Abstract

 

Reading teaching is playing an increasingly important role in junior high school English teaching. Go for it, an English textbook for junior high school students, has a reading text in each unit from Grade 8 to Grade 9. Students will not only accumulate some basic knowledge of English, but also form certain skills integrated language use by reading widely.

Teachers’ questioning is a frequently-used form of interactions between teachers and students and has become one of the most important ways for teachers to guide students to read. Questioning not only is the important source for students’ input, but also create opportunities for students to output. Effective teacher questioning is efficient in to helping students better comprehend the English texts, and improving the effect of reading teaching. Therefore, the study of effective teacher questioning in reading classes of a junior high schools is vital for improving the quality of English reading teaching.

The participants involved were three junior high school teachers and 126 students from Cangqian Middle School, Hangzhou. Three reading classes were observed and teachers were interviewed after class. Go for it is used as the main teaching material, and the features of teacher questioning are analyzed in four aspects ---- forms of questions, types of questions, ways of questioning and strategies of questioning. The study investigates the present situation of teacher questioning, and tries to offer some suggestions for future English reading teaching .

The results of this study indicate that “wh-” questions are mainly used in the English reading classes; teachers produce more display questions than referential questions, more low-level questions than high-level questions; In addition, teachers use more nominating and chorus questioning; teachers apply more strategies of prompting and paraphrasing compared with the strategy of repeating.

According to the results mentioned above, some implications are given for teacher questioning in reading class of junior high schools, such as that teachers are expected to read more theoretical books or articles about teacher questioning; that teachers should question appropriately and increase the ratio of referential questions and high-level questions; that teachers should flexibly apply different ways and strategies of questioning.

 

Key words: teacher questioning; reading class; junior high school

 

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1.-Introduction-1

1.1-Background of the Study-1

1.2-Significance of the Study-2

1.3-Organization of the thesis-2

2.-Literature Review-3

2.1-Studies on Questioning-3

2.1.1 Definition of Questioning-3

2.1.2 Purpose and Function of Questions-3

2.1.3 Forms of Questions-4

2.1.4 Types of Questions-4

2.1.5 Ways of Questioning-5

2.1.6 Strategies of Questioning-6

2.2-Studies on Effective Questions-7

2.2.1 Definition of Effective Questions-7

2.2.2 The Characteristics of Effective Questions-8

2.2.3 The Standards of Effective Questions-8

2.2.4 The Factors Affecting Effective Questions-9

2.3 Relevant Researches-9

3. Methodology-11

3.1-Research questions-11

3.2-Participants-11

3.3-Instruments-11

3.3.1 Classroom Observation-12

3.3.2 Questionnaire-12

3.3.3 Interview-12

3.4  Data Collection-13

4. Data Analysis and Results-14

4.1-Data Analysis and Results of Classroom Observation-14

4.1.1 Data Analysis and Results of Forms of Questions-14

4.2-Data Analysis and Results of Types of Questions-15

4.3-Data Analysis and Results of Ways of Questioning-15

4.4-Data Analysis and Results of Strategies of Questioning-16

4.5-Data Analysis and Results of Interview-17

4.5.1 The Data about Teacher’s Awareness of Teacher Questioning-17

4.5.2 The Data about Forms of Questions-17

4.5.3 The Data about Types of Questions-18

4.5.4 The Data about Ways of Questioning-18

4.5.5 The Data about Strategies of Questioning-18

4.6  Data Analysis and Results from Questionnaires-18

4.6.1 The Data about Students’ Attitudes towards Teacher Questioning in Reading Classes-19

4.6.2 The Data about Forms of Questions-19

4.6.3 The Data about Types of Questions-19

4.6.4 The Data about Ways of Questioning-19

4.6.5 The Data about Strategies of Questioning-20

5.-Conclusions-21

5.1-Major Findings and Implication-21

5.1.1 Major Findings-21

5.1.2 Implication-21

5.2-Limitations-22

5.3-Recommendations for Further Studies-22

Appendix 1-25

Appendix 2-27