Discourse Analysis Of University Excellent English Teachers' Classroom Talk In Different Class Modes

The Appraisal Theory,a complementary theory of system-functional linguistics,is used to study the interpersonal meaning through an interpretive way.It is widely used in discourse analysis and has a significant guiding meaning for the second language acquisition and English teaching.The theory is composed of three systems:Attitude,Engagement and Graduation ad each system can still be divided into its own subsystems.In this study,the author chooses the characteristics of Chinese excellent English teachers' classroom discourse as research subject and selects ten teachers' classroom talk as data,who have won the top prize and the first prize in the 6th SFLEP English Teaching Contest.With quantitative and qualitative methods,the author calculates the frequencies of appraisal resources and analyzes the distribution pattern and reasons in different classroom modes so as to summarize their functions and meaning in English classroom teaching.The results show that:(1)There are rich appraisal resources in teachers'classroom discourse.Positive resources are more than negative ones and teachers prefer to use appraisal resources in explicit way than implicit way.(2)The distribution of Appraisal resources in teachers' talk is unbalanced:attitude resources take the largest proportion,Engagement resources rank the second and Graduation resources are the least one.(3)In four class modes,the distribution patterns of Graduation resources are similar,which reflects that Force resources are more than Focus resources.But the distribution of attitudinal resources and engagement resources are different.In managerial mode,Affect resources are the most and dialogic contraction outweighs expansion;in material mode,Appreciation resources are the most and dialogic expansion is more than contraction;in skills&system mode,Judgment resources are the most and dialogic contraction outweighs expansion;In classroom context mode,Affect resources are the most and dialogic expansion is more than contraction.(4)Using appraisal resources appropriately in different class modes helps to stimulate students' learning motivation,encourage students' enthusiastic participation,enhance teacher-student interactions and create a harmonious class atmosphere so that eventually to achieve efficient teaching effect.According to Walsh's SETT framework,this study analyzes the characteristics of English teachers' classroom discourse from three appraisal dimensions,which not only enrich the application of the theory,clarify the features of teachers' classroom disourse in different class modes but more importantly it provides many practical suggestions for teachers to strengthen the interactions with students and finally promote the development of English teachers' professional qualities.