Classroom interaction in English-medium instruction: are there differences between disciplines?

Abstract

ABSTRACT English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes have been mushrooming in the last two decades as part of the internationalisation processes. However, the rapid implementation of EMI has outpaced research in many different areas, classroom interaction being one of them. Since classroom interaction is an indication of quality teaching, the analysis of the use of questions made by EMI lecturers needs to be carefully examined. Questioning practices, however, may be determined not only by the use of English as means of instruction but also by the discipline. In this study, we intend to analyse whether the questioning practices of university lecturers from different disciplines differ both in the number and the type of questions asked. Thirty-six lectures from history, engineering and economics at various Spanish universities were recorded and transcribed verbatim, to later on undertake the analysis of the questions made. The findings revealed that questions were not very frequent in class, and that there was no statistically significant difference between disciplines. As for the type of questions asked, confirmation check questions were by far the most common, followed by display, referential and self-answered questions in the three disciplines. Based on these results, some pedagogical implications are drawn with a view to fostering more interactive lectures.