Driving Teacher-Student Verbal Interaction Through Question Chains In Middle School English Reading Class

With the development of curriculum reform in China,scholars have paid more and more attention to the study of teacher-student interaction(TSI)in classrooms.Verbal interaction is the main way for teachers and students to interact in the classroom.However,many teachers could not deeply interact with students,and the teacher-student verbal interaction(TSVI)tended to follow the “ask and answer” pattern.Besides,questions provided by teachers mainly focus on the language structure,ignoring the deep semantic connections of the sections of text.There is a lack of logical relationship between the questions and thus the questions do not benefit students’ critical thinking development.In addition,the TSVI differs among teachers.How novice teachers quickly become experienced teachers or expert teachers is a common concern among education experts and front-line teachers.Therefore,this study uses the Flanders Interactive Analysis System(FIAS)as an analysis tool to explore the research questions through the classroom observation method and the matrix analysis in FIAS.Research questions are:(1)What types of question chains do novice teachers and experienced teachers use in middle school English reading class? Are there any differences between them?(2)Are TSVI different between novice teachers and experienced teachers? What are the differences of TSVI?(3)How does the TSVI differ when novice teachers and experienced teachers use different kinds of QCs?The consequence proved that(1)In English reading class of the middle school,both novice teachers and experienced teachers use the introductory question chain,the exploratory question chain,the progressive question chain,and the summary question chain.Although teachers created multiple progressive question chains,experienced teachers had more sub-question chains.(2)English teachers had different classroom TSVI.Experienced teachers were good at inspiring students to think by questions rather than simply providing information;while novice teachers paid more attention to the TSVI atmosphere and ignored its effect.However,both experienced teachers and novice teachers are inclined to control teaching.(3)TSVI differs by question chains that teachers used.There was an important opening between teachers and students in the classroom interaction during the introductory question chain.The language distribution of experienced teachers was more balanced than that of novice teachers,and they understood how to make good use of relationships between subjects to conduct teaching.Progressive question chain classroom teacher-student interaction was more active.Compared with other question chains,TSVI in the progressive question chains was more harmonious and balanced.Most of the inquiry-based question chains were student discussions rather than effective teacher-student interactions.However,experienced teachers provided students sufficient time to discuss and improve their thinking ability,which coincided with the first finding.Finally,TSVI with summary question chains was more prone to be ineffective.This study could assist in understanding the procedure and methods of teachers’ implementation of classroom teaching,make known the effects of English classroom teaching,and enhance the quality of English language teaching in middle schools.This study could assist in optimizing English reading education and enhancing the result of TSI.