Teacher’s Questioning Strategies Used in English Classroom Interaction of Eleventh-Grade Students at SMKN 1 Jiwan

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the types of questioning strategies used by an English teacher, how these strategies influenced classroom interaction, and the teacher’s reasons for using them in an eleventh-grade TKJ (Teknik Komputer Jaringan) class at Vocational High School. A descriptive qualitative approach was employed, with data gathered through classroom observation and a semi-structured interview, then verified through triangulation. The findings, analyzed using Wangru’s (2016) classification, revealed that the teacher applied four types of questioning strategies: Prompting, Probing, Repeating, and Redirecting, with Prompting appearing most frequently. These strategies were found to positively influence classroom interaction by increasing student participation, easing comprehension, and building confidence, particularly among students who tended to be passive. The teacher’s use of these strategies was driven by the need to check students’ understanding, avoid misunderstanding, encourage participation, build confidence, and manage classroom interaction. A notable finding was the teacher’s frequent code-switching to Indonesian during the Repeating strategy, reflecting contextual adaptation to students’ limited English proficiency in a vocational setting. These results suggest that questioning strategies function not merely as a means of eliciting answers, but as a pedagogical tool for building a more interactive, student-centered classroom in vocational English education.