The Functions of Teacher Talk

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2.5.1 The Functions of Teacher Talk

Teacher talk TT is the language produced by teachers addressed to learners in the course of classroom interaction. It serves at least two functions: pedagogical and communicative. As for the pedagogical function, TT is produced by teachers with the intention that learners will take it as a model by which they learn the language. Besides, it can also help them perceive and analyze the linguistic content of the speech, e.g. falling intonation showing the completion of a linguistic unit, superlative degree of comparison must be preceded by definite article “the”, and so forth. To serve the purpose of teaching a language, teachers as facilitators are usually very helpful to the learners. They provide them material assistance and mental support. First of all, teachers give sufficient input as a model to imitate and acquire. That is manifested in the form of the use of modeling. Then, when the learners begin to reproduce, and are engaged in the process of hypothesis testing Faerch Kasper, 1983:257, teachers provide them with reinforcement to confirm or feedback to reject their hypothesis. That is manifested in the form of using feedback. Hence, modeling and feedback seem to characterize the teacher‟s speech. For communicative purposes, on the other hand, TT is produced to establish and maintain the social relationship between teachers and learners. It might be used to draw and focus learners‟ attention, or to stimulate their responses towards a certain message, etc. 26 TT is used for pedagogical purposes, the focus is to teach the learners a language. When it is used for communicative purposes, the focus is on the establishment of social and psychological to enliven the classroom interaction. To prepare a conductive situation in which instructional process becomes effective. For any purposes TT is produced, anyway, it can promote and encourage language acquisition as far as it is meaningful and comprehensible. To achieve comprehensibility, furthermore, TT is usually modified and simplified to adjust to the current level of the learners‟ linguistic and conceptual capacity. Linguistic adjustments can be either formal or interactional; whereas conceptual adjustment is usually made by preserving the familiarity of topics and limiting the scope of the course contents.

2.5.2 Formal Modifications of Teacher Talk