Abstract
Foreign language teaching highlights the cultivation of the learners’ communicative competence, because the main purpose of learning a foreign language is to use the target language to communicate. However, many students in higher institutions in China cannot speak English fluently after having learned English for more than ten years, although they have mastered abundant knowledge of grammars and enough vocabulary, which mainly results from lack of interaction in classroom teaching besides the natural language environment. Classroom interaction is the key to effective teaching in EFL classroom. So, using strategies to promote the interaction in class is necessary. This paper explores the interaction between teacher and student in EFL classroom from the perspective of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). Data was collected from 540 minute video samples of three English teachers’ classroom teaching. This study aimed: 1) To identify whether the teachers use communication accommodation strategies to develop the interaction，when they are faced with the difficulties in EFL class; 2)To answer which strategies are often used in EFL classroom? Findings showed: 1) Communication accommodation strategies happened in Teacher-student interaction; 2) Communication accommodation strategies such as approximation, interpret ability, emotional expression and interpersonal control are the basic strategies which were employed by the three participants in each session of EFL class; 3) Interpret ability and strategy of discourse management such as face-maintenance, turn-taking, topic control, asking referential questions, conversational repair and feedback occurred frequently according to the discourse. 4) The more accommodation strategies the teacher used, the better the interaction in the classroom was.
Highlights
English, as a foreign language in China, has been seriously taken in education since China’s Economic Reform and Opening-up began in 1978 (Dong, 2003; Wen, 2019)
This paper explores the interaction between teacher and student in EFL classroom from the perspective of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)
This study aimed: 1) To identify whether the teachers use communication accommodation strategies to develop the interaction,when they are faced with the difficulties in EFL class; 2)To answer which strategies are often used in EFL classroom? Findings showed: 1) Communication accommodation strategies happened in Teacher-student interaction; 2) Communication accommodation strategies such as approximation, interpret ability, emotional expression and interpersonal control are the basic strategies which were employed by the three participants in each session of EFL class; 3) Interpret ability and strategy of discourse management such as face-maintenance, turn-taking, topic control, asking referential questions, conversational repair and feedback occurred frequently according to the discourse
Summary
As a foreign language in China, has been seriously taken in education since China’s Economic Reform and Opening-up began in 1978 (Dong, 2003; Wen, 2019). The process of the formal instruction in EFL classroom in higher institutions is not satisfying. Because teachers in the high schools tend to emphasize on grammatical structure, reading and writing, in order to prepare their students for the national entrance examination, instead of providing the students with chances to practice oral English in class. After six years of formal English education, students are used to keeping calm, listening to the teacher from the beginning to the end, rather than speaking English or interacting with the teacher and other students in class. It’s very difficult for teachers in higher institutions to active students’ participation in EFL class
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