英语论文Leech礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用 - 图文

本科生毕业论文册

学院 XXX学院 专业 英语教育 班级 XXXX英语教育X班 学生 XXX 指导教师 XX

XXXX大学本科毕业论文任务书

编 号：

论文题目： Leech礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用 学院： XXX学院 专业： 英语教育 班级： XXXX级英语教育X班 学生姓名： XXX 学号： XXXX 指导教师： XX 职称：XXX 1、论文研究目标及主要任务

本论文的研究目标是探讨Leech礼貌原则的重要作用及其在大学英语教师话语中的应用。其主要任务是通过分析礼貌原则六条细则指导大学英语教学。

2、论文的主要内容

本论文分为五章，第一章介绍研究的背景、意义、目的以及本文整体结构，第二章分别介绍教师话语及Leech礼貌原则的先前研究成果，第三章讨论了礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用，第四章了概括大学英语话语中礼貌原则的特点，并介绍了一些礼貌策略，第五章得出了论文结论，列举了此论文的一些不足之处，并为以后研究提出了建议。 3、论文的基础条件及研究路线

本论文的基础条件是不同的语言学家对教师话语及Leech对礼貌原则的研究结果。

研究路线是对礼貌原则从不同的细则进行详细的阐述，并将其分别 用在大学英语教学话语中。 4、主要参考文献

Brown, P. & S. Levinson. 1978. Universals in Language Usage: Politeness

Phenomena. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. C. 1994. The context of Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

刘润清. 1999. 《论大学英语教学》. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社. 何自然.1997. 《语用学与英语学习》. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社.

5、计划进度 阶段 起止日期 1 确定初步论文题目 3月16日前 与导师见面，确定大致范围，填开题报告和2 3月16日-3月23日 任务书，导师签字 3 提交论文提纲 3月23日-3月30日 4 交初稿和文献综述 3月30日-4月20日 5 交终稿和评议书 5月8日前 指 导 教师： 年 月 日 教研室主任： 年 月 日

注：一式三份，学院（系）、指导教师、学生各一份

XXXX大学本科生毕业论文开题报告书

XXX 学院 英语教育 专业 XXX 届 学生 姓名 XXXX 论文题目 Leech礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用 指导 专业 所属教基础教研研究方XX XXX 语言学 教师 职称 研室 室 向 课题论证：从Leech礼貌原则的六条细则等方面论证礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中 的作用及其应用。 方案设计：第一章介绍研究的背景、意义、目的以及本文整体结构， 第二章分别介绍教师话语及Leech礼貌原则的先前研究成果， 第三章讨论了礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用， 第四章了概括大学英语话语中礼貌原则的特点，并介绍了一些礼貌策略， 第五章得出了论文结论，列举了此论文的一些不足之处，并为以后研究提出了建议。 进度计划：3月16日前确定初步论文题目 3月23日前写开题报告、任务书 3月30日前提交论文提纲 4月20日前提交初稿和文献综述 5月8日前交终稿和评议书 指导教师意见： 指导教师签名： 年 月 日 教研室意见： 教研室主任签名： 年 月 日 XXXX大学本科生毕业论文评议书

姓 名 论 文 题 目 XXX 学院 XXX学院 专业 英语XXXX级英语年级（班） 教育 教育X班 完成时间 2013/5/8 Leech礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用 作为一个具有道德意义的行为准则，礼貌不仅维持和谐的人际关系，而且承载了人类文明。Leech的礼貌原则是语用学中一个热点话题，在人们日常生活中有着重大的意义。在大学英语课堂中，教师话语发挥着非常大的作用，而礼貌原则也必不可少。很多学者从不同领域对礼貌原则与教师话语做了大量研究，但是很少有人将二者结合。因此，本论文以礼貌原则为理论基础探讨了礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用。在Brown &Levinson的面子理论的基础上并由Leech提出的礼貌原则包含六条细则，分别是得体准则、慷慨准则、赞扬准则、谦虚准则、一致准则与同情准则。而教师话语在本论文中被定义为教师们用来进行教授英语知识，组织课堂活动并对学生表现给予反馈的语言。作者运用礼貌原则分别从六个准则的角度分析了大学英语教师话语。通过研究，作者得出了一个结论：在大学英语课堂，礼貌原则在教师话语中恰当得体的运用有助于师生互动，帮助他们建立良好的师生关系，并提高可以提高学生的学习效率。 指 导 教 师 评 语 年 月 日 职称 初评成绩 论 文 内 容 摘 要 指 导 教 师 辩答姓名 职称 教研室 组长 成员 答辩记录： 记录人签字： 年 月 日 答辩小组意见： 组长签字： 年 月 日 学院意见： 评定成绩： 签章 年 月 日 XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）文献综述

