A Case Study On The Features Of Classroom Directives Given By Excellent English Teachers In Junior Middle Schools

Plenty of researches have been done on what the clear and effective directives are like theoretically in class,yet limited attention has been given to how those excellent English teachers?EET?in Junior Middle Schools actually give directives in class.This research was done to observe and analyze the classroom directives given by six of the 32 participants in the 12^th National Junior Middle School English Demonstration Lessons,five female and one male,as the best of each province in China.A corpus of the classroom directives given by EETs was collected through a descriptive transcription of the case videos during which a classroom observation scale was adopted with three measures included:language forms,functions and speech acts.The research was to study three questions:1)What were the linguistic features of classroom directives given by EETs?2)What were the functional features of classroom directives given by EETs?3)What were the illocutionary features of classroom directives given by EETs?This study adopted two methods,namely,classroom observation with a classroom observation scale and corpus analysis based on a descriptive transcription of the case videos,through which the relationship between classroom directives and the factors in SLA was studied.Two more questions were observed to investigate whether classroom directives given by EETs contributed to communicative interactions in class:1)How were classroom directives given by EETs related to interaction in class?2)How were classroom directives given by EETs related to learners' language output?Based on data analysis it concluded that classroom directives given by EETs presented a variety of features which actually served as various ways to make the class a sequence of communicative interactions in which chances of output were created for students to improve their communicative competence in target language while achieving SLA at the same time.The findings were found as follows:Linguistically,classroom directives given by EETs applied questioning words and various high-cognitive-thinking words to create interactive communication contexts in target language in lexis;in syntax,the application of imperatives,interrogatives,declaratives and tag questions contributed to students' active involvement in the co-construction of interactive communication contexts;in discourse,classroom directives given by EETs realized the function of pure direction,comprehension check and repetition to guarantee smoothness in interactive communication.Functionally,classroom directives given by EETs were to express orders,suggestions and requests and varied ways were adopted to lessen the forcefulness when used to guide learners towards the proposed work by which chances of language output were created.Illocutionarily,classroom directives given by EETs were to realize speech acts in procedural explanation,activity initiation and activity management,getting learners in class to fulfill tasks in language output and communicative interaction.Based on the above findings this thesis provides some implications and suggestions on classroom directives for junior middle school English teachers,hoping to offer some enlightenment on teacher directives.The following are some of the main implications:First,as part of language input in class,variety in words,expressions,and structures should be achieved in teacher directives.Second,when expressing orders,suggestions and requests,directives should be oriented to creating an atmosphere in which all learners may feel able and motivated to learn in interactions.Third,directives should be well planned to initiate and manage class activities,creating opportunities for learners to get engaged in communicative interactions with chances of output maintained.