A Study Of Teacher Talk In Secondary English Classroom

As acquisition of communicative competence is the final aim of teaching English, education reforms will continue to urge educators to provide appropriate instruction for all students. In the case of the language classroom, the growth of interest in the analysis of teacher language and interaction has been stimulated by the rejection of language teaching method as the principal determinant of successful learning. Even with the most communicative approaches, the second language classroom is limited in its ability to develop learners'communicative competence in the target language. For L2 learners, the most important thing is the language environment. Because most language learners do not have the chance, there is no other choice than the classroom. Teacher talk plays an important role in improving students'speaking ability. As for teacher talk, it means teachers address classroom language learners differently from the way they address other kinds of classroom learners. They make adjustments to both language form and language function in order to facilitate communication. In summary, teacher talk in language lessons is broadly similar to foreigner talk. This thesis analyzes the teacher talk in English classrooms of secondary schools from different aspects. The thesis begins with a brief introduction of the research background, the statement of the problem and purpose of the research. Chapter Two reviews briefly the theoretical inspection. There are three different views regarding the role of input in language development: the behaviorist, the nativist, and the interactionist views. Language acquisition derives from the collaborative efforts of the learner and his interlocutors and involves a dynamic interplay between external and internal factors. To facilitate language acquisition, input must be comprehended. Input must be comprehensible, slightly above the learner's present level of competence, interesting or relevant, not grammatically sequenced, in sufficient quantity, and experienced in low-anxiety contexts. Chapter Three describes a research on teacher talk of the English classroom. Through a four-step process of Record—View—Transcribe—Analyze, the author analyzes the interaction patterns in two English classrooms in order to find how these patterns promote or hinder opportunities for learners to practice the target language. The subjects are two English teachers who have been teaching English for more than ten years. And Chapter Four discusses the results of the research and makes some suggestions on how to solve the problem. In this study, teachers dominate talk. The students seldom have the chances to engage in real communication. The two teachers used much more native language, and also the target language they used is over-simplified. The two English teachers in the study spent great efforts and most of the time explaining the grammar rules and vocabularies. Therefore the two English classes lack substantive communication. In Chapter Five, several tentative suggestions on foreign language teaching are put forward. It is necessary and the most important that the teachers should be trained to improve themselves. If possible, the school can recruit some foreign teachers. Of course, to promote the language environment in secondary English classroom is a long-term pedagogical goal.