TEACHERS' QUESTIONS

IN ENGLISH CLASROOM INTERACTION

ABSTRACT
……………………………………………

Keywords: 4 words

INTRODUCTION
In teaching learning English, there is a process called asking or giving questions.
It can be from teacher to student or from student to teacher. Asking students must be
applied in the strategy of asking. Ningsih (2021) State Questioning Strategy is a tool that
use to achieve the goal of teaching English. Through using questioning strategy in English
for Language Classroom Interaction and it is the factors that should be considered by the
teachers to make the process of learning and teaching effectively.. In the teaching and
learning process, teachers need to know the students' abilities and how far students
understand the material that has been taught. Furthermore, the teacher must know the
student's output before or after teaching by asking questions. So there must be interaction
between the teacher and students and then followed by feedback from students. We
cannot deny that the teacher has a very important role in the teaching and learning process
in the classroom. Therefore, teachers have various strategies to build a classroom
atmosphere. There are many ways to build an active learning environment in the classroom
and one of them is by asking students questions. In the teaching and learning process,
sometimes teachers only teach without questioning their students. Some of the factors for
that are because they are in a hurry, they are not good at understanding the teaching
material, they don't care about students or they are lazy. Chen (2019) Stated that
Questioning Strategies Positively Affected Students' Language Learning Performances in
the Flipped Classroom.

