywhattheysay.Manyresearchershadalreadyindicatedthatquestioningissecondonlytolecturinginpopularityasateachingmethodandthatclassroomteachersspendanywherefromthirty-fivetofiftypercentoftheirinstructionaltimeconductingquestioningsessions.“Insecondlanguageclassrooms,wherelearnersoftendonothaveagreatnumberoftools…,yourquestionsprovidenecessarysteppingstonestocommunication”(Brown,1994:
165).Ateverystageinoureducationquestioningisthecoreelementinlanguageacquisition.Questionsareoneofthemostpowerfultoolsthatcanbeusedtoengageandenhancethemind.Questionsinfluencethelevelofstudentthoughtandhavetheabilitytocausefurtherinteractions.Skilfulquestioningcanleadtomoreefficientandimprovedlearning.Degarmo(Jinchuanbao1997:
57)states,“Toquestionwellistoteachwell.”Goodingquestioningcaninducestudents’richlanguageoutput,involvestudentsinclassroomactivities,andpromoteinteractionsbetweenstudentsandteachersinthetargetlanguage.Ateacherposesquestionsthatencouragestudentstothinkinanoviceways.Questionsprovidetheopportunitytoaccessstudents’learningfromtext.Questionshelpteacherunderstandstudents’ongoingandtheircognitivedevelopment.Therefore,teachersshouldposeproperquestions.Thesequestionswillpromotestudents’intelligenceabilityandstimulatestudentstoparticipateclassroomactivitiesandpromotethecommunicationandcooperationbetweenteacherandstudents.Forthisreason,itissoimportanttoinvestigatetheteacherquestioninginjuniorlevelstudents.
Thethesisconsistsoffourparts.Thefirstpartisabriefintroductionofthewholestudy.Theauthorstatestheimportanceofteacherquestioning,objectiveandsignificanceofthestudy.Thesecondpartisconcernedwiththeliteraturereviewofteacherquestioning.ThethirdpartofthisthesispresentsastudyofteacherquestioninginJuniorMiddleEnglishclassroom.Inthisessay,twosamplesofteacherquestionswerelookedintotofindoutthetypesanddistributionofteacherquestionsandthewaittime.Themaindevicesinthisstudyareclassroomobservation.Itwasfoundthattheexperiencedteacherwasbetteratemployingteacherquestionsforinteractionthanthenoviceteacher.Thelastpartistheconclusion.
2Literaturereview
2.1Overview
AccordingtoPostman(1979:
140),“Allourknowledgeresultsfromquestions.”①Ateverystageinoureducation,questioningisthecoreelementbetweentheteacherandstudentsincommunication.ArticlesonthesubjectofclassroomquestioningoftenbeginbyinvokingSocrates.Accordingtoresearchersandotherwriters’thesis,weknowthatquestioninghasalongandvenerablehistoryasaneducationalstrategy.Nowadays,questioningisoneofthemostpopularmodesofteaching.
2.2Definitionofteacher-questioning
ThewordquestioningisfromtheLatinverbquaerewhichmeanstoseek.Wordsacquire,inquireandrequireincludethemeaningtogetsomethingfromothers,sotheyhavethesamerootwithquestioning.AccordingtoLongmanDictionaryoflanguageTeaching&AppliedLinguistics,aquestionis“asentencewhichisaddressedtolistener/readerandasksforanexpressionoffact,opinion,belief,etc”(CitedinGanyan,2006:
1).AccordingtoUr,“aquestioninthecontextofteachingmaybebestdefinedasateacherutterancewhichhastheobjectiveofelicitinganoralresponsefromthelearners.”(Ur,2000:
229).②KissockandIyortsuun(1982:
2)statedthat“Questionsarestatementsforwhichareplyisexpected.”Borich(1988)oncedefinedquestioningas“verbaldevicesusedtosolicitresponsesfromothers.”③Wilendefinesaquestionas“aspecializedsentencepossessinganinterrogativeformoffunction.Whenraisedbyteachers,questionsareinstructionalcuessuggestiontostudents’contentelementstobelearnedandwaysoflearningorexperiencingsaidcontent.”(Wilen,1982,citedfromHunkins,1995:
32).④“Learningisanoutgrowthofthequestionsthatstudentsareaskedandthebetterateacher’squestions,thebetterateacher’steachingandaclass’slearning”(Dillon,1988:
ix).⑤
Comment:
differentwritersholddifferentviewonthedefinitionofteacherquestioning.Thedefinitionsvaryinform,content,purposeandfunctions.Allthedefinitionshavetheirownadvantageanddisadvantages.IquiteagreewiththedefinitionbyWilen.Inclassroomsettings,ateacherquestionisthatteachersusequestionstopromptstudentstothinkandanswerquestions.Studentscanbringtheirownthoughtsintoexpressionthroughtheanswers,soteacher-questioningcanberegardedasaninteractiveprocess.
