A Case Study Of Junior High School English Teachers’ Beliefs And Teaching Practices About Teacher Questions In Classrooms

Teachers’ use of questions can play an important role in facilitating language acquisition and development since asking questions is the primary method for initiating students’ participation and interaction in language learning classrooms.Regarding to teacher questions, previous studies in China and abroad mostly focus on its classifications, distribution, modifications and effect on students’ output. However, so far, few studies have focused on teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices about teacher questions in English classrooms. Besides, previous research states that beliefs that teachers hold can have an influence on their behaviors in the classroom. Therefore, this case study aims to investigate the relation between junior high school English teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices about teacher questions in terms of four perspectives which are purposes, focused content, cognition, words and structure of teacher questions. Three experienced English teachers who are from junior high schools in rural areas in Huangzhou District, Huanggang City participate in the study. And data is collected by interview and classroom observation. In this study, the major findings shows that junior high school English teachers’ teaching practices are basically consistent with their beliefs about purposes, focused content and words and structure of teacher questions. However, regarding to cognition involved in teacher questions, there is a big discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices.In China, research on teachers’ beliefs and practices is still at a preliminary stage. Therefore, more research is required to understand the links between English teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices about teacher questions. And because previous research indicates that not all language teachers are fully aware of their beliefs or to what extent their beliefs are reflected in their classroom practices, the author hopes this thesis can arouse English teachers’ concern of teacher questions and help English teachers to have reflections about their teaching beliefs and practices. In addition, the author also suggests junior high English teachers should improve their skills of using teacher questions in order to develop students’ thinking ability. This study is especially helpful to the teachers who are working in rural areas.