Instructional potential of questioning in ukrainian secondary school english textbooks: an analytical framework
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2663-0303.2025.1.07Keywords:
questioning strategies, English language teaching, English textbooks, secondary school, planned scaffolding, Bloom’s taxonomyAbstract
This study examines the effectiveness and implementation of questioning strategies in Ukrainian secondary school English textbooks. Through a comprehensive analysis of 315 questions from two eleventh-grade English textbooks for secondary school, this research investigates how questions function as planned scaffolding tools within educational materials. The theoretical framework draws upon established questioning taxonomies, including Bloom's revised taxonomy and contemporary scaffolding theory, to evaluate question types, cognitive complexity, and pedagogical effectiveness. The empirical analysis reveals significant limitations in current Ukrainian English textbooks, including an overemphasis on lower-order cognitive skills (such as remembering and understanding), inadequate representation of higher-order thinking questions, and the absence of opportunities for student-generated questioning. The findings indicate a lack of alignment with text-dependent questioning strategies and insufficient metacognitive guidance for learners. These results suggest the need for improved question design in Ukrainian EFL materials to foster critical thinking, authentic language use, and communicative competence. The study contributes to understanding how questioning strategies embedded in educational materials can support foreign language acquisition, providing insights for textbook developers and classroom practitioners.
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