Empirical Analysis of Teacher Talk Based on SLA Theories—Evidence from Zhengji High School

Abstract

In China, due to the lack of a real language learning environment, the main place for students to contact English is the classroom. Therefore, teachers’ discourse in the classroom has an important impact on learners’ language acquisition. Specifically, on the one hand, teacher talk can organize and manage classroom teaching. On the other hand, it is conducive to students’ language input. At the same time, senior high school is a key period for students to learn English. The impact of excellent teacher talk on students’ language acquisition is beneficial. As a result, at this stage, it is vital to study teacher talk. Based on the input hypothesis proposed by Krashen and the interaction hypothesis proposed by Long, this article selects a senior teacher and her class in Zhengji senior high school in Jiangsu Province as the research object, and uses the method of naturalistic observation to observe and record the teacher’s discourse in the classroom. Then, through the analysis of the data, the current situation of English teachers’ classroom discourse in senior high schools is investigated in three ways in this thesis: the quantity of teacher talk, questioning methods and feedback methods, analyzes the existing problems, and tries to offer some sound counsel. Through research and analysis, this article draws the following conclusions: 1. Teachers are fully aware of the main role of students in classroom discourse, are changing the traditional teacher-centered teaching model, and strive to make students more involved in classroom activities. 2. Teachers should reasonably use the method of questioning in the classroom to combine display questions with referential questions, so as to cultivate students’ innovative thinking ability. 3. Teachers should use a variety of feedback methods to continuously stimulate students’ learning motivation and increase the number of possibilities for kids to develop language.