A Study On Interpersonal Function Of Teacher Talk In Junior Middle School English Classroom

Teacher talk is not only an important medium for teachers to implement their teaching activities,but also a significant source of language input for students.It plays an important role in English teaching and English learning.Teacher talk in English classrooms contains certain interpersonal functions.However,not all teachers can realize and make good use of these functions.So it is of great significance to explore the realization of the interpersonal function of teacher talk from the perspective of Systematic Functional Linguistics,which contributes to establishing a harmonious relationship between teachers and students,and therefore,plays an important role in the effectiveness of English teaching.Based on the Interpersonal Function Theory of Halliday’s Systematic Functional Linguistics,this paper adopts a qualitative and quantitative method to explore the interpersonal meaning of teacher talk in the English classroom from the three aspects,i.e.,Mood,Modality and Personal Pronouns.By comparing the realization of the interpersonal meaning of teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes and the English Normal Classes in junior middle school,this paper summarizes and highlights the characteristics of the interpersonal function of teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes;by investigating the attitudes of junior middle school students towards interpersonal function of teacher talk,this paper proves the acceptability of the realization of interpersonal meaning of teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes,and puts forward suggestions on better realizing the interpersonal meaning of teacher talk and establishing a harmonious teacher-student relationship in normal English classroom.Specifically,there are two research questions in this study:1)Compared with the teacher talk in English Normal Classes,what are the characteristics of the use of Mood,Modality and Personal Pronouns in teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes in junior middle school?2)What are the attitudes of junior middle school students towards the use of Mood,Modality and Personal Pronouns in teacher talk in English classroom?The findings and suggestions are as follows:(1)In terms of the use of the Mood system,teacher talk in both the English Demonstration Classes and the English Normal Classes is dominated by the declarative mood,followed by the interrogative mood,and finally by the imperative mood;compared with the teacher talk in English Normal Classes,the proportion of the interrogative mood in teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes takes up for more,while the proportion of imperative mood in teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes is smaller.Students show the highest degree of recognition for the interrogative mood,followed by the declarative mood,and the lowest expectation for the imperative mood.Teachers in the English Normal Classes should appropriately increase the proportion of the interrogative mood and reduce the use of the imperative mood,so as to enhance classroom interactions between the teacher and students,and weaken the dominant position of the teacher.(2)In terms of the Modality system,teacher talk in both the English Demonstration Classes and the English Normal Classes is dominated by the low-value modality,followed by the median-value modality and least by the high-value modality;compared with the teacher talk in English Normal Classes,the proportion of the low-value modality used in the English Demonstration Classes is larger.Students have the highest degree of recognition for the low-value modality in teacher talk,followed by the median-value modality,and the high-value modality.Teachers in the English Normal Classes should appropriately increase the use of the low-value modal discourse and correspondingly reduce the use of the median and high modal discourse,so as to make the communication between teachers and students more equal and promote a harmonious teacher-student relationship.(3)In terms of the Person system,teacher talk in both the English Demonstration Classes and the English Normal Classes is dominated by the second-person pronouns,followed by the plural first-person pronouns and lastly by the singular first-person pronouns;compared with the teacher talk in English Normal Classes,the proportion of the second-person pronouns in teacher talk in the English Demonstration Classes is larger,while the proportion of the plural first-person pronouns in the English Demonstration Classes is smaller.Students have the highest recognition for the use of the second-person pronouns in teacher talk,followed by the plural first-person pronouns and least for the singular first-person pronouns.Teachers in the English Normal Classes should increase the use of the second-person pronouns and reduce the use of the singular first-person pronouns,so as to enhance teacher-student interactions in classroom and weaken the authority of teachers.