Exploration Of Questioning In The English Classroom Of Junior Middle School: Status Quo, Students' Expectations & Attitudes

Questioning in ESL/EFL class is the main part of teacher talk, and is one of the major teaching methods to fulfill the teaching aims. It is used mostly by teachers and plays a very important role in classroom teaching. Therefore, researching questioning in the classroom teaching is of great practical significance.In recent years, scholars at home and abroad have been studying classroom questioning from both theoretical and practical aspects which focused on the effectiveness of teacher questioning on the role of students'achievements; ways of questioning and types of questions, strategies of questioning, question distribution, wait-time and so on. But there is very little empirical research in junior middle school English classrooms. Studies on students'expectations and attitudes towards questioning are even scarcer.This thesis first describes and introduces not only the background of questioning but also the purpose and significance of it, then conducts a survey on classroom questioning. The research questions are as follows:1. What are the characteristics of teachers'questioning in the English classroom of junior middle school?2. What are the students'expectations for the English teachers'classroom questioning and their interpretations of those expectations?To answer the first research question, the author first used the method of classroom observation---recorded six English classes to find a true understanding of status quo of questioning in the class and then did a questionnaire survey to 20 teachers. Finally, 6 teachers were interviewed for an in-depth understanding of their classroom behavior and the concepts behind the questions and ideas. Regarding the second question, the author distributed a questionnaire to 300 students in six classes and gave interviews to 12 students to learn more about their attitudes to the questions and their expectations.The following aspects are included in the research:(1) Frequency of different types of questions;(2) Teachers'questioning strategies;(3) Different ways of answering questions;(4) Features of answering opportunities;(5) Features of question distribution in classroom;(6) Wait time;(7) Features of teachers'feedback;(8) Students'questioning in class; Through the results and data analysis, the following conclusions have been drawn: Teachers ask more display questions and low-level questions than referential questions and high-level questions. As for the questioning strategies, teachers know little about them, and they use repetitions most often. Nomination is used more often in the class for the students to answer questions. The classroom distribution is quite satisfactory. Teachers are generally able to give students a certain wait-time, but the length of wait-time should be decided by what is not in-depth understanding. For feedback, teachers give a majority of positive ones, but they feel that negative feedback also has some effect. Students don't have many chances to ask questions in class, which is a great pity. With reference to the students'expectations and attitudes towards the questions, the author finds that some differences between teachers.Based on the results, the author puts forward some feasible implications to empower teachers with educational theory and methods of training; to enhance the use of questioning strategies to increase the proportion of high-level issues; to reform on the current rise in junior high school entrance examination. Finally, the author hopes that this study will inspire other teachers.