小学英语课堂提问的艺术111.doc

本 科 毕 业 论 文小学英语课堂提问的艺术姓名：余进美学号：2008061115指导教师姓名： 李 慧 丽 职 称： 讲 师 单 位： 外国语学院 专 业 名 称 ： 英 语 教 育 申请学位级别： 学 士 论文提交日期 2012 年5 月 学位授予单位： 玉溪师范学院 二一二年五月The Art of Questioning in English Classes of Primary SchoolsYu JinmeiSupervisorLi HuiliA Thesis Submitted as aPartial Fulfillment for the Degree ofB.A. in EnglishSCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESYUXI NORMAL UNIVERSITYMay, 2012玉溪师范学院外国语学院本科毕业论文Statement of AuthorshipExcept where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or part from a thesis presented by me for another degree or diploma.No other persons work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution.Signature:Date: AcknowledgementsI would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people who have generously assisted me with their knowledge and time during the process of my thesis writing.First, I am most grateful to my supervisor，Li Huili, for her enlightening guidance, constructive suggestions and critical judgments in the accomplishment of this thesis. Without her invaluable advice and help, this thesis would not have come into being.Second, no amount of thanks will be adequate for all the teachers in the School of Foreign Languages of Yuxi Normal University who taught me and gave me great help during my study.AbstractIn China, the class questioning has been an important teaching means in primary schools. If the teaching process is considered as the corn of teaching, the effective questioning is the life line of it. Questioning is an art, and the ability of a teacher to use questioning well will influence whether a course is successful or not. Under the guidance of the psychological theories and combined with the teaching practice and experience, this paper aims to explore the art of questioning in English classes of the primary schools by analyzing the types and importance of questioning and discuss the application of the art of questioning. It is expected that this paper can help English teachers improve their questioning skills and apply them to assist their teaching. Key words: classroom questioning; English teaching; art of questioning 摘 要目前，课堂提问一直是小学英语课堂中的一种重要教学手段。如果教学过程是整个教学的核心，那么有效的课堂提问就是整个教学的生命线。提问是一种艺术，教师提问的能力影响着一堂课的成败。结合心理学原理和教育实践经验，这篇文章旨在通过分析提问的类型、重要性和提问的应用来探索小学英语课堂中提问的艺术，希望本文可以帮助英语教师提高提问的能力并运用此来辅助教学。关键字：课堂提问；英语教学 ；提问艺术ContentsStatement of AuthorshipiAcknowledgementsiiAbstractiii摘 要iv1. Introduction11.1 Background Information11.2 The Importance of Questioning11.3 Theory and Methodology.2 1.4 Purpose Statement32. Literature Review43.Applicable Art to Typical Problems of Questioning in Primary Schools.63.1 The Art Applying to Dull Questioning Forms .73.2 The Art Applying to the Problem of Full Questioning93.3 The Art Applying to the Problem of Teacher Asking a Few Students Questions.103.4 The Art Applying to the Problems of Asking Questions Without Principles and Not Leaving Students Enough Time to Think .124. Conclusion.14 Referencev玉溪师范学院外国语学院本科毕业论文1. Introduction1.1 Background InformationThe 21st century is dominated by science, technology and education. The world changes every day. Economic globalization and international exchanges are everywhere around us. Foreign language, especially English, has become and will continue to be an important tool of international communication. Besides, along with the remarkable economic development, China becomes one of the most important and indispensable parts in the world. Moreover, China has joined WTO and succeeded in holding 2008 Olympic Games, which mean there are more and more demands for English communication in our country. However, not everybody has the opportunity to go abroad to further their English study. At present, most English learners study English from their English teachers in the classroom. That is to say, classroom interactions are their main language environment of learning. As is known, most classroom interactions are done by both teachers questioning and students answering, so questioning plays a vital role in English teaching. Nowadays, carrying on teaching reformation should switch from teacher-centered teaching model, which means teachers keep talking most of the time during classes while students listening, to student-centered. To meet this teaching reformation, the study of arts of questioning gets necessary, since questioning has become an important component of effective teaching in student-centered teaching style.1.2 The Importance of QuestioningIn most classes it is generally like this teachers keep talking and students listen, and most of teachers utterances are composed of asking questions and giving feedback to students responses. It is estimated that an average of 100 to 150 questions per class hour are asked in the typical elementary and secondary school classes, and 80 percent of school time is devoted to questions and answers. (杨阳，英语教学法，2005：P253) Thus, questions play a crucial role in classes. Firstly, questioning can inspire students imagination and develop their creative thoughts. The New National English Syllabus points out teachers must pay more attention to students principal position and encourage them to explore question on their own instead of depending on teachers. (Net.1) In order to realize this goal, teachers must encourage students to think creatively and inspire their desire of exploring and learning. Secondly, questioning is good for students to concentrate on what teacher says and it can improve the efficiency of classes. If students want to answer teachers questions correctly, they have to fix their attention to listen to the teacher carefully and take part in the class activities actively. Thirdly, teachers can invite feedback information through questioning and answering, and then check it against class objectives. Based on questions and answers from students, teachers are able to adjust his teaching to students for a successful teaching result. Finally, questioning can give students opportunities to express themselves in English, arouse their enthusiasm for English and improve their skills of expression. 