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Lexical Chunks and Guangling Middle School English Teaching

Author: ZhangYanYun
Tutor: YangXiuZhen
School: Tianjin University of Science and Technology
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: chunks lexical approach middle school English teaching English abilities
CLC: G633.41
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2012
Downloads: 6
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Abstract


Recently, with the development of applied linguistics and computerized linguistics, especially that of corpus linguistics, linguists found that there are plenty of fixed or semi-fixed lexical chunks in English language. These chunks are stored as wholes in the user’s mind and could be retrieved instantly in the process of language use. This discovery is very helpful for people who are learning English as a foreign language.In the1980s, some scholars abroad began to apply the theory of lexical chunks to English teaching. In1993, Lewis published a book, The Lexical Approach, which laid foundation for lexical chunk teaching. Based on Lewis’s theory, an experiment was carried out in Guangling Middle School, Shanxi Province, where the economic and educational conditions are far behind those of the modern cities. The research was aimed at testifying the feasibility of lexical chunk teaching in such kind of middle schools in poor areas, to check out whether the lexical approach could also improve those students’ English abilities.The subjects of the experiment were44junior-one middle school students from an academically poorest class, including24boys and20girls, aged from12to14. That is to say, before the experiment, the English proficiency of the subjects in the experimental class was the poorest among all the students in the same grade.The experiment was conducted by the author, in cooperation with the English teacher of the experimental class and lasted one semester from January2011to July the same year.In this research, two questionnaires and two interviews were administered, and five tests were used as research instruments. The author also did classroom observations of five junior-one English teachers’ classroom teaching.During the experiment, the importance of lexical chunks in teaching and learning English as a foreign language was particularly emphasized. At the end of the experiment, the results and scores were made statistics and analysis respectively and four major and obvious results were found.First, the lexical approach was also effective for those students in economically weaker areas like Guangling Middle School, Shanxi Province. The scores of the subjects strongly indicated that their English abilities were improved after the application of the lexical approach only after one term, and the gaps between the experimental class and the control class, also the best class in the whole grade, was narrowed.Second, the lexical approach could improve students’ English learning enthusiasm. The subjects became more active and autonomous in their English learning after the application of the lexical approach and most of them held positive attitude towards the new method.Third, the lexical approach was favored by both the teacher and the subjects.However, the research also found that the traditional grammar-translation method was still prevailing in the English teaching at this middle school. The classroom observations of five junior-one English teachers’ teaching showed that their classes were still teacher and text-book centered, and the students were given little time to practice their English. Great efforts are needed to carry out this approach though it is quite useful in improving both English teaching and learning.All in all, after the teaching and learning experiment, we can come to the conclusion that the lexical approach is also effective for middle school English teaching and learning in economically poorer areas like Guangling Middle School, Shanxi Province.

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CLC: > Culture, science,education, sports > Education > Secondary education > Subjects teaching methods, teaching aids > Foreign language > English
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