Literature Review Previous studies on teacher talk from both home and abroad roughly include the following aspects: amount of teacher talk, teachers? questions, teachers? feedback, and interactional modification. Based on the former researches, it can be found that different definitions of teacher talk have been reached from different perspectives at home and abroad. One definition goes that teacher talk is the language in the classroom that takes up a major part of class time used to give classroom directions, explain classroom activities and check students? understanding (Sinclair & Brazil, 1982). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (Richards, 1992) describes teacher talk as “that variety of language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching. In trying to communicate with students, teachers often simplify their speech giving it many of the characteristics of the Foreigner Talk and other simplified styles of speech addressed to language learners”. In Ellis? opinion, teachers “make adjustments to both language form and language function in order to facilitate communication. These adjustments are referred to as ?teacher talk?” (Ellis 1994:726) To be more specific, Song Deyun & Pan Longming (2000) define English teacher talk as follows: English teacher talk includes classroom English, instruction English, teacher-student interaction and teacher feedback English which is employed to instruct English knowledge, communicate and organize classroom activities. Politeness seems to be a prevalent concept and an important element in human interaction. According to Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (1996), politeness is an “umbrella term for a combination of interpersonal considerations and linguistic choices affecting the form and function of linguistic interactions”. In different cultures and different contexts, politeness refers to quite different things. It is known that every culture has its own customs and expectation, including the politeness involved in daily life. Different culture expects different behavior to meet their politeness system. In other words, people should conform to politeness principle in communication. Leech?s Politeness Principle is not an entirely new notion since E. Goffman, P. Brown, S. Levinson and others had discussed politeness phenomena before him in the application of language, such as address forms in kinds of languages, like “你” and “您” in Chinese. E. Goffman poses the question of face from the sociological view of point in the early 1950s. In his opinion, communications between people do involve face work all the time. Face is one of human behavior norms, infiltrating interpersonal interaction. On the one hand, human behavior is bound by face; on the other hand, people hope that others take consideration of their face. In order to do face work well, people need cooperation. After all, whether people lose their face or not depends on others. For the sake of their own face, they had better protect others? face. Therefore，people tend to downgrade themselves and elevate others. Otherwise, social interaction will become inconceivable. Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena written by Brown, P & Levinson is an article which is widely cited in the world. They investigate politeness phenomena in English, a kind of native language in Mexico and one native language in southern India. And they discover politeness phenomena in language usage are extremely close and regard it as a common phenomenon. The idea of face is used on by Brown, P & Levinson and is developed into two types of face: one is positive face which desires to win others? compliment on personality, profession, hobby, dress and so on; another one is negative face which protects people from personal attack, injury to freedom of action, etc. Hence, politeness behavior also falls into two types: positive politeness satisfying requirements of positive face and negative politeness meeting ones of negative face. Besides, Brown, P & Levinson think that avoiding calling a spade a spade is also a kind of politeness behavior. Namely, people use vague words not to reach others? face and make listeners themselves judge messages. Based on these research findings, British linguist Geoffrey N. Leech puts forwards his Politeness Principle Speech act theory, the first major theory in the study of language in use, originates with the Oxford philosopher John Langshaw Austin who first distinguishes performatives and constatives and offered a theory of Illocutionary Act in 1950s, and afterwards was improved by American philosopher Searle whose major contribution is the discovery of indirect speech act. Nowadays, it has become a philosophical theory and pragmatic theory that is well accepted. American linguistic philosopher H. P. Grice advances that both sides have to adhere to the Cooperative Principle in order to ensure the smooth progress of the conversation. In the meantime, when one side goes against the Cooperative Principle, the other one will spare no effort to seek the Conversational Implication. However, Leech believes that these theories can not explain all phenomena occurring in the application of language. For this reason, he presents his idea which can account for linguistic phenomena that Austin?s and Searle?s speech act theory and Grice?s Cooperative Principle cannot explain. Speech act theory has been criticized more by Leech for it is difficult to define the type of speech act which does no good to pragmatic analysis. He considers speech act is a constantly evolving and ongoing variable, depending on other factors besides language factors. Concerning the Cooperative Principle, Leech thinks it just can restrain what people say in communication and how to comprehend each other?s conversational implication, whereas it cannot fully explain the reason why people do not say directly what they mean. Leech (1983: 80) regards politeness as crucial in accounting for “why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean”. He thus poses the Politeness Principle so as to “rescue the CP” in the sense that politeness can satisfactorily explain exceptions to and apparent deviations from the CP. Hence, his Politeness Principle is not just an addition to Grice?s CP, but a necessary complement needed for cases where the CP fails to offer a reasonable explanation. Here are two examples Leech uses to state that the Politeness Principle is necessary for the CP. On the base of these observations, Leech proposes six maxims of the Politeness Principle which runs as follows: Minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs and maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs. The six maxims of the PP: Maxim of Tact (ⅰ) Minimize cost to other (ⅱ) Maximize benefit to other Maxim of Generosity (ⅰ) Minimize benefit to self (ⅱ) Maximize cost to self Maxim of Approbation (ⅰ) Minimize dispraise of other (ⅱ) Maximize praise of other Maxim of Modesty (ⅰ) Minimize praise of self (ⅱ) Maximize dispraise of self Maxim of Agreement (ⅰ) Minimize disagreement between self and other (ⅱ) Maximize agreement between self and other Maxim of Sympathy (ⅰ) Minimize antipathy between self and other (ⅱ) Maximize sympathy between self and other

本科生毕业论文

题目：Leech礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用

姓 名：XXXX 班 级：XXXX级1班 指导老师：XX 专 业：英语教育 院 系：XXX学院英语系

完成日期：2013年5月8日

The Application of Leech’s Politeness Principle to

Teacher Talk in College English Classroom

BY

XXX

Prof. XX, Tutor

A Thesis Submitted to Department of English Language and Literature in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the

Degree of B.A in English At XXXXUniversity

May 8th, 2013

Abstract

Politeness embodies human civilization, acting as one behavioral criterion of moral significance to maintain the harmonious personal relationships. Leech?s Politeness Principle, an essential topic in pragmatic, is greatly meaningful in people?s daily communication. It is also needed in college English class in which teacher talk plays a vitally important role. Many scholars have done a great deal of researches on the Politeness Principle or Teacher Talk in different fields, but few of them incorporate the Politeness Principle with college English teacher talk. Therefore, with a theory basis of the Politeness Principle, this thesis probes into the application of it to college English teacher talk. Leech?s Politeness Principle, put forward on the basis of Brown &Levinson?s Face Theory, includes six maxims, maxim of tact, maxim of generosity, maxim of approbation, maxim of modesty, maxim of agreement and maxim of sympathy. And teacher talk is defined as the language used by teachers to instruct English knowledge, organize classroom activities and give feedback to students? performance in the classroom. The author makes use of the Politeness Principle to analyze teacher talk in college English classroom from the perspectives of these maxims. Through this study, the author draws a conclusion: In college English class, proper and reasonable application of Leech?s Politeness Principle to teacher talk benefits teacher-student interaction, helping them establish good relationship and improve the students' learning efficiency.

Key words: Leech?s Politeness Principle teacher talk

college English classroom

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摘 要

作为一个具有道德意义的行为准则，礼貌不仅维持和谐的人际关系，而且承载了人类文明。Leech的礼貌原则是语用学中一个热点话题，在人们日常生活中有着重大的意义。在大学英语课堂中，教师话语发挥着非常大的作用，而礼貌原则也必不可少。很多学者从不同领域对礼貌原则与教师话语做了大量研究，但是很少有人将二者结合。因此，本论文以礼貌原则为理论基础探讨了礼貌原则在大学英语教师话语中的应用。在Brown &Levinson的面子理论的基础上并由Leech提出的礼貌原则包含六条细则，分别是得体准则、慷慨准则、赞扬准则、谦虚准则、一致准则与同情准则。而教师话语在本论文中被定义为教师们用来进行教授英语知识，组织课堂活动并对学生表现给予反馈的语言。作者运用礼貌原则分别从六个准则的角度分析了大学英语教师话语。通过研究，作者得出了一个结论：在大学英语课堂，礼貌原则在教师话语中恰当得体的运用有助于师生互动，帮助他们建立良好的师生关系，并提高可以提高学生的学习效率。

