The landscape of verbal interaction dynamics in TETE classrooms: Challenges and opportunities for Taiwan’s bilingual education

Abstract

This study examines teacher–student verbal interactions in Taiwan’s Teaching English through English (TETE) vocational high school classrooms under the national Bilingual 2030 initiative. We aimed to characterize teacher questioning and initiation–response–feedback (IRF) interaction patterns, focusing on question types, cognitive demands, and student responses. Fourteen TETE lessons (totaling 684 minutes) taught by vocational teachers in a national bilingual education competition were video-recorded. We manually transcribed the recordings and coded all teacher questions (n = 430) using Sánchez-García’s taxonomy and Anderson & Krathwohl’s revised Bloom’s taxonomy. IRF sequences were identified, and student responses were coded by language (Chinese vs. English). Descriptive and inferential statistics (correlations, ANOVA via SPSS) were applied. Inter-rater agreement on coding was 90%–92%. Quantitative results revealed that teachers’ questions were mostly procedural (28.4%), display (26.0%), or off-task (13.0%). Referential (content-focused) questions were significantly more common among higher-performing teachers. By cognitive level, 62% of questions targeted recall (Bloom’s lowest level), 28% application, and 10% analysis. Question lexical complexity aligned with basic-user proficiency (CEFR A1–A2). In 197 IRF sequences, students responded more often in Chinese (202 instances) than English (176 instances). Teachers’ question frequency was positively correlated with teaching performance (R = .585, p = .028). ANOVA indicated significant grade-level differences in questioning frequency (F(2, 11) = 4.619, p = .035), with ninth-grade teachers asking significantly fewer questions. These findings indicate that current TETE classroom discourse is dominated by lower-order, procedural questions and frequent first language (L1) use, posing challenges for English-immersion goals. We discuss implications for Taiwan’s bilingual education policy and practice, including the need for targeted teacher development to promote higher-order questioning and balanced L1/L2 interaction to better support bilingual instruction. These results highlight the need for classroom practices and policies aligned with Taiwan’s bilingual goals.