The Formation of Questions by Teachers to Encourage the Participation of University Students

Abstract This research aimed to explore the types of questions that several teachers of English Literature, using English as a medium of instruction, asked their students, during their lessons, at a university in northern Mexico. It was a qualitative study in which the transcripts of the lessons of four teachers were analyzed. As a result, a distinction was observed between questions of a basic and complex cognitive level: the former promoted student participation and led them to rely on textual and cultural references to answer, and the latter guided the student to argue and clarify their answers. The results suggest that teachers can use basic cognitive level questions as scaffolds, if they are accompanied by some form of feedback that helps students build learning processes.