The Pragmatic Analysis Of Euphemism In English Teacher’s Discourse And Its Implication For English Teaching

Euphemism is a very common phenomenon in language and there is a wealth ofacademic thesis on it. Base on the achievement done before, this thesis attempt tomake an investigation on how to apply euphemism to English language teaching fromthe pragmatic perspective.In order to form a general concept about euphemisms, the definition, origin,development, features, classifications and history of euphemism are illustrated inChapter Two at first. We then analyze the formation of euphemism from theperspective of non-verbal communication and the verbal communication, which lay asound theory foundation for the further study.The application of euphemisms has a lot to do with pragmatic theories like theCooperative Principle, the Politeness Principle and the Face Theory. Based on theseprinciples, we make a pragmatic analysis of euphemism in teacher’s discourse whichcan find its typical usage in the daily teaching practice. In the teaching process, inorder to achieve some specific educational aims, teachers take the students’ affectivefactor into consideration and their discourse violates the Cooperative Principle andobeys the Politeness Principle and the Face Theory. The application of euphemismsshows great value in English teaching and learning. The teaching effect in the collegeEnglish class can be maximized by doing this.Then the implication of using euphemism in English language teaching isdiscussed. Some specific situations accessibly applying euphemisms and strategies areintroduced. These strategies include comparison and teaching in a euphemistic way,which can encourage students to employ the euphemistic expressions they havelearned to promote successful communication. Based on the result of the empirical study that carried out in two of my collegeclasses-the commercial administrative majors of2009grade, we come to theconclusion that in the language teaching process, the students’ language proficiencyand cultural awareness will be greatly elevated if the teachers pay attention to hisemployment of euphemism in his class and regard the explanation of euphemism as avery important part in his teaching process.All in all, this thesis attempts to draw teachers’ attention to the importance ofeuphemisms in our daily teaching practice so as to aid further research and betterunderstanding of this language phenomenon. Successful communication is of greatimportance in our daily life, and euphemisms ensure us a smooth interaction withother people since this way of expression takes others’ face wants into considerationand puts politeness in the first place.