A Multi-dimensional Study Of College English Teachers' Classroom Questioning

The past two decades have witnessed remarkable achievements in the field of College English teaching since the policy of reform and opening-up started in 1978. However, compared with the speedy economic growth and the ever-increasing exchanges between China and other countries, College English teaching is still far from satisfaction. In reality, the quality and level of College English teaching are influenced by a variety of factors, among which is teachers'questioning. As an important part of interaction between a teacher and students, teachers'questioning has always been a significant means in English teaching. In view of its vital importance to pedagogy, teachers'questioning has been the focus of research attention in language classrooms for many years.Yet, it was not until in the late 1990s that researchers at home began to make empirical studies on College English teachers'classroom questioning. Those empirical studies primarily focus on teachers'questioning behaviors, inclusive of the types of questions and the frequency, wait time and feedback, with scanty discussion about students'expectation towards teachers'questioning as well as teachers'and students'assessment of teachers'questioning.Hence, based on Constructivism and the Output Hypothesis, the present study investigates College English teachers'classroom questioning in Guangxi Normal University (GXNU) by means of classroom observation, interview and questionnaire, in an attempt to find out the characteristics of teachers'questioning behaviors and the underlying reasons, students'expectation towards teachers'questioning as well as teachers'and students'assessment of teachers'questioning, in the hope of providing a basis for teachers'reflection on their questioning behaviors, improvement of their questioning skills and the quality of teaching as well as teachers'professional development.According to the findings of the study, characteristics of College English teachers'questioning behaviors are as follows:(1) There is a predominance of display questions over referential questions in teachers'classroom questioning.(2) As for the contents, questions concerning learners'lives and the society are scarcely adopted by the teachers.(3) With regard to the means of responding, there exist two striking characteristics: One is teachers'questions are most frequently responded by volunteers, the other is teachers'self-answering is common in College English class.(4) Prompt, repetition and paraphrase are frequently employed techniques of question modification, whereas decomposition viewed as the second effective technique by the students, is not extensively used by teachers.(5) Teachers strive to praise students for their responses as much as possible. Nevertheless, much of the positive feedback provided by the teachers seems to be rather automatic. On the other hand, nearly all the teachers seldom criticize and interrupt students for error correction.