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Abstract: This paper simply discusses the definition of context and the tactness. It puts forward some techniques for tact conversation in the context of English classroom teaching including the teacher’s performing an appropriate role in conversation, making appropriate conversational situations and enhancing the awareness of culture.
Key words: context; tact; English classroom teaching
Context and Tact Conversation in English Classroom Teaching
1. Introduction
Since conversation always happens in certain context, it is inevitable that contexts affect conversations. Besides, context is a very important element in English classroom teaching, and teachers and students interact frequently in various contexts in classroom. Therefore, teachers should pay attention to the appropriation of language in various contexts.
2. Context and tact conversation
As we all know, conversation occurs in a certain context, and the conversation doesn’t make any sense if it is studied separately from the specific context. It is necessary to know what context and tact conversation are and what their relationship is.
2.1 Definition of context
The basic notion of context was first referred by B. Malinowski in1923, a British anthropolist, in his supplement to Ogden and Richard’s opinions about meaning.
What is context then? In its narrow sense, context consists of the lexical items that come immediately before and after any word in an act of communication. Intuitively, everything may belong to a context which has influence on the interpretation of an utterance.
2.2 Explanation of tact conversation
Tact simply means the ability to do or to say the right thing at the right time or the skill in dealing with people. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines “tact” as being ready to avoid giving offence, or win good will; skill or judgment in dealing with negotiating difficult or dedicate situations: the faculty of saying or doing the right things at the right time.”Tact is also regarded as the highest rhetoric principle （Shi, 2004）. It refers to whether and to what extent language is suitable and effective in different situations.
3. Achieving tact conversation in English classroom teaching
Just as a proverb goes in Chinese “好話一句三冬暖” （A good word warms.）. We all konw the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle, they both serve to form a successful conversation and lead to form a good relationship between the participants of the utterance. So, the teacher should pay attention to the relationship between students, so that the classes can go on easily and smoothly. For example,the bell rings and the class begins, but Tom has been late for several minutes: Tom: May I come in?
Teacher: Sure.
Tom: I’m so sorry for my lateness, because I got up late but there are so many people are waiting to buy the breakfast…
Teacher: So, did you have your breakfast?
Tom: No. . . .
Teacher: That’s OK. You’d better get up earlier so that you can have enough time to have breakfast; it is so important for our health.
Tom: OK. Thank you very much.
In this situation, the teacher dose not show her anger to the student for his lateness. But we can also get some meaning of warning in the teacher’s utterance. Her answer actually contains the meaning that “You’d better get up earlier and so that you can come to the class earlier.”But she dose not express this meaning directly. In this way, the student may feel glad to accept the warning and aiso can feel the teacher’s concern. Then we can see that significance of tact conversation in English class. Of course, it may be applied to many other situations.
3.1 Some techniques for tact conversation in English classroom teaching
The class itself is a communicative spot. However, in English-teaching classroom,the relationship between them is not absolutely equal. Generally speaking, the teacher lies in a powerful place in the aspect of social position, the level of knowledge, authority and so on. But, for the sake of the effect of the teaching process, the teacher should try his /her best to maintain an equal and close relationship between him/her and the students.
3.1.1 The appropriate role of the teacher in conversation
Firstly, the teacher is the cooperator of the students and the teacher should stand in solidarity with the students. That is to say, the teacher should control his speech act in the class on the students’ part. For instance, the use of “we” and “us” is the best inflection. The teacher’s use of “we” or “us” can make him in harmony with the student’s. At the same time, the use of the first person is more polite than that of the second person. For example, if there is a task for the students to complete, the teacher’s use of “let’s…” will be better than the use of “you…”.
Secondly, the teacher is the leader in the class. In the language teaching, the teacher needs to guide and encourage the students to speak and to communicate with others. For example, before the class begins, the teacher may say “It’s a little colder today, OK ? Who’d like to talk about the weather today?”
Thirdly, the teacher is an encourager to the students and the teacher should tend to use more euphemisms. The teacher is not the coach to issue the order to students, but the cooperator to help students to learn. When the teacher wants someone to answer the question, he or she can say “Give me your answer”, or like: Would you like to give me your answer? /I think it’s your turn to answer the question..
When the students make some mistakes, the teacher should give them some encouragement as well, just as the following:
Don’t be nerverous. / Every makes mistakes. It dosen’t matter.
These expressions can make the students more confident but not be disappointed in his speech. A Chinese saying goes, “Failure is the mother of success”. The teacher shouldn’t dampen the students’ enthusiasm towards English learning but we should encourage them to make some progress in the process of correcting mistakes.
3.1.2 Making appropriate conversational situations
In classroom, effective communication seeks with fluency and acceptable language as the primary goal while accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in certain specific context.
First, the teacher can create an environment as natural as possible. The teacher should present language materials in given situations. For instance, the teacher can play some dialogues about making phone call. The setence “Hold on”in phone-call may have its special meaning,.However,when is ia used isolately,it may has another sense.
