A Comparative Study Of Teachers’ Multimodal Discourse In Senior High School English Reading Class Between Chinese Teachers And Native English Teachers

In the field of linguistics,especially applied linguistics,multimodal discourse analysis has become a hot-spot issue.With the intervention of multimedia,teachers’ multimodal discourse is effective and efficient in second or foreign language teaching.With the internationalization of education,International departments in senior high schools have emerged in big cities in China with the increasing need for native English teachers(NET).Under this circumstance,the author has a curious idea of whether the characteristics of Chinese teachers of English(CTE)and native English teachers’ multimodal discourse in the same class type are the same or different.With the curiosity in mind,the author intends to explore three questions in this study:(1)What do CTE’s and NET’s multimodal discourses in senior high school English reading class look like?(2)Are their multimodal discourses similar or different? If similar,what are the similarities? and if different,what are differences?(3)What is the teaching effect of their multimodal discourse in senior high school English reading class?The study takes the two Chinese teachers and two native teachers’ multimodal discourses of English reading class in Kunming No.10 Middle School as the research objects,and uses multimodal discourse analysis(MDA)as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the research data and materials.After one-year observation and investigation,the results of the research are as follows:Firstly,both CTE and NET’s English reading class shows the strong features of multimodal discourse,despite the fact that they are unaware of the term "multimodality." The modalities mainly used by Chinese teachers and native teachers in English reading classes are verbal and nonverbal modes,including images,and some other paralinguistic modes.Among the modalities,verbal modes are the most frequently used modes in CTE and NET’s English reading class,and the most frequently used modes are texts in the textbook,blackboard writing,supersegmental use in speech,etc.Secondly,there are differences between CTE and NET’s English reading classes in using multimodal discourse,which are:(1)Chinese teachers use PPT modes more than native teachers.(2)Native teachers use rise-fall and fall-rise intonations more frequently than Chinese teachers when they speak English as the language of instruction.(3)CTE’s blackboard writing is more standard and the content is more comprehensive,while NET’s blackboard writing is only presented when necessary,and it is relatively random.(4)Chinese teachers employ more gestures than native teachers in teaching word pronunciation and asking students questions.Interestingly,native teachers utilize more iconic gestures and metaphorical gestures because they view the gestures as a part of the language.The effect of utilizing multimodal discourse on English reading class is on of the main issues in this study,so the third result of the research is that: In general,most of the students give positive feedback to teacher’s multimodal discourse.They hold a positive attitude towards teachers’ use of PPT,but the teaching effect of PPT that is widely used by CTE is not as good as that of NET.While students have a positive attitude toward the teachers’ verbal modes,NET’s verbal modes are easier to attract students’ attention and their blackboard writing has a better learning effect on students.However,students find it is easier to understand Chinese teachers’ words.The non-verbal mode used by NET are more effective and can deepen students’ impression.From the feedback of students’ questionnaire response,the combination or complementation of CTE and NET’s multimodal discourse may be conducive to students’ English learning.