The Comparative Study Of Classroom Questioning Between Expert Teachers And Student Teachers In Senior High School English Language Teaching

As a large part of a teacher's stock-in-trade,classroom questioning is the most common form of interaction between teachers and students in the classroom teaching.Classroom questioning functions to motivate and guide students to learn and think;to maximize classroom engagement and learning outcomes;as well as to move lessons forward,etc.In the Chinese context,classroom questioning plays a more important role in that it serves a kind of language input,which can spur students to produce more acceptable output.Classroom questioning has been a hot research topic since 1970s,many researches have been done to describe and evaluate teachers' use of questions in classroom,and to identify specific questioning behaviors contributing to significant gains in student achievement.Rare researches focused their attention on the comparative studies between expert teachers(ETs)and student teachers(STs)in classroom questioning in senior high English teaching,especially from the following three aspects:the preparation for classroom questioning,the actual classroom questioning behavior and the post-lesson reflection on classroom questioning.This study aims to figure out the characteristics and differences of the above three aspects between expert and student teachers,as well as the reasons behind the differences,and then try to provide some suggestions to improve teachers'questioning skills and achieve teachers' professional development.Hence,the research questions are as follows:1)What are the characteristics and differences between expert and student teachers in the preparation for classroom questioning?2)What are the characteristics and differences between expert and student teachers in the actual classroom questioning?a)in terms of questioning typesb)in terms of questioning strategiesc)in terms of the distribution of questioning3)What are the characteristics and differences between expert and student teachers in post-lesson reflection concerning questioning?4)What are the reasons behind the differences?In this study,two expert teachers from No.1 Middle School affiliated to Central China Normal University(CCNU)and two student teachers who are MEd students in CCNU are selected as research subjects.To get reliable and comprehensive data to answer the research questions,classroom observation along with verbatim transcription analysis,and face-to-face semi-structured interview are conducted.The major findings of this study are listed below:In terms of the preparation for classroom questioning,ETs and STs share similarities and hold differences.They both prepare questions ahead of time,take the textbook and students as two main factors into consideration when designing questions,think through the range of possible outcomes and responses to their questions,sequence questions,pay attention to wording and design questions with a purpose.However,ETs think about mainly the key questions in their mind while STs write almost all questions on their notebooks or type them down on PPT.STs try to make questions interesting and inspiring to stimulate students.In terms of question types,three big differences exist:student teachers ask much more non-academic questions than expert teachers;student teachers ask less remembering and understanding level questions,and more analyzing,evaluating and creating level questions than expert teachers;furthermore,student teachers use non-academic questions not only for eliciting responses from students as the expert teachers do,but also as a tool to move teaching activities forward and solve disciplinary problems.In terms of questioning strategies,ETs' questioning strategies applied in classes vastly outnumber STs';when applying prompting strategy,the top strategy used in both ETs' and STs' classes,ETs try all kinds of methods to effectively elicit responses from students.Body language,repetition of students' answers in a rising tone,and giving hints by pronouncing or writing the beginning syllabus or letters of a word,etc.are found in addition to giving examples,simplification,description,paraphrasing,translating,and decomposition in ETs' classes.In addition,ETs achieve much higher effectiveness in applying questioning strategies.In terms of the distribution of questioning,the average percentage of responded questions asked by ETs is 77.9%while the average percentage of responded questions asked by STs is 60%.That means,ETs do much better in successfully eliciting responses from students than STs.Among nominating,chorus answering,self-answering and volunteering,ETs and STs use nominating and chorus answering most,but STs use self-answering much more than ETs.When nominating ETs distribute questions equally while STs show their preference to those who are active,work hard but rarely speak up in class,and those who are relatively naughty or misbehaved.In terms of post-lesson reflection on classroom questioning,similarities and differences are showed.ETs and STs reflect on classroom questioning when the class goes smoothly or not as expected,but STs make post-lesson reflections more frequently than ETs,especially in the form of peer review.Most of time,ETs and STs reflect on classroom questioning mainly in their minds,but STs sometimes keep a teaching diary.The aspects both ETs and STs reflect on include the sequence of questions,the degree of difficulty of questions,and wording of questions.STs add that they sometimes reflect on the distribution of questioning,teacher feedback and whether questions are interesting or not.Further face-to-face semi-structured interviews indicate that six factors are found attributing to the differences:teaching experience,students,theories on classroom questioning,awareness of teacher's professional development,teacher beliefs and mindset.Accordingly,the author put forward five suggestions for improving questioning skills and achieving teachers' professional development:learn some theories on classroom questioning,especially for ETs;build up correct teacher beliefs;form a good habit of analyzing teachers' questioning behavior;try to gain teaching experience directly or indirectly,especially for STs;try to know more about students,especially for STs.This comparative research on classroom questioning between expert and student teachers from the preparation for classroom questioning,the actual questioning behavior and post-lesson reflection on classroom questioning,provided some suggestions for teachers to improve their questioning skills and achieve teacher professional development,which to some degree enriched the research on classroom questioning.