A Case Study Of The Questioning Patterns Of Science Lessons In Middle School Classroom

Classroom questioning is one of the means widely used by teachers in the process of teaching,as well as an important way to enable direct interaction between the teacher and students during the class,directly affecting the effectiveness of students' study.In this study,classroom questioning refers to the teacher's direct interaction with students regarding the content of the lesson,which manifests itself in the act of asking questions directly to students orally.Most of the studies that have been done on classroom questioning tended to list the questions individually and to classify them into horizontal categories,or to show classroom questioning frequencies statistically,or to show its functional value at the abstract level,etc.,with less research on the actual process of questioning.Based on Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives,questioning structure theory and conversation analysis theory,this study has constructed an analytical framework for classroom questioning research,in which both question contents and teacher-student interaction have been analyzed.The study has explored the actual patterns and deficiencies of classroom questioning of science lessons in middle school and discussed the influencing factors of classroom questioning.The main findings of the study are as the followings.In terms of the content of the questions,(1)the questions were at low cognitive level and lacked explicit representations of cognitive operations;(2)there were four kinds of questioning structures that appeared in the process of questioning;(3)the processing questions are in sufficient.In terms of teacher-student interaction,(1)teachers tended to frequently ask questions and students participated passively;(2)there was a lack of opportunities for individualized expression and students responded in a single way.In order to optimize classroom questioning,this study suggests the following from the teacher's perspective:(1)to re-examine classroom questioning: "questioning" is more than just "questions";(2)to question pointing to scientific literacy: improving the level of questions and focusing on the meta-information of questions;(3)to structure questions: focusing on the way of thinking and using preconceptions to facilitate generation;(4)to enable real dialogue: letting students express completely;(5)to break the solidarity of roles: encouraging students to discuss and ask questions.By presenting classroom questioning patterns of science lessons in middle school,this study aims to promote teachers to reflect on their own teaching,improve the quality of teaching and promote professional development.