关键词: Leech的礼貌原则 教师话语 大学英语课堂

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ······································································································· 1

1.1 Background of The Study ················································································· 1

1.2 Significance and Purpose of the Study ····························································· 2 1.3 Overall Structure of the Thesis ········································································· 3

2. Literature Review ···························································································· 5

2.1 Teacher Talk ······································································································ 5

2.1.1 Definitions of Teacher Talk ····································································· 5 2.1.2 Types and Functions of Teacher Talk ······················································ 6 2.2 The Politeness Principle ···················································································· 6

2.2.1 The Premise of Politeness Principle ························································ 7 2.2.2 Leech?s Politeness Principle ··································································· 8 2.2.3 Leech?s Politeness Principle in teacher talk ·········································· 12

3. Representations of Leech’s Six Maxims in College Teacher Talk ···························································································································· 13

3.1 Maxim of Tact-Generosity in College Teacher Talk ······································· 13 3.2 Maxim of Approbation-Modesty in College Teacher Talk ····························· 16 3.3 Maxim of Agreement in College Teacher Talk ··············································· 18 3.4 Maxim of Sympathy in College Teacher Talk ················································ 20

4. Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk ············· 22

4.1 Features of Leech?s Politeness Principle in College Teacher Talk·················· 22 4.2 Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk ·································· 23

5. Conclusion ········································································································· 25

5.1 Major Findings ································································································ 25 5.2 Pedagogical Implications ················································································ 26 5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research ········································· 27

Bibliography ········································································································· 29

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1. Introduction

The introduction part includes the background of this study, the significance and purpose of this study, and the overall structure of the thesis. Generally, it tells why the author writes this thesis. 1.1 Background of the Study

English classroom instruction has been a significant issue in the field of language teaching research in western countries since 1980s. Roughly speaking, teachers? teaching and students? learning comprise classroom instruction. Teacher talk, the speech teachers use in classroom to carry out their teaching plans and manage their class, is believed to be the key element in successful English teaching. Nunan (1991:189) maintains that “teacher talk is of crucial importance, not only for the organization of the classroom, but also for the processes of second language acquisition. It is important for the organization and management of the classroom because it is through speech that teachers either succeed or fail to implement their teaching plans. In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input the leaner is likely to receive.”

Teacher talk studies in China began in the late 1990s. Research outcomes become richer and richer year by year. Their studies? orientations change from one-way, teacher talk alone, to two-way, interaction between teachers and students. Zhou Xing and Zhou Yun(2002), are two representative researchers. Comparatively speaking, Their study(2002)tends to be typical and comprehensive, which can be seen from the fact that their study is often quoted by other researchers of the same kind. No matter how different the research aspects of teacher talk are, these researches come to the same understanding. Namely, appropriate teacher talk could create good atmosphere and in the meantime promotes a more friendly relationship between teachers and students. Therefore, teacher talk, which not only determines how well

1

teachers make their lectures, but also guarantees how well students will learn, is very critical in English language teaching.

In China, the main place where students could get in touch with English and learn it is English classroom. This paper focuses on the teachers? politeness in English class, in which both the teacher and learners are Chinese with Chinese culture. Though classroom activities are of pedagogical function, at the same time it is communicative. Classroom itself is a kind of social place where teachers and students build social relations throughout teaching course. In class, teachers need to think how to effectively communicate with students and how to make the atmosphere harmonious and other problems. And in fact, there exist several problems in teacher talk used in college English teaching. Firstly, misunderstanding in teacher thought. For along time, many English teachers attach importance to researches of teaching methodologies and contents, ignoring the importance and the quality of their teacher talk. Secondly, teachers use language more blindly and at will. Most teachers are incompetent to control their own teacher talk. That means teachers must pay close attention to teacher talk. At this moment, politeness is a major issue in teacher talk and Leech?s Politeness Principle becomes the key pragmatic analysis tool in this study. 1.2 Significance and Purpose of the Study

In China, due to lack of English-speaking environment outside classroom, teacher talk in English classroom instruction is considered as a kind of model language and the main source of input for nearly all students in college. To some degree, students? successful acquisition results from proper and reasonable teacher talk in classroom instruction.

Leech?s Politeness Principle is hypothesized to be a major variable that affects students? English language acquisition. It is with politeness that teacher talk creates a better learning environment for students, hence improving teaching effect and subtly cultivating students? consciousness of politeness. In another way students are able to learn how to communicate with each other effectively and appropriately. Therefore,

2

Leech?s Politeness Principle is of vital importance to teacher talk, then to teacher-student interaction.

Teacher talk is very important not only for teachers? classroom organization but also for students? language learning, and the Politeness Principle can promote the learning process of English students. If teacher talk and the Politeness Principle could be integrated perfectly in English classroom, classroom teaching is sure to achieve success. Therefore, it is important to observe how teacher talk and Leech?s Politeness Principle work together and play their role in the English classroom for the better outcomes of English classroom teaching and learning, and this thesis tries to solve the problem. This study attempts to give a full explanation to support the application of Leech?s Politeness Principle to teacher talk. What?s more, the study can inspire teachers to reconsider their ways of teaching so as to find out a best way of activating classroom atmosphere, establishing good teacher-student relationship and improving the students' learning efficiency through suitable teacher talk with Leech?s Politeness Principle.

The author conducts this study based on the following facts. Firstly, most college students of today are impressionable, especially when in class where they tend to protect themselves with silence. Therefore suitable politeness can bring about effective teacher talk, and appropriate teacher talk can protect students? self-respect and build a good teacher-student relation, thus benefit their English learning. Secondly, most of the former related researchers deal with teacher talk and politeness, but some neglect specific group of teacher talk, or talk about politeness in college English class broadly. College English is more difficult than that students have learned before, and it is not easy for them to accept new knowledge, even to get what teacher say. Based on the above facts, the author intends to do a study on Leech?s Politeness Principle in college teacher talk.

1.3 Overall Structure of the Thesis

The thesis is composed of five parts.

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Chapter one is the introduction part which includes background of this study, significance and purpose of this study, and overall structure of the thesis.

Chapter two is the literature review on teacher talk and Leech?s Politeness Principle. Firstly it reviews some previous studies on teacher talk and the Politeness Principle. Then it talks about Leech?s Politeness Principle in teacher talk.

