An Experimental Study Of The Theme-based Instruction On English Classroom Questioning In Senior High School

Classroom questioning is an important part of classroom teaching, and a significant method to realize teaching objectives. With the rapid development of science and technology, teaching methods have changed a lot, and more and more new technological methods in education are brought to classroom teaching. But the role of classroom questioning can’t be replaced because of its significance. Classroom questioning could stimulate students’ interest, guide the orientation of students’ thinking, and make the class atmosphere easy and active. Questioning still plays a very crucial role in classroom teaching. However, the traditional English questioning approach in senior high school, with over-emphasis on language forms rather than the contents inevitably, over-emphasis on language knowledge rather than language skills and application undermine the motivation and interest of English learning about students. To avoid those problems, this study is an experimental study about investigating the effects concerning the application of theme-based instruction in classroom questioning. Theme-based instruction, one of the three popular models of content-based instruction, originated in the 1980 s in western countries and was brought to China in the 1990 s. In theme-based instruction English class, knowledge that students need is closely integrated with language learning and particular efforts are made to arouse students’ interest and stimulate their motivation.Therefore, based on the input theory, output theory and the constructivism, the research sets out to investigate the effects concerning the application of theme-based instruction in English classroom questioning about students’ English achievements, learning motivation and attitudes.There are two hypotheses in this study. Hypothesis one: The application of theme-based instruction in classroom questioning is effective to improve students’ achievements in the experimental class. Hypothesis two: Students’ motivation and attitudes in the experimental class are more positive than the control class. This research will test and verify the two hypotheses. To test the hypotheses above, the author conducts an experiment about theme-based instruction in Lin Cheng senior high school. The subjects of the study are students who come from two parallel classes in Lin Cheng senior School, one is the experimental class; the other one is the control class. The two classes have no significant differences in English proficiency, English learning interests, attitudes and motivation before the experiment. The study uses the methods of questionnaires, tests and interviews to collect data to do further analysis. The study uses the software SPSS 13.0 to make relevant analysis.The research results are as follows. Theme-based instruction is more effective than the traditional questioning mode in improving students’ English achievements and their English learning motivation and attitudes. Through the research results, the study testifies the hypotheses. On the other hand, theme-based instruction may have its own limitations and thereby the author offers some suggestions for the future research.