The Role of Teacher Talk Adjustment in EFL Classrooms in Japanese Elementary Schools

Abstract

The present study aims to examine how teachers adjust their speech to interact in English with elementary school students in classrooms. Participants are four teachers involved in 5th and 6th grade Foreign Language Activities. Comparative analysis of the effect of teachers' language use (English and Japanese vs. almost all English) on linguistic complexity and the usage of interactional adjustment in teacher talk obtained the following three main results: The teachers who conducted the lessons almost all in English (1) adjusted their speech to make them shorter and less complex, (2) employed a larger amount and wider variety of interactional adjustment in terms of repetitions, comprehension checks and supportive gestures, and (3) elicited oral responses from students and facilitated student-teacher interaction by employing student-repetitions, translation of students' Japanese utterances, and display questions. This study also incidentally found that the teachers who avoided Japanese use were relatively reliant on students' Japanese use but encouraged the students to use English by showing their own positive attitude towards communication in English.