Beginning EFL Teachers’ Beliefs about Quality Questions and Their Questioning Practices

Source: Teacher Development, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2013, pages 246-264

This study investigated the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about quality questions and their questioning behaviours in terms of questioning purposes, content focus, students’ cognitive level, wording and syntax.

The participants were thirteen beginning EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers working at Vietnam National University.
Qualitative data collected through an open-ended questionnaire survey and classroom observation were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings show that although there was a general congruence between teachers’ beliefs and practices, there were discrepancies between what the teachers believed and what they actually did in the class with respect to the four specified features.