Questions in English medium Instruction undergraduate lectures in a Sri Lankan university: why are they important?

Abstract

Introduction of English Medium Instruction (EMI) is linked to language development, mainly in countries where English is not the mother tongue of the majority of the population. It is believed that teacher questions that trigger teacher-student interaction, especially dialogic interaction in an EMI classroom, can help students’ content and language development. Hence, this study investigates the types of questions lecturers ask, and the patterns of interaction developed in the lecture deliveries in English Medium Instruction (EMI) undergraduate lectures of a Sri Lankan university. It also looks into the underlying reasons for such practices. Six lectures delivered by two lecturers were recorded for this purpose and they were transcribed verbatim. The lecture transcripts were analysed to find the questions lecturers asked and the subsequent pattern of interactions developed. Interview with lecturers informed the underlying reasons for the existing questioning patterns. The majority of the questions asked by the lecturers were rhetorical in nature, and only a limited number of non-rhetorical questions, which could create meaningful interactional episodes of dialogic nature, were found. This study enlightens that lecturers should be trained to ask non-rhetorical questions in order to develop interaction if the objectives of EMI are to be achieved.