Analysis Of Teacher Talk In High School English Classroom Within The Framework Of Relevance Theory

Currently, great attention is increasingly paid to teacher talk in teacher-student interaction in High School English classes. At present, the research on high school English teacher classroom talk focuses on the amount of talk, frequency of use and the distribution ratio of the various functions and forms of talk. The present thesis, from the perspective of Cognitive Pragmatics, uses analytical framework of Relevance Theory to analyze teacher talk, especially teacher questions and feedback, in order to explore how teachers use questions and feedback to contribute to the formation of optimal relevanceSperber & Wilson first proposed Relevance Theory in 1986. It combines Cognitive Study with Pragmatic Study. Language communication is a process of Ostensive-Inferential communication and understanding of talk is a cognitive activity. Ostensive-Inferential communication in interpreting the meaning also shows the process of constructing cognitive context. Human cognition tends to be geared to maximization of contextual effect with the smallest cognitive effort, so when the hearer understands the words, he or she only concerns those words with sufficient relevance. Communication context is dynamic. It is regarded as a variable, and the relevance is a constant. Context is seen as a psychological construct, constituted by a series of assumptions.The present thesis tries to prove that Relevance Theory is able to provide an explanation for teacher questions and feedback, as well as the teacher-student interaction in High School English classes.Through the analysis, the author has found that teacher-student interaction, from a cognitive pragmatic point of view, is a process of searching for optimal relevance and Ostensive-Inferential communication between teacher and students. In addition, the current thesis has discussed some factors that affect successful teacher-student interaction, such as mutual manifestness, cognitive environments, contextual effect, processing effort and relevance in teacher-student interaction. Based on the analysis, this thesis proposes some pedagogical implications: Teachers need to ask ostensive, relevant questions, using questions that contribute to mutual manifestness of the cognitive context and guide students to search for optimal relevance. Teachers through feedback provide students with more relevant information, which are constantly changing, expanding students' cognitive context, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of teaching.