Questioning and Teaching of Reading10.doc

Questioning and Teaching of ReadingAbstract：Questioning is one of the major forms of interaction between the 1anguage teacher and the learner. It is one of the most important ways in the teaching of readingBut in reality questions asked by teacher are not as effective as they are expectedBased on an investigation in a senior middle school，this paper intends to point out some problems in questioning and their causes in the teaching of reading，the form of questioning，the content of questioning and the means of questioningIt also gives, some suggestions in the teaching of reading with the purpose of making full use of questioning strategies and improving the quality of teaching Key words：purpose of questioning；form of questioning；content of questioning；means of questioning 1. Introduction1.1 Recent researches on questioning strategies in ELT Questioning is a very important technique in the classroom teachingJust as Geoff Thompson(1 997：99)in the Training Teachers to Ask Questions points out one of the main forms of interaction between the language teacher and the learner is through questionsThus questioning strategies impact heavily on the learning process as well as the teaching processThere is a long history of studying questions in general educationResearchers such as Nuttall (1982) and Long (1983) have yielded some meaningful achievements in this field1.2 Purpose and structure of the paper However，asking questions effectively is not as easy as it seemsIt needs lots of efforts of further study and real practiceThe body of this paper can be divided into four parts according to the dimensions of the purpose of questioning，the form of questioning，the content of questioning and the means of questioningEach part contains four aspects：firstly the theories that are related to the main idea；secondly the investigation in the Jiaojiang No1 Senior School，from which the data is collected；thirdly the analysis of the data，which includes the problems presented and the causes discussed with the teachers and at last several suggestions for solving the problems and improving the quality of questions2. Method2.1 Subjects The subjects for this study included 6 teachers (2 males and 4 females) in Jiaojiang No.1 Senior School，which is a provincial key school in ZhejiangThe teachers observed for this study had verysimilar professional profile，having 5 years or more than 5 years teaching experience and all being qualified to have a Jiaojiang district demonstration lesson on Oct. 30. The textbook they used was Senior English China Student s Book 1 A published by People s Education PressThe students they worked with were studying at the pre-intermediate levelAnd each class had 55 students2.2 Design The research approach for this study utilized qualitative research methods，which include interviews and classroom observation2.3 The observation The whole processes of their lessons were recorded and analyzedDuring the observation，I noted down the questions they asked and later I categorized them into several groups according to the different dimensions of purpose，form，content and means2.4 The interview The day after the observation I met with the teachers, individually, to show them the data I collected and to ask if they were in agreement with itWe then discussed the causes of the problems presented and the solutions we could do to solve the problems I have recorded the whole processes of my interviews and took notes during the interviews3. Theories，analysis and suggestion3.1 Purpose of questioning3.1.1 Categories Geoff Thompson (1997:101) presented an easy way of categorizing the purpose of questioning：whether it is for display or communicationHe then further explained that to a great extent，the difference hinges on the simple fact of whether the teacher already known the answer or not：if he or she does，the question is merely intended to prompt the learners to display their comprehension andor command of accurate English；if he or she does not，the purpose of the question will normally be to gain new informationRichards and Lockhart (1996:185) described this matter in greater detailedThey said in educational terms，questions serve a number of purposes, most notably (a) help to elicit particular structures and vocabulary；(b) enable teachers to check students understanding；(c) encourage students involvement in learning；(d) stimulate thinking；(e) help weaker students participatePurpose (a) and (b) can be achieved by designing examining questions，which simply rely on the textOn the other hand，purpose (e)，(d) and (e) can be achieved by designing enlightening questions，which enable teachers to stimulate students critical thinking agilely and timely and to develop students skills of making conclusions and judgments by the facts known from the text and out of the textObviously，the enlightening questions do better than the examining questions to cultivate students language ability and thinking abilityChandra JFoote (1998) said in his Student-generated Higher Order Questioning as a Study Strategy that a question that required a student to think more elaborately was considered higher than a question in which a student simply relied on factual knowledgeStudents would benefit more if they created and answered these higher order questions and if the teacher acted as a guide by facilitating the creation of these questionsWhat is more，educators believe that the more elaborate thought processing required by higher order questioning improves student learning (e.g. Blais, 1988:5; Brooks, 1990:68; Wheatley, 1991:9) and a series of studies that place the responsibility of elaborative questioning on students indicates that these questions may be of greater benefit to student learning (e.g. King 1991:l12). Such questions can not only be used in the lead in part，which help activate students background knowledge but also in checking students understanding of the text (Hong 1994:13-17)3.1.2 The dataThe data collected for this part are shown in Table 1Table 1 3.1.3 Data analysis Quite clearly，the number of examining questions was larger than the number of enlightening questionsThe goal of ELT is to develop students communicative competence，which includes both the knowledge about the language and the knowledge about how to use the language appropriately in communicative situations (王蔷, 2000:15)But，in the real classroom teaching practice，teachers did not do good enough to cultivate students all-round ability of mastering a language nor to stimulate students to think deeplyDiscussing with the six teachers，we agree with the following three causesFirstly，some teachers think the main task for reading is to help the students understand every detail in the text，including some language points and the content of the textSo, teachers only need examining questions to check students understanding about the text and then explain accordinglySecondly，some teachers have prepared lots of elaborated questions before class to provoke students to engage in critical and creative thinkingBut when they had their classes，the usual response from the students was stunned silenceAs a result，they became impatientThey gave up stimulating the students to have critical thinking and came to the conclusions hurriedly without students participationThirdly，teachers