An Investigation of Question Types Used in an EFL Pre-Intermediate Classroom

In Japan, outside of junior high and high schools, the emphasis on communicative language teaching is still the dominant paradigm for language teachers. The idea behind the communicative method is that students focus on authentic, meaningful interactions rather than the traditional grammar focused methods taught in school. However, just because a language lesson is communicative rather than grammar focused, does not mean that the language produced by the students or the teacher is always real life communication. Much has been written about foreign language classroom discourse and the activities that promote discourse with regards to teacher/student talk and student/student talk. Many researchers have developed ways of investigating classroom discourse that can be used as analytical tools for language teachers to better understand the language used during teacher/student interaction. This article is a study of teacher questions and the effect of those questions on a class of pre-intermediate English Language learners