A Comparative Study On Teachers’ Classroom Metadiscourse Between EFL Quality Courses And Normal Courses Of Native Teachers From The Perspective Of Register Theory

Metadiscourse is “discourse about discourse”(Williams 1981),performing the functions of organizing discourse and expressing emotions and attitudes.In EFL classroom teaching,teachers’ classroom metadiscourse could better help students understand the classroom content and promote the interaction between teachers and students.Previous metadiscourse studies mostly focused on academic writing,paying little attention to oral metadiscourse.There have been a few comparative studies on classroom metadiscourse use in normal courses by teachers from different cultural backgrounds,but comparative studies on teachers’ classroom metadiscourse use in quality courses and normal courses are still lacking.Studies on teachers’ classroom metadiscourse use in quality courses could contribute to the comprehensive investigation of the effectiveness of teacher talk.In addition,some scholars have studied teachers’ classroom metadiscourse from different perspectives in recent years,such as rapport-management theory,socio-cultural perspective and multi-modal social semiotic perspective,but studies on teachers’ classroom metadiscourse from the perspective of register theory need further exploration.Therefore,by adopting a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology,the current study investigates teachers’ metadiscourse use in EFL quality courses and normal courses of native teachers from the perspective of register theory.The present study aims to answer the following research questions:(1)What are the similarities and differences in the distribution of classroom metadiscourse between EFL quality courses and normal courses of native teachers?(2)What are the similarities and differences of classroom metadiscourse between EFL quality courses and normal courses of native teachers from the perspective of register theory?(3)What are the causes of the similarities and differences of classroom metadiscourse between EFL quality courses and normal courses of native teachers?To answer the above questions,based on the corpora of English classroom discourse in both Chinese and foreign universities,this study firstly compares metadiscourse use in English quality and normal courses by Chinese and native English teachers respectively from two dimensions,namely interactive metadiscourse and interactional metadiscourse.During this process,UAM Corpus Tool 3.3v is employed to code and count different types of metadiscourse in both corpora,and Chi-square Calculator 1.0 is adopted to compare metadiscourse use in both corpora.Then,this study attempts to interpret the different metadiscourse use in two corpora from the three variables of register,namely field,tenor and mode.Finally,potential reasons for the different metadiscourse use by both groups of teachers are analyzed by interviewing four teachers in combination with the findings from the corpora.The research findings show that(1)EFL quality courses used significantly more metadiscourse than normal courses of native teachers.In terms of interactive metadiscourse,EFL quality courses adopted more frame markers and endophoric markers but fewer transition markers than normal courses of native teachers,revealing that the former focused more on formal coherence and the latter paid more attention to the logicality of content.As for interactional metadiscourse,engagement markers were the most frequently used type in both corpora,reflecting the interactivity of classroom discourse.Besides,EFL quality courses were found to use more engagement markers but fewer hedges,boosters and self mentions than normal courses of native teachers,which shows that although under the same educational context,EFL quality courses and normal courses of native teachers are different in situational context.(2)Register analysis of metadiscourse use in both groups of teachers shows that the differences in transition markers and endophoric markers used by two groups of teachers are attributable to the field of classroom discourse,the variations of hedges,boosters and self mentions used by both groups of teachers result from the tenor of classroom discourse,the different use of engagement markers by two groups of teachers is owing to both the field and tenor of classroom discourse,and the dissimilarities of frame markers used by two groups of teachers are due to the mode of classroom discourse.(3)The main causes giving rise to the commonalities and discrepancies of metadiscourse use in two groups of teachers include teaching contents and teaching objectives,teacher-student relationship and teacher identity construction,and preparedness and planning.The above findings reveal that situational context should be fully considered by teachers while using classroom metadiscourse.Teachers should use metadiscourse appropriately according to the specific teaching content and purpose,the power relationship between teachers and students,and the teaching organization form,so as to carry out teaching effectively.