Cited by Bloom's taxonomy (1956) of question types are: closed, open, display,
referential, procedural, convergent, divergent, rhetorical, interaction, instructional and
conversational. That taxonomy will guide the researcher to find out the types of question
that teacher use. Bloom's Taxonomy is the widely accepted as guidelines for teachers in
building up students' cognitive skills. Teacher not only a facilitator of learning but
According to Turney (in Majid, 2019) 8 Basic Teaching Skills are needed for each
educator: Asking questions, giving reinforcement, various instructions, giving explanation,
opening and closing lessons, small group instructions and individuals, Class management,
and facilitate small group discussions. As a teacher should be Have 8 basic teaching skills
in order to provide quality learning to students. Furthermore, According to Saifullah
 (2022) Questioning skills are very essential things that must be possessed by teachers in
managing learning in class, so that abilities speaking students can be optimized. This can
help teachers to develop themselves strategies to improve students' work and thinking.
Therefore, it will be effective when it allows students to be fully involved in the learning
process. The term of lesson planning, teachers think significantly about the types of
questions for students.
Based on observations conducted in two schools- SMP Nasrani 1 and SMPN 7
Medan, the teacher at SMP Nasrani 1, asked questions, but some students did not
understand in answering the question. The students just listened and silent. most of the
students only paid attention after the teacher explained the material without interaction
between the teacher and students. On the other hand, at SMPN 7 Medan, the teacher did
not questions at the end of the lesson. That is why it is important to analyze the teachers’
questions and how are the questions used in the classroom interaction. This is interesting
because it helps researchers and readers to be more creative in using learning strategies so
that students understand the material presented by the teacher.
Moreover, In the learning process, the questions asked by the teacher aim to attract
students' attention to stay focused on the learning objectives. Asking questions is one of
the basic teaching strategies that can be applied to almost any subject area, grade level, or
teacher personality. If done effectively, this strategy can encourage engagement, enhance
learning, motivate students, and provide feedback on learning progress to both teachers
and students. A question is an expression of someone's curiosity about an information that
is contained in a question sentence. Questions usually end with a question mark. Questions
are a science and are addressed to others and expect to be answered.
A question is any sentence that has an interrogative form and function. Ramlan
(2005: 28) explains that questions or interrogative sentences function to ask something.
Meanwhile, English (2005: 143) suggests that a question is something that is being
questioned or a search that requires an answer. Or in other words, a question is a person's
statement addressed to another person and expects to be answered. In classroom learning,
teacher questions are defined as instructional cues or stimuli conveyed to students about
content elements to be learned, how to do it, and how to do it (Cotton, 1991: 1).
The aim is to focus on the relationship between the teacher's questions and the
results obtained by students in the learning process in the form of behavior, achievement,
memory and the level of student participation. Subiyanto (in Gloria 2008: 11) explains that
the question essentially emphasizes the disclosure of information by students, so that
teachers can get feedback from these students and students themselves can realize their
position. Harvey (2000) state the questioning strategy is most effective when it allows
pupils to become fully involved in the learning process. He states that while the lesson in
planning, it is absolutely vital that teacers think about the types of questions will be asked
to students Browne & Keeley (2007) state that a question system is more consistent to
increase the spirit of curiosity, wonder, and intellectual to critical thinking. Then,
Wajnryb (1992: 47) has categorized the type of questions into six types, that are: yes/no
questions, short answer/retrieval-style questions, imaginative/non-retrieval questions,
display questions, referential questions, and open-ended questions.
a) Yes/No Question is one of the most common questions which are often emerging during
teaching and learning process. For example: ‘Here is a picture of woman. Have you seen
her face before ?‘
b) Short Answer/Retrieval-Style Question is type of question guides the students to answer
in a short phrase and have exact answers based on the topic is being discussed. Students
can simply answer this kind of question derived from the recent fact regarding the
activities, e.g. ‘What did she say this morning?’, ‘Where were you last week ?’
c) Imaginative Question/Non-Retrieval is imaginative or non-retrieval questions refer to
“questions that do not require the learner to retrieve given information but instead call on
inferred information or information in which an opinion judgment is called for” Wajnryb
(1992, p. 3). This question suggested by the teachers in leads the students imagine what
they will do in a certain situation, e.g. ‘What do you think I was suggesting by making the
central character an animal?’
d) Display Questions is a question which the questioner already knew the answers of the
questions based on the issue of being discussed. Brown (2001) stated that display
questions refer to questions for which the teachers know the answers of the questions and
demand a single or shirt response, e.g. ‘What the color of this pen?’, ‘What is the genre of
a text?’
e) Referential Questions refers to questions demanding new information. Behnam & Pouriran
(2009)mentioned that referential questions is made for more interaction and meaningful
negotiation and demand more thought and generates longer responses e.g. ‘What did you
study at university?’
f) Open-Ended Questions is a question with variant responses. As Yang (2010) states “open-
ended question can have more than one possible answer”. It means that from open-ended
questions students may answer questions with several different answers e.g. ‘What kinds
of sports do you like?’, ‘Whom could he have telephoned?’
Moreover, the learning of language occured through interaction between teacher
and students and also interaction among students in the classroom. Classroom interaction
is one of the crucial point of development in English language learning. Allwright and
Bailey (1991) stated that the inteaction between teacher and students constructed a
common body of knowledge. It also created mutual understanding of their role and
expectations of their involvement as members in their classroom. Interaction can develop
students’ communicative skills and help the EFL students learn the target language easily
(Hall, 2001). In view of this thought, the knowledge about students competence and
classroom interaction is an essential point for the teacher, who has the main role of
teaching and learning process. The language classroom, interaction itself is identified as
the process of language learning. Interaction facilitates not only language development but
also learners’ development. Students acquire linguistic knowledge and ability through the
interaction. In the classroom interaction, both the teachers and students can create the
learning opportunities, which motivate the students’ interest and potential to communicate
with others.

METHODOLOGY
The research design of the study used descriptive qualitative. Gay and AirAsia
(2000: 275) mentions that descriptive studies determine and explain what it is. This means
that descriptive studies determine and explain our studies. Data of the study are sentences
consists of teachers questions in English classroom. On the one hand, the data source are
one English teacher taken from SMP Nasrani 1 and SMPN 7 Medan. The students
observed and selected from grade 8 which consisted of 26 students of SMP Nasrani and 7
 students of SMPN 7 Medan. Technique analysis data used based on Gay, Mills, and
Airasian's (2012:467) consists of four steps in analyzing research data:
reading/memorizing, describing, classifying, and interpreting.
DISCUSSION
There were six types of questions namely: yes/no questions, short answer
questions/retrieval style, imaginative/non-retrieval questions, display questions, referential
questions, and open- ended questions and question ends. The following tabel is presented
the results of analysis.

