An Analysis Of Teacher Talk In College English Intensive Reading Class:A Perspective Of The APPRAISAL System

Discourse,a main media for teaching by teachers,is of great significance for the improvement of the efficiency of College English teaching.For a long period,foreign language studies have been conducted from the perspective of basic language skills,such as listening,speaking,reading,writing and translation and a great deal of progress has been made.Studying English class teaching from the perspective of teacher talk(hereinafter refers to TT)is positively significant for broadening foreign language research and improving the efficiency of college English teaching.On the basis of an expansion of interpersonal meaning,Martin creates the APPRAISAL system.From the perspective of the APPRAISAL system,this paper is intended to study TT at the level of the engagement subsystem in College English intensive reading class,characteristics of engagement resources in TT and reasons for the existence of those characteristics.With a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis,the author records TT in non-majored English class from 8 different teachers,transcribes and analyzes their engagement resources.184 questionnaires are delivered to students and 10 English teachers are involved in the interview.When the data collection work is completed,the software of Excel and SPSS 21.0 are applied for the calculation of the distribution of engagement resources in TT.The research shows that engagement resources in TT contain the following distributive characteristics,functional characteristics and characteristics of language expression.Distributive characteristics include:(1)There are more dialogic contraction resources than expansion resources.(2)Instances of proclaim outnumber instances of disclaim.(3)There are three common resources of TT: concur,entertain and deny.(4)No resources of distance and acknowledge exist in TT.The functional characteristics of TT are establishing alignment and solidarity between the teacher and students,as well as class regulation.In terms of language expression in TT,most TT are diversified but take on a limited level of spoken English.That TT takes on these distributive characteristics is mainly because of teachers' conventional expression,teacher's lack of awareness of the role of TT,student's initiation in class at not a high level,students' limited proficiency in spoken English and traditional Chinese culture.That TT can establish alignment andsolidarity is decided by the interpersonal meta-function of language itself.And TT functions in class regulation is mainly because of teacher's compulsory,responsibility,teaching philosophy,capability in dealing with embarrassments and creating humorous atmosphere,as well as students' passive knowledge receiving situation.The characteristic of language expression of TT results from students' limited English proficiency,the written form of some instances of a certain kind of resource and teacher's lack of awareness of the role of TT.This study,as the role of enriching the APPRAISAL system,especially the application of the engagement subsystem to foreign language teaching,has investigated some problems existed in TT,aiming at providing references for the improvement of foreign language teaching.