A Comparative Study On Chinese And American Teachers' Application Of Politeness Strategies In EFL Classroom

Politeness, as the symbol of human civilization, plays an important role in human communication. As English classroom is viewed as a unique communication context, teacher's politeness can greatly affect the flow of classroom interaction. Moreover, their effective application of politeness strategies (PS) can enhance classroom communication and thereby accomplish the pedagogical goal. Recently, more and more native English speakers appear in the English classroom in China, which brings about obvious changes to traditional FEL (English as a foreign language) classroom. So carrying out a comparative study on the characteristics of Chinese & American English teachers'(CET &AET) application of PS in EFL classroom is worthwhile to improve the teaching effects of CET & AET and create a favorable language environment for their learners.Under the framework of Leech'politeness principle and Brown & Levinson's face-saving theory, the author randomly selects five Chinese and five American teachers from North University of China and North University of Electricity & Power as subjects, collects data with instruments of observation, questionnaire and interview, and then makes a systematic analysis of the data collected.The results of the study prove that:1) both CET & AET are aware of students' face wants and employ various PS to protect students'positive or negative face in EFL classroom; 2) in terms of the choice of PS, there exists a significant discrepancy between CET & AET in applying non-verbal PS; 3) the dissimilarity of application of PS produces different effect on the EFL classrooms. Compared with CET, AET are likely to create a comparatively more comfortable classroom atmosphere and their relationship with students is more harmonious.Based on the result, it is suggested that CET and AET should better understand their own speech act, give full consideration to the needs of students and focus on the use of appropriate PS. Moreover, they should learn from each other in aspects of teaching method and culture knowledge, so as to create harmonious classroom atmosphere and achieve effective instruction.