On The Effectiveness Of English Classroom Questioning In The Middle School

Classroom questioning is the indispensable part of classroom teaching, and the way of questioning will affect the final result of the classroom teaching which aims to realize the goal of cultivating students’ comprehensive ability of using language. As a teaching strategy, effectiveness of classroom questions has increasingly caught the eye of researchers who hope to improve the effectiveness of classroom questioning and students’ language ability goals through researches.Based on various aspects, the effectiveness of teachers questioning can be analyzed and some constructive suggestions can also be put forward to improve the effectiveness of classroom questioning. The study is conducted in CangQian Middle School. Three English teachers and 116 students from Grade 8 are chosen as the participants. Besides, one of the master teachers in GongYi Middle School and 42 students are also included. Classroom observation is used to analyze the types of teacher’s questions, the waiting time, teachers’ feedback and some appropriate strategies. In order to have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding on teachers’ questions and feedback, the author interviews four teachers and makes a survey on students’ needs of teachers’ questions and feedback.The thesis studies teachers questioning and feedback,and then tries to answer the following questions:1. What is the frequency of display question and referential question in classroom questioning?2. How to deal with the waiting time after each question?3. How to use reasonable feedback in classroom questioning?4. What kind of strategies should be used in classroom questioning?Based on the analysis, the findings of the study as follows:1. Teachers prefer the display question to the referential question, although the latter can develop students’ thinking ability. It is concluded that it will be easier for teachers to use display question than to use referential question to grasp the rhythm of the whole class. Referential questions should be used according to students’ ability.2. The waiting time is relatively short for most of the teachers who say in order to complete the teaching task of, and they only offer a little time for students to think.. However, the appropriate extension of waiting time can improve the enthusiasm of students to participate in classroom questioning.3. Teachers say that they intend to use positive feedback to encourage students to answer questions and to improve the enthusiasm of students. Furthermore, teachers will guide students to find a better answer of each corresponding question.4. Promoting, probing and repeating are employed frequently in the classroom questioning. Teachers believe that the types of questions, the arrangement of waiting time and reasonable feedback all are effective questioning strategies.