Questioning in Chinese University EL Classrooms

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a study examining classroom questioning behavior and its impacts on students' development. A triangulation was conducted to collect data: observations of nine university English lessons, semi-structured interviews with six teachers and focus group discussions with three groups of students. The data showed that many of the questions asked were lower cognitive questions and that they were mostly answered in chorus or by teacher nomination. The findings revealed that questioning was employed by the teachers to check text comprehension, hold the students' attention on the texts, to enhance and protect teacher's and students' face, to maintain classroom discipline, to establish teacher authority, and to gain student respect and acceptance. The results indicate that the questioning behavior identified is likely to have potential negative impact on the students. Tentative suggestions are made for improving questioning style to fit the Chinese educational reform agenda.