A Study On Teacher Questioning And Feedback In English Classes In Primary Schools

Teacher talk always plays an important role in EFL classroom, because it is not only the main input language but also the major medium of instruction. Among teacher talk, teacher questioning and feedback are certainly given priority. The type of the questions, the wait time after raising a question and the question distribution all have effect on students’ language input and output. Different kind of feedback will also have different effect on students’L2acquisition. Positive feedback can promote learners to output more target language and facilitate L2acquisition; while negative feedback may frustrate learners and let them lose confidence and learning motivation. On the basis of Krashen’s Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, Swain’s Comprehensible Output Hypothesis and Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, the author makes a selective analysis on teacher questioning and feedback in EFL classroom in China, and then gives some constructive suggestions.The author chooses four teachers and their classes in Shanghai Jianping Experimental Primary School as the subjects of the research. The author adopts the method of natural inquiry, and through observation, audio-recording and transcriptions to analyze the situation of teacher questioning and feedback in EFL classroom in China. The research aspects include question type, wait time, question distribution, question strategy and teacher feedback. Meanwhile, the questionnaire and the interview with four teachers are also brought into the survey in order to make further analysis on teacher questioning and feedback. Through this research, the author surely has a clearer picture of teacher questioning and feedback in EFL classroom in China. The results of the research are as follows:(1) Display questions are used more frequently than referential questions by four teachers, accounting for70.6%and29.4%respectively.(2) The average wait time that teachers provide is3.375seconds, and most students express that the length of time is enough for them.(3) Teachers treat students unfairly when they distribute questions. They tend to distribute questions to top students, and to the students that sitting in the front and in the middle of the classroom.(4) Questioning strategies like rephrasing, simplification and repetition are widely used by four teachers. However, probing and chaining, which are vitally significant for promoting language output, are almost neglected by four teachers.(5) Although teachers have realized the importance of positive praise and use positive praise as much as possible, they just pay attention to simple praise. According to the research, simple praise is used most frequently by four teachers, accounting for68.2%. With respect to error treatments, the four teachers tend to ask another student to answer instead but most of the students expect their teachers guide them to self-revise when they make errors in accordance with the questionnaire.On the basis of the results above, the author then gives some constructive suggestions as follows:(1) Teachers should increase the number of referential questions to inspire students to think actively, and promote students to output more target language.(2) Teachers should treat students fairly. Teachers ought to ask some much easier questions to poor students to increase their confidence and motivation towards target language acquisition.(3) Teachers should use various kinds of questioning strategies to facilitate students’language output.(4) Teachers should provide more effective positive praise and error treatments to arouse students’ enthusiasm in learning second language.