Comparison Between Teachers' Responses To Students' Answers Among Novice And Experienced Teachers In Junior High School English Class

Teachers' response to students' answers(TRSA)refers to teachers' immediate feedback and follow-up interactions with the student(s)who answer a previous question.It is an important part of the classroom dialogue between teachers and students.TRSA is both a kind of instructional behavior and a kind of evaluation.As the current curriculum reform in basic education emphasizes assessment for learning,efficiency in TRSA is of great significance for the students,the teachers and the classroom learning.This study investigates the TRSA behaviors of two novice teachers and two experienced teachers through classroom observation,interview and questionnaire.The results of the study show that there is a lack of awareness of TRSA among both novice teachers and experienced teachers;not much difference is found in the frequency and types of the TRSA behaviors between the two types of teachers.Novice teachers use more TRSA in quantity while experienced teachers use the TRSA more efficiently.Specifically,experienced teachers will use TRSA according to students' differences but novice teachers won't.Combined with the results of interviews and student questionnaires,the author found that TRSA behaviors are related to teachers' personal experience,question type and students' level.On this basis,the author puts forward several suggestions to improve junior middle school English teachers' TRSA,including: raising the awareness of TRSA,enhancing the predesign of TRSA,ensuring the quality of questions,polishing the TRSA language and focusing the characteristics of students.