Lexical-Chunk Theory And English Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary is an integral part of human language system. A solid vocabulary is what enables many learners to use their knowledge of the language effectively and efficiently. Nevertheless, as the literature reveals, the teaching and research of vocabulary have been much discriminated and neglected for quite a long time; both of the traditional and modern linguistic theories have placed little emphasis on vocabulary, focusing more on structures, functions, notions and communication strategies. Until 1980s,the development of huge computer corpora of language data allows linguists and teachers a new insight into the nature of language and also the role of vocabulary. It is found that in human language there exist large quantities of fixed or semi-fixed expressions which are stored as a whole in human brain,. These prefabricated expressions or lexical chunks play a very important role not only in the acquisition of language but also help to promote the easy, fluency and idiomaticity of language production.In recent years, studies on lexical chunk begin to accumulate, however, most of which remain on the level of theoretical discussion while leave many practical problems unexplored. By means of investigation, this thesis tries to put forward some constructive suggestions concerning how to teach and learn vocabulary in current English teaching and learning.The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter one is literature review, which traces the development of vocabulary teaching and lexical chunk research home and abroad. Chapter two is theoretical foundation which first illustrates the definition, classification, and functions of lexical chunk, and then discusses lexical chunks in relation to language acquisition and language teaching respectively. Chapter three concerns the research methodology, in which we presents the research objectives, subjects, instruments and procedures of the survey and as well as the limitation. Chapter four is the main body of the thesis. In this section, we embark on the analysis and discussions of the data elicited from the two questionnaires and also the relationship between students'lexical chunk competence and learning strategies. As is revealed in the survey, most of the testees'chunk competence remains at a low level and they are apt to produce deviated chunks in language production. And among the five learner strategies, cognitive strategy seems to be most favored by the students, followed by a succession of metacognitive strategy, determination strategy, memory strategy and social strategy. As for the correlations, only cognitive strategy and metacognitive strategy shown to be significantly correlated with their chunk competence. Based on the results of these two questionnaires, chapter five sums up the implications of the present investigation and also puts forward some suggestions so as to promote the quality of English vocabulary teaching and learning.