A Comparative Study Of English Teacher Talk Between Novice Teachers And Expert Teachers In Senior High School Classrooms From The View Of Key Competency-a Case Study Of A Reading Class

In the traditional form of English language teaching in China,the classroom is the main place for students to learn English.The study of the teacher talk would help to understand the condition of class teaching as well as students' learning.However,the previous studies haven't given enough attention to an all-round study of the teacher talk in senior high schools,especially after the introduction of the Key Competency.Based on Krashen's Input Hypothesis,Long's Interactional Hypothesis and Constructivism,this study aims to have a comparative study between novice teachers and expert teachers in senior high schools,in the hope that the implications of this study could give some insights to the future teacher training and the professional development of teachers.In line with the purpose,this paper tries to answer the following questions: What similarities and differences do novice teachers and expert teachers have in their teacher talks' linguistic,interactional,procedural and regulative features? And,how do novice teachers and expert teachers,in comparison,cultivate students' Key Competency from the view of teacher talk?This study has observed the classes of six teachers,including three novice teachers and three expert teachers from a key senior high school in Hangzhou,with their students from six classes but of the same grade.This study finds that the novice teachers tend to pay more attention to the accomplishment of their teaching plan,lacking awareness of taking students' overall language proficiency and individual differences into consideration.Novice teachers have more errors in their talk mainly because of their anxiety as well as the slip of tongue.They also have closer teacher-student relations because of their instructions are at a higher level of politeness.While expert teachers use more strategies in giving language input,organizing classes and giving feedback,with strong awareness to consider students of different language proficiency and different personalities.They would consciously develop students' thinking quality and learning strategies through various methods.However,the instructions of expert teachers' classes are found to be at a lower level of politeness.As for the similarities,almost all the interactions are initiated by teachers both in novice teachers' and expert teachers' classes.Both of them emphasize developing students' cultural awareness and language ability,especially the language forms.Based on the findings,this study suggests that in the training of novice teachers,in addition to the training of teaching skills,it is more important to train the ability of using teacher talk.To some extent,the training and growth of the novice teacher is the process of the development and progress of his/her teacher talk.Teachers should consciously adjust their talk with the consideration of students' individual differences,including the language proficiency,personalities and learning habits,etc.And instructions need to be given in a proper distribution of strategies so as to increase the level of politeness of talk which helps to create a more pleasant and harmonious environment for learning.Besides,in order to cultivate students' Key Competency efficiently,class activities should be organized under the guidance of the theme,considering the integration of six elements which include theme,discourse,language knowledge,cultural knowledge,language skills,and learning strategies.