An Investigation Into English Teachers' Classroom Instructional Language

The English teachers'classroom instructional language is one of the mostimportant sources of English learners'language input. This study probes into fiveEnglish teachers'instructional language through the perspectives of the categories ofthe instructional language, the vocabulary, the sentence and the discourse. The objectsincluded are five non-native English teachers in one of the universities in Shanghai.The research method is mainly data collection and descriptive analysis. The majorfindings in this study are summarized as follows.1. The teachers'explanatory medium language figures in more linguistic termsthan topical ones, and the coordinative medium language is generally composed ofmonotonous expressions.2. The teachers tend to use more basic vocabulary in their instructional language,and the vocabulary use lacks variation. New vocabulary is not frequently recycled.The idiomatic expressions such as phrasal verbs are not sufficiently used.3. Short sentences prevail in the teachers'instructional language, but prolongedsentences with many repetitions, discourse markers, self-repairs, and dependentclauses are also abundant. Simple sentences are used extensively, but complexsentences with the object clauses and the adverbial clauses also used to a large extent.4. The teachers overuse and misuse certain discourse markers, and the use ofthem lacks variation, too. Unusual use of discourse markers also emerges in theirinstructional language.To sum up, the study shows in general these teachers'instructional language isnot very ideal. The research findings suggest that teachers'instructional languageshould be included in teacher education, and the above perspectives of analysis couldbe seriously considered so as to train teachers to provide a rich and effective targetlanguage input for learners'acquisition of English.