教学话语中人称代词的互动性研究

 2022-07-15 02:07

论文总字数:44190字

摘 要

大学英语课堂是教师运用语言来培养学生口语能力的重要场所。交互在培养交际能力的过程中是必不可少的。英语教学中的互动不仅可以促进学生的学习,也有益于教师自己的提升。通过教学中的互动,教师与学生的潜能会被充分开发,让教师愿意教学,学生乐于学习,提高课堂效率以及学生的学习积极性。在教学语言中,人称代词的使用对指导学生参与课程内容起着非常重要的作用。人称代词的使用体现了语言使用与语境间的依赖关系。教师使用人称代词是大学英语课堂教学互动的一个重要组成部分。本文以首届外教社杯全国大学英语教学大赛中的大学英语教师课堂话语为语料,试图探索各种人称代词的使用所产生的不同效果,希望能让广大英语教师更加深入地了解人称代词,培养优秀的课堂交互关系,引导学生更好地理解人称代词的交际互动功能,培养与发展学生的交际语用能力。

关键词:交互、课堂话语、人称代词

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements………………………….………………………………………..1

English Abstract...…………………………………………………………………...ii…………………….……………………………………………...2

Chinese Abstract……………….…………………………………………….……….3

Chapter One Introduction………………………………………..………………..5

1.1 Background of the Study……………………………………………………. 5

1.2 Objective of the Study………………………………………………………..5

1.3 Significance of the Study…………………………………………………….6

1.4 Layout of the Thesis………………………………………………………….6

Chapter Two Literature Review……………..……………………………………8

2.1 Definitions of Classroom Discourse… ……………………………………...8

2.2 Previous Studies on Classroom Discourse ……………… ………………….9

2.3 Previous Studies on Personal Pronouns……………………………..……...10

Chapter Three Methodology …...………………………………………………..12

3.1 Data…….…………………………………………………………………...12

3.2 Method……………………..……………………………………………….12

Chapter Four Findings and Discussion………………………………..………...14

4.1 The Influence on Students' Involvement in Classroom……………………..14

4.2 The Influence on Creating a Good Dialogue Environment………….….......15

4.3 The Influence on Creating Multiple Voices in Class………………………16

4.4 Discussion…………………………………………………………………..17

Chapter Five Conclusion………………………………………………………...19

5.1 Major Findings……………………………………….……………..………19

5.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research………………………….19

Reference…………………………………………………………………….............21

Appendix ….………………………………………………………………………...23

Chapter One Introduction

    1. Background of the classroom discourse

Classroom discourse refers to the behavior and the result of speech in the classroom teaching. To some extent, the quality of classroom teaching is closely related to the quality and effectiveness of classroom discourse. However, in daily teaching practice, the quality and effectiveness of classroom discourse is far from ideal. This has exerted a negative influence upon language teaching. . It is, therefore, quite imperative to optimize classroom discourse in language teaching environment. Having student's discourse right is the prerequisite for the optimization of classroom discourse.

Traditional teaching only focuses on the structure of language itself, and considers that teaching process is a process of understanding words, sentences and paragraphs. In traditional English classes, teachers use a bottom-up approach: the teachers focus on the analysis of language points and the explanation of the difficult sentences, overemphasize the words and sentences, and the overall understanding of the text analysis and article is not enough.

The use of Personal Pronouns is not entirely restricted by grammatical rules. Personal pronouns can be used to actively regulate and intervene interpersonal relationships in communication. By making full use of personal pronouns, college English teachers can stimulate students' interest and enthusiasm in classroom teaching and learning, so as to improve their English learning efficiency.

    1. Objective of the Study

The function of discourse is to satisfy the needs of a speaker in expressing his thoughts and opinions. Classroom discourse also plays an important role in classroom teaching. Classroom teaching serves to realize and guarantee the classroom teaching through the words, and to achieve the teaching purpose of promoting the growth and development of the students. If there is no high-quality classroom teaching, it is difficult to effectively promote the growth and development of students. Classroom teaching is carried out through classroom discourse. Therefore, the quality of classroom teaching depends on the quality of classroom discourse.