Chapter three analyzes several typical cases on the basis of maxims of the Politeness Principle.

Chapter four summarizes features of the Politeness Principle in college teacher talk and introduces some politeness strategies for teacher talk.

Chapter five draws a conclusion of this study, lists the limitations of this study, and provides some pedagogical suggestions for future research.

4

2. Literature Review

In the part, firstly it reviews some previous studies on teacher talk, especially different definitions and types and functions of teacher talk. Secondly, it reviews some previous studies on the Politeness Principle which presents the premise and origin of the Politeness Principle, and its maxims. Lastly, it talks about Leech?s Politeness Principle in teacher talk. 2.1 Teacher Talk

Previous studies on teacher talk from both home and abroad roughly include the following aspects: amount of teacher talk, teachers? questions, teachers? feedback, and interactional modification. In this study, it is what is teacher talk and what it is used for that should be understood. 2.1.1 Definitions of Teacher Talk

Based on the former researches, it can be found that different definitions of teacher talk have been reached from different perspectives at home and abroad. One definition goes that teacher talk is the language in the classroom that takes up a major part of class time used to give classroom directions, explain classroom activities and check students? understanding (Sinclair & Brazil, 1982). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (Richards, 1992) describes teacher talk as “that variety of language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching. In trying to communicate with students, teachers often simplify their speech giving it many of the characteristics of the Foreigner Talk and other simplified styles of speech addressed to language learners”. In Ellis? opinion, teachers “make adjustments to both language form and language function in order to facilitate communication. These adjustments are referred to as ?teacher talk?” (Ellis 1994:726) To be more specific, Song Deyun & Pan Longming (2000) define English teacher talk as follows: English teacher talk includes classroom English, instruction English,

5

teacher-student interaction and teacher feedback English which is employed to instruct English knowledge, communicate and organize classroom activities. 2.1.2 Types and Functions of Teacher Talk

Generally speaking, teacher talk can be divided into two kinds, language of organizing teaching and language of imparting information. When teachers organize, supervise and guide classroom activities, they make full use of the first kind which includes opening remarks, classroom questions, feedbacks, summaries and so on. On the other hand, the second one refers to the language used when teachers impart knowledge.

As to its functions, there are two during the course of organizing teaching and acquiring language, offering two premises for students to acquire the second language. The primary function of teacher talk is to provide adequate comprehensive input for students. It is well-known that, for most English learners in China, English classroom probably is the main, even the only place to have regular contact with English and use it, especially for those who live in a remote area. Another important function teacher talk has to fulfill is to guide and organize students to join in classroom activities and take good advantage of the classroom and to provide students opportunities to utter comprehensible output.

The author reads these definitions for reference and ultimately summarizes the definition of English teacher talk in this thesis as follows: English teacher talk is of great significance in English learning classroom. It is the language used by teachers to instruct English knowledge, organize classroom activities and give feedback to students? performance in the classroom. The definition may not satisfy all researchers? concern but it covers what teachers say in the English classroom in a broad sense, which will exert a great effect on the study. 2.2 The Politeness Principle

Politeness seems to be a prevalent concept and an important element in human

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interaction. According to Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (1996), politeness is an “umbrella term for a combination of interpersonal considerations and linguistic choices affecting the form and function of linguistic interactions”. In different cultures and different contexts, politeness refers to quite different things. It is common knowledge that every culture has its own customs and expectation, including the politeness involved in daily life. Different culture expects different behavior to meet their politeness system. That is to say, people should observe the politeness principle in communication.

2.2.1 The Premise of Politeness Principle

Leech?s Politeness Principle is not an entirely new notion since E. Goffman, P. Brown, S. Levinson and others had discussed politeness phenomena before him in the application of language, such as address forms in kinds of languages, like “你” and “您” in Chinese.

E. Goffman poses the question of face from the sociological view of point in the early 1950s. In his opinion, communications between people do involve face work all the time. Face is one of human behavior norms, infiltrating interpersonal interaction. On the one hand, human behavior is bound by face; on the other hand, people hope that others take consideration of their face. In order to do face work well, people need cooperation. After all, whether people lose their face or not depends on others. For the sake of their own face, they had better protect others? face. Therefore，people tend to downgrade themselves and elevate others. Otherwise, social interaction will become inconceivable.

Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena written by Brown, P & Levinson is an article which is widely cited in the world. They investigate politeness phenomena in English, a kind of native language in Mexico and one native language in southern India. And they discover politeness phenomena in language usage are extremely close and regard it as a common phenomenon. The idea of face is used on by Brown, P & Levinson and is developed into two types of face: one is positive face

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which desires to win others? compliment on personality, profession, hobby, dress and so on; another one is negative face which protects people from personal attack, injury to freedom of action, etc. Hence, politeness behavior also falls into two types: positive politeness satisfying requirements of positive face and negative politeness meeting ones of negative face. Among these four following sentences, sentence (a) and (b) are positive politeness, while (c) and (d) are negative politeness.

Example 1

(1) What a nice dress you?ve got. (2) I know you are a kind boy.

(3) I hate to trouble you, but would you please open the door? (4) Would you forgive me if I close the window?

Besides, Brown, P & Levinson think that avoiding calling a spade a spade is also a kind of politeness behavior. Namely, people use vague words not to reach others? face and make listeners themselves judge messages. Based on these research findings,

British linguist Geoffrey N. Leech puts forwards his Politeness Principle.

2.2.2 Leech’s Politeness Principle

Speech act theory, the first major theory in the study of language in use, originates with the Oxford philosopher John Langshaw Austin who first distinguishes performatives and constatives and offered a theory of Illocutionary Act in 1950s, and afterwards was improved by American philosopher Searle whose major contribution is the discovery of indirect speech act. Nowadays, it has become a philosophical theory and pragmatic theory that is well accepted.

American linguistic philosopher H. P. Grice advances that both sides have to adhere to the Cooperative Principle in order to ensure the smooth progress of the conversation. In the meantime, when one side goes against the Cooperative Principle, the other one will spare no effort to seek the Conversational Implication. However,

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Leech believes that these theories can not explain all phenomena occurring in the application of language. For this reason, he presents his idea which can account for linguistic phenomena that Austin?s and Searle?s speech act theory and Grice?s Cooperative Principle cannot explain.

