Teacher Talk In The EFL Classroom

The study of teacher talk(TT) is one crucial part of classroom process research.A lot of research(e.g.Nunan,1991;Allright & Bailey, 1991;Anton,1999) shows that TT is very important,not only for the organization of the classroom but also for the processes of L2 acquisition.Since 1970s,a lot of western scholars have made a lot of empirical research on it.In China,for many years EFL teaching has emphasized teaching methodology but ignored the research into the practical process of the classroom,(杨雪燕,2003).Yet,it was not until in the late 1990s that researchers at home began to pay attention to TT.And many scholars(e.g.林汝昌,1996;曹赛先,黄露,1998;林琼,2000) mainly introduced western theories or literature review about TT,while the empirical studies on features of TT in EFL classrooms in the Chinese context are still scarce.What are the characteristics of TT in EFL classrooms in the Chinese context? Would the EFL classroom context in China facilitate Chinese learners' acquisition of English?For the reasons mentioned above,the current study aims to explore the features of TT in EFL classrooms in China,with the specific purpose to provide some pedagogical suggestions to the Chinese English teachers on what types of TT would be beneficial to learners' language acquisition and therefore would be employed in classroom teaching.The subjects of this study were two teachers and their students in Hunan Social Works Technical college.By video-recordings and transcriptions,the author investigated and analyzed the characteristics of TT in the following five aspects:amount of TT,amount of L1 in TT, teachers' questions,interactional modification and teachers' feedback. To further find out reasons accounting for teachers' practice and how teachers perceive TT,the author interviewed with two teachers separately.Meanwhile,the study adopted the questionnaires to get to know students' expectation on TT.From this,we get a better understanding of features of TT in EFL classes under investigation.The results of the study show that in the EFL classes under investigation:Firstly,concerning the amount of TT and student talk(ST) in the EFL classrooms under investigation,there is a preference of TT over ST.Secondly,referring to the amount of L1 in TT,teachers investigated mainly use English to teach and Chinese is resorted to now and then to save time and to ensure understanding of the students as a complement of English.Thirdly,as to the frequency of display questions and referential questions,display questions are used much more frequently than referential questions.Fourthly,in terms of the frequency of three types of interactional modifications,the study indicates a significant use of comprehension checks,followed by confirmation checks,while clarification requests can not be found.Fifthly,for the frequency of teachers' feedback,the study demonstrates that two teachers prefer using "simple praise" and "repetition plus praise".While "praise with comments",which is considered as an effective way to give positive feedback is the least frequently used one.For error correction,teachers prefer to correct students' errors directly but seldom guide students to do self-repair.On the basis of the findings,it could be concluded that the EFL classes under investigation were still teacher-fronted and the students' needs were less considered.Students were given few opportunities to enhance the output of the target language(TL) and have two-way communication and negotiation of meaning.Thus the TT in the EFL classrooms under investigation was not favorable to the students' L2 acquisition. The findings of the study provide a few implications for EFL teaching and teacher training in China:Firstly,changing the teacher's role and analyzing students' needs. Secondly,using Chinese appropriately,timely and judiciously.Thirdly, encouraging more opportunities for classroom interaction.Fourthly, creating a relaxing and unthreatening environment for learners' foreign language learning.Finally,developing common understandings of the theories of second language acquisition(SLA).