Relying on a corpus of personal pronouns in teaching competition videos, this study analyzes the interactive characteristics of personal pronouns in teacher talk. The study and analysis of classroom discourse will help to improve the classroom design and classroom teaching, and to guide the current English curriculum and teaching practice, improve the teaching level of teachers.

1.3 Significance of the Study

This research falls into an important area recognized by the language education community. By revealing the relationship between the use of personal pronouns and the interactivity of the classroom, this study aims at promoting the quality of the classroom teaching and contributes to the school and the academic institutions in the society. Teacher talk is an indispensable part of the classroom teaching research. In view of the existing research, most studies on classroom discourse focused on the discourse power of teachers and students in the classroom or the discourse patterns of the language classroom, and only a few studies of the research concentrated on relationship between classroom discourse and classroom teaching. Although there are a lot of related studies on the use of personal pronouns, the previous studies are mostly concerned with their referential functions and contrastive analysis of English and Chinese. The use and function of pronouns in classroom teaching has not received enough attention.

1.4 Layout of the Thesis

This article first reviews the definition of classroom discourse and the studies of the role of classroom discourse and personal pronouns in English learning at home and abroad. Then we introduced the research method. Based on the extracted corpus of personal pronouns, this study analyzes the interactive features of personal pronouns and the correlation between personal pronouns and interactivity. Finally, the author summarizes the study and pinpoints the limitations of the research and future research directions.

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Definitions of Classroom Discourse

With regard to the definition of classroom discourse, different scholars have different understandings. In the traditional sense, natural discourse occurs in informal situations, and classroom discourse occurs in the process of teaching the target language in a formal context.

Nunan (1991) treats classroom discourse as a discourse with obvious characteristics unique to the classroom. The distinct feature of classroom discourse lies in the unequal power relationship, which is reflected in the unequal opportunities for teachers and students in controlling topics and turning rounds.

According to Krashen (1985), classroom discourse is a continuum that extends from teaching to natural discourse. The teaching process constitutes the interaction between the members of this continuum between the two poles. Classroom discourse occurs between teachers and students who play a role in teaching. Its task is the transfer and acceptance of information controlled by the teacher. The focus of this process is the accuracy of knowledge. The nature of the discourse is to form more mobile roles through exchanges and interactions. Its task is to encourage equal participation and meaningful negotiation, and its focus is on the communication process itself and the smooth flow of communication.

Ellis (1990) analyzed classroom discourse in terms of interactive goals and discourses. The purpose of the interaction is divided into the following three types: (1) the core goal is a clear teaching goal. These goals are media-centric, information-centric, or activity-centered. (2) Structural goals are also defined as the interactive goals of organizing classroom activities. (3) Social goals occur when participants participate in daily social events. From a discourse perspective, discourse types are related to classroom participants such as teachers, students, class members, or group members, and to interactive roles such as speakers, receivers of information, and listeners.

Van Lier (1988) described classroom discourse from two perspectives. He classifies the classroom interactive discourse into four basic types. The first is that when classroom interaction occurs, the teacher neither controls the topic nor controls the activity. The second is when the classroom interaction occurs, the teacher only controls the topic and does not control the activity. This interaction only requires the teacher to transmit information or explain the event. The third is that the teacher controls both the topic and the activity. The fourth is that the teacher controls the activity without controlling the topic. During this process, the teacher establishes a group and allows him to freely select topics and discuss under some rules.

2.2 Previous Studies on Classroom Discourse

The western language teaching community began to systematically and deeply observe, understand, and study classes from 50s and 60s twentieth Century (Moskowitz,1968). Since 1970s, many foreign scholars have begun to do a lot of research on teacher language, such as Chaudron (1988) and Moskowitz (1976) have studied the teacher talk based on the comparative model. After 1980s, a large number of research methods to describe and understand foreign language classes have been sprung up again, and the problems that appear in the process of language learning are displayed more directly, and the importance of the classroom is fully revealed (Allright, 1984). At the same time, the role of teacher talk is also receiving more and more attention. By the end of the 80s, the research results of teacher language were concentrated on the study of teachers' teaching language, and the type of teaching language was analyzed in the language classroom teaching. From the summary of Ellis's teacher discourse characteristics, the empirical study of teacher discourse is mostly focused on language characteristics, such as discourse volume, language speed, vocabulary, syntax and discourse (Ellis, 1990).