Speech act theory has been criticized more by Leech for it is difficult to define the type of speech act which does no good to pragmatic analysis. He considers speech act is a constantly evolving and ongoing variable, depending on other factors besides language factors. It is unreliable to divide speech acts in accordance with action verbs. Just as the bounds between mountain and hill, river and stream, and old and young are obscure, action words are also divided arbitrarily, such as order and request, request and suggestion. An obvious example can interpret this case: Why don?t you try again? It can be regarded as persuasion, an order or a suggestion.

In Leech?s mind, four elements have to be considered to make sure some act speech theory is an order, request, or a help. Firstly, be sure of who benefits from the speech act. “Return these books for me” benefits the speaker not the listener, so it is an order. But “Have another pie” do good to the listener. Although it is an imperative sentence, it has nothing to do with a command; secondly, be sure of choices the listener is given. “Return these books for me.” leaves the listener little choice while “Could you return these books for me by any chance?” passes on a possibility of refusal to the listener. Thirdly, be sure of the degree of indirectness. In some case, “These books are due, but I have no time to return them.” expresses an indirect request. Lastly, be sure of the degree of politeness. It is the result of the above three elements: more favorable, more polite; more indirect, more polite; more choices, more polite.

Concerning the Cooperative Principle, Leech thinks it just can restrain what people say in communication and how to comprehend each other?s conversational implication, whereas it cannot fully explain the reason why people do not say directly what they mean. Leech (1983: 80) regards politeness as significant in accounting for “why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean”. He thus poses the Politeness Principle so as to “rescue the Cooperative Principle” in the sense that

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politeness can satisfactorily explain exceptions to and apparent deviations from the Cooperative Principle. Hence, his Politeness Principle is not just an addition to Grice?s Cooperative Principle, but a necessary complement needed for cases where the Cooperative Principle fails to offer a reasonable explanation. Here are two examples Leech uses to state that the Politeness Principle is necessary for the Cooperative Principle.

Example 2

A: We?ll all miss Bill and Agatha, won?t we? B: Well, we?ll all miss BILL. Example 3

P: Someone?s eaten the icing off the cake. C: It wasn?t ME.

(Leech, 1983:80)

In example 2, B answers the half of A?s question which obviously violate the maxim of quantity. B?s implication is “We won?t miss Agatha”. How to get this meaning? Clearly, this does not only depend on the Cooperative Principle, or B could continue “…but not Agatha”, which completely meets the Cooperative Principle. But that will be rude of Agatha. So B goes against the Cooperative Principle in favor of the Politeness Principle.

Example 3 is a dialogue between a parent and a child. P does not blame C directly and C?s defense seems violate the maxim of manner. P does not know who has eaten the icing on the cake, but is skeptical of C. Out of politeness, P does not blame C directly; what P says meets the maxim of quality but goes against the maxim of quantity. C grasps P?s indirect criticism and thus declares he or she does not eat. It can be seen C?s words appear to violate the maxim of relation for he or she answers P?s implication, which results from the Politeness Principle. (Leech, 1983:81)

On the base of these observations, Leech proposes six maxims of the Politeness Principle which runs as follows:

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Minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs and maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs.

The six maxims of the Politeness Principle: Maxim of Tact

(ⅰ) Minimize cost to other (ⅱ) Maximize benefit to other Maxim of Generosity

(ⅰ) Minimize benefit to self (ⅱ) Maximize cost to self Maxim of Approbation

(ⅰ) Minimize dispraise of other (ⅱ) Maximize praise of other Maxim of Modesty

(ⅰ) Minimize praise of self (ⅱ) Maximize dispraise of self Maxim of Agreement

(ⅰ) Minimize disagreement between self and other (ⅱ) Maximize agreement between self and other Maxim of Sympathy

(ⅰ) Minimize antipathy between self and other (ⅱ) Maximize sympathy between self and other

From these maxims, it can be found that these six maxims emphasize different parts of words. Maxims of tact and generosity, maxims of approbation and modesty to are two-way things. Namely, maxim of tact to others means maxim of generosity to self; maxim of approbation to others means maxim of modesty to self. Yet the maxims of agreement and sympathy are unidirectional. The focus of the Politeness Principle is someone else not oneself, Therefore, in the thesis, the author tends to take advantage of Leech?s Politeness Principle to analyze teacher talk in college English classroom from the perspectives of six maxims of the Politeness Principle.

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2.2.3 Leech’s Politeness Principle in Teacher Talk

Studies in language classrooms have shown that politeness affects teacher talk. The reason why Leech?s Politeness Principle has been the focus of plenty of studies on teacher talk is that researchers need to indicate the role that the Politeness Principle plays in the teacher talk. Politeness actually serves as an important strategy for teachers to carry out teaching plans.

Among the various teacher talk researches, politeness has always been a central topic. Leech?s Politeness Principle, an influential pragmatic theory, helps teachers and students establish equal positions and new relation. It is important for teacher talk because it makes what teachers say easy to accept and comprehend. As the impact of teacher talk has been attracting more and more attention, the Politeness Principle in teacher talk gradually draw more attention.

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3. Representations of Leech’s Six Maxims in Teacher Talk

In the previous chapter, theories of linguistic politeness based on Brown & Levinson and Leech together with speech act theory and cooperative principle have been reviewed. In this paper, the author puts emphasis on Leech?s Politeness Principle to analyze the teacher talk corpus collected in English classroom. It is well-known that there are some kinds of phenomena of politeness and its applications, which maintain or change interpersonal relationship in communication. It is well acknowledged China is a state of etiquette and politeness is a traditional virtue. College students at puberty have strong pride and self-awareness, which means they are eager for acceptance and appreciation from other people. That is to say, to some extent, whether relations between teachers and students are friendly does have an influence on quality of education. In this chapter, the author will analyze the chosen corpus of teacher talk in college English classroom teaching from the perspective of maxims of Leech?s Politeness Principle.

