A Study On The Positive Influence Of Lexical Chunk Training On College English Teaching And Learning

Lexical approach in second language teaching concentrates on developing learners' proficiency with lexis, or words and word combinations. By arguing that language is not lexical grammar, but grammatical lexis, the advocators of the lexical approach challenge the traditional view of language which divides language into grammar and vocabulary. Instead of stressing the mastery of all the language rules, the lexical approach takes the learning of language as cognition and application of lexical chunks in the target language.Based on this lexical perspective of language and language learning, the author is stimulated to explore the effect of a lexically-based language teaching and learning model, which focuses on the learning of lexical chunks in college English study, expecting that it may contribute to the on-going College English Teaching Reform.This study aims to explore the influence of lexical chunk training on learner's English proficiency from the following two aspects:1. Can lexical chunk training play a positive role in the learners' English learning achievements?2. Does lexical chunk training positively influence the learners' English writing ability?To answer these two questions, the author of the present study has conducted a lexically-based language teaching and learning experiment on the non-English major freshmen in a certain university in Hunan. Before the experiment is carried out, the author made an investigation about the college students' needs in their English study. Based on the findings of that investigation, the author designed the concrete procedure of the experiment. Apart from the lexical chunk training through a lexically-based teaching and learning model conducted among the subjects of the experiment for two semesters, the experimental procedure also includes a pre-test, a final examination and four quizzes, from which the data needed in the present study is elicited. The data collected has been analyzed by SPSS12.0 and the results show that the subjects from the experimental group improve a lot in their English achievements and their ability of English sentence or short paragraph writing compared with the subjects from the control group. On the basis of the data analysis, we come to the conclusion that the lexically-based teaching and learning model, which takes lexical chunks as the core of training, has a significant effect on the English proficiency of the subjects who are non-English major college students in that experiment. Despite the drawback which is hardly avoidable in the process of any other experiment, the findings of this study, we hope, will make contributions to college English teaching and learning in China.