In 1990s, linguists advocated "teacher research", systematically studied two language classes, and had a more detailed study of teacher's use and teacher behavior in language teaching, which fully revealed the importance of effective input and classroom interaction in Teachers' classroom discourse. Learners create a classroom environment that communicates information and expresses ideas, guides students to actively participate in various classroom activities, and enables them to promote language acquisition through communication and meaning negotiation (Ellis, 1990/1994; Nunan, 1991, etc.).

In the field of English teaching, domestic foreign language research has gradually caught up with foreign countries in recent years. However, foreign language teaching in China has for many years focused on content and results, focusing on the acquisition of knowledge and ignoring the development of learning processes and learning methods. (Huang, 2000). As a result, the study of foreign language teaching still focuses on the study of language acquisition psychology and pedagogy and despises the actual classroom process (Yang, 2003).

In recent years, domestic research has been further studied. Liu Jiarong (2004) has carried out a case study on oral communication in oral English class, systematically analyses the characteristics of the discourse form of teachers and students in oral English class, and points out that teachers should give students more opportunities to communicate in English in class in the two language classroom so that students can have more right to speak. Li Xiulian (2004), by analyzing and grasping the politeness of teacher talk, points out that there is phenomena of unequal power between teachers and students in English classes. Therefore, teachers should use polite words to communicate with students. Ceng Qingmin (2004) and Zhou Junping (2006) have found that only with the emphasis on improving the quality of discourse input can we create more opportunities for students to learn and participate in classroom activities in the limited classroom time, thus promoting their two language acquisition. Xian Xiubin and Sun Xiaoli (2007), based on the analysis of the classroom discourse based on the excellent teachers of College English, found that there is a great difference in the classroom discourse of the excellent teachers; the textbook itself does not determine the characteristics of classroom discourse, and its decisive role is the teacher's educational concept.

2.3 Previous Studies on Personal pronouns.

Deixis is an important topic in pragmatics. It refers to the words or structures that can be identified in context. According to the induction of Stephen Levinson, deixis can be divided into 5 categories: person deixis, time deixis, place deixis, social Deixis and discourse deixis (Levison, 1983). Among all these, the use of personal pronouns occupies the core position. It refers to the mutual address of the two sides to communicate information. It refers to the role played by the participants in a speech practice. It is a symbol of the participants or the related roles in the coded language and activities. Personal pronouns are divided into three categories: the first person pronoun, including the speaker and the hearer, such as "I, we"; the second person pronoun, such as "you", the third person pronoun, neither the speaker nor the speaker excluding hearers, such as "he, they, some people, that person" and so on. Personal pronoun is self centered. It is based on the speaker itself, and the listener must understand the speaker's purpose. Personal pronoun does not always follow fixed rules in the course of its use. Its usage can change with the dynamic change of context (Wen, 2017).

Chapter Three Research Methodology

3.1 Data

This study will take the use of personal pronouns in competition video as the corpus and the comments of experts to study the expression of personal pronoun interaction in the first "Foreign Education Club Cup" in the national college foreign language teaching competition. The participants are teachers from Nanjing University, Fudan University, Wuhan University, Nankai University and other famous comprehensive universities. In the teaching competition of the Foreign Education Club Cup competition, according to the rules, the players have to use 20 minutes for a complete class teaching course for the 20 students on the scene. The form is similar to "College English". It is required for the lower grade students in most universities, so the author takes it as the corpus of the research. After the competition, the jury gave a detailed assessment of the performance of each teacher. The jury consists of 24 experts in English teaching such as Wen Qiufang (Chairman of China English Teaching Research Association) and He Qixin (Former Vice President of Peking University). The author selects 4 best teachers who have won the first or the second prize in the competition:Liu Ling, Fang Wei, Zhao Qin and Wang Qixin. The classes of these four teachers represent the highest level of this competition, which have great reference value for teachers in classroom teaching.

