1、1Teacher Talk and Foreign Language LearningAbstract. This paper tends to analyses teacher talk and argues that teacher talk is the most significant external factor in foreign language learning even in a communicative interaction model. The characteristics of foreign language learning determines that
2、 the learning might not occur in a naturalist setting due to lack of linguistic environment. Therefore, the task how to encourage student to involved in the classroom communication falls on the teacher. However, this does not mean to decrease teacher talk to a smallest proportion. Simply decrease te
3、acher talk is impractical in foreign language. The disadvantage of teacher talk in a traditional teacher-dominant classroom attributes to the low quality of it. Appropriate teacher talk with high quality can facilitate foreign language learning. Effective teacher talk is characterized by using more
4、referential questions and positive feedback and properly reacts to students errors, with which communicative classroom interaction between teachers and students could take place. Key words: teacher talk, classroom communicative 2interaction, foreign language learning, teacher question, feedback, eff
5、ectiveness Introduction Although it is said that real meaningful learning could only occur when learners are actively involved in, appropriate input is very important for language learning as a necessary external factor. According to interactionist view, language acquisition is the outcome of the dy
6、namic interplay between external and internal factors. However, foreign language learning occurs in classroom setting is quite different from SLA (second language acquisition) in a naturalist way. It is characterized by its seldom using of the TL (target language) outside classroom due to lack of li
7、nguistic environment, which is especially conspicuous in China. Therefore, teacher talk and classroom interaction is the major variable affecting foreign language learning. It has been proved that successful outcomes may depend on the type of language used by the teacher and the type of interactions
8、 occurring in the classroom (Ellis, 2000). There will be language interaction in any classroom activities; even they are limited in language form. Teacher talk in language classroom is not only a medium of instruction but also a necessary input. 3Thus classroom teaching can be conceived of an intera
9、ction (Allwright, 1984) to facilitate language leaning through two ways: one is to supply the learner with comprehensible input; the other is to encourage the learner to talk in TL. Teacher talk is the key factor to bring the function of classroom interaction into play. It is both an essential input
10、 and a stimulus to lead students actively involved in kinds of activities; to create a relaxed atmosphere and opportunities for students to express and exchange ideas and to facilitate language leaning through communication and negotiation of meaning (Anton, 1999). In a sort of sense, it is both mea
11、ningful and helpful to probe into the characteristic of teacher talk and construct an appropriate model of teacher talk to enhance foreign language learning. I. Teacher Talk Just as what Dulay said, “teaching a second language means creating for students a part or all their new language environment.
12、 The entire responsibility for creating the language environment falls on the teacher who is teaching a language that is not used in the community,“ teacher talk plays an important role in foreign language learning. 4Teacher talk is defined as speech used by teachers that has attached the attention
13、of researchers such as Gaies (1977,1979), Henzl (1979), Long (1983) and Long meanwhile, he stresses the importance of negotiation of meaning in classroom language learning. He indicated that two-way communication could serve better than one-way communication does. Because in two-way communication mo
14、del, whenever one could not understand the other, feedback will help for negotiation of meaning and interactional modification. In this way, input gets more comprehensible. Similarly, Allwright (1984) holds that comprehensible input could facilitate language learning only if it works with classroom
15、interaction. 2. Quantity simply speaking, that is a language teaching approach focusing on the communicative nature of language to elicit student talk in order to develop learners communicative competence. However, to apply communicative teaching does not mean to increase student talk and decrease t
16、eacher talk. Flander (1970) reveals a characteristic of classroom talk known as “two-third rule“: 6a) For about two-third of the time someone is talking; b) About two-third of this talk is the teachers c) About two-third of the teachers talk consists of lecturing or asking questions. Some scholars (
17、Simich-Dudgeon) have used this discovery as an indictment of teachers dominance over classroom and learners opportunities for self-expression and exploration through talk. But such judgment can only be acceptable based on the presupposition that the dominance of teacher in classroom is decided by th
18、e quantity of their talk. However, the best teacher talk does not mean the least quantity of it. Fillmore (1982) found that success in language learning occurred in classes with high number of non-native learners where the classroom organization was teacher-directed, while little success took place
19、in classes with high numbers of non-native students but with an open classroom organization. Foreign language classroom learning in china is where learners are almost non-native speakers; an open classroom organization (less teacher talk) will cause learners to receive little input and tend to use t
20、heir native language when talking among them. A great deal of teacher talk is essential in a foreign language-teaching environment. Accordingly, simply reduction of 7quantity is not suitable in foreign language teaching. Fillmore suggests that the quantity and the quality of input are equal influent
21、ial in language learning. Thus, quantity of teacher talk or student talk cannot be considered as a criterion to judge classroom teaching is student-oriented or not. It should be connected with quality as well. II. Effective Teacher Talk 1. Teacher Talk and Information Gap Information gap is a situat
22、ion that information is known by only some of those present in communication between two or more people. It is “one of the most fundamental in the whole area of communicative teaching“ (Johnson on the other hand, it is referential question because it concerned with exchanging the information about t
23、he learner that is not known by the teacher. Teachers ask different kind of questions according to different purposes. Sometimes it is necessary for the teacher to use display questions to present a new word or elicit a sentence 10pattern or practice a grammatical structure. The example above implie
24、s that most display questions can be avoided by reformulating the question as fig.2. Teachers should use referential questions as much as possible and use display questions as a complement when necessary; they should skillfully and communicatively use questions as a facilitator to develop the out pu
25、t of students, and encourage them to take part in communicative interaction, and finally to enhance language learning. 2.2 Effective Feedback Feedback is another important constituent in teacher talk. The communicative approach has forced us to reexamine not only how we elicit student talk, but also
26、 how we respond to it by teacher talk. A large amount of research on teachers feedback shows that positive feedback is more effective than negative feedback to facilitate language learning (Nunan, 1991). The main reason is that positive feedback is both an affirmation of learners performance and a trigger to strengthen their motivation for language learning. However, ambiguous, mechanical positive feedback like “Good“, “Very Good“ cannot raise an effective result (Brophy, 1981; Nunan, 1991). Meaning VS. Form
