Teacher Talk in College English Classroom
BY
XXX
Prof. XX, Tutor
A Thesis Submitted to Department of English Language and Literature in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the
Degree of B.A in English At XXXXUniversity
May 8th, 2013
Abstract
Politeness embodies human civilization, acting as one behavioral criterion of moral significance to maintain the harmonious personal relationships. Leech?s Politeness Principle, an essential topic in pragmatic, is greatly meaningful in people?s daily communication. It is also needed in college English class in which teacher talk plays a vitally important role. Many scholars have done a great deal of researches on the Politeness Principle or Teacher Talk in different fields, but few of them incorporate the Politeness Principle with college English teacher talk. Therefore, with a theory basis of the Politeness Principle, this thesis probes into the application of it to college English teacher talk. Leech?s Politeness Principle, put forward on the basis of Brown &Levinson?s Face Theory, includes six maxims, maxim of tact, maxim of generosity, maxim of approbation, maxim of modesty, maxim of agreement and maxim of sympathy. And teacher talk is defined as the language used by teachers to instruct English knowledge, organize classroom activities and give feedback to students? performance in the classroom. The author makes use of the Politeness Principle to analyze teacher talk in college English classroom from the perspectives of these maxims. Through this study, the author draws a conclusion: In college English class, proper and reasonable application of Leech?s Politeness Principle to teacher talk benefits teacher-student interaction, helping them establish good relationship and improve the students' learning efficiency.
Key words: Leech?s Politeness Principle teacher talk
college English classroom
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摘 要
作为一个具有道德意义的行为准则，礼貌不仅维持和谐的人际关系，而且承载了人类文明。Leech的礼貌原则是语用学中一个热点话题，在人们日常生活中有着重大的意义。在大学英语课堂中，教师话语发挥着非常大的作用，而礼貌原则也必不可少。很多学者从不同领域对礼貌原则与教师话语做了大量研究，但是很少有人将二者结合。因此，本论文以礼貌原则为理论基础探讨了礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用。在Brown &Levinson的面子理论的基础上并由Leech提出的礼貌原则包含六条细则，分别是得体准则、慷慨准则、赞扬准则、谦虚准则、一致准则与同情准则。而教师话语在本论文中被定义为教师们用来进行教授英语知识，组织课堂活动并对学生表现给予反馈的语言。作者运用礼貌原则分别从六个准则的角度分析了大学英语教师话语。通过研究，作者得出了一个结论：在大学英语课堂，礼貌原则在教师话语中恰当得体的运用有助于师生互动，帮助他们建立良好的师生关系，并提高可以提高学生的学习效率。
关键词: Leech的礼貌原则 教师话语 大学英语课堂
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ······································································································· 1
1.1 Background of The Study ················································································· 1
1.2 Significance and Purpose of the Study ····························································· 2 1.3 Overall Structure of the Thesis ········································································· 3
2. Literature Review ···························································································· 5
2.1 Teacher Talk ······································································································ 5
2.1.1 Definitions of Teacher Talk ····································································· 5 2.1.2 Types and Functions of Teacher Talk ······················································ 6 2.2 The Politeness Principle ···················································································· 6
2.2.1 The Premise of Politeness Principle ························································ 7 2.2.2 Leech?s Politeness Principle ··································································· 8 2.2.3 Leech?s Politeness Principle in teacher talk ·········································· 12
3. Representations of Leech’s Six Maxims in College Teacher Talk ···························································································································· 13
3.1 Maxim of Tact-Generosity in College Teacher Talk ······································· 13 3.2 Maxim of Approbation-Modesty in College Teacher Talk ····························· 16 3.3 Maxim of Agreement in College Teacher Talk ··············································· 18 3.4 Maxim of Sympathy in College Teacher Talk ················································ 20
4. Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk ············· 22
4.1 Features of Leech?s Politeness Principle in College Teacher Talk·················· 22 4.2 Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk ·································· 23
5. Conclusion ········································································································· 25
5.1 Major Findings ································································································ 25 5.2 Pedagogical Implications ················································································ 26 5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research ········································· 27
Bibliography ········································································································· 29
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1. Introduction
The introduction part includes the background of this study, the significance and purpose of this study, and the overall structure of the thesis. Generally, it tells why the author writes this thesis. 1.1 Background of the Study
English classroom instruction has been a significant issue in the field of language teaching research in western countries since 1980s. Roughly speaking, teachers? teaching and students? learning comprise classroom instruction. Teacher talk, the speech teachers use in classroom to carry out their teaching plans and manage their class, is believed to be the key element in successful English teaching. Nunan (1991:189) maintains that “teacher talk is of crucial importance, not only for the organization of the classroom, but also for the processes of second language acquisition. It is important for the organization and management of the classroom because it is through speech that teachers either succeed or fail to implement their teaching plans. In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input the leaner is likely to receive.”
Teacher talk studies in China began in the late 1990s. Research outcomes become richer and richer year by year. Their studies? orientations change from one-way, teacher talk alone, to two-way, interaction between teachers and students. Zhou Xing and Zhou Yun(2002), are two representative researchers. Comparatively speaking, Their study(2002)tends to be typical and comprehensive, which can be seen from the fact that their study is often quoted by other researchers of the same kind. No matter how different the research aspects of teacher talk are, these researches come to the same understanding. Namely, appropriate teacher talk could create good atmosphere and in the meantime promotes a more friendly relationship between teachers and students. Therefore, teacher talk, which not only determines how well
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