An Analysis of Teacher Questions in Foreign Language Classrooms: A Case Study

Shakibafar, Masoume, Bajalan, Ali, Modern Journal of Language Teaching

Methods

Abstract
Teacher questions, as a kind of input provided by a teacher (Hasan, 2006), form
an integral part of classroom interaction (ho, 2005). The problem which is going
to be mainly investigated here is types of teachers' questions and teachers' modi
fying strategies in a class. Because as Holland and Shortall (1997) point out, "tw
o of the most common ways in which 12 teachers engage in interaction with lear
ners is by way of asking questions and providing feedback, and these deserve so
me consideration" (p. 104), focusing on them can be expected to show useful fin
dings which will contribute to deeper insights about the ways to improve 12 tea
ching and learning. In the classrooms observed in the present study, the overwh
elming frequency of display questions and the great amount of closed questions
is remarkable. It can be inferred that the teacher exercises a strong control over
what and how much is being said. The implication here is that when selecting th
e range and differential use of questions, teachers may need to compromise their
personally held beliefs regarding language use with the objectives of the EFL p
rogram.
Key words: teacher questions, taxonomy of question types, frequency of questio
n types
1. Introduction
Since spoken language is "the medium by which much teaching takes place and
in which students demonstrate to teachers much of what they have learned" (Ca
zden, 1987, cited in Wittrock, 1988), the application of discourse analysis to sec
ond language teaching and learning can reveal much about how teachers can im
prove their teaching practices by investigating actual language use in the classro
om, and how students can learn language through exposure to different types of
discourse. Nunan (1989) asserts that "If we want to enrich our understanding of
language learning and teaching, we need to spend time looking in classroom" (p
.76).
According to Richards and Rodger s (2001), failed communication is a joint res
ponsibility and not the fault of speaker or listeners. Similarly, successful commu
nication is an accomplishment jointly achieved and acknowledged. It is the teac
hers' responsibility to organize the classroom as a setting for communication an
d communicative activities. In recent years, a much greater role has been attribu
ted to interactive features of classroom behaviors, such as "turn-
taking, questioning and answering, negotiation of meaning, and feedback" (Cha
udron, 1988: 10). In second language classrooms, "learners often do not have a
great number of tools..., teachers' questions provide necessary stepping stones to
communication" (Brown, 1994a: 165). Questioning is reported as one of the co
mmonly used strategies, as the success of a class largely depends on questioning
and feedback.
The problem which is going to be mainly investigated here is types of teachers'
questions and teachers' modifying strategies in a class. Because as Holland and
Shortall (1997) point out, "two of the most common ways in which L2 teachers
engage in interaction with learners is by way of asking questions and providing
feedback, and these deserve some consideration" (p. 104), focusing on them can
be expected to show useful findings which will contribute to deeper insights ab
out the ways to improve L2 teaching and learning.
2. Review of Related Literature
2.1. Teacher Questions
Teacher questions, as a kind of input provided by a teacher (Hasan, 2006), form
an integral part of classroom interaction (Ho, 2005). Nunan and Lamb (19%) su
ggest that teachers use questions "to elicit information, to check understanding,
and also to control behavior" (p. 80). In most classrooms, questioning remains t
he common strategy for eliciting responses from students during the whole class
teaching. Chaudron (1988) mentions that "teachers' questions constitute a prima
ry means of engaging learners' attention, promoting verbal responses, and evalu
ating learners' progress" (p. 126). In other words, it means that teacher questions
play an important role in managing classroom routines.
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