Form and Function of Teachers’ Questions in EMI Contexts: Comparing Practices Across European Countries

Abstract

Previous literature on engagement strategies in the classroom, especially in EMI contexts, has evidenced that lecturer questions play a vital role in establishing teacher-student interaction, checking and scaffolding comprehension, and supporting students’ learning progress (e.g., Costa & Mariotti, 2023; Dafouz-Milne & Sánchez-García, 2013). While the effect of different disciplines on the nature of teacher questions is still controversial, no studies have looked at the probable impact of teachers’ cultural academic background related to the country of origin. Drawing on a corpus of 30 EMI lectures from five European countries (Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands), this study analyzes and compares the use of questions as an engagement strategy and offers insights into teacher discourse. The overall results indicate that teachers in different cultural academic contexts use questions with different frequencies and select different question forms to serve particular functions. The study may have pedagogical implications, especially for teacher education programs.