A Study Of Teacher Talk In English Flipped Classroom In Senior High School

English classroom is an important place for second language learners to have contact with English and put English into use, so the quantity and quality of the teacher talk in the English class not only affects the effect of classroom teaching, but also plays an important part in students' language acquisition. Therefore, what the teacher says can not be arbitrary, but be beneficial to the process of teaching and learning, thus achieving the teaching goal. In Qingdao and even the whole country the flipped classroom teaching mode is becoming more and more popular and teachers' role and teaching content have changed greatly. The teaching content, which used to be presented to learners in class, is dealt with before class. Therefore, the flipped classroom is used to practice knowledge and enhance the skills of language use. Is teachers' discourse in the flipped classroom different from that in the traditional classroom? What about the teachers' questioning strategy, question type and feedback language?To clarify those doubts, the research dedicates to addressing four questions as follows:(1) What are the characteristics of the amount of teacher talk in the English flipped classroom?(2) What are the characteristics of questions in the English flipped classroom?(3) What are the characteristics of interactive adjustment in the flipped classroom?(4) What characteristics of the teachers' feedback in English flipped classroom?To answer those questions, based on Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis, Swain's comprehensible output hypothesis and social learning theory of constructivism, the author collected data through the means of classroom observation, qualitative and quantitative analysis of English teachers' discourse in the flipped classroom, questionnaire of learners and interview of teachers participating in the present research.After a few months of investigation and analysis of the data, the author obtained the following findings:(1) Teachers' discourse in flipped classroom is less than that of the traditional classroom. All teachers, whether in flipped classroom or traditional classroom, try to give students the opportunity to practice English, so the amount of teacher talk is less than the results of previous scholars' survey. Moreover, in the flipped classroom, the teacher's words are 13% less than those in the traditional one, while the students' words are 14% more than those in the traditional classroom, which shows that the students have many more opportunities to speak English and more enthusiasm in learning English.(2) Referential questions in the flipped classroom are less than those in the traditional classroom, while display questions are more. In the flipped classroom, the distribution of the display questions and the referential ones are 65% and 35%, while in the traditional classroom the ratio is 58% and 42% respectively. More students are voluntary to answer questions from teachers in the flipped classroom.(3) Interactive adjustment in the flipped classroom was better than that in traditional classroom. The number of verification and clarification in the flipped classroom is two to three times that of the traditional classroom.(4) The difference in teachers' feedback between the flipped classroom and the traditional classroom is not obvious. The author found that teachers in the two kinds of classes are trying to avoid the use of negative feedback, and teachers have shown good patience and tolerance with students' mistakes. Classroom observation and questionnaires have shown that 95% of the students think that teachers do not directly point out the students' errors, but guide students to correct errors by themselves or ask other students to answer, which is further proved in the teachers' interview.Based on the findings, the author put forward some suggestions to improve teachers' discourse in the flipped classroom:(1)The time of teacher talk in the flipped classroom should be within 15 minutes and the teacher talk should be of higher quality.(2)Concerning the amount of teacher talk, the less does not necessarily mean the better; and group activities should be adjusted according to specific circumstances.(3) In the flipped classroom, students who get the chance to answer questions should be better chosen by the teachers to avoid the imbalance development among learners.(4) The proportion of the referential questions should be raised in the flipped classroom. Although there are fewer referential questions in the flipped classroom, they are more open and students will find it easy to output about the questions. So if there are more such questions, it must be beneficial to the improvement of students' language ability.(5) Teachers should further reduce negative feedback, particularly the way of directly pointing out the mistakes. Although there are 95% who benefit from the positive feedback, there are still 5% who still suffer from the negative feedback. Therefore, the teachers have the duty to make their feedback perfect.(6) Teachers should participate in the application of the flipped classroom more actively, and thus better activating students' interests and enthusiasm in learning English. The advantages of the flipped classroom have not fully seen at the present time, but with time going on, it must have the power to change our classroom, change our teaching and change our students.