1. Introduction

Classroom questioning is a necessary segment for teachers to organize the classroom activities. Thus, teachers#8217; questioning has always been the focus of research attention in foreign language classroom for many years. In classroom teaching, questioning is a very common method on which the research can date back to Confucian ”Heuristic Art” and Socratic ”Midwife#8217;s Art” around 2500 years ago. In ancient China, the ”learning record” recorded the way of questioning and answering (Liu Zhen, 1984). Among western scholars, Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught how to ask questions. He put forward the theory of ”approach method”, meaning to ”lead out” questions and then the learners#8217; wisdom, which is the root of education (Lin Li, 2008).

John Dewey (1910) introduced the term critical thinking to American education in the early 1900s. In fact, critical thinking can trace its roots to over 2500 years in which probing questions were used to decide whether claims to knowledge based on authority could be rationally justified. It has been described in a much more comprehensive sense as ”the intellectually disciplined process of conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information, gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief and action” (Paul amp; Elder, 2002: 919-924). Critical thinking may occur whenever one makes decisions and judgments, or solves problems. Whenever one needs figure out what to believe or what to do, and do so in a reflective and reasonable way.

With the innovation of education concept, the investigation of critical thinking in classroom teaching has been paid more and more attention by many educators who come from different countries in the world. Specifically speaking, the American educational institutions have conducted a lot of significant studies on the critical thinking in the circle of teaching. Unfortunately in China, there are very few people who take up the research of critical thinking; educators just begin to explore the meaning of critical thinking and put forward the importance of relationship between innovation ability and critical thinking. Furthermore, it is rather scanty to systematic research in the field of critical thinking, especially in the circle of strengthening the cultivation of English teaching. The present situation of lacking critical thinking questioning in English classroom has become educators' common concern subject in China. Therefore, the current study is to research into the application of critical thinking in English classroom questioning.

In the past several decades, a lot of studies have been carried out to investigate the importance of questioning in classroom and critical thinking separately both at home and abroad (McPeck, 1990; Mayfield, 2010; Zhang Yaohua, 2002; Hu Qingqiu, 2004), but much fewer studies have been conducted on the interrelationship between questioning and critical thinking (Roberts amp; Billings, 2012; Chen Yaping, 2016; Mei Xuefang, 2017). Specifically speaking, a lot of researchers have found out that quantitative and qualitative analysis of questioning and critical thinking respectively, but there are fewer findings yielded in the application of critical thinking in questioning, which leads to the lack of pointed measures to their relation. As a result, the research needs to be carried out on the application of critical thinking in English classroom questioning.

Additionally, this study should be undertaken because it will have some relevant vital practical implications for the great improvement of students' comprehensive performance, especially their scores in English and instruction of questioning in classroom teaching. Nowadays, there is a dilemma that faced with the huge pressure of various exams; the majority of teachers tend to ask few questions in order to save more time to continue their lessons in practical English classroom, which is called traditional mode of teaching in China. There has a question: Do these students really master what they have learned in this rigid situation at last?

Some educators ever put forward that questioning on critical thinking could help students develop more comprehensive abilities so as to gain higher scores in the following examinations. There are some shortcomings which can be easily seen from the traditional teaching method: teachers ask questions in single form and always show the correct answers within few minutes rather than giving students more time to think and express their own opinions about it. In the future, most of them will have the habit of answering questions casually because they firmly believe that their teachers can quickly tell them the results without sparing time to discuss the question further. This kind of traditional teaching method is not beneficial for students to have a good mastery of knowledge.

Nowadays, to solve this problem, we try every means to find the suitable method to change and improve the current situation. Specifically speaking, we will make no efforts to seek best solution to help Chinese students learn English more effectively and think more critically.

2. Literature review

Nowadays, it is widely acknowledged that questioning can promote thinking and learning, many scholars attract great interests of classroom questioning in order to improve students' abilities in critical thinking. However, most of researchers just investigate a lot into some aspects concerning the definitions and values of critical thinking. Accordingly, in this chapter, literature is reviewed in three parts, first on the definition of critical thinking, second on the definition of classroom questioning and third on the related empirical studies on critical thinking and classroom questioning.

2.1 Definitions

2.1.1 The definition of critical thinking

According to the previous studies, studies on critical thinking are quite rich and deep. Much literature has been devoted to the theoretical and practical concerns of critical thinking. As we all know, there are so many definitions and so many understanding about critical thinking, however, there is still no agreement upon the definition of it.

Dewey (1933) defined critical thinking as ”active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends”. In addition, Siegel (1988) emphasized the relationship between critical thinking and reasoning. Siegel regarded critical thinking as just such a term: the skills of reason assessment, the attitudes, dispositions, character traits and underlying traits whose presence or absence determines the extension of the term.

