Student questioning in literature circles: An investigation of forms of questioning among ELT students

Abstract

In this study, different types of questions (i.e., choice, product, process, metaproces) being asked by two groups of ELT freshmen while conducting literature circles, one of the most useful ways to activate cooperative learning among the students, were put under a close scrutiny. The first group comprised of thirty-seven students who had directly passed the proficiency exam of the university, while the latter consisted of the thirty-five students who studied at the preparatory school for a year. The different types of questions posed by the questioners in each circle were analyzed. According to the findings, there was no significant difference between the students who studied at the English preparatory school for a year, and the ones who directly passed the proficiency exam of the university. Nor did gender play a significant role in the participants’ preference for questioning types. In both groups, product questions were the most frequent type of questioning, while metaprocess questions remained the least used types in both literature circles.