3.1 Maxim of Tact-Generosity in College Teacher Talk

It is clear that maxim of tact and maxim of generosity belong to two aspects of a matter. Maxim of tact requires minimization of cost to other while maxim of generosity requires minimization of benefit to self. The former is about how to treat others, suitable for asking or ordering others to do some speech action. The latter is about how to treat self, applied to promise to help others. So in this thesis, the author combines them together, and calls them maxim of tact-generosity. It is the most widely used and fundamental maxim among these maxims. The essence of tact-generosity is to benefit listeners. It provides successful communications with theoretical direction .Teachers are always dominant in college English classroom teaching while students are in a passive position. When students take part in classroom activities, they are likely to feel nervous and timorous. So teachers should place students in the core of classroom which could make them benefit more from

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teacher-student communication, help them overcome mental blocks, and stimulate their interest in learning English, and thereby enhance their confidence. Besides, this lowers teachers? dominant status in communication, and centers on students, which help teachers achieve teaching goals. So teachers adopt tact-generosity so as to make their words as suitable as possible. In this way, it not only enhances students? self-confidence and interest in learning English but also narrows the gap between teachers and students. For example, when teachers hope to seek students to answer some question, they may ask questions like these:

Example 4

(1) Would you please to tell me why…? (2) Could you try to answer it please? (3) Let?s do the exercise together. (4) Tell us your answer.

Sentences (1)(2)(3) is so common in English classroom that people ignore the politeness existing in them. But people know whether students? answer is correct or not, the teacher ought to encourage them to stand up and express themselves bravely instead of directly saying (4) which indicates kind of rudeness of the teacher.

In classroom interaction, there are always some students who are very passive and silent. Three reasons could account for this phenomenon: First, the question is quite difficult for them; second, the question is too fuzzy for them; third, they themselves lack of confidence. So tact of maxim plays its role in teacher talk. Teachers prefer to say “Would you please have a try? I?m certain you?ll make it. Anything would be good”. The saying saves students? face from danger and puts forwards teaching expectations.

These gentle words or imperative tones are easily accepted by students and they feel respected by teachers. The application of maxim of tact to teacher talk narrows down the distance between teachers and students. When teachers pose questions with more politeness, students would like to attend classroom activities more zealously.

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Tactful teacher talk exerts direct influence on learners? interest in learning English and practice effect. The following examples will interpret clearly and fully functions of maxim of tact-generosity to teacher talk.

Teacher directives are referred as teacher talk used to carry out teaching plans and ask students to do something. According to its definition, directive speech is kind of mandatory which requires students to do as it says. But in college English classroom, teachers should advocate maxim of tact, and take good advantage of negotiation tone to keep out greatest freedom for students, which could be well clarified by the following example.

At the end of an English class, the teacher asks students to choose their partners and work for a presentation of any topic for next class. His words are like this, “I would like you to do a presentation next week.” and “You can find your partners to finish your teamwork, and send a teammate to choose your topic”. Liu Senlin(2007:157) notes maxim of tact fits for order. It can afford several choices to soften the degree of force. With this maxim, teacher talk needs to avoid or soften the degree of force, so the teacher allows students to select their teammates, maximizing their options which reflects teachers? respect and understanding for them. On the contrary, if the teacher says like this, “You, you and he, you are the first group”, “You are the last group” and “Your topic is…”, students will lose their options, especially these students who are more eager for autonomy, independence and equality. The directive words go against their desire for their choice of partners, even threaten their face. In real English class, teachers have to take these factors into consideration, do the best to avoid orders and seek for polite speech, which will encourage students take part in activities and arouse their learning initiative.

Maxim of generosity takes a part in classroom questioning which is essential in classroom. A good question can stimulate students? curiosity and cause their thinking. In order to get knowledge of whether students understand what they instruct, most teachers will ask sentences as following:

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Example 5

(1) Do you understand? (2) Can you follow me?

Although it is out of teachers? care for students, this kind of questioning aggravates students? anxiety. In their mind, if they do not understand what teachers say, students should be responsible for themselves which hurts their face and hampers their communication with teachers. Instead, more and more teachers would like to use “Have I made myself clear?” or “Are you satisfied with my answer?”. By this, teachers place themselves in object and make students become subject, which adequately embodies the maxim of generosity.

The success of a college English class depends on teacher-student?s cooperation and coordination that are determined by teachers? encouragement. The more successful questions are as following:

Example 6

(1) Who would be the volunteers?

(2) XX，will you please share with us your opinion? (3) I would like to ask a gentleman here, what?s your idea?

（Zhang Na：2010）

In addition, the time it takes teachers to wait for students? answer could also reflect maxim of generosity. Teachers should allow the silence period, and be tolerant of it, which smoothes students? tension. So when a student is too nervous to answer a question, the teacher with other classmates, may wait a moment. Once the student cannot make it, teachers ought to give some hints.

3.2 Maxim of Approbation-Modesty in College Teacher Talk

Maxim of approbation and maxim of modest are the best strategies to build good

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interest in learning and cognitive reaction and retain autonomic motivation of learning. They respectively demand more “praise of other” and more “dispraise of self”. The nature of them is to find more merits of others and more demerits of self. Just as maxim of tact and maxim of generosity, these two maxims are two aspects of a thing. So the author calls them maxim of approbation-modesty. Teachers should apply the maxim of approbation-modesty to the progress of college English teaching. The current idea of recognition education is exactly based on maxim of approbation-modesty. Nowadays college students have strong sense of self-respect and self-awareness. Generally speaking, as students, they long for approving and praising from teachers. That is to say, teachers had better praise their strong points and let them be more confident in different aspects. Teachers must avoid any devaluation that maybe cast a shadow in their life by all means. What?s more, it is known that teachers? reputation and authority are built up not by brag and boast, but genuine talent, sturdy knowledge and convincing morals. However, a few teachers like boasting of learning to highlight themselves in front of students which will cause antipathy. Therefore, in college English class teaching, teachers should observe modesty maxim to establish harmonious relationship between teachers and students for high teaching quality.

An ancient Greek philosopher said, it is more likely successful to make good use of motivated and persuasive words than legal restraint to train one?s morals. Obviously, the function of praise is great. The following example is typical for maxim of approbation. In two college English classes, faced with the same situation, two teachers adopt different teacher talk. After two poor students make their free talks which is used to practice oral English and capability of communication, teachers? comment are like this:

Example 7

(1) Your oral English is not good. You should practice more.

(2) Your speech gives us a particular aspect and shows your talent. You?ve

done a good job. I hope you can make greater progress next time.

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(Zeng Yan：2010)

It is evident that (2) is better than (1). (1) is plain and harmful to the student?s enthusiasm, while (2) not only discusses the student?s speech to the full, but also gives him a fair praise that encourages him to work harder. For students, reasonable approbation is beneficial; for teachers, right approbation promotes teacher-student?s emotion and facilitates college English teaching.

