2。 Literature review

2。1 Classroom questions

2。1。1 Definition of classroom questions

The Longman Dictionary of the English Language (2009) provides the following definition: Question-command or interrogative expression used to elicit information or a response, or to test knowledge。 In classroom, teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli that convey to students; the directions for what they are to do and how they are to do it (Cook, 1991)。 Liu (2007) stated that questioning, a routine teaching behavior of teaching classroom activities, is that teachers propose questions with purposes in order to cause the positive, oriented thinking of students。 According to Li (2003), questioning is the basic control means for teachers to facilitate students' thinking, evaluate teaching effect and promote students to achieve the expected aims。 Therefore, teacher questions, to some degree, should arouse students’ curiosity, guide them to express their ideas as well as obtain knowledge and also check their understanding。 In this thesis, teacher questions are defined as an art to promote students thinking and learning and keep effective classroom interaction。

2。1。2 Classification of classroom questions

There are many ways to classify teacher questions, and each classification has its own criterion。 

Barenes (1969) distinguished between “closed” and “open-ended” questions。 Richard (1996) categorized questioning is in terms of convergent questions or pergent questions 。 Still another classification which has received much attention is that of Long & Sato’s (1983) distinction between display and referential questions: display questions are those questions for which the answer is already known to the teacher, and referential questions are those for which the response is not known to the teacher。 Some researchers (Brock, 1986; Lee, 2006) have proved that referential questions would promote greater learner productivity, and display questions would be less likely to promote more meaningful communication between the teacher and the learner。

According to Bloom’s taxonomy (1994), there are six cognitive categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation。 The six categories form a hierarchy from simple to more advanced, with the knowledge category being the simplest form of learning。 Corresponding to the six cognitive categories, questions can also be classified into six levels, with questions at each level requiring the students to use different kinds of thinking processes in forming appropriate answers。

Some researchers (Andson, Sosnik , 1998) holds that knowledge questions and comprehension questions are classified as low-level question, while application questions, analysis questions, synthesis questions, and evaluation questions are classified as high-level question。

2。2 Effectiveness of classroom questions

In teaching, effectiveness mainly refers to the concrete processes and improvements students achieved through classroom teaching。 For example, does it contribute to students' all-round development effectively? Does it improve students' learning strategies and affect effectively? 文献综述

2。2。1 Definition of effective classroom questions

The definitions of effective classroom questions given by different researchers have different focuses。 And the mainstream is to focus on students。 That is to say, whether questions could be called effective depends on the consideration of students-centered principle。 Ur (1996) believes that effective questioning should lead students to make relevant responses, and stir up students' consciousness of participation; If the questioning results in long silence, or students can only make a very short or improper answer, there must exist problems in this questioning。 

Besides, there are two layers of meanings in the effectiveness of questions。 One is the question itself should be effective。 For example, it should be related to students’ own experience。 The other is the effective questioning strategies like wait-time, the distribution of questions。 Applying the right techniques in questioning could improve the quantity and quality of students’ responses, and so is of great importance。