A Research Of English Teachers’ Classroom Discourse In Junior Middle School From The Perspective Of Politeness Principles

Classroom discourse is the main way for teachers to realize better teaching effects and the important bond of teacher-student communication.The effect of classroom teaching is largely determined by teachers’ classroom discourse(Hakansson,1986).As one of the traditional virtues of China,politeness is usually embodied through the communication among people.In daily communication,the knowledge accumulation and the personal literacy which are manifested by the language all reflect the importance of politeness.English classroom is inseparable from communication,and politeness principle is a vital standard which people observe in their communication.Therefore,it is necessary for teachers to use polite discourse in their English teaching.Teachers’ application of politeness principle can better play the functions of classroom discourse: disseminating knowledge,interacting and communicating,evaluating.As an important factor of creating the harmonious classroom atmosphere,narrowing the teacher-students distance and promoting classroom teaching,the politeness of teachers’ classroom discourse is also of great significance for developing the core competence of students emphasized by compulsory education.Through reviewing the literature,the author found that most of the researches of polite discourse are mainly about college teachers,and there are few politeness studies of teachers’ classroom discourse in compulsory education.Junior middle stage is a key period for students’ growth because it is the high time of their development about body and mentality.Teenagers have weak ability to control themselves,and their perseverance at this stage is also weak.When they are criticized by others or frustrated in school or at home,they can easily feel pessimistic and breed the emotion self-doubt and anxiety.Therefore,teachers should pay special attention to students’ emotion during this period.Teenagers are vulnerable and sensitive and care about others’ comments and opinions in this period.Teachers’ impolite words often hurt students’ self-esteem,affect the harmony between teachers and students and even make students have weariness about learning.Therefore,the junior middle school teachers should pay attention to the propriety and politeness of the classroom talk.Furthermore,the writer found that the the middle school English teachers have unbalanced usage of these six maxims of Leech’s politeness principle in their classroom discourse,while teachers of different genders also have different emphasis about the application of politeness principles.Therefore,researching the use of politeness principle in teachers’ classroom discourse in junior middle school is of great importance.The author conducted a three-month survey of four teachers in the seventh grade of a school in Chengdu under the guidance of Leech’s politeness principle.And related data in this research are collected through three research methods: observation,questionnaire and interview.Then the data is analyzed by Excel software to answer the following three research questions:1.What is the current situation of the application of politeness principles by junior middle school English teachers in their classroom discourse? 2.What are the differences between male and female teacher’s classroom discourse in junior middle school based on politeness principles? 3.What are the influences of the application of politeness principles in classroom discourse by teachers in junior middle school?Through data collection and data analysis,the author found that(1)English teachers have applied six polite maxims in their classroom discourse: tact maxim,generosity maxim,approbation maxim,modesty maxim,agreement maxim and sympathy maxim,which are proposed by Leech.Among them,English teachers apply tact maxim most frequently and apply modesty maxim least.At the same time,each maxim has specific politeness situations,and the frequency of each situation appearing in teachers’ classroom discourse is also different.(2)Both male and female teachers show solicitude for the politeness of classroom discourse,but their focus is different.Among the six maxims,male teachers are more inclined to apply the maxims of generosity and approbation,while female teachers apply the maxims of tact,modesty,agreement and sympathy more.(3)The reasonable application of politeness principle has a positive role in promoting the learning motivation of students,positive teacher-student relations,effective classroom teaching,concordant class atmosphere and the cultivation of students’ polite consciousness,etc.At the same time,teachers’ excessive application of the politeness principle will also breed students’ complacency and have a negative impact on students’ impression of their teachers.Through the study of English teachers’ application of politeness principle in junior middle school,this thesis will provide some suggestions: English teachers should strengthen their theory learning and combine Leech’s politeness principle with their teaching practice based on the characteristics of students’ physical and mental development during this period to apply six maxims reasonably so as to achieve better teaching effects;male and female teachers should also communicate more,learn from each other,and apply politeness principles properly and reasonably,so as to establish and keep a good and concordant English class environment and evoke students’ learning enthusiasm and motivation for English.