The Study On Mother Tongue Use In The College English Classroom

This study was undertaken to find out the features of teachers'language choice in College English classrooms. It aimed at describing teachers'practice in Chinese use, focusing on related issues of 'how much', 'when'and 'why'. 145 College English teachers at Jilin University were investigated in a questionnaire survey and 13 were interviewed after classroom observation. The findings of this study reveal that Chinese was widely used by teachers in the CE classroom. A tendency towards language use in various contexts was found, i.e. teachers were more likely to use Chinese in some contexts. The data from both interviews and the questionnaire survey identified Chinese efficiency and the students'English ability as the most significant factors influencing teachers'language choice. Based on discussions about the possible explanation for the findings, pedagogical implications are drawn. The article suggests that teachers should make judicious use of Chinese while remaining it as the marked code. Above all, teacher training is essential for raising teachers'consciousness concerning language use and improving their ability in regulating the instructional behavior.