As a saying goes, teaching others teaches oneself. Teachers also benefit from the teaching progress. Thereby teacher talk demonstrates teachers? attitude toward education and maxim of modesty in teacher talk reveals their characters. For instance, when a student makes a mistake because of misunderstanding what he learned, the teacher may say, “Well, maybe I didn?t make my point clear” or “Perhaps I forget to emphasize this point”. In this way, the teacher lowers the position but saves the student?s face. Sometimes teachers are asked questions that they can not give answers immediately for they do not know or answers are ambiguous. They had better say as follows:

“I?m sorry, but I can?t give you an exactly correct answer now. Please give me some time to check other books for the answer.”

Teachers with solid knowledge are appreciated, and teachers who are honest and modest, and admit their shortcoming bravely are respectable. To conform to maxim of modesty is to guarantee the smooth class teaching and to set an example for students. 3.3 Maxim of Agreement in College Teacher Talk

Maxim of agreement tries to minimize disagreement between self and other and maximize agreement. In college English classroom teaching, it means that teachers should pay attention to teacher talk as well as their and students? positions and try the best to minimizing the difference between teachers and students, in order to narrow down the gap between teachers and students and reach a harmonious situation. Liu Senlin(2007: 162) points out that agreement maxim is an effective pragmatic strategy

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making use of the exaggeration of common points existing between self and other, and through expressing pity or partial agreement reduce disagreement. Just as Shakespeare said “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people?s eyes”, different students have different ideas upon the same matter. During the college English teaching process, divergences between teachers and students are inevitable. When divergences appear, applying agreement maxim will be a wise choice. Teachers use it properly and lead students to seek common points while reserving difference so as to make sure effective communication and make the class stable. After students express their own opinions, teachers should not deny them just because the answers are not the one in reference books, but respect their face. Total negation will make students frustrated, even lose confidence.

College oral English class is a better place for students to practice speaking English. There will be a topic to discuss in the class and every student could have different ideas. The teacher should encourage them to stand up bravely and listen to what they say with patience. What the teacher definitely can not do is to look upon his or her thought as the only right one. Here are three responses from three different teachers. Let?s see how different they are.

Example 8

(1) Er, your answer is not the one I want, please sit down and think it twice. (2) I agree with parts of your explanation, but for the rest parts, I consider

them from another aspect. I would like to share with you that …

(3) It makes sense, but I think it?s better to understand from another aspect

because…What do you think of it?

(Lu Xiao：2011)

It can be seen that (2)(3) are easy to accept for students than(1). (1) is just a simple response and indicates the teacher is not satisfied with the student?s answer, which may make the student feel depressed. However, with (2)(3), teachers try to find something in common, which protect students? pride and their innovation ability.

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Besides, students feel being understood and they will be willing to think about teachers? advice for the further thought.

To some extent, teachers should be skillful with agreement maxim to control class teaching. For example, smart personal pronouns such as “let?s” or “we”, could make students feel that the teacher stands by them. In all, as college English teachers, they are responsible for building up a friendly environment for students to learn English.

3.4 Maxim of Sympathy in College Teacher Talk

Maxim of sympathy is to minimize antipathy but maximize sympathy between self and other. Its essence is to diminish antagonism between speakers and listeners. Speakers are expected to have less disgusting and sick words and show more sympathy for listeners. This asks college students to treat students equally without discrimination, and judge them with their scores. Even though teachers are not contented with some students, they can?t show their complaints. Besides, teachers should put themselves in students? position and know students? feelings, which lets students be aware of teachers? attitude towards them and gives them a sense of safety. Students know that their teacher are together with them and support them, and then they become more confident than they were before.

Sympathy maxim could find expression in the starting and the ending of an English lesson. Here the starting of a lesson is the prelude before a class. When a college English teacher starts a lesson, he or she will say “Good morning, class/boys and girls!” which implies that the teacher and students have access to a normal social environment. Usually, when in class after a holiday or a weekend, the teacher will ask “How was your weekend?” or “How did you spend the National Day holiday?” These words seem casual, but create an equal teaching circumstance and remove students? worry and anxiety. The two sentences keep to maxim of sympathy. With these greetings, the teacher abandons hierarchy, which reduces the distance with students, increases uniform in emotion and makes classroom atmosphere more lively and free.

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As it?s known, in China, a lot of college students, especially these students from countries just paid close attention to English words and grammars stiffly before they went to the college. Their oral English is pretty poor even they do not know how to express themselves in English. They are reluctant to associate with others. So teachers should make full use of sympathy to open their mouth. Just as a former Soviet Union educator used to say that compassion is sincere solicitude to people and the foundation of human happy feelings and this is the flesh and blood of education. Therefore, in college English class, teachers must avoid criticizing students rudely. Even they make some mistakes, teachers should spend more time thinking the reasons why they make mistakes, and give them more time to reflect on themselves.

For instance, in a college English debate class, students are asked to discuss a topic about family and career in English, but several students still use Chinese. The teacher has to remind them and ask with a smile, “Excuse me, what is the language that you are speaking?” The teacher does not tell students that they should speak in English directly. It is believed that when faced with the teacher?s smile, the students can understand the meaning and change their language. For another example, when some students? exam results are not good, teachers may comfort them with “Never mind, you can make it next time, I believe you”. By this way, they build a good rapport with students. Otherwise, blind criticism increases public antipathy.

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4. Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk

In the chapter, according to the application of six maxims to teacher talk, the author first summarizes features of Leech?s Politeness Principle in college teacher talk, and thus gives positive politeness strategies, negative politeness strategies and other strategies.

4.1 Features of Leech’s Politeness Principle in College Teacher Talk

A conclusion from Leech?s Politeness Principle in college English teacher talk could be drawn that the teacher always gives students? benefits a first priority, making students feel being respected and then reacts with favorable impression, to smooth the classroom communication. From what the chapter 3 discusses, it can be seen that maxims of Leech?s Politeness Principle have four features when applied to college English teacher talk. To begin with, teachers make much use of tactful teacher talk to meet students? wishes, so that students think their actions receive the teacher?s recognition and praise. In the second place, teachers? compliments improve the teacher-student relationship. In order to protect students? interest in learning English, teachers may show interest in or approval of their opinion or success. These approbatory words raise their self-respect and pride. Thirdly, to strengthen the equal status teachers try to regard themselves as one member of students, seek a united position to join in teaching activities. This makes students feel cordial and forms harmonious relation between teachers and students. Lastly but not least, when dealing with controlling speech act, it is better to use suggestions and modal verbs to moderate strong tones.

