Research On English Lexical Ability Of In-service Rural Junior Middle School English Teachers

Foreign language(FL) lexical ability is a fundamental part of FL teachers’ professional abilities. Through investigating the English lexical ability of junior middle school(JMS) English teachers in the rural area of Shanxi Province, this research aims to explore effective ways for improving their English lexical ability.The theoretical foundation is foreign language attrition theory. Based on the contradiction between acquisition and attrition, FL attrition theory emphasizes research on the weakening or even loss of a foreign language ability by its learners when they decrease use of or contact with this language in certain language environments. FL teachers are seemingly a language group with strong anti-attrition ability, but relative literature and preliminary survey of this project have suggested continuing and serious FL attrition by JMS English teachers. Thereupon, this dissertation raised three groups of research questions: 1. What is the current state of the rural JMS English teachers’ FL ability? Is there FL lexical attrition in these teachers? If so, what features can be observed in the attrition of their receptive and productive vocabulary? 2. Why does the teachers’ lexical ability get attrited? What factors cause their lexical attrition? 3. How can the mechanism be built for reducing rural JMS English teachers’ FL lexical attrition? Is professional reading and writing program effective in enhancing their lexical ability?This research adopts a mixed-method research design, combining quantitative and qualitative studies. The whole research includes three stages. In the first stage(Oct. 2012- Jan. 2013), related literature was reviewed and an analytic framework was constructed for investigating factors influencing FL teachers’ lexical ability, followed by a questionnaire survey of 301 JMS English teachers on their professional state. A statistical analysis was also made to assess the significance of conducting research on JMS English teachers’ lexical ability. The second stage lasted from March, 2013 to March, 2014. The researcher investigated the English proficiency of 580 rural JMS teachers and tested their receptive and productive vocabulary ability. Statistical, corporal, and error analyses were made for revealing the lexical attrition features, and corresponding correlations. The third stage lasted from May to December of 2014. This stage involved the mechanism construction against English lexical attrition, and a case study was conducted to test the effectiveness of a professional reading-writing program based on the mechanism.The dissertation had the following findings: 1. Rural JMS teachers regarded FL proficiency as the core of their professional qualities, and reported lexis was the most seriously attrited part of their in-service FL ability. Their receptive vocabulary size was relatively small, with the average level being under 3000 words, and their productive vocabulary was around 2000 words. The attrition with functional words was mainly observed in misuse of prepositions, articles, and conjunctions; the attrition with notional words mainly fell into lexical misuse caused by learners’ weakened grammatical knowledge, the confusion of parts of speech and spelling errors. 2. JMS English teachers’ English lexical ability was co-influenced by a series of factors, including gender, work experience, educational background, pre-attrition English proficiency, learning motivation, language contact and environment. Among them, 1) the female teachers suffered a significantly lower level of lexical attrition than the male teachers; 2) teachers’ work experience had a negative correlation with their lexical ability; 3) teachers from non-English majors were more vulnerable to lexical attrition than those from English majors; 4) teachers with bachelor’s or master’s degree were less vulnerable to lexical attrition than those without; 5) teachers’ English proficiency was negatively correlated to their English lexical attrition; 6) teachers’ FL motivation was negatively correlated to their English lexical attrition; 7) the intensity of professional activities was negatively correlated to their English lexical attrition. 3. The key of the mechanism against English lexical attrition was stimulation of teachers’ inner motives. Professional reading-writing program was effective in reducing the case teacher’s English lexical attrition.The conclusions of this dissertation are as follows. The JMS English teachers’ FL lexical attrition largely resembles that of other foreign language groups in China. Factors like low FL proficiency, decreasing intensity of English learning, and prolonged work experience lead to English lexical attrition in combined and complex ways. To improve the situation, the dissertation raises the following suggestions: 1) On the national level, teachers’ FL lexical standards should be constructed and lexical ability be highlighted in the national training programs. 2) In the school-based teacher-training, FL teachers’ lexical ability should be singled out as a key indicator of their professional ability and corresponding mechanism should be established to monitor its development. 3) For FL teachers, they should be fully aware of their FL ability, setting up goals and taking multiple measures to enhance it.