3. Introduction 10

3.1Instruction words 10

3.1.1 High frequency language expressions to direct students 10

3.1.2 Expressions of Initiating Instructions 11

3.1.3 Giving instructions in the target language 12

4. Feedback 13

4.1 High frequency types of feedback 13

4.1.1Positive feedback 13

4.1.2 Negative feedback 14

4.2 Factors that contribute to ineffective instruction words and feedback 16

4.2.1 Problems of instruction English 16

5. Conclusion 17

5.1 Implications of the study 17

1． Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

In China, learning English as a required subject starts in the first grade, as opposed to starting in the third grade like a decade ago. Consequently, first graders start to learn English at the same time they commence learning Chinese literacy. The classroom is the major environment where these pupils are exposed to the target language, English. Therefore, teacher talk is a vital input source of the target language to English language learners. In recent years, there has been loads of research on the quality and effectiveness of teacher talk. In English classes, teacher talk can be pided into five parts——greetings, introductions, questioning, feedback and partings. Among these five parts, expressions of greeting, questioning and feedback are the most essential parts that teachers use in organizing classroom teaching content and the procedure of activities. Thus, clear and highly effective instructional language is an important component of teacher talk in elementary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Questions are a widely applied teaching skill. If properly used, questions are a good way to reach the teaching goal of an effective student-centered class. The feedback includes verbal feedback and nonverbal feedback. In primary school, English teachers complete classes through discourse which include the teacher’s initiation, the students’ response and the teacher’s follow-up. As an indispensable part of the class discourse, teacher feedback not only provides responses to learners’ answers, but also leads to greater classroom interaction and promotes oral competence in English. In this study, I will mainly focus on instruction words and teacher feedback, which are closely connected.

When we try to study the classroom discourse, we, in fact, want to figure out the communication system. In other words, teacher’s talk units both social and cognitive effectiveness. Meanwhile, it is vital to note that five parts of teacher talk is the functions of language, instead of the functions of separate utterance. 

1.2 Purpose of the study

This research studies the effectiveness of three parts of teacher talk——IRE: (teacher) introduction words, （student）response and (teacher) evaluation. Teacher talk in the EFL context, plays a particularly important role in fostering student English language acquisition, from engaging students, foster motivation, and encouraging student risk taking and active participation. Therefore, highly effective teacher talk can help build active learning environment as well as promote interactive use of the target language. Also, by observing teachers talk, we can find out the factors that can lead to teachers’ ineffective instructions and the measures can be taken by teachers of young learners to provide effective instruction.