2.2.3 Leech’s Politeness Principle in Teacher Talk
Studies in language classrooms have shown that politeness affects teacher talk. The reason why Leech?s Politeness Principle has been the focus of plenty of studies on teacher talk is that researchers need to indicate the role that the Politeness Principle plays in the teacher talk. Politeness actually serves as an important strategy for teachers to carry out teaching plans.
Among the various teacher talk researches, politeness has always been a central topic. Leech?s Politeness Principle, an influential pragmatic theory, helps teachers and students establish equal positions and new relation. It is important for teacher talk because it makes what teachers say easy to accept and comprehend. As the impact of teacher talk has been attracting more and more attention, the Politeness Principle in teacher talk gradually draw more attention.
12
3. Representations of Leech’s Six Maxims in Teacher Talk
In the previous chapter, theories of linguistic politeness based on Brown & Levinson and Leech together with speech act theory and cooperative principle have been reviewed. In this paper, the author puts emphasis on Leech?s Politeness Principle to analyze the teacher talk corpus collected in English classroom. It is well-known that there are some kinds of phenomena of politeness and its applications, which maintain or change interpersonal relationship in communication. It is well acknowledged China is a state of etiquette and politeness is a traditional virtue. College students at puberty have strong pride and self-awareness, which means they are eager for acceptance and appreciation from other people. That is to say, to some extent, whether relations between teachers and students are friendly does have an influence on quality of education. In this chapter, the author will analyze the chosen corpus of teacher talk in college English classroom teaching from the perspective of maxims of Leech?s Politeness Principle.
3.1 Maxim of Tact-Generosity in College Teacher Talk
It is clear that maxim of tact and maxim of generosity belong to two aspects of a matter. Maxim of tact requires minimization of cost to other while maxim of generosity requires minimization of benefit to self. The former is about how to treat others, suitable for asking or ordering others to do some speech action. The latter is about how to treat self, applied to promise to help others. So in this thesis, the author combines them together, and calls them maxim of tact-generosity. It is the most widely used and fundamental maxim among these maxims. The essence of tact-generosity is to benefit listeners. It provides successful communications with theoretical direction .Teachers are always dominant in college English classroom teaching while students are in a passive position. When students take part in classroom activities, they are likely to feel nervous and timorous. So teachers should place students in the core of classroom which could make them benefit more from
13
teacher-student communication, help them overcome mental blocks, and stimulate their interest in learning English, and thereby enhance their confidence. Besides, this lowers teachers? dominant status in communication, and centers on students, which help teachers achieve teaching goals. So teachers adopt tact-generosity so as to make their words as suitable as possible. In this way, it not only enhances students? self-confidence and interest in learning English but also narrows the gap between teachers and students. For example, when teachers hope to seek students to answer some question, they may ask questions like these:
Example 4
(1) Would you please to tell me why…? (2) Could you try to answer it please? (3) Let?s do the exercise together. (4) Tell us your answer.
Sentences (1)(2)(3) is so common in English classroom that people ignore the politeness existing in them. But people know whether students? answer is correct or not, the teacher ought to encourage them to stand up and express themselves bravely instead of directly saying (4) which indicates kind of rudeness of the teacher.
In classroom interaction, there are always some students who are very passive and silent. Three reasons could account for this phenomenon: First, the question is quite difficult for them; second, the question is too fuzzy for them; third, they themselves lack of confidence. So tact of maxim plays its role in teacher talk. Teachers prefer to say “Would you please have a try? I?m certain you?ll make it. Anything would be good”. The saying saves students? face from danger and puts forwards teaching expectations.
These gentle words or imperative tones are easily accepted by students and they feel respected by teachers. The application of maxim of tact to teacher talk narrows down the distance between teachers and students. When teachers pose questions with more politeness, students would like to attend classroom activities more zealously.
14
Tactful teacher talk exerts direct influence on learners? interest in learning English and practice effect. The following examples will interpret clearly and fully functions of maxim of tact-generosity to teacher talk.
Teacher directives are referred as teacher talk used to carry out teaching plans and ask students to do something. According to its definition, directive speech is kind of mandatory which requires students to do as it says. But in college English classroom, teachers should advocate maxim of tact, and take good advantage of negotiation tone to keep out greatest freedom for students, which could be well clarified by the following example.
At the end of an English class, the teacher asks students to choose their partners and work for a presentation of any topic for next class. His words are like this, “I would like you to do a presentation next week.” and “You can find your partners to finish your teamwork, and send a teammate to choose your topic”. Liu Senlin(2007:157) notes maxim of tact fits for order. It can afford several choices to soften the degree of force. With this maxim, teacher talk needs to avoid or soften the degree of force, so the teacher allows students to select their teammates, maximizing their options which reflects teachers? respect and understanding for them. On the contrary, if the teacher says like this, “You, you and he, you are the first group”, “You are the last group” and “Your topic is…”, students will lose their options, especially these students who are more eager for autonomy, independence and equality. The directive words go against their desire for their choice of partners, even threaten their face. In real English class, teachers have to take these factors into consideration, do the best to avoid orders and seek for polite speech, which will encourage students take part in activities and arouse their learning initiative.
Maxim of generosity takes a part in classroom questioning which is essential in classroom. A good question can stimulate students? curiosity and cause their thinking. In order to get knowledge of whether students understand what they instruct, most teachers will ask sentences as following:
15
Example 5
(1) Do you understand? (2) Can you follow me?
Although it is out of teachers? care for students, this kind of questioning aggravates students? anxiety. In their mind, if they do not understand what teachers say, students should be responsible for themselves which hurts their face and hampers their communication with teachers. Instead, more and more teachers would like to use “Have I made myself clear?” or “Are you satisfied with my answer?”. By this, teachers place themselves in object and make students become subject, which adequately embodies the maxim of generosity.
The success of a college English class depends on teacher-student?s cooperation and coordination that are determined by teachers? encouragement. The more successful questions are as following:
Example 6
(1) Who would be the volunteers?
(2) XX，will you please share with us your opinion? (3) I would like to ask a gentleman here, what?s your idea?
（Zhang Na：2010）
In addition, the time it takes teachers to wait for students? answer could also reflect maxim of generosity. Teachers should allow the silence period, and be tolerant of it, which smoothes students? tension. So when a student is too nervous to answer a question, the teacher with other classmates, may wait a moment. Once the student cannot make it, teachers ought to give some hints.
3.2 Maxim of Approbation-Modesty in College Teacher Talk
Maxim of approbation and maxim of modest are the best strategies to build good
16