Questioning and Responding Strategies

Many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers lack knowledge of linguistic mechanisms and academic conventions.
Limited guidance on academic discussions leads to inadequate preparation for students.
The paper analyzes questioning and responding strategies used in two academic talk shows: one by physicist Michio Kaku and the other by social scientist Uval Noah Harari.
A variance in questioning strategies exists depending on academic discipline and speaker preference.
Strategies such as seeking clarification, self-questioning, and dodging questions are often absent from classroom instruction.

Engagement in interaction is critical for developing critical and creative thinking.
Interaction hypothesis by Long (1996) supports the importance of conversation for language acquisition.
Conversation analysis focuses on initiating questions and responding to them based on turn-taking sequences (Sacks et al. 1974).
Conventional studies on questioning patterns often omit academic discourse, focusing instead on communication arts and pragmatics.

Teachers often overlook natural questioning and responding patterns in academic talks, limiting their instructional effectiveness.
Students' scripts during academic talks tend to lack coherence and depth.
Prepared dialogues resemble job interviews rather than academic discussions due to their unnatural structure.

Teachers' corrections focus primarily on grammatical accuracy rather than effective conversational strategies.
Scaffolding is necessary to help students understand how to structure academic discourse effectively.

Pop-sci endeavors to present scientific content engagingly to a non-specialist audience.
The genre maintains an academic nature while attempting to entertain, as observed in popular books and TV talk shows.
Historical context indicates that popular science has roots in ancient storytelling.
Current media and online platforms have vastly increased the reach of popular science, making it essential for language learners.

Conversation analysis examines interaction in various contexts, focusing on turn-taking and adjacency pairs (interlinked turns in conversation).

Highlighting the roles of speakers in initiating statements and triggering responses.
Examination of the fluidity of roles in conversations, especially in informal settings like talk shows.

Diverse questioning types complicate straightforward classification in spontaneous conversations.
Questions in academic settings can either elicit information or challenge assertions.

Direct replies are deemed preferred, while evasive responses can occur when respondents avoid the direct question.
Respondents may prefer to reply to broad introductory questions rather than narrower follow-ups.

Evasive responses can manifest in a shift of time, agent, or level, which help maintain the respondent’s narrative without directly addressing questions.

To identify the variety and frequency of questioning and responding strategies in pop-sci talks.

Video clips of two interview talks on platforms like YouTube were utilized for analysis.
Both professors are known for simplifying complex academic content to mainstream audiences successfully.

The study draws upon previous frameworks that categorize questioning and responding techniques in academic discourse.

Frequencies of questions raised by Interviewers vary, with Harari receiving more indirect questions than Kaku, who received largely direct ones.
Differential strategies used by Harari (indirect responses) versus Kaku (direct responses and self-questioning).

The utility of rhetorical and echo questions as repetitive strategies observed in Harari's responses for clarification.
Kaku demonstrated freestanding questioning, wherein he self-initiated questions to control dialogue flow.

Educators should focus on facilitating students’ understanding of the nuances of academic talk.
The necessity for scaffolding activities to cultivate students' proficiency in academic discourse.

Providing examples of reflective questions, direct and indirect questions, and evasive strategies can enhance academic talk preparation.
It can be beneficial to teach students how to engage authentically in academic discussions instead of sticking to scripted dialogue.

The findings have implications for curriculum design, emphasizing practice in natural academic interactions to avoid unnatural performances in student talk shows.