Teacher Questions in EFL Classes

The purposes of this qualitative research are to answer the following research questions: (1) How long do EFL teachers wait after asking questions? (2) To what extent does each type of question influence students’ participation? (3) What particular strategies are employed when the EFL teachers do not get the expected responses/correct answers to the exercise? and (4) How different are the strategies employed by teachers at the English Department from the ones employed by those at the non-English Department? The participants involved were four teachers teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia. The data were collected in May, June and September 2003 using an audio recorder and camcorder. The data show that less than a second wait-time occurs the most frequently. This indicates most teachers wait less than a second before intervening by either supplying the required responses themselves, rephrasing the questions or calling on some students to respond. Teacher questions found in this study are display, clarification, confirmation, referential and comprehension check ordered from the most to the least frequently used. Most students are not participative as expected. However this study reveals that when the three types of questions – display, referential, clarification check – are used to probe and prompt students, more students participate in answering the teacher’s questions. This study also indicates that when asked to translate, the students participate more. The teachers employ all types of questions to assist their students to self-correct. When ranked, display questions is posed the most often followed by clarification check, confirmation, referential and comprehension check which is the least posed. Wrong answers are, briefly stated, corrected by the students themselves assisted by the teachers’ posing display, referential, clarification check, and confirmation questions. It is found that teachers at the English Department and at the non-English Department both use display questions the most in correcting wrong answers. Teachers at English Department use comprehension check while teachers at non-English Department do not. Teachers at the English Department use clarification check first before confirmation questions while teachers at non-English Department use confirmation questions prior to clarification check