The theoretical background of the research is the face and politeness theories of Gu and Mao, together with the politeness theories advocated by scholars such as Brown & Levinson, and Scollon & Scollon.

The study of college English teacher talk indicates that teachers are more or less using face politeness strategies to reduce the seriousness of face-threatening acts,which is largely a result of their awareness of college English teaching context in China,such as teaching aim,teacher-student relationship and students\' personality.