should finish reading in less than two lessonsIn other words，teacher should explain all the language points and analyse the whole text within two lessonsBut enlightening questions always cost too much time. Students are inactive and hardly know where to start when they are asked to answer this kind of questions. Teachers then prefer examining questions，which need less time than enlightening questionsMoreover，students have accustomed to the passive way of learning English，which is just to listen to the teacher and take notes3.1.4 Suggestions The goal of ELT is to develop students communicative competencewhich includes both the knowledge about the language and the knowledge about how to use the language appropriately in communicative situations (王蔷, 2000:15)Thus teachers should be clear about the purpose of questioning and try best to develop students critical and creative thinking3.1.4.1 Creation of an environment for English practice Linguists believe that a good language environment can facilitate students 1anguage acquisition (see, for example, Blais, 1988:7; wheatley, 1991:20)Students can improve their listening，speaking， reading and writing ability in such an environment. Then how to create it if there is not an authentic language environment? First teachers use the target language as far as possible so as to force students to think in the target languageSecond teachers should not interrupt students speech when they are doing communicative activities if they make some errors3.1.4.2 Employment for students independent thinking Oak (1990) here gave lots of good suggestionsSuch as teachers encourage students use of their own knowledge，ensure that students share their knowledge and their learning strategies，treat each other respectfully，and focus on high levels of understanding. They should help students listen to diverse opinions，support knowledge claims with evidence，engage in critical and creative thinking，and participate in open and meaningful dialogues3.2 Form of questioning3.2.1 Categories In the light of form, questions can be divided into 4 groups （周红，2001:66）. They are yesno type，or type，wh-type and elicitation type.YesNo type：Students did not need to answer the questions with a sentenceThey can answer the questions with yesno Or type：Students only need to choose one word or phrase according to the content of the question Wh-Type：It includes the questions which use who，what，which，when，where，how，why，etc Elicitation type：Questions which teachers ask students to complete the rest part while the first part of the sentence has been given.3.2.2 The dataThe data collected for this part are shown in Table 2.Table 2 3.3 Data analysis Obviously the number of the wh-type was the largestT5 andT6 had more types of questions than the other teachers3.2.4 Suggestions3.2.4.1 Flexible employment of yesno questions and wh-questions It is wildly believed that wh-questions can be introduced as the most useful means to encourage more varied and complex language. Then what is the function of yesno questions? Is it important in language teaching? Geoff Thompson (1 997：103) had his own point of view on this matterHe points out that yesno questions are generally easier for learners to answer，and that teachers can therefore direct those questions at weaker learners，or use yesno questions to check basic understanding of a text or situation before moving in to wh-questions to elicit more detailed informationBut it is also worth remembering the salesperson s technique，a yesno question (especially if the answer is fairly obvious or non-controversial) can encourage learners to accept a part in the interaction，even if they are shy or hesitantOnce they have committed themselves that far，it is easier for them to continue the interaction by answering the follow-up questions which，of course，needs a fuller responseSo both the yesno questions and the wh-questions are important in language teachingThey serve different purposes and play different roles in ELT3.2.4.2 Variety in using different forms of questioning T5 and T6 had more types of questions than the other teachersSo students in their classes were more active than the others. The reason is that it is easier to draw students attention when the type of the questions is variedSo teachers may try to use different forms of questioningFor example，when the teacher explains the word of research，he can use the question“what does it mean in Chinese or in English”directlyBut he may also use the elicitation formsuch as“the job of scientists is to”，then the students continue to say：“is to finding out things”3.2.4.3 Application of simple words and clear questions Teachers should ask questions clearly and use words as simple as possibleStudents may understand such questions easily3.3 Content of questioning3.3.1 Categories According to Geoff Thompson (1997:105) there are three types of questioning in terms of contentThey are outside fact questions，personal fact questions and opinion questionsOutside facts refer to information that is not specially related to the learnerThis most often consists of the information in the text or situation on which the teaching is basedPersonal facts (e.g.“Do you have any pets?”) and opinions relate to the learners own livesStephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (2000) demonstrate in their popular book Strategies That Work：Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding，that reading comprehension is about much more than answering literal questions at the end of a passage，story，or chapterGeoff Thompson (1997:105) was in agreement with themHe commented：“Most teachers are now aware of the advisability of personalizing at least some of the questions that they ask，inviting their learners to talk about themselves rather than only talking about information provided by the textbook. ”One great advantage of this is that it allows the learners to have some degree of control over the input，which may well lead to increased motivation and more investment by the learners in the learning process3.3.2 The dataThe data collected for this part are shown in Table 3Table 33.3.3 Data analysis C1early，the teachers ask more questions about the outside facts than the personal facts or the students opinionsThe reason why they did so is that the questions about students personal facts and opinions were more complex and required more efforts of synthesizing，analysing and reasoning which may be beyond the students3.3.4 Suggestions Traditionally，questioning in the classroom has focused on the information provided to students by the textbook and other teaching materials, which the teacher already knowsHowever，there has been increasing recognition that it is worth approaching input materials with a much wider range of question types，encouraging the：students to place what they are reading or listening to in the context；of their own existing knowledge and opinions，and quite possibly to develop a more critical attitude towards the input(Geoff Thompson, 1996:100) Not only the outside facts but also the personal facts and opinions should be paid attention to in the class. They all play important roles in the ELT3.3.4.1  Employment of outside fact questions  Although the outside fact questions are easier，it can serve an extremely valuable purpose in establishing that the learne