Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 13. Number3.  September 2022                                       Pp.72-88
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no3.5

Full Paper PDF 

An Examination of the Impact of Teachers’ Functional Questions on Students’ Oral
Production in Algerian EFL Classrooms
 

Ilyes Gouider
Department of English, Faculty of letters and languages
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
Corresponding Author: ilyes.gouider@ummto.dz

Hamid Ameziane
Department of English, Faculty of letters and languages
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou, Algeria

 

Received: 06/02/2022                     Accepted: 08/14/2022                Published:09/24/2022

Abstract:
This research explores the functions of questions used by EFL teachers and the impact they have on students’ oral production. The main aim is to examine the distribution of questioning techniques and the length of language output elicited by each category. The study will fill the research gap, in the local context, regarding the effects of functional questions on the length of students’ responses. The following main question is sought to be answered: What is the epistemic category of questions that can prompt students to produce more extended language output in EFL? The study involves descriptive correlational research that makes use of a quantitative method for answering the research questions. It implements Long and Sato’s (1984) taxonomy (based on Kearsley, 1976) for the categorization of functional questions. The database of this study included 566 questions, of which 420 were epistemic and 111 were echoic in function. The data collection procedure took place at the departments of English of two academic institutions, namely: the University of El Chadli Ben Djedid-El Tarf and the University of Badji Mokhtar-Annaba. The major findings of the study revealed that despite the primacy of referential questions in eliciting learners to produce lengthier language output, evaluative questions were more frequently asked by teachers. Further research is needed to be carried out in the context of Algeria to reach more comprehensive results.
Keywords: Functional questions, Algerian EFL classrooms, language output, referential questions evaluative questions

Cite as:  Gouider, I., & Ameziane, H.  (2022). An Examination of the Impact of Teachers’ Functional Questions on Students’ Oral Production in Algerian EFL Classrooms. Arab World English Journal, 13 (3) 72-88.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no3.5

References

Brock, C. A. (1986). The effects of referential questions on ESL classroom discourse. TESOL  quarterly, 20(1), 47-59.

Brown, D.H. (2014). Principles of language learning & teaching: A course in second language acquisition (6th ed.).
New York, US: Pearson Education.

Brown, D. H., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language  pedagogy (4th ed.).
New York:  Pearson Education ESL

Burton D. (1981). Analysing spoken discourse. In M. Coulthard & M. Montgomery, (Eds.), Studies in discourse analysis
(pp. 61-81). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Chaudron, C. (1986). The interaction of quantitative and qualitative approaches to research: A view of the second language classroom. TESOL quarterly20(4), 709-717. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586521

Chaudron, C. (1988). Second language classrooms: Research on teaching and learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Cohen, J. (1968). Multiple regression as a general data-analytic system. Psychological Bulletin, 70 (6), 426-443.

Cotton, K. (1988). Classroom questioning. New Jersey: Northwest Regional Educational     Laboratory.

Curtis, E. A., Comiskey, C., & Dempsey, O. (2016). Importance and use of correlational research. Nurse Researcher,
23
(6), 20–25. doi:10.7748/nr.2016.e1382

Dalton-Puffer, C. (2007). Discourse in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms (Vol. 20).
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

David, F. O. (2007). Teachers’ questioning behavior and ESL classroom interaction pattern. Humanity &
Social Science Journal, 2
(2), 127-131.

Ellis, R. (2012). Language teaching research and language pedagogy. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ellis, R. (2021). Explicit and implicit oral corrective feedback. In H. Nassaji & E. Kartchava  (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook
of corrective feedback in second language learning  and teaching
 (pp. 341-364). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.   doi:10.1017/9781108589789.017

Ellis, R., Loewen, S., & Erlam, R. (2006). Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the  acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(2), 339–368. doi:10.1017/S0272263106060141

Gass, S. (1997)Inputinteraction, and the second language learner. New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Gass, S. M., Behney, J., & Plonsky, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (4th ed.). New York: Routledge.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson R. (1999). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Kearsley, G. P. (1976). Questions and question asking in verbal discourse: A cross- disciplinary review. Journal of
Psycholinguistic Research, 5(4),
355–375.

