A Study Of Cultivating Students' Euphemistic Awareness In College English Teaching

Euphemism is a common phenomenon in human language. It is an important means to coordinate interpersonal relationship. Using euphemism is helpful for improving communication effect and obtaining harmonious interpersonal relationship. From the moment of its emergence, euphemism functions to avoid taboos, to show politeness and to conceal feelings. With the development of modern society, it has become an indispensable element in people's interactions. Euphemism has long been the interests of linguists and scholars. Researches on euphemism at home and abroad have been covered by such subjects as figures of speech, changes of word meanings, and most of them took the form of examples plus comments without a reasonable depth. So far, the history of real systematical studies which were promoted by contemporary sociolinguistics and semantics is about two decades. These researches study euphemism from different angles:linguistics, pragmatics, inter-culture and so on. However, the empirical studies on its applications in different areas are inefficient. For instance, there are few empirical researches on euphemism teaching in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Hence, on the strength of existing research achievements in this field, this thesis surveys various sorts of definitions of euphemisms, deals with its classifications and the means of euphemisms. The thesis also analyzes the pragmatic functions and principles underlying the use of euphemism:the use of euphemism violates the Cooperative Principle, and obeys Face Theory and Politeness Principle. Since the study of euphemism plays an active role in facilitating the second language teaching, the thesis lays an emphasis on the study of application of euphemism in English language teaching and attempts to set up a kind of English euphemism teaching mode guided by pragmatic principles.The author conducted a teaching experiment which lasted for a school year (Sep., 2008-Sep.,2009) aimed at enhancing students'euphemistic awareness. The subjects were two parallel classes, Grade 2007, in Shengli College China Petroleum University. The two classes were divided into an experimental class and a control class. This thesis put forward the concepts of implicit euphemism teaching and explicit euphemism teaching. The former means teachers use euphemism as a kind of speaking style in teaching process to influence students imperceptibly; the latter means teachers teach students euphemism knowledge clearly and systematically. The mode "normal English teaching+implicit euphemism teaching+explicit euphemism teaching" was carried out in the experimental class, and the three parts were integrated together. The mode "normal English teaching+implicit euphemism teaching" was carried out in the control class without other experimental interferences. This experiment attempted to answer three problems. Why euphemism should be applied into English teaching? Can students'euphemistic awareness be improved significantly only through implicit euphemism teaching? Can students'euphemistic awareness be improved significantly if implicit and explicit euphemism teaching are adopted simultaneously? Statistical software SPSS 13.0 was used to analyze the collected data and the following conclusions were drawn:1. Nowadays students have strong face want. English teachers'applying euphemisms into their teaching can protect students'face and set good examples for students as well. This method is defined by the author as implicit euphemism teaching. Students can learn the tactful use of all kinds of euphemisms unconsciously.2. English euphemism teaching can enrich students'euphemism knowledge and enhance their ability to understand, appreciate and use euphemisms. Their euphemistic awareness can be improved considerately.3. Euphemistic awareness is in nature a kind of cross-cultural awareness, so this teaching mode can improve students'cross-cultural pragmatic competence.4. Being too self-conscious or caring much about others'comments on self is regarded as a sort of psychological obstacle in self-development. Through euphemism teaching, a kind of more optimistic and open-minded concept of face is accepted by students.On the basis of the experiment, this research constructed a mode that consists of implicit teaching plus explicit teaching and provided meaningful theoretical and practical exploration on cultivating college students'euphemistic awareness.