Teachers' use of questions in ESL classrooms

Teacher questions are a means by which teachers check students' factual knowledge and facilitate the learning of the target language in the ESL classrooms. This study investigates the types of oral questions used by teachers
in the second language classroom. The focus of the study is on the use of referential and display questions and their effect on students' responses. The aim of the study is also to investigate the use of probing questions by teachers to follow-up and extend students' responses. Data was collected from two ESL
classrooms in a teacher training college and involved two lecturers and their students enrolled in the pre-service diploma courses. Data was obtained by means of classroom observations and interviews with the teachers and pupils. The results indicate that although teachers used both referential and display
questions in their classrooms, their choice seemed to depend on the types of lessons and their instructional goals. However this study could not establish the effect of the use of display and referential questions on student responses. The findings also reveal that probing questions were used by the teachers in a
number of ways to extend students' responses. The results also indicate that the use of probing questions had prolonged the exchange between teacher and pupil and in some instances facilitated improved responses from the students.