Teacher-Student Interaction in EFL Classroom in China: Communication Accommodation Theory Perspective

Foreign language teaching highlights the cultivation of the learners’ communicative competence, because the main purpose of learning a foreign language is to use the target language to communicate. However, many students in higher institutions in China cannot speak English fluently after having learned English for more than ten years, although they have mastered abundant knowledge of grammars and enough vocabulary, which mainly results from lack of interaction in classroom teaching besides the natural language environment. Classroom interaction is the key to effective teaching in EFL classroom. So, using strategies to promote the interaction in class is necessary. This paper explores the interaction between teacher and student in EFL classroom from the perspective of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). Data was collected from 540 minute video samples of three English teachers’ classroom teaching. This study aimed: 1) To identify whether the teachers use communication accommodation strategies to develop the interaction，when they are faced with the difficulties in EFL class; 2)To answer which strategies are often used in EFL classroom? Findings showed: 1) Communication accommodation strategies happened in Teacher-student interaction; 2) Communication accommodation strategies such as approximation, interpret ability, emotional expression and interpersonal control are the basic strategies which were employed by the three participants in each session of EFL class; 3) Interpret ability and strategy of discourse management such as face-maintenance, turn-taking, topic control, asking referential questions, conversational repair and feedback occurred frequently according to the discourse. 4) The more accommodation strategies the teacher used, the better the interaction in the classroom was.