An Adaptation Perspective Of Teacher Code-switching In Business English Classroom

The thesis examines teacher code-switching in BE classroom from the perspective of the theory of linguistic adaptation. The present study mainly explores its functions and adaptability, and brings out three general research questions.Research question 1: What features does teacher code-switching in BE classroom exhibit in terms of the amount, frequency and functions?Research question 2: What factors does teacher code-switching adapt to in BE classroom? What is the possible specific adaptation model for teacher code-switching in BE classroom?Research question 3: What are BE teachers'and students'respective attitudes towards teacher code-switching as an adaptation strategy in BE classroom?The present study is both the qualitative and quantitative research. The subjects are 5 BE teachers and 114 BE students from the College of Foreign Languages of Hunan University and the instruments are class recording, class observation, teacher interview and a student questionnaire, which are used to collect teacher code-switching data, examine teachers'and students'attitudes and analyze its functions and adaptability. All the data collected are sorted out and data from student questionnaire are keyed into SPSS. Descriptive statistics analysis is conducted. According to the results, the present study has the following findings:Firstly, Teacher code-switching is a common phenomenon in BE classroom. All the 5 BE teachers switch codes from English to Chinese without exception, however, it takes place in different amounts and frequencies.Secondly, code-switching is adopted by teachers as an effective language choice and adaptation in dynamic contexts to mainly serve the functions of translation, explanation and class management in BE classroom. Macro-speaking, teacher code-switching is an adaptation to specific features of BE courses, teachers'teaching philosophy, and students'mastery of business knowledge. To put it into micro-level, in other words, the specific interactive contexts, teachers switch codes to adapt to linguistic reality, teachers'roles in classroom and teachers'psychological intentions.Thirdly, towards teacher code-switching, teachers and most students take a positive attitude. They think highly of the role teacher code-switching plays in facilitating students'understanding of business knowledge, and meanwhile reach the agreement that teacher code-switching should not be overused. In the light of the findings, several implications for BE teaching are proposed. On the one hand, teachers are suggested to speak English in BE class as much as possible to promote students'BE input, while on the other, teachers should have the awareness of using the marked Chinese language to realize certain teaching purposes and thus to promote BE teaching.