Table 1. The Percentages of Teachers’ Questions

Percentages (%)
Types Questions
SMP Nasrani 1 SMPN 7
Medan Medan

Yes/no questions 10 15
Short answers/retrieval-style questions 15 10
Imaginative/non-retrieval questions 25 30
Display questions 10 10
Referential questions 10 15
Open-ended questions 30 20

It can be seen that the teacher gives 5 types of questions, namely, yes/no
questions, short answers/retrieval-style questions, imaginative/non-retrieval questions,
display questions, referential questions, and open- ended questions. Based on the teacher's
questions both orally and in writing, the researcher found that at SMP Nasrani 1 there were
10% yes/no questions, 15% short answers/retrieval-style questions, 25% imaginative/non-
retrieval questions, 10% display questions, 10 referential questions, and 30% open-ended
questions. Meanwhile, the data found at SMPN 7 there were 15% yes/no questions, 10%
short answers/retrieval-style questions, 30% imaginative/non-retrieval questions, 10%
display questions, 15 referential questions, and 20% open-ended questions. So, the
imaginative/non retrieval-style questions is the dominant one found at SMPN 7 Medan, on
the other hand, open-ended questions is the highest percentages found at SMP Nasrani 1.
Data analysis is described as the following.

1. Types of Teachers’ Questions

In this learning the teacher focuses on pronunciation and vocabulary and even
spelling. These are the dialogues:
1. Yes/No Question. Yes/No question is one of the questions that often arises during the teaching
and learning process. This kind of question only give two questions to answer, just yes or
no, there are no other possible answers for this question.
Dialogue 1
Teacher : Can you do something like the one in the reading book ?
Student : Yes maam.
 Dialogue 2
Teacher : Was today's lesson interesting?
Student : Yes… interesting sir
On the dialogue the teacher ask the students about one activity in the reading book. The
teacher would like to know the students’ response by giving the question which needed the
answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And the students give their feedback by answering ‘yes’. That was
also happened on dialogue 2. Teacher ask the students about the lesson given by him
whether the lesson interesting for his students or not. He always asked his students before
the class dismiss.
2. Short Answers/Retrieval Style Questions
This type of question guides students to answer in short phrases and has a precise answer
based on the topic being discussed. The teacher takes questions from the reading text
book
Dialogue 3: When the teacher asks students to answer the questions in the book then the teacher asks,
Teacher : "What did he say in the text?"
Student : He did homework, maam
Dialogue 4:
Teacher : How is it easy to learn English and what does it say?
Student: He has very difficult in English conversations, maam.
The question given by the teacher “What did he say in the text” and “How is easy to learn
English and what does it say?” are categorized into retrieval style question because they
are needed precise answer based on their topic discussed on that day. Then, the students
give short response ‘He did homework’ and ‘He has very difficult in English
conversations’.
3. Imaginative/Non-Retrieval Questions
Imaginative or non-retrieval questions refer to “questions that do not require the learner to
retrieve the information provided but instead call out information or inferred information
where opinion judgment is called” Wajnryb (1992, p. 3). This question is suggested by the
teacher in directing students to imagine what they will do in a certain situation. And there
is a text in the reading book and the teacher asks questions that awaken students'
illustrative power.
Dialogues 5:
Teacher : What do you think you are imagining right now?
Student : I imagine that I can become a famous person and can speak English well sir.
Teacher: Good job!
4. Show Questions
Display questions are questions in which the questioner already knows the answer to the
question based on the problem being discussed. Brown (2001) states that display questions
refer to questions where the teacher knows the answer to the question and demands a
single response or a shirt. As researchers see when the teacher explains there are students
who are playing squisy
Dialogue 6:
Teacher: 'What are you holding?'
Student: I'm holding squisy maam.
5. Reference Questions
Referential questions refer to questions that demand new information. Behnam &
 Pouriran (2009), referential questions are made for more meaningful interactions and
negotiations and demand more thought and generate longer responses.
Dialogue 7:
Teacher: "What did you learn today?"
Student: Learn about the correct pronunciation of vocabulary sir, such as our father's prayer.
6. Open Questions
Open-ended questions are questions with varying answers. As Yang (2010) states “open
questions can have more than one possible answer”. This means that from open-ended
questions students can answer questions with several different answers. Below is an
example:
Dialogues 8:
Teacher : What can Tono do?
Student : Tono can cook fried rice maam