1.3 Theory and Methodology For this paper, class observation is used to discover the existing problems in English classes of primary schools. The psychological theory thinks that every person is curious for the new things, especially the young students. (刘显国：P14) Therefore, teachers are supposed to ask questions which can arouse students interests for learning English. One psychological theory points out that some students have problem of getting nervous whenever answering whatever questions, because they have the psychological problem of being afraid of making mistakes or they cannot think of the answer at the moment due to the nervousness. This phenomenon is called psychological anxiety. (刘显国，2000，P17). Thus when asking questions, teachers are supposed to give students enough time to think.1.4 Purpose StatementMany researchers have studied art of questioning in English class, but most of them did from the perspective of classification, definition and content of questioning. Besides, researches on arts of questioning at the university and the high school levels are studied before. One of the big differences of questioning among primary schools, secondary schools and universities is that of students levels of English, that is, questions should be designed according to students actual levels. However, few researches about primary schools in this field have been done before, especially the art of questioning in the English classes. Thus, this paper addresses the art of questioning in English classes of primary schools by analyzing types and the importance of questioning, and discusses the existing problems in English teaching. Solutions are offered accordingly in this paper.2. Literature ReviewAs a common and important method in English teaching, the proportion of questions is considerable. As early as in 1912, Stevens did a survey and found that teachers questioning and students answering account for about 80 percent of the average school time. (张海霞，大学英语课堂提问调查与研究) Today many scholars advocate “learner-centered” teaching style, so questioning in classes plays an increasingly important role in English teaching process. Through the class questioning, teachers can learn about students language level in time; what is more, it also can help create a harmonious class atmosphere between teachers and students, strengthening students interests of participation so as to promote the teaching and learning effectively.Many researches have been made on English class questioning, Long and Sato (1983), Brock (1984), Nunan (1991), Lynch (1991), Richards, Lockhart (1996) and Thompson (1997) did many researches in the classification, content, opportunity and function of the classroom questioning, and summarized many experiences.(马美兰，大学英语课堂教师提问方式的调查和研究) Geoff Thompson classified class questioning from forms, contents and purposes. According to the questioning forms, he divided it into wh- type and yes/no type; as for the contents, wh- type and yes/no type can be fell into outside facts, personal facts and opinions. In terms of purposes, Thompson concludes with two types of questions: display questions and communication questions. Ellis has ever discussed the classroom questioning in Second Language Acquisition Research. In the book, he includes all the types of questioning that are classified by Barnes, Long, Sato, Koivukari and so on. Barnes brought four classifications: factual questions, reasoning questions, open questions and social questions. （张海霞，大学英语课堂提问调查与研究） The factual question refers to wh-type questions. For example, what is your name? The reasoning question is how type questions and why type questions. For instance, how do you get there? Why did you do like that? For open questions, they are questions which do not need any reasoning. For example, when is the Teachers Day? The social questions mean those that can influence students behaviors by controlling. For example, please finish it in ten minutes, ok? According to responses of students, Barnes divided questions into open-ended questions and close-ended questions. (姜雷，2003：P120) As for close-ended questions, there is only a short “yes or no” answer or a brief reply to them, to which teachers can predict answers. For instance, “Have you finished your homework?” But for open-ended questions, they may have different answers, the following one” what did you do during the National Day?” could have different answers: I stayed at home or I visited my friends. Later, Long and Sato divided questions into display questions and referential questions. (姜雷，2003：P121) The display questions refer to questions to which teachers have known the answers. The purpose of them is not to solve problem, but help students review what they have learned before. Referential questions are the ones to which teachers do not know what kind of answers may be offered by students. In addition, there is one student graduating from Yuxi Normal University who wrote about application of questioning art in English teaching without associating with the different levels of learners. The different angle of this paper is that the art of questioning in English classes of primary schools is discussed.3. Applicable Art to Typical Problems of Questioning in Primary SchoolsClass questioning is a common teaching method in English teaching