Inquiry teaching can be traced back to the early 20th century when John Dewey, the American pragmatic philosopher and educator, put forward the children-centered teaching method which insists learning by doing. In the middle of the 20th century, the famous educator Schwab proposed inquiry teaching method, which was based on long-time investigation and research. Domestic scholars have also done researches in recent years. Liu Miao researched on inquiry teaching method used in junior middle schools and she thought that applying this teaching method contributed to cultivating students’ self-learning, communicative and collaborative abilities(6). Ling Jining analyzed how to apply such teaching method to English class and raised some practical strategies(8). Ming Lili presented several problems and difficulties that may occur when using inquiry teaching method(5). However, these studies are not systematic enough from a long-term perspective.

    Based on the analysis of the status quo of English classroom teaching in junior middle schools and advantages of inquiry teaching, the paper attempts to discuss the application of inquiry teaching method to English classroom teaching in junior middle schools. It consists of five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction of the paper. The second chapter analyzes the status quo of English classroom teaching in junior middle schools. The third chapter states the main contents of inquiry teaching method. The fourth chapter analyzes the application of inquiry teaching method in junior middle school English teaching with practical strategies. The last chapter is the conclusion of this paper.,源Z自L吹冰:文,论/文]网[www.chuibin.com

II. Analysis of the Status quo of English Classroom Teaching in Junior Middle Schools

     Through a survey of 5 junior middle schools in Zhoukou, the author found that there were some problems in English classroom teaching. Traditional teaching methods have great impact on the current English classroom teaching in junior middle schools. Teachers usually neglect students’ principal role and students have little interest in participating in classroom teaching activities.

2.1 The Obsolescence of Teaching Method

Traditional teaching methods in junior middle schools are mainly based on teacher’s prelection, which is generally accepted by most teachers, but it’s really unfavorable for students’ physical and mental development. During teaching and learning, the core participants are all dynamic and conscious information passer and receiver, which determines that teaching is not a one-way activity without communication. But in the case of current teaching situation in junior middle schools, the teaching method is apparently outdated. Contrary to the thought that teaching practices ought to be abundant and various, English classroom teaching in our country is incline to be simplified obviously. From the view of teaching communication, our country’s classroom teaching in junior middle schools bears the two correlative bad phenomena that associations between teachers and students together with communications among students are insufficient. Most students play the role of audience in the class since the interaction between teachers and students is confined to top students. 

Educators have studied the teaching practice in middle and primary schools and it turns out that the current classroom teaching is still based on teachers’ infusion and the one-way communication between students and teachers. And such phenomenon also exists in English classes. Most of the time in the classroom teaching has been occupied by the teacher-centered teaching method without leaving students the opportunity to think and practice independently. Students’ inability of using English in practice results in the phenomenon of “dumb English”. Shu Dingfang shows in her survey that 70% of teachers’ explanations take on the important role in classroom teaching which is based on the grammar translation teaching method (47). Xia Jimei’s survey also showed that 90% of teachers think that their main role is language instructors(69). Zhong Qiquan, a famous reformer of foreign language curriculum in China, points out that such teaching method does not embody the practical characteristics of language, on the other hand, it only focuses on the accumulation of knowledge and underestimates the development of the affection, resulting in students’ non-comprehensive personality development (261).