A Comparative Study Of Teacher Talk Between Student Teachers And Experienced Teachers In Senior High School English Classes From The Perspective Of Interpersonal Function

In English classroom teaching,teacher talk(TT)has always been regarded as a favorable element to facilitate language learning in non-authentic English context as well as an essential source for students to obtain comprehensible language input.As the primary medium of classroom communication and interaction,teacher talk undertakes a variety of interpersonal functions,the realization of which could positively or negatively impact on classroom teaching and students' language acquisition.In previous studies abroad and at home,more emphasis is laid on language characteristics of teacher talk,while its interpersonal function is paid less attention to,let alone the comparison between student teachers and experienced teachers in this respect.Therefore,on the basis of Halliday's interpersonal function,this study makes a comparative research on teacher talk of student teachers and experienced teachers from three perspectives:mood,modality,and person pronouns,aiming at exploring four research questions:(1)How do student teachers and experienced teachers achieve interpersonal function through mood?Are there any differences between two kinds of teachers?(2)How do they achieve interpersonal function through modality?Are there any differences between them?(3)How do they achieve interpersonal function through person pronouns?Are there any differences between them?(4)What are the possible reasons for the existing differences?According to previous definitions of student teachers and experienced teachers,15 teachers of each group were selected as the subjects of this study.Their 30 classes were videotaped and transcribed into a small corpus,and on the basis of which,major findings of this study are summarized as follows:First,from the perspective of mood,it is found that three mood structures imply different interpersonal functions in teacher talk.Among them,declarative mood is the most frequently used structure,which principally achieve the following interpersonal functions:offering information,giving instructions,repeating students' responses and evaluating students' performance.The frequency of interrogatives appeared in teacher talk is the second only to that of declaratives.Teachers utilize interrogatives to initiate questions,obtain feedback,check students' understanding,prompt classroom participation and seek more information from students.Imperatives are least used in class and they are mainly employed to give instructions,express politeness and shorten the distance between students and teachers.Additionally,this study found that student teachers use more declaratives and imperatives while less interrogatives than experienced teachers.Second,from the perspective of modality,it is found that different values of modal expressions can achieve different interpersonal functions.High-value modal expressions are employed to propose requests,convey obligations,enhance certainty in speech and express viewpoints and speculations;median-valued modal expressions are applied to reduce burden of obligation,express politeness to students,heighten objectivity in utterance,and avoid unnecessary potential conflict in communication;and low-value modal expressions are utilized to negotiate meaning with students,empower students with choice,indicate uncertainty in utterance,and construct equal relationship with students.In addition,it is found that compared with student teachers,experienced teachers use median-value and low-value modal expressions with higher frequency and in more diverse forms.Third,from the perspective of person pronouns,it is found that first-person pronouns and second-person pronouns realize different interpersonal functions.With regard to their interpersonal functions,it is found that first person pronouns are exerted to express viewpoints,give direct instructions,show politeness and narrow the distance between students and teachers,while second person pronouns are more utilized to draw students' attention and improve their participation in class.In terms of comparison between two groups of teachers,this study found that the latter utilizes more person pronouns in their teacher talk.Last,the reasons for above differences can be summarized as follows:(1)Executions of teacher roles:compared with student teachers,experienced teachers are more conscious of adopting a variety of strategies to transform their roles from being an information provider to an information negotiator and guider,thus leading to more interrogatives,low-value modal expressions and person pronouns employed in their teacher talk.(2)Attention to students:student teachers are more attentive to themselves and teaching process,whereas experienced teachers pay more attention to students' learning and emotions.Accordingly,experienced teachers use more interrogatives,low-value modal expression,and person pronouns to improve students'classroom participation and shorten the distance with students.(3)Awareness of teacher talk:compared with student teachers,experienced teachers are more cognizant of the important role teacher talk played in classroom teaching,and lay more emphasis on adjustment and enrichment of their teacher talk.