2. USE OF TEACHER’S QUESTION

In this part the researcher will explain the data to answer research questions. The
question is “what kind of questions are used by the teachers of SMP Nasrani 1 Medan and
SMPN 7 Medan.
In observation, the teacher gives 6 types of questions, namely, yes/no questions, short
answers/retrieval-style questions, imaginative/non- retrieval questions, display questions,
referential questions, and open- ended questions, where the teacher asks questions. The
researcher observed that at SMP Nasrani 1 there were 10% you yes/no questions, 15%
short answers/retrieval-style questions, 25% imaginative/non- retrieval questions, 10%
display questions, 10 referential questions, and 30% open - ended questions. Then, based
on the teacher's questions both
verbally and in writing, the researcher observed that at SMPN 7 there were 15% you
yes/no questions, 10% short answers/retrieval-style questions, 30% imaginative/non-
retrieval questions, 10% display questions, 15 referential questions, and 20% open-ended
questions.

a. yes/no questions
The teacher gives a question about the baacn text where using the Yes/No question type is
one of the questions that often arises during the teaching and learning process. This kind of
question only 2 provides two questions to answer, yes or no, there is no other possible
answer to this question. the teacher asks a question
in the first dialogue, the teacher is asking "can you do something like the one in the
reading book"? Then students answer the question briefly because in this type of question
only a short answer is needed. Likewise with the second dialogue, students answered
briefly.

b. Short answers/retrieval-style questions

This type of question guides students to answer in short phrases and has a precise answer
based on the topic being discussed. The teacher takes questions from the reading text book
and applies them when teaching and the teacher gives simple questions and students
answer briefly as in the dialogue above, namely, when the teacher asks students to answer
the questions in the book then the teacher asks, "What did he say? on the text?" The
 teacher asks short questions so that students also answer briefly. As the students answered
“he did the homework maam”

c. Imaginative/Non-Retrieval Questions
In conducting learning the teacher uses a strategy so that students can easily capture and
remember what is being learned, namely imaginative questions or referring to "questions
that do not require students to take the information provided but instead call on
information or information that is concluded where opinion assessment is called" Wajnryb
(1992, p. 3). This question is suggested by the teacher in directing students to imagine
what they will do in a certain situation. And there is a text in the reading book and the
teacher asks questions that awaken students' illustrative power. As in the dialogue above, it
explains that the teacher brings the flow of students' imaginations, such as the teacher
asking "What do you think you are imagining right now? Then the students imagine "I
imagine that I can become a famous person and can speak English well sir" then the
teacher gives an appreciation of "good job"

d. Show Questions
Teachers sometimes give Display questions are questions that the asker already knows the
answer to the question based on the problem being discussed. Brown (2001) states that
display questions refer to questions where the teacher knows the answer to the question
and demands a single response. As the researcher saw when the teacher explained there
were students who were playing squisy. But the teacher asked 'What are you holding?'
then the student gave the answer with his head down. For fear I held squisy maam.

e. Reference Question
Referential questions refer to questions that demand new information. Behnam & Pouriran
(2009), referential questions are made for more
meaningful interactions and negotiations and demand more thought and generate longer
responses.
Teacher "What did you learn today?"
Student : learn about the correct pronunciation of vocabulary sir, such as our father's
prayer. As for questions such as the example 'Why do we use? How many times have they
changed the schedule?'

f. Open QuestionOpen-ended questions are questions with varying answers.

As Yang (2010) states “open questions can have more than one possible answer”. This means that
from open-ended questions students can answer questions with several different answers.
Below is an example: Teacher : what can tono do? Student : Tono can cook fried rice
maam

