Teacher Questions in a Content-based Classroom for EFL Young Learners

Questions are the most common form of interaction between teachers and students in classroom teaching. However, while many studies go to questioning techniques in ESL/EFL classrooms, few turn to content-based classrooms, especially for young learners. The goal of this study is to explore types and functions of questions that teachers use in Content-Based Instruction (CBI), and how teachers deal with the non-responded questions. The participants were 16 Grade-three students and 1 teacher teaching “Science” in English from Plookpanya School in Thailand. A purely qualitative method was adopted through the use of classroom observations and interviews. The results showed that the teacher questions were referential and display questions. However, only display questions were used when dealing with teaching and learning. They serve several functions such as to elicit information, to check learners’ understanding, etc. In addition, six question modification strategies were employed when dealing with non-responded questions. Pedagogical implications for the effective use of teacher questions in content-based classrooms for young learners are also discussed.