Secondly, learner-centered teaching should play an important part in the process of teaching especially in spoken-English teaching. The teacher should give the students more chances to express their ideas and to expose their problems in language application. In recent years, a discussion has been conducted on whether to continue traditional teaching approach—teacher-centered teaching or to apply students-centered teaching. More scholars and cases have proved that the latter is more effective and practical for English learning and teaching.
3.1.3 Awareness of culture
Just as the proverb goes, “when you are in Rome, do as the Roman do.” The first thing for the English learners to do is to become aware of the difference between Chinese and English cultures. Attention should be paid to the fact that Chinese or eastern culture is different from the western culture.
Firstly, language is a part of culture and culture is a part of language. Language plays a significant role in culture and it is shaped and influenced by culture. An apparent example is the different reactions towards others’ compliment in Chinese-speaking culture and English-speaking culture. For instance, when someone says “Your English is very good”, a Chinese may say “Don’t say that”; however, an English may response like “Thank you”. This phenomenon is caused by the different cultures. Secondly, culture plays an important role in the appropriateness and tact in cross-culture communication. Just as a proverb goes “one culture’s meat is another culture’s poison”. “Dragon” for example, in eastern culture, represents good luck, but in western culture, it is the symbol of cruelty. If ignoring this culture difference, we may cause some offence between people.
As for English teachers, they must consciously make the students realize that when they communicate with native English speakers, they must respect the ways English speakers express themselves. And students should know that they can’t say “Where are you going” or “Have you eaten?” to greet a native English speaker. The teacher must always make the students aware that they must have a strong sense that culture influences the way people communicate.
To sum up, communicative competence，not merely linguistic competence，with the awareness of context and cultural difference as the central points，is of vital importance to appropriate use of language and successful communication.
4. Conclusion
It is evident that the emphasis on context from the vista of linguistic insights produces great influence on foreign language teaching and learning, because a foreign language cannot be learned well in abstraction from its various contexts. So the study of tact and context should be combined with the English classroom teaching.
［Bibliography］
［1］Jef Verschueren, 2000. Understanding Pragmatics ［M］. Edward Arnold （Publishers） Limited.
［2］The Concise Oxford Dictionary ［Z］. 2001.北京：外語教学与研究出版社
［3］黄俊. 2010. 课堂教学语言运用要得体 ［J］. 教学与管理. 2010 （26）
［4］史秀菊. 2004. 语境与言语得体性研究 ［M］. 语文出版社
［5］钟首民. 2009. 论课堂幽默教学语言的特性 ［J］. 吉林省教育学院学报, 2009 （08）
Key words: context; tact; English classroom teaching
Context and Tact Conversation in English Classroom Teaching
1. Introduction
Since conversation always happens in certain context, it is inevitable that contexts affect conversations. Besides, context is a very important element in English classroom teaching, and teachers and students interact frequently in various contexts in classroom. Therefore, teachers should pay attention to the appropriation of language in various contexts.
2. Context and tact conversation
As we all know, conversation occurs in a certain context, and the conversation doesn’t make any sense if it is studied separately from the specific context. It is necessary to know what context and tact conversation are and what their relationship is.
2.1 Definition of context
The basic notion of context was first referred by B. Malinowski in1923, a British anthropolist, in his supplement to Ogden and Richard’s opinions about meaning.
What is context then? In its narrow sense, context consists of the lexical items that come immediately before and after any word in an act of communication. Intuitively, everything may belong to a context which has influence on the interpretation of an utterance.
2.2 Explanation of tact conversation
Tact simply means the ability to do or to say the right thing at the right time or the skill in dealing with people. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines “tact” as being ready to avoid giving offence, or win good will; skill or judgment in dealing with negotiating difficult or dedicate situations: the faculty of saying or doing the right things at the right time.”Tact is also regarded as the highest rhetoric principle （Shi, 2004）. It refers to whether and to what extent language is suitable and effective in different situations.
3. Achieving tact conversation in English classroom teaching
Just as a proverb goes in Chinese “好話一句三冬暖” （A good word warms.）. We all konw the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle, they both serve to form a successful conversation and lead to form a good relationship between the participants of the utterance. So, the teacher should pay attention to the relationship between students, so that the classes can go on easily and smoothly. For example,the bell rings and the class begins, but Tom has been late for several minutes: Tom: May I come in?
Teacher: Sure.
Tom: I’m so sorry for my lateness, because I got up late but there are so many people are waiting to buy the breakfast…
Teacher: So, did you have your breakfast?
Tom: No. . . .
Teacher: That’s OK. You’d better get up earlier so that you can have enough time to have breakfast; it is so important for our health.
Tom: OK. Thank you very much.
In this situation, the teacher dose not show her anger to the student for his lateness. But we can also get some meaning of warning in the teacher’s utterance. Her answer actually contains the meaning that “You’d better get up earlier and so that you can come to the class earlier.”But she dose not express this meaning directly. In this way, the student may feel glad to accept the warning and aiso can feel the teacher’s concern. Then we can see that significance of tact conversation in English class. Of course, it may be applied to many other situations.
