| In recent years researchers in corpus linguistics find that language is composed of large amounts of prefabricated, semi-fixed chunks. A chunk is a synthesis of form and function which embodies the interaction of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Different from traditional idea which regards language as a dichotomy of grammar and lexis (grammar as the frame, lexis as fillers), lexical chunk is a pre-stored multiword unit for quick retrieval without binding isolate words into grammatical frames during language production. It improves the fluency and accuracy of language production. To teach college students of non-English majors writing in a good manner is really tough. Although non-English majors have learned English for many years and have accumulated a lot of grammars, words and phrases, they cannot produce proper words and sentences in certain context. On this account lexical approach with lexical chunks as its core which not only helps students establish grammatical rules and writing framework but also helps them achieve idiomaticity and fluency is a new insight into teaching English writing.This study aims to investigate whether the application of lexical chunks can improve non-English major s' English writing. Two research questions were designed to verify the influence of lexical chunks on English writing:(1) Does the application of lexical chunks improve non-English majors' English writing? If it does, to which group it contributes more, high-scorers or low-scorers? (2) Is there any significant difference in the number of lexical chunks occurring in non-English majors'English writing between EG and CG after experiment? To answer these two questions the author conducted an experiment. One class was chosen as the experimental group (EG) and the other was chosen as control group (CG). The experiment includes a pre-test and a post-test. At the beginning of the semester students in EG and CG were asked to write a composition as the pre-test. At the end of the semester a post-test was carried out by asking students writing the other composition. After pre-test the EG is further divided into two groups based on their writing scores in pre-test:high-scorers and low-scorers. This aims to find that lexical approach is more effective to which group (high-scorers or low-scorers) in improving English writing. SPSS 15.0 was used to analyze data. The writing scores and the number of lexical chunks occurring in the students' composition in EG and CG before and after the experiment were dealt by paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test. Finally the conclusions have been made that lexical approach can effectively improve non-English majors' English writing and it contributes more to high-scorers. And there is significant difference in the number of lexical chunks occurring in students' composition between EG and CG. The number of lexical chunks occurring in students'writing in EG is significantly increased compared with CG.And then, a questionnaire was carried out among the students of EG after post-test to collect students'ideas about lexical approach and their ideas about the effect of lexical chunks on English writing.
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