Letters to KOTESOL: 2011 July

The 2007 English Teachers Association in Korea (ETAK) International Conference Proceedings

An L2 English speaker may have the best intentions in the world but what they say produces a negative reaction in the native-speaker hearer. This negative reaction may be caused by the speaker incorrectly applying a learned structural pattern, using inappropriate language for the situation, using an inappropriate appellation, or talking about an inappropriate subject. The culture and customs of a speech community are very closely related to what is considered appropriate speech habits in that community. English learners are often quite unaware of what these habits are and therefore are prone to inadvertently speak in ways that a native speaker may find offensive.

Minerva Publications eBooks, 1991

Edwards and Westgate note that professional interest in classroom language has grown with the recognition of its centrality in the process of learning, and its value as evidence of how relationships and meanings are organized.' Supported by studies like those of Barnes et al., more attention is being paid to the communicative demands made on children in classrooms, and to the rather limited range of skills they are typically called upon to display: There is increased interest in how much those demands vary across age groups and across subjects of the curriculum. Regrettably misconceptions and views based on stereotypes persist in some school staffrooms-for example, that 'the only good classroom is a silent one', or 'When they (particular categories of students) come to us, they just don't have any language'. There are obvious attractions in recording classroom talk. Listening to it and transcribing it could reveal characteristics of teacher-pupil encounters unnoticed in the hectic pace of classroom life. It is evidence of a kind which teachers can collect for themselves and so contribute to research rather than wait for the

1986

acknowledging that to study the development of a language is to study the history and culture of people and that English has been influenced by many geographic, political, economic, social, and linguistic forces, this booklet provides a ready reference for elementary and middle school/junior high school teachers confronted with students' questions about the characteristics of the language they speak and are learning to read and write. Since most questions are directed toward words and their spellings, the first section of the booklet emphasizes selected historical aspects of vocabulary growth and orthographic change. The second section of the booklet peesents exercises designed a-ound actual student questions, providing not only initial suggestions for vocabulary study activities, but also a rationale for the incongruities of English with an eye toward putting modern usage into a historical perspective. (HTH)

My capstone essay focuses on the importance of effective teacher language in the classroom and its affect on shaping positive student identities. Specific language, tone, attitude, and behavior that focus on positively reminding, redirecting, and reinforcing students are essential factors that influence the intellectual and emotional development of a child. First, I will focus on learners and learning by exploring how theories concerning the development of children correspond with the language teachers' use in the classroom. Interactions between children and adults fundamentally shape and mold children's identities as learners. Positive, caring language which strengthens individuals and builds a community creates a safe and productive learning environment. Specifically I focus on the importance of the teacher's tone and behavior which not only serve as a model for appropriate behavior, but also emphasizes genuine interest and concern for the well-being of each individual. In curriculum and instruction, I call upon researchers whose findings emphasize the importance of instructing children using reminding, redirecting language. Finally, my paper focuses on alternative, authentic assessment which allows students to present knowledge through different learning styles and modalities. Through positive feedback and observation teachers should emphasize the process of learning rather than the final outcome of a test.

This research focused on investigating students and teachers' impoliteness expressions. The researcher collected the data by conducting classroom observations and interview and analyzing the data by adopting a qualitative research. The research was conducted at the second semester at PPs UNM in 2018/2019 academic year. The result shows that the students and teachers used impoliteness expressions in teaching. The students preferred the teacher to use impolite expressions in delivering the material. According to them, using impolite language made the students easier to understand the material delivered by the teacher. They argued that teaching method and including the variation of teacher's language in teaching gave a significant improvement to the students' achievement and understanding. According to Culpeper theory (1996), there are five strategies of impolite expressions used by students and teachers in the classroom. Those are (1) bald on record impoliteness (2) positive impoliteness (3) negative impoliteness (4) sarcasm or mock politeness and (5) withhold politeness.

2015

annual meeting of the Eastern …, 1997

12This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality.

The present study, adopting a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design, investigated the effect of instructional intervention in teaching polite/appropriate refusal strategies explicitly on Iranian EFL learners’ performance of the speech act of refusing. The participants consisted of 24 male Iranian elementary EFL learners, aged 12 to 18, who responded to a discourse completion task (DCT) prior to and after they had been exposed to explicit instruction in the polite performance of refusals in English. The learners’ responses showed that there existed a variety of impoliteness elements at pretest stage including lack of mitigation, directness, shortness of responses, etc. The instruction, lasting for 10 sessions, was directed at eliminating these impoliteness/inappropriacy elements and included the length of semantic formulas, using adjuncts to refusals, apologizing prior to refusing, use of honorifics, intensification of refusal semantic formulas, etc. The participants’ responses to the DCT in the posttest showed a high level of appropriacy in the semantic content of refusal utterances. Furthermore, paired-samples t-tests demonstrated a significant difference in the use of both refusal strategies and adjuncts to refusals between the pretest and posttest stages. In conclusion, the study revealed that pragmatics can accompany language teaching even when learners have not attained a high level of linguistic proficiency. More specifically, the results clearly demonstrated that the pragmatic as well as the linguistic components of language can go in hand in hand in the course of language teaching.