3.1 Some techniques for tact conversation in English classroom teaching
The class itself is a communicative spot. However, in English-teaching classroom,the relationship between them is not absolutely equal. Generally speaking, the teacher lies in a powerful place in the aspect of social position, the level of knowledge, authority and so on. But, for the sake of the effect of the teaching process, the teacher should try his /her best to maintain an equal and close relationship between him/her and the students.
3.1.1 The appropriate role of the teacher in conversation
Firstly, the teacher is the cooperator of the students and the teacher should stand in solidarity with the students. That is to say, the teacher should control his speech act in the class on the students’ part. For instance, the use of “we” and “us” is the best inflection. The teacher’s use of “we” or “us” can make him in harmony with the student’s. At the same time, the use of the first person is more polite than that of the second person. For example, if there is a task for the students to complete, the teacher’s use of “let’s…” will be better than the use of “you…”.
Secondly, the teacher is the leader in the class. In the language teaching, the teacher needs to guide and encourage the students to speak and to communicate with others. For example, before the class begins, the teacher may say “It’s a little colder today, OK ? Who’d like to talk about the weather today?”
Thirdly, the teacher is an encourager to the students and the teacher should tend to use more euphemisms. The teacher is not the coach to issue the order to students, but the cooperator to help students to learn. When the teacher wants someone to answer the question, he or she can say “Give me your answer”, or like: Would you like to give me your answer? /I think it’s your turn to answer the question..
When the students make some mistakes, the teacher should give them some encouragement as well, just as the following:
Don’t be nerverous. / Every makes mistakes. It dosen’t matter.
These expressions can make the students more confident but not be disappointed in his speech. A Chinese saying goes, “Failure is the mother of success”. The teacher shouldn’t dampen the students’ enthusiasm towards English learning but we should encourage them to make some progress in the process of correcting mistakes.
3.1.2 Making appropriate conversational situations
In classroom, effective communication seeks with fluency and acceptable language as the primary goal while accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in certain specific context.
First, the teacher can create an environment as natural as possible. The teacher should present language materials in given situations. For instance, the teacher can play some dialogues about making phone call. The setence “Hold on”in phone-call may have its special meaning,.However,when is ia used isolately,it may has another sense.
Secondly, learner-centered teaching should play an important part in the process of teaching especially in spoken-English teaching. The teacher should give the students more chances to express their ideas and to expose their problems in language application. In recent years, a discussion has been conducted on whether to continue traditional teaching approach—teacher-centered teaching or to apply students-centered teaching. More scholars and cases have proved that the latter is more effective and practical for English learning and teaching.
3.1.3 Awareness of culture
Just as the proverb goes, “when you are in Rome, do as the Roman do.” The first thing for the English learners to do is to become aware of the difference between Chinese and English cultures. Attention should be paid to the fact that Chinese or eastern culture is different from the western culture.
Firstly, language is a part of culture and culture is a part of language. Language plays a significant role in culture and it is shaped and influenced by culture. An apparent example is the different reactions towards others’ compliment in Chinese-speaking culture and English-speaking culture. For instance, when someone says “Your English is very good”, a Chinese may say “Don’t say that”; however, an English may response like “Thank you”. This phenomenon is caused by the different cultures. Secondly, culture plays an important role in the appropriateness and tact in cross-culture communication. Just as a proverb goes “one culture’s meat is another culture’s poison”. “Dragon” for example, in eastern culture, represents good luck, but in western culture, it is the symbol of cruelty. If ignoring this culture difference, we may cause some offence between people.
As for English teachers, they must consciously make the students realize that when they communicate with native English speakers, they must respect the ways English speakers express themselves. And students should know that they can’t say “Where are you going” or “Have you eaten?” to greet a native English speaker. The teacher must always make the students aware that they must have a strong sense that culture influences the way people communicate.
To sum up, communicative competence，not merely linguistic competence，with the awareness of context and cultural difference as the central points，is of vital importance to appropriate use of language and successful communication.
4. Conclusion
It is evident that the emphasis on context from the vista of linguistic insights produces great influence on foreign language teaching and learning, because a foreign language cannot be learned well in abstraction from its various contexts. So the study of tact and context should be combined with the English classroom teaching.
［Bibliography］
［1］Jef Verschueren, 2000. Understanding Pragmatics ［M］. Edward Arnold （Publishers） Limited.
［2］The Concise Oxford Dictionary ［Z］. 2001.北京：外語教学与研究出版社
［3］黄俊. 2010. 课堂教学语言运用要得体 ［J］. 教学与管理. 2010 （26）
［4］史秀菊. 2004. 语境与言语得体性研究 ［M］. 语文出版社
［5］钟首民. 2009. 论课堂幽默教学语言的特性 ［J］. 吉林省教育学院学报, 2009 （08）