Learning Opportunity and EFL Teachers’ Questions

Hongmei Zhu

doi:10.4236/jss.2016.43027

Abstract

As postmethod EFL teaching method was proposed in 1999, ideas on teaching and learning be-came unthinkably various and dynamic. The views on teachers’ questions also changed a lot in postmethod period. The term of learning opportunity bridged teaching and learning in this situation. This article aims to explore the way that an expert teacher, an experienced teacher and a novice teacher provide learning opportunities for the students in their question-answer sequences. A CA approach is used to analyze three teachers’ questions based on four different students’ first responses: Right Answer, Partly Right Answer, Incomplete Answer and Refusal Answer. The results suggest that the expert teacher can provide more learning opportunities by strengthening students’ identities, extending students’ contributions, attracting students’ involvement and there is an insignificant relation between the type of questions and learning opportunities. It is suggested that EFL teachers can be more aware of the local and dynamic teaching context and promote more negotiation of meaning and students’ involvement.

Highlights

IntroductionThere have been a variety of teaching methods in EFL education across the world
In recent years, there have been a variety of teaching methods in EFL education across the world
Postmethod was initially proposed by Kumaravadivelu [1]

Summary

Introduction

There have been a variety of teaching methods in EFL education across the world. In the methods-based teacher education, EFL teachers are thought as a blank paper and are expected to accept anything, which inhibits their creative and self-development abilities In this case, many researches on teachers’ questions suggest EFL teachers to use referential questions instead of display questions (e.g., [3]). This phenomenon causes to a rupture between research and teaching practice because teachers do not know which methods they should accept In this case, a new perspective on EFL teachers’ questions is proposed that questioning skills are more important than its categories or its waiting time. When EFL teachers question in classroom, they should relate their questions to their teaching purposes, students reaction, teaching contexts etc If they intend to improve the efficiency of their questions, how to create, discover and maintain learning opportunities in questions is the key

Learning Opportunities

Data and Method

Analysis of Data