This paper is mainly about the concept of interrogative sentences, the various categories of interrogative sentences according to the analyses of today's many high school textbooks as well as their characteristics based on the aforementioned. In addition, the paper goes further by analyzing a total of six types of current high school English textbooks (both I and II) in our country, thereby taking a closer look into the interrogative sentences used in the actual body texts as well as their respective appearance frequencies in such books.
The most important point to keep in mind while learning and studying English is the fact that English is not simply yet another field of study but an actual means of real-life communication. It mustn't be reduced to something that is only to be tested on through cramming methods of teaching, but should rather become a crucial part of a class in which English can be naturally and successfully perceived as a true, real language. Because English, too, is an actual language, it is more than imperative that the student doesn't simply convert each and every detail into one's mother tongue and proceed to just memorizing them without any critical thinking; instead the student must try to get into the process of symbolizing everything in itself.
However, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) environments being the reality, we can't help but admit the fact that English is never quite accepted or utilized as an actual type of communication tool. In fact, in most cases English is merely being used as an assessment tool and nothing more.
Therefore, the following study has selected English textbooks (both I and II) from the 2nd and 3rd grade levels of high school that have already gone through the 2009 curriculum reform and carried out an in-depth analysis on them.
After categorizing interrogative sentences into six separate types, each one was carefully taken a look at for distinctive features. The categories included decision, explanation, addition, selection, reverberation, and investigation types, and so on. Based on the aforementioned, we selected assay data from the six types of current high school English textbooks in our country, and analyzed the current state of interrogative sentences used in textbooks today. Based on the analysis results, we made a proposal regarding effective teaching methods for learning and studying interrogative sentences with greater efficiency.
First, the overall learning experience must be organized in a systematic manner so that the students can be beyond motivated through the insightful and inspirational interrogative sentences. Here, one of the most effective ways would be to take advantage of a wide array of activities.
Second, further reinforce the usage of interrogative sentences by utilizing them through applicable situations in pair work or role-plays. Doing role-plays in pairs is a great way to practice certain interrogative sentences and their intonations.
Third, wh-words should be written down and practiced by forming interrogative sentences with them.
Lastly, help students apply such sentences in contextually similar situations so that they can study errors in the sentences and get further practice in doing so. Teachers must provide students with a variety of situations in which interrogative sentences could be used, therefore allowing them valuable opportunities to actually use such expressions through these activities; such major conversions are inexplicably necessary at this point. The expected effect is that students would be able to utilize diverse and subtle nuances in not only expressing their thoughts but also understanding what they hear in real-life conversations. In order to witness such actual improvement in communication abilities better and more advanced educational activities must promptly be in place.
Continuous collaborative activities among learners through which mutual communication processes will naturally happen will most definitely help any English leaner in quite dramatically improving his or her general communication skills.