A Comparative Study On The Characteristics Of Chinese And American Teachers' Talk In EFL Classroom

EFL classroom provides the major opportunities for the domestic English learners to use and expose to English, where the quantity and quality of teacher talk (TT) plays a crucial role 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 it is one part of the content of language study. For the learners, teacher talk sets a model of target language. Recently, more and more native English speakers appear in our English classroom in China, which brings about obvious changes to traditional EFL classrooms. Carrying out a comparative study on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Chinese and American teachers'talk in EFL Classroom is worthwhile to improve the effects of the teacher talk and creating a favorable language environment for their learners.This study adopts the method of naturalistic inquiry by the instrument of classroom observations, recordings and interview. The author randomly selects five American teachers and five Chinese teachers as her subjects. With the help of SPSS 11.0, she makes a statistical analysis and comparison in the following aspects: amount of teacher talk, pattern of questioning, interactional modification and feedback. On the basis of the statistic analysis, the author finds: 1) American teachers'talking time surpasses that of the Chinese teachers'in EFL classroom. But both classes are dominated by the teacher talk. 2) Referential questions or open questions are reported as being used more frequently than display questions by American teachers; American teachers are inclined to use more confirmation checks, but the Chinese teachers turn to more comprehension checks; clarification check is the least favorable; simple praise and guidance to self-correction gain favor of both American teachers and Chinese teachers; immediate correction is usually avoided. The Findings of the study provide us with some useful insights into EFL teaching: 1) Teachers are expected to reflect constantly on their talk in EFL classroom; they should decrease their talking time and leave adequate time for the learners to communicate in EFL classroom; American teachers should not cram cultural background or knowledge that deviates far from the teaching plan; Chinese teachers need to be trained to polish and improve their language production. 2) Teachers are responsible to create opportunities for learners to be involved in more genuine and meaningful communication in the target language for the purpose of cultivating and increasing learner's initiatives in learning; Chinese teachers could use more confirmation checks and praise plus remarks as the American teachers do; simple praise should be avoided as possible.As a conclusion, teachers from the two groups are faced with the learners who have been in the context of Chinese culture. They share some of the characteristics on teacher talk but each group has its own unique strengths. Teachers from the two groups should learn from each other in order to produce comprehensible input and facilitate classroom interactions.