INSTRUCTORS’ AND LEARNERS’ QUESTIONING: A CASE OF EFL CLASSROOM DISCOURSE IN IRAN

The present study was an attempt to examine how questioning was treated by EFL instructors and learners at a private language center in Yasouj, Iran. This study also intended to explore the types of questions posed by the EFL instructors and learners in different course levels and to scrutinize the extent to which the instructors’ classroom behaviors were geared towards enhancing the learners’ capacity to raise English questions. To accomplish such objectives, classes, from the same institute and with different levels were selected to be carefully observed. The researchers utilized a checklist of question types along with observation field notes to obtain a numeric summary and an in-depth description of the participants’ intended behaviors in the classrooms. The analysis of the numeric data through descriptive statistics and one way ANOVA along with content analysis of the observational data indicated that the instructors teaching in classes with lower proficiency levels practiced questioning more substantially and, unlike their peers teaching in higher levels, mainly resorted to display questions to achieve their pedagogical objectives. Seldom did the learners, regardless of their proficiency levels, venture to phrase English questions, and often appeared anxious and resorted to their first language when they were to pose questions. Further, the instructors’ classroom behaviors hardly intended to enhance the learners’ capacity in asking English questions. This study bears the implications of the findings for language instructors and learners in the context of EFL teaching and learning.