A Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis of Follow-Up Questioning by Teachers in Senior High School English Online Classes

High-cognitive-level follow-up questions can improve students’ thinking levels. When appropriately timed and executed, these questions enhance the effectiveness of questioning and help develop students’ cognitive abilities. Evaluative questions, in particular, can improve the quality of students’ discourse output, thereby fostering better thinking skills. Based on these findings, the study offers the teaching recommendation that teachers increase the use of high-level questioning in senior classes, explore the deeper meanings of various teaching materials through questioning, diversify question forms, seize the right moments for questioning, and avoid teachers answering their own questions.