The use of questions as a form of interaction in the Italian EMI setting: Face-to-face and online lectures.

The article investigates the role and types of questions used by lecturers in English-medium instruction (EMI) settings in Italy, comparing face-to-face and online lectures. It categorizes questions into procedural (managing the lecture), display (closed questions with known answers), and referential (open questions requiring students' original thoughts), linking these to lower- and higher-order cognitive skills. Analyzing transcripts from four EMI lectures across different disciplines, the study finds that face-to-face lectures feature a higher frequency of questions overall, especially procedural and display types, while online lectures show fewer questions, possibly due to technological and interactional constraints. The authors highlight the pedagogical importance of diversifying question types and effectively using feedback turns in both modalities to enhance student interaction, critical thinking, and language learning in EMI contexts.