2.3Theoreticalbackgroundofteacher-questioning
2.3.1ApproachofCommunicativeLanguageTeaching
Sinceearly1970s,theapproachofcommunicativelanguageteachinghasbecomemoreandmorepopular.OneofitsmajorprinciplesisthatstudentslearntouseEnglishtocommunicate,andtheclassroominteractionbetweentheteacherandstudentsisitsmarkedcharacteristic.Theeffectivenessofthisapproachdependsonthefunctionoftheteacherinclassroom.Thefunctionoftheteacherinclassroomismainlyrealizedbytheteacher’stalking.Duringtheteacher’stalking,questioningisanimportantaspect.
2.3.2SecondLanguageAcquisitionTheory
Classroominteractionisthesuccessfultransmissionofmessagebetweenteachersandstudents.Thesemessagesaremainlytransmittedthroughquestions.Thus,questionsareimportantinclassorganizationandareessentialinfosteringclassroominteraction.Inotherwords,intheclassroom,teacherquestioningisanimportantpartofinteraction.Interactionisthekeytosecondlanguagelearningacquisition.“InSecondLanguageLearning,interactionseemstoexistasthecentralfeature.Interactionbetweenteachersandstudentsininter-relatedwithstudents’languageacquisitionandcanfacilitatelanguagelearning.”(Xiechun-miao.2007:
1).LearnersareofferedalotofopportunitiestostudyEnglishintheclassroom,sovariouskindsofinteractionstakeplacethere.Allwright(1984:
156)seesinteractionas“thefundamentalfactofclassroompedagogy”because“everythingthathappensintheclassroomhappensthroughaprocessofliveperson-to-personinteraction.”⑥Classroomisaplaceforresearcherstoobserveanddescribetheinteractionevents.Theycouldunderstandhowlearningopportunitiesarecreatedinaclassroom.ClassroomisalsoaplaceforresearcherstodemonstratetheeffectsofdifferenttypesofinteractionopportunitywhenpeoplelearnEnglish.Classroominteractionprovestobeofvitalimportance,becauselearnerscanlearnthelanguagethroughinteraction.“Asisknownthatalmostclassroominteractionisdonebybothteachers’askingquestionsandstudents’answeringthem.Studiesofteacher-questioningbehaviorshowthatquestionsconstitute20to40%ofclassroomtalk”(Chaudron,1988).⑦InmostEnglishclassrooms,teacher-questioningplaysamajorroleinclassroominteraction.“AstudyofEnglishlessonsinschoolsinHongKongfoundthatnearly70%ofclassroomtalkconsistsoftheteacheraskingaquestion,nominatingastudenttoanswerthequestion,thestudentansweringthequestionandtheteacherprovidingfeedbacktotheresponse”(Tsui,1985).⑧Therefore,questionsaretheveryimportantaspectofclassroominteraction.
2.3.3Initiate-Respond–FeedbackPattern
Questioningisprominentinpresent-dayclassroom,anditoccursmostoftenintheInitiate-Respond-Feedback(IRF)sequence.TheIRFformdescribesclassroompracticeinwhichteachersInitiateclassroomtalkbyaskingquestions,studentsRespondtothequestions,andthentheteacherFeedbackstudents’response(Cazden,1986;Mehan,1979).FollowingisanexampleoftheIRFform:
Initiate(teacher):
WhenintheNationalDay?
Respond(student):
Octbor.1
Feedback(teacher):
Right.
IRFformoftenfocuseson“knownanswer”questions.Itisregardedasameanstoaccessstudentknowledge.XieChun-miao(2007)statesinherresearch,theinitiationfromtheteacherservesastheinputofthetargetlanguage,students’performanceinthelanguageistheoutputoflanguageandfeedbackfromtheteacherenhanceslearners’acquisitionoflanguage.
2.4Thestudiesofteacher-questioning
2.4.1Reasonsofteacher-questioning
Effectivequestioningisoneofthemostimportantskillswhenteachersgivelessons.Itisfoundthatteacherputupmanyquestions;theyalsorealizethereasonsofquestioning.Teacherusequestioningduringaclasstostimulatethinking,assessstudentprogress,checkonteacherclarity,emphasizekeypoints,andmanymorethings.Theactofaskingquestionshasthepotentialtogreatlyfacilitatethelearningprocessandfosterteacher-studentininteractionifdonecorrectly.Inthisessay,thefollowingreasonsofteacher-questioningwillbestudies.(Ur,2000:
229):
(1)Toletlearnerspresentinformationlikefacts,ideas
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