Kotrlik, J.W, Williams, H.A, & Jabor, M.K. (2011). Reporting and interpreting effect size in quantitative agricultural
education research. Journal of Agricultural Education, 52(1), 132–142

Khadraoui, H. (2016). Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the effect of referential questions on EFL classroom interaction, (Unpublished Master dissertation). Oum El Bouaghi, University, Algeria. Retrieved from: http://bib.univoeb.dz:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/3686/1/Hanane%20KHADRA    OUI%2 0pdf.pdf

Krashen, S. (2009). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. University of Southern California. Retrieved from          http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf

Lee, Y. (2006). Respecifying display questions: interactional resources for language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 40(4), 691-713.

Liu, H. & Gillies, R.M. (2021). Teacher questions: Mediated-learning behaviors involved in teacher-student interaction during whole-class instruction in Chinese English classrooms. Frontiers in Education, 6, 1-11. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.674876

Liu, R. (2022). A research on different classroom questioning strategies between Chinese and foreign EFL teachers. Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 6(6), 1-12. doi:       10.26689/jcer.v6i6.4008

Lombard, M., Snyder-Duch, J., & Bracken, C.C. (2002). Content analysis in mass communication: Assessment and reporting
of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research, 2(4), 587-604.

Long, M. & Sato, C. (1983). Classroom foreigner talk discourse: Forms and functions of  teachers’ questions. In H. Seliger, & M.
Long (Eds.), Classroom-oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 268-286). Massachusetts: Newsbury House.      .

Long, M. & Sato, C. (1984). Methodological issues in interlanguage studies: An interactionist   perspective. In A. Davies, C.
Criper & A.P.R. Howatt (Eds.), Interlanguage: Papers in honor of S. Pit Corder (pp. 253-279). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W.C. Ritchie  & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.),
Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413-468). New York: Academic Press.

Long, M. H. (1981). Input, interaction, and second-language acquisition. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 379, 259–278.

Lyster, R. & Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 37-66.

Quirk, R., Leech, G., Greenbaum, S., & Svartvik, J. (1972). A grammar of contemporary English. London: Longman.

Richards, J. C. & Schmidt, R. (2010)Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (4th ed.). London:  Longman Pearson Education.

Sinclair, J & Coulthard, R. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used by teachers and pupils. London:
Oxford University Press.

Seedhouse, P. (1996) Classroom interaction: possibilities and impossibilities. ELT Journal, 50 (1), 16-24.

Shomoossi, N. (2004). The effect of teachers questioning behavior on EFL Classroom interaction: A classroom research study.
The Reading Matrix, 4(2), 96-104.

Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and  comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass, & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235-253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook & B.    Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principles and practice in applied linguistics; Studies in honour of H. G. Widdowson (pp. 125–144). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thompson, G. (1997). Training teachers to ask questions. ELT Journal, 51 (2), 99-105. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/51.2.99

Thwaite, A., Jones, P., & Simpson, A. (2020). Enacting dialogic pedagogy in primary literacy classrooms: Insights from systemic
functional linguistics. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 43(1), 33-46.

Tsui, A. B. M. (1995). Introducing classroom interaction. London: Penguin Books.

Van Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and the language learner: Ethnography and second-language  classroom research. London:
Longman.

Walsh, S. (2006). Investigating Classroom Discourse. London: Routledge.

Wright, B. (2016). Display and referential questions: Effects on student responses. Nordic Journal of English Studies,
15
(4), 160-189

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Reddit
Email
StumbleUpon
Digg
Received: 06/02/2022
Accepted: 08/14/2022 
Published: 09/24/2022
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6479-1487
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no3.5 

Gouider Ilyes is a Ph.D. student at the department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou in Algeria. He has a Master degree in Didactics of foreign languages. His research interests include interactionist theory of language acquisition, foreign language teaching and learning, and applied linguistics. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6479-1487 

Ameziane Hamid is a retired Professor who taught at the department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou in Algeria. He has a doctorate degree in didactics along with many published works in the field of language teaching and learning. His research interests include cognitive theory of language acquisition, didactics of foreign languages, and pedagogy in Algeria.