A Study On Politeness Strategies Of Teacher Talk In English Classroom In Middle School

After Brown and Levinson proposed the Face Theory and Leech developed it by putting forward the Politeness Principle, many scholars have explored politeness in various fields. However, few of them have ever stepped into the application of politeness theory in teacher talk in English classroom in middle schools. In the special context of classroom interaction, the way of teacher talk, that is, the use of politeness strategies, plays a vital part in regulating the interpersonal relationship and avoiding threatening the students’face. Therefore, a study of politeness language and strategies in teacher talk is of great significance.Based on Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory, This present empirical study is intended to investigate application of politeness strategies in teacher talk in the English classroom of middle schools. The research questions addressed in the thesis are:(1) How do teachers perceive students’face wants in English classroom in middle schools?(2) How do teachers perceive politeness strategies in English classroom in middle schools?(3) How do teachers actually apply politeness strategies in their talk in English classroom in middle schools?(4) Are there any differences of politeness strategies between teachers’ perception and actual application in English classroom in middle schools? If so, what are the differences and what causes the differences?The study consists of two parts:quantitative and qualitative research.A questionnaire was used in the quantitative research. The experiment involved122English teachers of four middle schools from different four cities in Jiangsu province, namely, Changzhou No.5Middle School, Nantong Qixiu Middle School, Yangzhou Middle School and Xinyi No.1Middle School. The questionnaire was made up of8items and covered two aspects concerning teachers’perception about students’face wants and politeness strategies used in teacher talk. All items of questionnaire were put into SPSS13.0version for statistical data calculation.The qualitative research included a classroom recording, observation and an interview.8English teachers from the four schools were involved and one period of their actual classroom teaching process for each teacher was videoed. Twelve students were interviewed after class from the four schools, who are in grade one in senior middle schools. The transcriptions of the classroom recording and interview were synthesized and categorized. Detailed analysis of quantitative and qualitative research yielded the final findings as follows:Firstly, most teachers perceive the importance of students’face wants and they are willing to attend and satisfy students’face wants in their talk in English language teaching in Chinese middle schools. Teachers’ awareness of students’ face wants in class is of great importance to arouse students’ motivation, stimulate their interest and foster their confidence in English learning.Secondly, most teachers realize that it is valuable to utilize politeness strategies in their language in English teaching and they would like to satisfy students’ face wants and try to reduce or soften imposition of FTAs by using proper politeness strategies. Proper politeness strategies employed in teacher talk can shorten the psychological distance between students and teachers, lubricate their mutual friendly relationship and therefore bring about better classroom atmosphere to facilitate teaching and learning effectively.Thirdly, teachers in middle schools actually employ four major kinds of politeness strategies in their talk in the classroom. They are bald-on-record politeness strategy, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy and off-record politeness strategy. Bald-on-record politeness strategy is the most frequently utilized in teacher talk in class, then comes to positive politeness strategy, which is less frequently used and the least frequently used strategy is off-record politeness strategy.Fourthly, there are some differences between teachers’ perception and actual application of politeness strategies in class. In their perception, teachers prefer to adopt more indirect and polite strategies. However, in real classroom teaching, teachers utilize relatively direct strategies. The main reasons which can account for such differences may be characteristics of classroom teaching and relationship between students and teachers.The implications from the findings of the study are followings:(1) Teachers should attend students’ face wants and employ appropriate politeness strategies in English classroom.(2) Teachers should focus on the use of appropriate politeness strategies in specific context.(3) It is necessary for teachers to build friendly relationship between students and them.