Chapter 4 Analysis of case studies

In this part, the author intends to analyze some strategies taken by teachers both while and after giving class instructions。 Also it will discuss some ineffective instructions of the teachers。 

4。1 Strategies taken while giving classroom instructions

4。1。1 Phonetics strategies

It has been observed that in most cases, teachers adopt two phonetics strategies to achieve better class result, i。e。, speech rate and intonation。 When it comes to difficult points, teachers intend to slow down to make students grasp their meanings better。 For example, when teachers are illustrating a new word or making clear a difficult grammar, they will say the illustrations slowly so that every student can understand。 Otherwise some students who are poor at English may fall behind and lose their interest。 When it comes to intonation, teachers use it to indicate important points。 They may stress some words or increase their pitches so that students will be reminded of encountering a key point。 The following is an example in point。

Teacher: If I were (stressed) a boy, I would be much more interested in playing basketball。论文网

In the above case, the teacher is setting an example of using subjunctive mood , in which the form of verbs differs from the usual usage。 In order to call students' attention, the teacher deliberately stresses "were", and then it's easier for him to explain the usage。

4。1。2 Lexical strategies

Lexical strategies also are adopted by teachers。 Table 4。1。2 lists some most frequently used lexical expressions adopted by teachers。

Table 4。1。2

Lexical strategies Expressions Examples

    Imperative Sentences Let’s Let’s do a quick response。

Do Read after me。

Modal verbs You can find this in the passage。

Declarative Sentences We are going to 。。 We are going to learn a passage about Mid-Autumn festival。

It’s time It’s time for us to learn some new words and expressions。

I want/ hope/ would like I want you to make a summary of this passage。/I hope you all clap your hands, and sing with me。

I will/ would I will give you two minutes to go。

Interrogations Could you/ Can you 。。 Can you tell me what does it mean?

How do you How do you like this passage?

Who can Who can tell me where is the topic sentence of this passage?

This table illustrates many most frequently used phrases in the class, among which, “let’s ” has the highest frequency。 Teachers use this to guide the class and conduct their instructions step by step。 Compared with giving straight orders, such as “Read after me”, saying “let’s read it together” is more acceptable, because it is more like a proposal involved with teachers and students rather than an order given by teachers。 文献综述

Besides imperative sentences, declarative sentences are also used to give guidance by expressing teachers’ expectation, such as telling students what they should pay attention to。 It is also better to say “I want you to make a summary of this passage” than to say “Make a summary of this passage”, and it is also because the former one is like expressing one’s feeling while the latter one, giving an order。 By giving an order, a hierarchy of class exists, which indicates that teachers are superior to students。 However, by giving a proposal or expressing one’s expectation, students feel equal to teachers。 What’s more, interrogations are also used at a high rate to increase teachers and students interaction with each other and arouse students’ attention so that students can take a active part in the class。