A Study Of Teacher Talk In Primary Schools

In the classroom of secondary language teaching, the quality of "Teacher Talk" has a direct impact on students'language acquisition. This is especially true to teachers of English in primary schools, whose teaching language is supposed to be demonstrative, accurate, clear, fluent and interesting. However, the author of this paper, a teacher of English for 10 years, discovers from her teaching experience and class observation that a large variety of problems still exist in the use of teacher talk by primary school students, and as a result, the classroom teaching effect is dramatically reduced.Based on the theories of second language acquisition and motivation, this research uses methods of bibliography study, action research and class observation to study the current situation of the teacher talk in English classrooms of primary schools in Xuhui District of Shanghai. During the past year, the author has observed a total of fifty lessons given by teachers in various primary schools in this district, and eight of them have been chosen as examples for this research, in an effort to discover the major problems with the teacher talk, analyze the reasons behind them, and find out some solutions to these problems. The research is aimed at enhance the sense of language of teachers of English in primary schools, improve their command of English and create possibilities for the realization of teachers'independent development and growth.This thesis consists of six Chapters. Chapter One is an introduction, making clear the research motivation, and the purpose and significance of the study. Chapter Two is a literature review, presenting the relevant previous research in this field of study both at home and abroad. Chapter Three is an overall survey of the teacher talk in the English classrooms in primary schools, elaborating on the concept of teacher talk, its classifications and characteristics. Chapter Four is an empirical study of the use of the teacher talk in primary schools, investigating into the problems with the current use of the teacher talk in primary school classrooms. Chapter Five analyzes the reasons behind these problems and puts forward some suggestions for improvement. Chapter Six is the conclusion.