| This study examined classroom questioning within the input-output theoretical framework to gain a better understanding of how teacher and student questions operate as pedagogical and learning tools for second language acquisition. Two teachers and 27 adult ESL learners in two intact Oral Communication classes within a college-level intensive English institute participated in this study throughout Fall 1998. Four focal subjects from each class (eight focal subjects in total) were selected for further investigation. They responded to two questionnaires, took two oral English proficiency tests, and participated in two semistructured, open-ended interviews. Twenty 50-minute class periods were audio- and/or videotaped and later transcribed verbatim for conversation/discourse analysis guided by a sociolinguistic perspective. The qualitative analysis of the data was conducted using the constant comparative method.; Teacher questions, besides their general function as elicitation tools, served as attention-drawing devices and corrective feedback that helped learners to notice the problematic elements in their output and push their language production toward increased comprehensibility, clarity, and accuracy. Teachers' probing questions also served as triggers for extended learner output. In problem-solving situations, teacher questions served as verbal scaffolds promoting learner language performance, cognitive functioning, and self-regulation.; Student questions elicited specific input that enhanced their knowledge of English and exerted certain influence and control over input comprehensibility and classroom discourse. Also, via questioning, students raised each other's awareness about target language use, stimulated and contributed to each other's input elicitation and quest for knowledge about English.; English proficiency influenced student questioning in terms of the types, frequency, domain, and target audience. Moreover, proficiency influenced teachers' questioning practices as well. Other factors, such as students' relative oral proficiency within the class, attitudes toward speaking in class, perceptions of classroom climate, previous language learning experience, environmental and motivational factors, and assumptions about how to speak a language, contributed to the complexity and differences in students' question asking and/or answering patterns. Teacher and student questioning in tandem contributed to students' on-line second language acquisition. Additional research needs to investigate whether classroom questioning has a lasting effect on second language acquisition. |
