On Accommodating Questioning Strategies to Enhance Inferencing Ability of Iranian EFL Learners: Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Refreshed

AbstractQuestioning as one of teaching and learning strategies has long been the focus of attention by researchers and scholars; one major reason is that asking proper questions leads to proper elicitation of knowledge. The present study is aimed at pursuing the implementation of questioning strategies proposed through Bloom’s (۱۹۵۶) taxonomy on enhancing the inferential reading comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. This study was quasi-experimental in Pretest/Posttest design, involving treatment and utilizing standardized tests. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were employed via the instruments of tests, and interview. From the subject pool of ۱۸۶ intermediate-level English learners attending a university extra-curriculum program in a private institute in Tehran, Oxford Placement Test was administered and sixty intermediate EFL learners were selected and randomly assigned to treatment and control groups of thirty. The treatment group received questioning strategy-training explicitly in fifteen sessions of the reading comprehension course, while the control group followed common instruction in reading courses. This study was conducted during the first academic semester ۲۰۱۹-۲۰۲۰ and the result of interview and statistical analyses confirmed that questioning strategies enhanced the inferential reading comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. This study bears the implications of the findings for language learners/instructors, syllabus designers and materials developers.

Keywords:

Questioning Strategies , Inferencing , Higher Order Thinking