A Comparative Study Of Chinese And Foreign Teachers' Talk In Oral Class At English Training Schools

Oral English class is the major opportunities for the Chinese English learners to use and expose to English, where the quantity and quality of teacher talk plays a critical part in the instruction and learners'language acquisition. Teacher talk not only serves as a tool of classroom teaching, by which teachers organize and manage the classroom, but also is one part of the content of language study, which means that teacher talk is an important input to learners'language acquisition. For the learners, teacher talk sets a model of target language. In order to improve spoken English teaching, China has been hiring native English speakers to teach English in China since the 1970s. It is of crucial importance to study teacher talk in English class for English teaching and learning. Nowadays, the researchers abroad on teacher talk mainly do with the characteristics of teacher talk without further exploring the relationship between teacher talk and learners'language learning. Chinese researchers also have published a few articles about some aspects of the research on teacher talk; however, there are few researches on the relationship between the teacher talk and learners'language learning. Also, there are few researches on the comparison of the characteristics between foreign teachers and Chinese teachers. In English Language Teaching (ELT), differences exist between foreign teachers and Chinese teachers. It is worthwhile to carry out a comparative study on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Chinese and foreign teachers'talk in oral English classroom to improve the effects of the teacher talk and create a favorable language environment for their learners. This dissertation focuses on the comparative characteristics of foreign teachers and Chinese teachers and tries to find out the inner relationship between teacher talk and learners'language acquisition.This paper is a comparative study between foreign teachers and Chinese teachers'talk in oral English class in a training school. Five foreign teachers and five Chinese teachers from an English training school in Jinan were chosen as subjects in this study. Classroom observations and interview were used as the instruments of this study. Teachers'talk which includes teacher talking time, questions, interactional modification and feedback were mainly investigated through classroom observations. Data obtained from the classroom observation was processed with SPSS11.5. The results of the comparative study indicated that: 1) Foreign teachers'talking time surpasses that of the Chinese teachers'in oral English classroom. But both classes are dominated by the teacher talk. 2) Referential questions or open questions are reported as being used more frequently by foreign teachers than by Chinese teachers, but both groups of teachers use more display questions than referential questions. 3) Foreign teachers are inclined to use more comprehension checks, but the Chinese teachers turn to more confirmation checks; clarification check is seldom used. 4) Simple praise is adopted by both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers frequently. But both of groups of teachers pay little attention to giving remarks to students'answers. 5) Guidance to self-correction gains favor of both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers. Immediate correction is usually avoided.Based on the results, it is suggested that: 1) Teachers should reflect constantly on their talk in oral English classroom. Also, they are expected to decrease their talking time and leave enough time for the learners to communicate and practice their oral English in class. Foreign teachers should be aware of their talk speed, and Chinese teachers need to be trained to polish and improve their language production. 2) Teachers have the responsibility to create adequate opportunities for learners to get involved in more genuine and meaningful communication in the target language for the purpose of cultivating and increasing learner's initiatives in learning and communicating; Chinese teachers should use more praise plus remarks as the foreign teachers do.In a word, teachers from the two groups have similarities and differences. They share some of the characteristics on teacher talk but each group has its own unique strengths. Teachers from the two groups should strengthen communication and cooperation in the teaching of oral English so that they can effectively improve the level of oral English teaching in China.