ABSTRACT
Teacher talk is the special language which teachers use in pursuing language
teaching and spreading knowledge, and it has unique form and interaction features.
The importance of teacher talk in the foreign language classroom is not only
embodied in the organization of the classroom, but also embodied in its importance
for learners during the language acquisition process.
Along with the development of English teaching in Chinese universities, native
teachers have been employed in the classroom to enhance the language use ability of
students, especially English majors. At present, authorities of many universities have
employed native teachers to teach oral English classes for English majors. But do
college students get accustomed to the native teacher class? Do native teachers get
along with Chinese students well and teach to their expectation? From the observation
of native teachers’ classes, the author attempts to analyze the advantages and
shortcomings of interaction features of native teachers, in order to help improve the
teaching quality of the Oral English Course conducted by them.
This study is carried out on the basis of the author’s model, covering the
following aspects: ratio of speech between teacher and students, turn-taking,
interaction pattern, topic management, question type, feedback and interactional
negotiation. Data was collected from classroom observation, class video-recording
and after-class interview. The following describes the results.
The amount of teacher talk is less than that of students. Students take more turns
than teachers, but students are not accustomed to initiating turns. Native teachers
mainly adopt I-R-F as their pattern of interaction, namely, the native teacher initiates a
question, the students answer it and the teacher makes comments on the answer. Both
the planned and unplanned questions can increase language output, but native teachers
prefer planned questions in classroom teaching. Native teachers are inclined to use
referential questions, and students can provide reasonable answers. But most of the
time, teachers and students follow the I-R-F model so much that they seldom make
many turn-taking activities. Native teachers often give simple feedback and their