Additionally, Ernis (1979) considered critical thinking as reasonable and reflective thinking focused on what to believe or to do. As to the former, Paul and Scriven (1987) put forward a more influential definition: critical thinking refers to the intellectually disciplined process of activity and skillfully conceptualizing, analyzing, applying, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, experience, observation, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Different from the former#8217;s opinions, Huitt (1992) regarded that critical thinking is linear and serial, more structured, emotional, more visual, more tactual. Besides those, Facione (1995) defined critical thinking as a mental process of analyzing or evaluating information.

2.1.2 The definition of classroom questioning

From the history of the research in classroom questioning, we can conclude that scholars from home and abroad all made great contributions to the introduction of theory of classroom questioning into their own countries.

Regale (2000) pointed out that even the murmurs, gestures, factual expressions and body contact can be used as question because they can cause student#8217; reaction and can be used to acquire information. Therefore, Regale thought that questioning refers to any information which can lead to language feedback.

Ye Jianzhong (2001) stated that questioning is a kind of signal stimulus and it can cause students#8217; reaction. Classroom questioning refers to teaching indication or a stimulus about what has been studied by students or a direction on what to do and how to do things. Questioning is a teaching form used by the teacher during the teaching process according to teaching contents, purpose and requires.

Additionally, Rong Jingxian (2003) believed questioning means asking students question by teachers who has enough knowledge and experience, which instructing students to draw their own conclusions after careful thought. Zheng Qingshen (2007) also thought that questioning is the form of asking questions by the teacher and a kind of behavior method, during which the teacher and the students can mutually check study, promote thinking, consolidate what students have studied and promote their study.

American expert, G. Karhan considered questioning as a basic controlling method by which the teacher can promote students#8217; thinking and evaluate the teaching effectiveness as well as push students to reach anticipated goals.

2.2 Related empirical studies on critical thinking and classroom questioning

Up to now, though the researches on both critical thinking and classroom questioning are relatively scarce, there are still some outstanding researchers beginning to explore this area.

Yin Hanjie (2012) carried out an experimental research into the fostering of critical thinking in the process of college school English classroom questioning. Two classes were chosen in a random way from English major students of Grade one in Chenggong College as the subjects of the study. In the following whole year#8217;s experiment, class A still adopted traditional method of questioning in class teaching; while class B adopted critical thinking method of questioning in class teaching. Through the comparison of examinations between class A and class B, there were some obvious changes between before-after tests among students from class B. The results reflected that students from class B had better performance and better results than class A. Specifically speaking, it was obvious for us to realize the great improvement in integrated performance and critical thinking ability of class B#8217;s students. Therefore, it was proved that this teaching model of classroom questioning based on critical thinking is benefit to improve students#8217; integrated performance in English and thinking. Such a useful technique should be adopted in classroom instruction.

As a postgraduate, Zheng Xiaoli (2009), from Northeast Normal University conducted an empirical study which focused on the English teachers#8217; questioning activity in senior high schools#8217; classroom teaching and took scores of English classes in the Wenzhou area as the samples. Through the classroom observation, survey and interview, which is, analyzing the problems arising from teacher#8217;s questioning and probing into student#8217;s opinion of the teacher#8217;s questioning as well as their feedback about it, some meaningful information could be got from this investigation. The result showed that some effective strategies of classroom questioning should be adopted by teachers which were beneficial to improve student#8217;s thinking abilities.

In the U.S., some educators established special institutions to explore vital changes in the reform education through the fostering of critical thinking. For instance, there are many educational non-profit institutions, which are cooperating closely to push forward the reform of education. One is the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, it is composed of eight thousand top scholars, which aims at cultivating intellectual standards in critical thinking research instruction. It was quite valuable for the following researchers who will carry out such related studies. Another organization, the International Assessment Center for Higher Order Thinking, was established to help universities design effective methods to evaluate student#8217;s critical thinking abilities. To put it more specifically, it provides assessment tools that can evaluate students' critical thinking skills and course designs. The results involve a list of students#8217; reasoning abilities that can be used not only as a benchmark against which progress can be measured, but also as a practical guide for critical thinking instruction.

What is more, the U.S. government also attaches great value to the cultivation of critical thinking among young students. They advocate the importance of critical thinking in society and believe critical thinking will determine the quality of life and future of the U.S.. What#8217;s more, they not only support the theoretical study on critical thinking but also put the achievements into practice through performing special courses or carrying out their school courses in schools at different levels in whole country, which are particularly intended for cultivating the critical thinking abilities for American students.

Therefore, there is a systematic and scientific exploration of critical thinking in America. However, there are still many insufficiencies in the previous studies at home, which call for the implement of the current study.

2.3 Significance of the study

The present study intends to investigate the application of critical thinking in English classroom questioning. Specifically speaking, the purpose of this study is two-folded: firstly, to find out whether there is any significant difference on students' performance in Advanced English between traditional classroom questioning and critical thinking questioning; secondly, to find out whether there is any significant difference in students' critical thinking ability between traditional classroom questioning and critical thinking questioning.

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