3.2 Method

The entire corpus comes from the video of the competition. Through dictation, the author transcribes their entire course dialogues and counts the number of occurrences of personal pronouns used in the corpus. Table 1 shows the usage of personal pronouns in 4 teachers’ classes. .

Table 1: Usage of Personal Pronouns in Classroom Discourse

contestant

I

We

You

Word Total

Li Ling

6

24

46

860

Fang Wei

5

13

24

688

Zhao Qin

16

11

41

1028

Wang Qixin

30

16

45

1081

Based on their respective discourse functions, the data of personal pronouns are grouped into three categories: (1) improve students’ involvement; (2)creating good dialogue environment; (3) creating multiple voices in class. For each category of personal pronouns, detailed analysis is conducted to shed light on the various contexts of situation where a certain discourse function is performed by the teacher. The frequencies of all kinds of personal pronouns are calculated and analyzed in tandem with the prizes awarded to the contestant teachers. Table 2 shows the frequency of usage of personal pronouns per 1000 words. .

Table 2: Frequency of Usage of Personal Pronouns and Awards

Contestant

I

We

You

Prize

Li Ling

7.5

27.9

53.4

The First Prize

Fang Wei

7.2

18.89

34

The Second Prize

Zhao Qin

15.5

10.6

39.8

The Second Prize

Wang Qixin

27.7

14.8

41

The Second Prize

The current analysis is complemented with the judges’ comments on the classroom interaction between teaching contestants and students.

Chapter Four Findings and Discussion

4.1 The Influence on Students' Involvement in Classroom

The use of “we” can largely attract students to participate in the classroom when teacher is asking questions, making class arrangement and Interpreting background knowledge.

(1) So, why don’t we do a little bit searches in your memory and see when and where we first give a shock at the internet? (Liu Ling)

(2) So, ladies and gentlemen, would you please read out the things on the screen? How do we read these words? (Liu Ling)

Example 1 and 2 are the moments when the teacher is asking questions and setting up students’ tasks. These questions should be answered by the students. However, the teacher did not put herself in the position of a commanding leader. She use the first personal pronoun "We" instead of "You" to refer to the students. The teacher put herself in the same position as the students, making herself friendly and approachable. In this way, students can be relieved of the tension when they answer questions and make them think calmly.

(3) Today we will be looking at the following tasks. We start with the lead-in and we will do some listening for details before we move on to reading and exploring.

Example 3 is the moment when teacher is arranging the whole class. By using “we”, she puts her own perspective together with the students, suggesting that the classroom task is not completed by the students alone, but will be completed by them together, which improves the acceptability of the discourse, and shortens the social distance and psychological distance between teacher and students.

(4)As we all know, In English we have a lot of homophones. For example, there are two examples, such as we have three cents/scents/sents and two flowers/flours here. (Fang wei)

In example 4 the teachers use "We" to state the language phenomenon, which makes it more objective, indicating that this is not the subjective opinion of the teacher, but the use of English. It can also relieve students' embarrassment of not knowing the relevant knowledge.

It can be seen from the table2 that the frequency of “we” is high in Liu Ling and Fang Wei’s classroom. In the expert’s comment, Liu Ling and Fang wei have been well received in terms of interactivity. The opinion for Liu Ling is “The teacher paid much attention to interaction with students and creates a relaxed atmosphere of language learning. Classroom questions and practice design were combined with students' realities and fully consider their interest and level so that students can respond and participate actively.” While the opinion for Fang Wei is “The teacher can design and solve questions according to the content of the text, and at the same time pay attention to mobilize the enthusiasm of the students. Teacher-student interaction has received good results.” All of the above shows that by using “we”, the teacher can create a loose learning atmosphere, which enables students to have a better integration into the class.

4.2 The Influence on Creating a Good Dialogue Environment

It can be seen from table2 that "you" is the most frequently used personal pronoun in all classes. The use of the second personal pronouns is directly facing the hearer, so the usage of “you” tends to have strong directionality for the person who is referred to. Thus, Teachers can create an environment for dialogue with students through this.

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