A Study On Formative Teacher Questioning In Senior English Classroom

Teacher questioning is widely considered as a tool for teaching and learning and it is integrated into everyday teaching and learning activities. Whether a teacher can question appropriately or not affects the quality of teaching and learning. Formative teacher questioning refers to teacher questioning which is used to adjust teaching method on the basis of the information thus reflected in order to facilitate students'further thinking and learning. It concerns not only good questions but also the feedback teachers make in response to students'answers. Good questions provide teachers not just with evidence about what their students can do, but also with what teachers need to do next to promote students'further learning. Current studies mainly focus on the type of questions, wait-time after teacher questioning and teachers'feedback, but little information exists on how teacher questioning functions formatively, or how these strategies are used to guide students'language learning. To make up this limitation, the present study attempts to investigate how teacher questioning is conducted in English classroom and if the formative role of questioning has ever been realized through question types, wait-time and teachers'feedback.In this study, four English lessons of Grade one in a senior high school were observed. Transcripts of the records were made and analyzed. The typical questioning pattern I-R-F and complicated I-R-F-R-F chain were used to analyze question types and teachers'feedback. Questionnaire to students and interview with teachers were used as supplementary research tools. The quantitative data and qualitative data were combined to investigate teacher questioning to explore the effect of teacher questioning on students'responses. It aims to explore the following questions: 1) what types of questions do senior English teachers ask? How do these questions affect students'responses? 2) What is the length of wait-time after teacher questioning? How does it affect students'responses? 3) What feedback do teachers give on students'responses? What is the effect of teachers'feedback?The research results show that 1) teachers prefer to raise referential questions in the classroom and referential questions have more efficiency in promoting students'learning than display questions. Referential questions can produce more turns and elicit more contributions from the students. These questions stimulate students to think deeply and offer students more opportunities to elicit their ideas and thus they promote students to learn. So they are more helpful for students'learning. 2) Teachers'average wait-time after questioning is long and teachers'longer wait-time suggests both the quantity and quality of students'responses are increased. The words that students use are more varied and the sentences are more complex. Students who are given more time to think respond naturally and at leisure. 3) The ratio of discoursal feedback is slightly higher than that of evaluative feedback and teachers'discoursal feedback is more effective to promote students'language learning than evaluative feedback. Discoursal feedback produce complex I-R-F-R-F structure and students'more responses are extended. It scaffolds students'understanding and promotes their learning.Findings of this study indicate that the proper use of referential questions, longer wait-time and more discoursal feedback can performance the formative function of teacher questioning. It indicates that English teachers should pay more attention to these questioning skills. However, it is actually not easy for teachers to improve them. So teachers'training is needed. How teachers implement questioning effectively in practice and how they improve their questioning skills continuously is suggested.