Questioning strategies in EFL teaching: their role in fostering learners’ critical thinking

This action research study explored the influence of questioning strategies on fostering critical thinking in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms among Arabic-speaking elementary students in the Arab sector in Israel. Unlike previous studies that either describe questioning patterns or provide experimental interventions, the study described here uniquely integrates action research with conversation analysis (CA), offering both a reflective teaching framework and a rigorous discourse-analytic lens. Using an action research approach combined with CA, the research examined teacher–student interactions in two sixth-grade EFL classes over a 4-month period. Data were collected from recorded classroom lessons and analyzed to identify how different types of questions shape students’ responses and promote critical thinking. The findings reveal that while yes/no and closed/display questions were common in initial lessons, open/referential questions were significantly more effective in encouraging student participation and generating deeper, more thoughtful responses. These questions consistently led to Socratic dialogues, characterized by collaborative knowledge construction between teachers and students, in contrast to pseudo-dialogues driven by closed questioning patterns. This represents the first systematic action research study examining questioning strategies in Arabic-speaking elementary EFL contexts, demonstrating that elementary EFL teachers can successfully implement more open questioning techniques to enhance classroom dialogue and develop students’ critical thinking skills. The results provide practical implications for EFL teacher training programs, emphasizing the importance of developing effective questioning strategies to promote meaningful classroom discussions and improve students’ cognitive engagement. The action research methodology offers a replicable framework for other EFL practitioners seeking to transform their questioning practices.