The Inlfuences Of English Euphemism On Constructing Harmonious Teacher-Student Relationship

The usage of euphemism is a widespread social linguistic phenomenon.Euphemism has been playing a very important role in “lubricating” communicationsince it was produced. And it is a linguistic expression which is usually employed inorder to avoid being unhappy or offensive during the process of communication. Inpeople’s daily life, euphemism is not only one of the important communicative meansfor people to express their thoughts and feelings, but also a very important way toharmonize the teacher-student relationship during the process of verbalcommunication. The communicative quality of language has determined thesignificance of establishing favorable teacher-student relationship in foreign languageteaching context. Quite a few linguists and scholars have carried out euphemism studyfrom different viewpoints from the past to nowadays. On the basis of the previousresearchers’ achievements, the present study attempts to make an analysis of the roleof English euphemism in establishing harmonious teacher-student relationship incollege English language teaching class from the perspective of Halliday’s systemicfunctional linguistics to be specific, interpersonal metaphor. Thus the study canprovide objective basis for betterment of the role relationship between teachers andstudents and for the construction of favorable classroom atmosphere. And theoutcome of the present study can be constructive and persuasive to further improveteaching efficiency in college English language teaching class.The present research employs the qualitative and quantitative analysis method. Inaddition it adopts college English teachers’ lessons as the research data which arefrom1stSFLEP National College English Teaching Contest on14thJune2010. Theauthor chooses the first and the second winners, namely four teachers’ lessons as theresearch data in all. Afterwards nearly all the words spoken by the four teachers are transcribed into written form. Then the written discourses are collected respectivelyfor specific analysis. By use of Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics, the presentstudy analyses the euphemisms applied in teacher talk from the perspective ofinterpersonal metaphor and attempts to resolve two hypotheses：The first is: What roles do euphemisms used in teacher talk play in constructingharmonious teacher-student relationship?The second is: How does interpersonal metaphor of teacher talk revealeuphemism in English language teaching class?The study aims to reveal influences that euphemisms have on constructingharmonious relationship between teachers and students in college foreign languageteaching class.The selection of teacher’s discourse is not arbitrary. Through study, the maincharacteristics have been found in the choices of mood system. Firstly, the teachersnot only express his or her own opinions considering the students as participants asequal as himself or herself, but also stimulate students to overcome the difficultieswhile they are studying, help the students alleviate anxiety or timidity and improvethe students’ confidence. Secondly, this reveals that teachers play a role of initiators tostimulate students’ study interests and to encourage students to take part in classroomactivities when they are in negotiation with their students. The main features havebeen found in the choices of modality system. Firstly, the metaphorical realizations ofmodality specify that teachers are making efforts to build up equal teacher-studentrelationship by use of appropriate discourse. The teachers are encouraging students tooffer more output about target language, drawing students’ attention and providing thestudents with objective, proper, specific and fair assessment. Secondly, the teachersare trying to maintain a balance between sustaining his or her traditional authority andbuilding up an easy and democratic study climate. Thirdly, the teachers aim tocultivate the strong belief for study of students and to decrease the power of being incommanding status so as to build a favorable atmosphere. In conclusion, theseteachers make use of metaphors of mood and metaphors of modality and conveydifferent interpersonal meanings by choosing different mood and modality expression, which shows that the teachers apply different teaching methods and strategies toinstruct their students, to stimulate students’ interests, to develop a pleasantteaching-learning context and reveals a favorable relationship between teachers andstudents.In short, the present research has offered a new perspective for future researcheson euphemism applied in college English language teaching class. At the same time,it’s an effective attempt in studying spoken discourse by use of Halliday’s the theoryof interpersonal metaphor. The present study not only implies that a favorableteacher-student relationship helps realize our teaching goal and task efficiently butalso reveals the importance of harmonious teacher-student relationship can’t beignored in college English language teaching classroom.