These features of maxims of the Politeness Principle do a great favor for teachers. College students in China are a special group. Although most of them are adults and have strong self-awareness and sense of independence, their thought is immature for not going out into the world. They are not willing to obey orders and not easy to supervise as pupils are. But not all of them are able to study autonomously and

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actively. On the other hand, English is the required course for college students and every student attaches importance to English but suffers from learning it. Facing such problems, college English teachers need to be prudent and select appreciate wording and tones so as to build up a lively classroom atmosphere and advance teaching quality. And the application of Leech?s Politeness Principle to teacher talk is vital. Politeness is a sign that teachers are on equal terms with students and motivates students to communicate willingly with other students and teachers in English. 4.2 Politeness Strategies for College English Teacher Talk

Although the application of the Politeness Principle is often treated as a strategy in college English, what people should remember is that the Politeness Principle is not the result of consciousness but the union of consciousness and unconsciousness. Several different factors contribute to the politeness. In some cases, for people it is just a strategy and part of face work; in other faces, it may be a choice after they make a judgment of the situation or context, or their habits or styles. The habitus (惯习)internalized by the long-term language interactions tell people, sometimes when using the politeness strategy they tend to make plans and arrangements in advance and imagine what emergency probably happens during the process and prepare corresponding measures.

For college English teachers, the first thing that should be made clear is that maxims of Leech?s Politeness Principle are abstracted and concluded from a great of practical experiences of many years, and summarizes combined action of consciousness and unconsciousness. Moreover, it is difficult to predict a lecture, and the lecture can not go on as teachers expect. Accident always happens. That is to say, teachers should adjust politeness strategies, and gradually develop a relatively fixed steady politeness strategy.

Applying Leech?s Politeness Principle to teacher talk in college English class is beneficial to the English learners? communicative competence. Teachers use different types of teacher talk to show different maxims of Leech?s Politeness Principle. Here

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the author integrates the six maxims with Brown, P & Levinson?s politeness principle and sums up some politeness strategies for teacher talk as followings.

Positive politeness strategies. They are oriented toward the positive self-image and emphasize the need for communication. The first politeness strategy is to claim common point with others. This conveys the idea that the teacher and students are connected by virtue of having something in common. The second one is to claim communication by virtue of the fact that the teacher and students are cooperators. Thus, the teacher may indicate awareness and concern for students? eagerness for positive face. A third and final strategy is simply to meet students? wants in some way, directly and adequately. So teachers employ positive politeness strategy to show their positive talk.

Negative politeness strategies. They are oriented mainly toward satisfying students? negative face that includes their basic wants to maintain claims of territory and self-independence. One most frequent negative politeness strategy is to be conventionally indirect which could be performed by questioning or asserting the felicity conditions underlying the act. A second strategy is to communicate explicitly what the teacher does not want to impinge on students. This could be accomplished by offering an apology. The last one is to lessen force and minimize the imposition.

Other politeness strategies. These strategies are the indirect that avoid making any explicit imposition on students. The defining feature is their ambiguity and hence deniability. Teachers go against a certain maxim of Cooperative Principle on purpose and cause students to learn some intention which is expressed indirectly. Teachers often used these strategies to save students? face in college English classroom. Through students? response to teacher talk, the implicit correction feedback, like the teacher? s response to a student?s answer “Well, you may be right, but I think we can answer from another aspect”, is one of teacher talk that students like best. It is because that this kind of implicit teacher talk indicates the student?s answer differs from what the teacher wants, saves the student?s face and in the meantime encourages all students to state freely their thought.

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5. Conclusion

Politeness is a universal phenomenon in communication. With the framework of Leech?s PP, this thesis tries to make a study of politeness in teacher talk in college English classroom teaching. Teacher talk with suitable politeness is believed to be very helpful for students? English learning, because right teacher talk can arouse students? English learning interest and increase students? English learning confidence with the help of adequate politeness. 5.1 Major Findings

Based on the analysis of the result of the present study, the general findings may be summarized as:

(1) There are different definitions of teacher talk, but roughly speaking, it refers the language used by teachers to instruct English knowledge, organize classroom activities and give feedback to students? performance in the classroom. Students in the English classroom, both the top ones and underachieving ones, all prefer teacher talk with politeness. They expect the active and relaxed learning environment and think polite teacher talk can save their face and encourage them to be confident in their performance. And teachers often make use of different maxims to achieve desirable teaching results.

(2) Most college teachers are aware of students? self-respect and sensibility, so they could apply politeness to teacher talk and hence to protect students? face. They have recognized the importance of non-conflict teaching context in the successful college English classroom teaching and employed proper maxims of the Politeness Principle to improve teaching effects in their teacher talk. However, they lack of the systematical theories of pragmatics and teacher talk, especially competence in applying pragmatic theories to teacher talk in English classroom teaching.

(3) The author seeks to explore how Leech?s Politeness Principle is applied by college teachers in their teacher talk. On the basis of the Politeness Principle, the

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author attempts to introduce six maxims of the Politeness Principle used by teachers in their teacher talk. In all, the Politeness Principle is of great importance for English class teaching. As well as the process of communication, English class teaching aims at instructing students in English knowledge and training their abilities to use English correctly and tactfully. During the instruction, appropriate teacher talk which observes the Politeness Principle should be used by teachers as a catalyst for harmonious atmosphere, and stimulation for activeness and for cultivating students? politeness awareness and communicative competence. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to obtain the PP and apply it to the teaching practice. 5.2 Pedagogical Implications

From above, it is known that Leech?s Politeness Principle plays an important role in college teacher talk. College English teachers should realize the significance of adjusting politeness to their teacher talk in their classes for most college students need more meaningful teacher talk to make their English acquisition possible. According to the results of the thesis, some suggestions for college English teachers will be given in the following part.

(1) Develop college teachers? theory knowledge on pragmatics

It is believed that English teachers not only master rich linguistic knowledge but also grasp pragmatic knowledge, and especially apply it to English teaching to make students understand English correctly and use it tactfully. Rightly applying the Politeness Principle in teacher talk helps enhance students? learning motivation. In addition, influenced by teachers, students tend to use politeness strategies in communication. It is obvious teachers should develop themselves and follow politeness theory in their teacher talk. Only in this way can the goal of raising communicative abilities be reached and could students do well in the cross-cultural communication.

(2) Focus on the use of appropriate politeness maxims

Teacher talk is very essential in college English classroom teaching and offers

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