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Based on the observations that have been made, it appears that the teacher gives questions
both orally and in writing, the researcher observes at SMP Nasrani 1 that there are 10%
yes/no questions, 15% short answers/retrieval style questions, 25% imaginative/non-
retrieval questions , 10% display questions, 10 referential questions, and 30% open-ended
questions. Then based on the teacher's questions both orally and in writing, the researchers
 made observations, namely at SMPN 7 15% yes/no questions, 10% short answers/retrieval
style questions, 30% imaginative/cannot be taken, 10% display questions, 15 referential
questions , and 20% open-ended questions. In this study, the researcher focuses on the
types of questions used when the teacher teaches and so that students are active in the
classroom
a. yes/no questions
The teacher gives a question about the baacn text where using the Yes/No question type is
one of the questions that often arises during the teaching and learning process. This kind
of question only 2 provides two questions to answer, yes or no, there is no other possible
answer to this question. the teacher asks a question
in the first dialogue, the teacher is asking "can you do something like the one in the
reading book"? Then students answer the question briefly because in this type of question
only a short answer is needed. Likewise with the second dialogue, students answered
briefly.

b. Short answers/retrieval-style questions

This type of question guides students to answer in short phrases and has a precise answer
based on the topic being discussed. The teacher takes questions from the reading text book
and applies them when teaching and the teacher gives simple questions and students
answer briefly as in the dialogue above, namely, when the teacher asks students to answer
the questions in the book then the teacher asks, "What did he say? on the text?" The
teacher asks short questions so that students also answer briefly. As the students answered
“he did the homework maam”

c. Imaginative/Non-Retrieval Questions
In conducting learning the teacher uses a strategy so that students can easily capture and
remember what is being learned, namely imaginative questions or referring to "questions
that do not require students to take the information provided but instead call on
information or information that is concluded where opinion assessment is called" Wajnryb
(1992, p. 3). This question is suggested by the teacher in directing students to imagine
what they will do in a certain situation. And there is a text in the reading book and the
teacher asks questions that awaken students' illustrative power. As in the dialogue above,
it explains that the teacher brings the flow of students' imaginations, such as the teacher
asking "What do you think you are imagining right now? Then the students imagine "I
imagine that I can become a famous person and can speak English well sir" then the
teacher gives an appreciation of "good job"

d. Show Questions
Teachers sometimes give Display questions are questions that the asker already knows the
answer to the question based on the problem being discussed. Brown (2001) states that
display questions refer to questions where the teacher knows the answer to the question
and demands a single response. As the researcher saw when the teacher explained there
were students who were playing squisy. But the teacher asked 'What are you holding?'
then the student gave the answer with his head down. For fear I held squisy maam.

e. Reference Question
 Referential questions refer to questions that demand new information. Behnam & Pouriran
(2009), referential questions are made for more meaningful interactions and negotiations
and demand more thought and generate longer responses.
Teacher "What did you learn today?"
Student : learn about the correct pronunciation of vocabulary sir, such as our father's
prayer. As for questions such as the example 'Why do we use? How many times have they
changed the schedule?'

f. Open Question
Open-ended questions are questions with varying answers. As Yang (2010) states “open
questions can have more than one possible answer”. This means that from open-ended
questions students can answer questions with several different answers.
Below is an example:
Teacher : what can tono do? Student : Tono can cook fried rice maam
Here the teacher of SMPN 7 does not give closed questions to students but he finishes
learning, the teacher immediately leaves learning. However, SMP Nasrani 1 gives a
closing question like, what did we learn earlier? And study today's material and next week
I tell one by one to come forward to say

Conclusion
1. Questioning is one of the basic teaching strategies that can be applied to almost any subject
matter area, grade level, or teacher personality. If done effectively, this strategy can
encourage engagement, enhance learning, motivate students, and provide feedback on
learning progress, to both teachers and students. and Type of questions into six types, that
are: yes/no questions, short answers/retrieval-style questions, imaginative/non-retrieval
questions, display questions, referential questions, and open - ended questions.

2. In the question the teacher uses the type teacher's questions both orally and in writing, the
researcher observed that in SMP Nasrani 1 there were 10% you yes/no questions, 15%
short answers/retrieval-style questions, 25% imaginative/non-retrieval questions, 10%
display questions, 10 referential questions, and 30% open-ended questions. Then, based on
the teacher's questions both verbally and in writing, the researcher observed that at SMPN
7 there were 15% you yes/no questions, 10% short answers/retrieval-style questions, 30%
imaginative/non-retrieval questions, 10% display questions, 15 referential questions, and
20% open-ended questions. However, the teacher did not ask questions at the end of the
lesson, and the other teacher gave questions at the end of the lesson.

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