A Comparative Study On Politeness Strategies Used By Chinese And Foreign Teachers In ESL Classroom

Politeness is a symbol of human civilization. It plays an important role in human communication. In classroom interaction, the successful application of politeness strategies by teachers is crucial for building a harmonious relationship between teachers and students and it influences teaching effects to some extent. There are plenty of relevant researches in this field at home and abroad, and previous studies have arrived at some agreement on how to effectively apply politeness strategies and thus to improve the quality and efficiency of classroom interaction. Nevertheless, those researches at abroad seldom study teachers’politeness strategies in ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom, and the recently developed domestic researches tend to study the issue in a general way, instead of making detailed analysis specifically. Since2009, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) has changed the previous teaching mode of the course English Audio, Video, Speaking Class (EAVSC) into a cooperative mode where Chinese and foreign teachers teach for half a semester respectively. The thesis takes this opportunity to carry out an in-depth study on the different politeness strategies used by Chinese and foreign teachers in ESL classroom and the potential influence on teaching effects.The research is based on Brown and Levinson’s face-management theory. And the research subjects consist of243third-year non-English majors and four teachers who participated in the EAVSC course. Among the four teachers, there are two Chinese teachers, one British teacher and one American teacher. The main methods of this research contain questionnaire survey and classroom observations. By using questionnaire survey, the thesis seeks to investigate the differences between Chinese and foreign teachers from students’perspective. The data collected from questionnaire survey is analyzed by SPSS19.0software. Besides, the thesis further explores the differences between Chinese and foreign teachers by analyzing authentic class recordings in detail.The main findings of this research show that both Chinese and foreign teachers handle FT As well in classroom interaction. In Chinese teachers’class, students’ negative face is better maintained than their positive face, while in foreign teachers’ classes, both students’negative face and positive face are well maintained. Accordingly, Chinese teachers are more likely to use negative politeness strategies and conventionalized strategies in the course, and the frequency of other positive politeness strategies is pretty low compared with foreign teachers. Foreign teachers use politeness strategies more frequently and across a wider sphere than Chinese teachers. Besides, the research proves by both quantitative and qualitative study that different politeness strategies correspond to different teaching effects. By using abundant positive politeness strategies, foreign teachers behave better in teaching effects since students consider foreign teachers’ class more lively and the relationship between teachers and students relatively more intimate. Students in foreign teachers’ classes are highly motivated and participate in class activities more actively. In Chinese teachers’classes, students get more respect than encouragement. So the class participation is relatively low and the atmosphere is not that lively.The findings of the research give implications to both English learners and English teachers. It inspires teachers and course designers to create a more favorable classroom environment for English learners and contributes to improving teaching quality in ESL classroom.