process. The effective questioning can promote students to participate in the class actively and inspire their thinking so that students are able to analyze and solve problems on their own. It is a vital way to improve class teaching quality. However, many English teachers have not done well on questioning and lack strategies and guiding principles of English class questioning, as a result, their questioning forms are not diverse and of artistry and effectiveness. In traditional English classes, some questions are superficial and short of information gap. Information gap refers to one speaker has some information that others do not have, resulting in the differences of information between speakers. For instance, how many people are there in your family? Every one has different answers to it since the question creates information gap, and every student is involved in class. Furthermore, questions prepared for students may be flawed, such as lack of logic and interaction, difficulty levels of questions and the unclear questions. In most English classes, it seems that there are questions and answers, but in fact, this kind of situation makes students be in passive position and limits their thoughts. The reason is that students are controlled by teacher in the whole class.Facing so many problems existing in English class questioning, how teachers deal with these problems so that they can question students in accordance with their aptitude and apply this method to serve teaching, and teachers can finish the teaching tasks effectively, improve teaching quality and realize teaching aims. In order to achieve this goal, teachers are supposed to improve their questioning skills.3.1 The Art Applying to Dull Questioning FormsIn most English teaching process, teachers only ask “yes or no” questions or display questions. Some teachers just focus on the literal meaning instead of guiding students to explore the deep meaning. As a result, students feel that they just answer for answering questions. This could stifle students creative thoughts and communicative abilities. Take the Lesson Eighteen of English Textbook used by Grade Four in Manbo Primary School as an example, for this lesson; students are required to learn the words carrot and green pepper. However, during the class, the English teacher always asked students with do you know what it means? Are you clear? Yes? It can be seen that the questioning forms are monotonous, and students just answered “yes or no” instead of thinking deeply. Oppositely, if teachers could use many more questioning forms like wh- type questions and so on. The teacher can ask “can you read or spell this word for me?” or “who would like to draw a carrot on the blackboard?” these forms are encouraging students communication in English and creative thinking due to the fact that answers can not simplify be “yes” or ”no”.In order to avoid this problem, teachers should question according to students actual language levels and ask novel questions in many forms and depth instead of only “yes or no” questions to motivate students to think more before they answer. Namely, questions should be well situated with students actual language levels. The educational psychology indicates that only class questioning both easy to understand and having certain difficulty can stimulate students creative thoughts and develop their intelligence. When teachers ask, the questions should be neither too easy nor too difficult; instead, they should be well set with students cognitive levels and competency levels. Otherwise, students may lose interest and give up learning English. Taking the teaching material used by grade three in Manbo Primary School as an example, one of the teaching goals is to make students be interested in learning English and encourage them to speak English. Therefore, questions designed by teachers should be easy and focus on the words instead of sentences. That is to say, teachers can ask “yes or no” questions or close-ended questions. For instance, is it a bag? What is it? And students just need to answer with a simple word. At the end of the class, teachers usually review what students have learnt. At this time, teacher can ask some display questions, the purpose of which is to help students review the knowledge. Through questioning, teachers can learn whether the students have mastered the knowledge or not. Let us look at the following case:Teacher: (Ok, now let us review what we have learnt today.) What does the word mean?Student 1: (S1 does not know the answer)Student 2: It means (S2 answer the question quickly) From this case, we can see that the teacher asks a display question to check whether students have known the word or not. Obviously, S2 learns better than S1. Thus, teacher had better explain the content once more and make sure that every student has understood what teachers taught.3.2 The Art Applying to the Problem of Full QuestioningToday many scholars advocate “learner-centered” teaching style, so they put up heuristic teaching. But most teachers think that questioning is inspiration. Therefore, they keep asking questions all the time during classes. Apparently it seems that students are active in classes. However, occupying most time to ask questions prevents students from thinking actively as if an invisible rope were tying them. Under the guidance of modern English education, teachers are supposed to keep in mind the learner-centered teaching style instead of teacher-centered. In classes, teachers are just as guides or helpers who guide students to discover methods of learning and help them think critically so that students can develop their own learning abilities. In order to make