Font Size: a A A

An Empirical Study Of Teaching Lexical Chunks To Improve Middle School Students' Proficiency

Posted on:2012-10-29Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:D TengFull Text:PDF
GTID:2167330338492496Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Corpus linguistics and computer analysis of the research results show that there are a lot of vocabulary and sentence features of fixed or half fixed structures in language. The modules of language as a whole are stored in the brain of a person. It is the most ideal unit of language processing. This combination is more than a single word, called lexical chunks. Lexical chunks accelerate the speed of language processing and play a significant role in language acquisition and language output.Michael Lewis points out that lexical chunks should be the key part in language learning and of course the key part in language teaching. Then he puts forward Lexical Approach to develop learners' chunk competence, namely, to master fixed or half fixed chunks so as to integrate vocabulary, grammar and communicative ability as a whole. The study of lexical phrases is still in the theoretical stage, and its empirical research is relatively rare. This research is based on the Lexical Approach, by reinforcing the students'consciousness of lexical chunks and by conscious teaching of lexical chunks to improve their English ability, and thus to prove the feasibility and universality of Lexical Approach to be used in English teaching in middle schools.In order to prove the hypothesis that Lexical Approach is feasible to middle school English teaching, 63 students in two parallel classes in Grade One from Beijing No. 3 Middle School are randomly selected for this research. All of the subjects participated in the entrance exam for the middle school when they finished their primary school. They have experience of English learning, and are able to identify chunks. The experimental class is complemented with the lexical approach, while the other one without. After two-month's teaching and learning, the test results of the experimental class are compared with those of the controlled one.The experiment proves that Lexical Approach is effective for middle school English teaching. It can not only improve students' awareness of lexical chunks but also the accuracy and fluency of language use, and then gradually increase students' English proficiency.The paper is divided into six parts. The first part includes the main source of this study, researching aims and significance, etc. The second part is to review the study on lexical chunks at home and abroad. The third part discusses the theoretical framework of the paper, the memory process and the relevant knowledge of lexical approach. The fourth and the fifth are the key parts including the comparison of the students'consciousness of lexical chunks and their English abilities before and after the experiment and setting forth the concrete process of chunks teaching in the middle school. The sixth part concludes the whole paper.
Keywords/Search Tags:lexical chunks, lexical approach, English proficiency, consciousness of chunks
PDF Full Text Request
Related items