Application Of The Lexical-chunk Approach To Teaching English Writing In Senior High Schools

The Lexical-Chunk Approach is a new emerging teaching theory which is based on the idea that foreign language teaching should focus on application. Lexical chunks are prefabricated chunks which can be stored and retrieved as a whole from memory when needed. A lexical chunk is a combination of grammar, semantic and context, which is considered as an ideal unit for teaching language. The fundamental principle of the Lexical-Chunk Approach is"language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar"(Lewis 1993). According to statistic analysis of authentic materials recently, 90% of natural speeches are realized by means of prefabricated chunks between words and fixed phrases, and all learners have to experience the process of using a large number of prefabricated chunks in language acquisition. At present, the researches on the Lexical-Chunk Approach mainly focus on theories and English teaching in colleges. The empirical researches on the use in senior high schools are few. Writing is part of important contents of English teaching in high schools. National English Curriculum for Senior High Schools and Illustrations on the National College Entrance Examination both give specific requirements on the contents and levels of writing. However, the level of English writing in senior high schools is low for various reasons, such as teachers'teaching strategies, learners'lack of vocabulary and grammar, etc. To this situation, the author of this thesis tries to demonstrate that the Lexical-Chunk Approach will have good effect on improving students'writing in senior high schools. This study is based on the lexical chunks theories of Lewis, Nattinger and DeCarrico. The experiment has been done. There are 110 students from two classes in Senior 1 in Damian High School in Chengdu, which are divided into Controlled Group(CG) and Experimental Group (EG) randomly. Each group has 50 students. This research aims at exploring the effect of Lexical-Chunk Approach on students'writing in senior high schools. The hypothesis is whether the Lexical-Chunk Approach can improve senior school students'writing. The author takes questionnaire, pre-test, post-test to do this experiment in one term. The EG centers on using the Lexical-Chunk Approach in writing classes while CG uses the traditional approach.The thesis includes three chapters. The first chapter is the overall review of the Lexical-Chunk Approach, which contains the definition, classification, analysis on theoretical bases and psychological reality of the Lexical-Chunk Approach, and the theory of teaching written discourse with the approach by Nattinger and DeCarrico. The second chapter presents the importance of writing in senior high schools, the requirements of writing in senior high schools, and the typical mistakes in students'compositions. The third chapter is the application of the Lexical-Chunk Approach in teaching, including the strategies by it, the research design, participants, the procedure, teaching activities, data analysis and findings. The last is the conclusion that the Lexical- Chunk Approach has good effect on improving students'writing.