PragmaticsAnalysisofImproperQuestioninginEnglishClass-最新文档

1、PragmaticsAnalysisofImproperQuestioninginEngl ishClass【】 Questioning ， a kind of teacher talk ， plays an important role in language teaching. This paper tries to analyze the inappropriate questionings in terms of the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle in the pragmatics field. If Engl

2、ish teachers could abide by these pragmatics principles in questioning， the quality ofteaching and studying could be enhanced.1. IntroductionTeacher talk is not only an implement for teachers to carry out the teaching program， but also an importantresource for language input ， hence it is of great c

3、oncern in organizing teaching activities and learnersacquisition. Except for the above advantages ， it has other special functions ， for example ， livening up the atmosphere in the classroom and motivating studentslearning. Questioning has three steps， pre-questioning ，questioning ， and post-questio

4、ning. Here， I want to study those seemingly correct questions which have no mistakes in grammar ， but are used unsuitably in the context from the aspects of the CP and the PP in pragmatics field.2. Implications of the CP to questioning in ELT classGrice （ 1975） proposed that in ordinary conversation

5、s ， speakers and hearers share a cooperative principle involving four maxims to govern the efficiency and normal acceptability of conversations. They are the maxim of quantity ， the maxim of quality ， the maxim of relation ， and the maxim of manner. In short， it asks for speakersto say something inf

6、ormative， truthful ， relevant andacceptable.In order to know better the CP in teacher questioning ， let s have a look at the following example.T：What are indispensable qualities of great men？Napoleon ， of course ， is a great man who made a contribution to the British；Premier Zhou Enlai ， is a great

7、man whoworked hard to serve the foundation of new China. So Jessie ， can you tell me ？S1：ErChurchill ？T：I mean their common qualities， Leo ， please ！S2：From the teacher questioning above ， we can see that ， this teacher goes against the maxim of relation and themaxim of manner in the CP. In addition

8、， he gave a wronganswer at last. The questions had better be brief and orderly ， avoiding obscurity of expression and irrelevance. Then students can easily know intentions of teachers and are more willing to interact by answering questions.3. Implications of the PP to teacher questioning in ELT clas

9、sAs we all know， language is a means to expressthe politeness ， while the politeness restricts the use of language. In Brown and Levinson s terms ， politeness is concerned with the purpose or notpositive image or impression of oneself that one shows or intends to show to the other participant in com

10、munication. On one hand ， in social communication ， people attempt to offer a positive image which reflects their values and beliefs.Therefore ， teaching EFL should concern learners face-wants. The teacher should choose appropriate politeness principles to satisfy learners face needs. We can see fro

11、m the example above that this teacher also violates the PP. After the first student answers this question mistakenly ， the teacher doesnt let him answer this question once again， but asks another student toanswer directly. No matter whether this teacher is onhe or she has hurt the first student feel

12、ing.The PP is linked with teacher questioning ， especially raising questions ， giving feedback ， and teachers responses to the answer. Brown and Levinson distinguished positive politeness strategies from negative politeness ones. Positive politeness strategies indicate the closeness and intimacy bet

13、ween speakers and hearers ， while negative ones show the social distance between participants.3.1 Politeness strategies used when raising questionsWhena teacher is asking a question ， he or she has to think about a lot of factors. First ， the acceptability and comprehensive ability of students. If h

14、e asks a question that only a small part of students can answer， the restof students may feel unbalanced and lose confidence. Secondly ， the type of question. Questioning in a direct way sounds like giving the order ， which engenders fear of answering. For example， “Lucy， retell the story. ” This ki

15、nd of imperative sentences brings a kind of an uncompromising and threatening feeling ， thus the students feel nervous and refuse to answer questions by keepingsilent. Thirdly ， in order to make every student have equal chances to answer questions ， teachers should be aware to ask those academically

16、 poor students. Here， sympathy maxim and the strategy of encouragement can be used. The question like “It doesnt matter even if you make a mistake. Leo， could you have a try ？” could be a better choice. If Leo was still not brave enough，“Dont worry. It s notdifficult at all. Just speak out your idea

17、 loudly ”. These words arouse their confidence and stir up enthusiasm to take an active part in classroom activities. Last but not the least ， when raising a question with mistakes on grammar or tense ， the teacher should be modest to confess faults and apologize to the students. 3.2 Politenessstrat

18、egies used when responding to students answersFeedback is an indispensible part of teacher questioning. Students can know whether they have performed well ， and they always have great expectations to be praised. There are two types of feedback ， positive feedback and negative feedback. In order to t

19、ake care of studentsExcellent ！Whens tudents are aware of teacherscareaffection ， in most cases ， teachers adopt positive feedback ， such as “Good！” “Well done ！” andand encouragement in the words ， they will change the bad learning habits gradually. Besides， teachers can say“Thank you！” or “ That s

20、 so kind of you ” in a modest way not only for their right answers， but for being willing to cooperate.When students seem hard to express their idea，teachers must be patient and provide hint to guide them. For example， “I think you may sumu p the main meaning this way” or “You have a great idea ， bu

21、t how do you think if ”. As for how to treatstudents undesired answers ，some teachers censure them heavily by using negative sentences. And even “Thats terribly wrong. ” some teachers say with a furious look ， which deeply hurts students sense of self -respect. At this time ， teachers should say “I

22、know you are not deliberate”. Attributethe mistakes to inadequate endeavor. They can also use the sentence like “Youve done well in other subject. I believe you will catch up if you make more efforts.”Generally speaking ， it is better not to interrupt while students are answering questions. But when students are coming up with an innovative idea which is worth discussion among the classmates ， the behavior ofinterruption is allowed. In order not to break learnersface needs ， teachers have to apologize before interrup