A Study Of Teacher Empathy Strategies In Junior Middle School Classrooms From The Perspecyiv Of Adaptation Theory

The concept of empathy grows in the field of aesthetics.Empathy,as an important emotional factor,was gradually used in language teaching.By reading literature,the author found that previous studies mostly focused on teachers’ empathy strategies from the perspective of cognitive psychology,behaviorism,and SLA.This study aims to explore the use of empathy strategies of junior middle school English teachers under the guidance of pragmatic adaptation theory,so as to enrich the adaptation theory and promote the professional development of English teachers.The author based on the two-week internship of Changchun 108 School in November2018,which aroused the thinking on the impact of teachers’ emotional factors on students’ learning.At the same time,focus on the new curriculum reform and core competence requirements for teachers’ emotions,based on English classroom and the framework of adaptation theory,this paper starts from the three basic characteristics: variability,negotiation,and adaptability to reveal the dynamic adaptation of teachers’ empathy strategies.Through elaborating on empathy and adaptation theory,the related strategies of pragmatic empathy are proposed.This paper aims to answer two questions:(1)What empathy strategies are commonly used by teachers in junior middle school English teaching?(2)In what ways does the use of empathy improve English teaching?In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the research,for Q1,the author carefully selected four senior English teachers from the internship school,conducted a two-week classroom observation and recorded a typical four lessons with a total of 160 minutes of teaching videos.Through the detailed transcription and analysis,summing up five empathy strategies commonly used by teachers in junior middle school English classroom:Understanding students;praising and encouraging students;using indirect discourse expressions;using nonverbal behavior appropriately;using hedges.For Q2,the author conducted a corresponding study.Based on the results of Q1,used the five empathy strategiesin author’s three-month teaching to observe the positive impact of the use of such strategies.At the beginning and the end of the semester,the author sent two questionnaires to students.Then compared and investigated the basic situation;attitudes towards English learning,and whether to overcome some obstacles in the learning process.The author used Excel and SPSS25 to compare and analyze the two questionnaires.Through comparative analysis,it is concluded that the teacher empathy strategy has improved classroom teaching effects from three levels: reducing students’ foreign language learning anxiety,enhancing students’ self-confidence in learning,and establishing a relaxed and active classroom atmosphere.Through the study of the these two questions,based on the perspective of adaptation theory,it is proposed that the use of teachers’ empathy strategies should adapt to some dynamic factors appearing in the teaching process,such as language reality;social conventions and psychological motivation.The author hopes that this study can provide more effective and practical empathy strategies for the majority of junior middle school English teachers,enhance the language adaptation awareness of the majority of English teachers,and promote teachers to apply these empathy strategies properly in teaching,thereby further mobilizing students’ learning enthusiasm,improve teaching efficiency and quality.