A Study Of Chunk Recitation In The Writing Of Non-English Majors

Writing, when compared with other language skills, is the most difficult skill due to its requirements of obtaining a great deal of both lexical and syntactic knowledge and principles of organization in the target language as well. Even a lot of writing approaches were introduced and employed, few based on chunks recitation input and writing is still considered as both time-consuming and unrewarding. The present study investigates the role of lexical chunks recitation approach in English writing learning and teaching for non-English majors in the Chinese environment with an intention to find out whether it is a more effective way to enhance learners’writing proficiency, and how this approach relates to writing proficiency development of the learner.This study begins with the introduction of related knowledge about lexical chunks and theories and researches related to recitation input to lay a foundation of the research necessity. During the research, teaching experiment which lasts for one semester is conducted among60freshmen of non-English majors from Linyi University. The subjects in the experiment are randomly assigned to Experiment Group (EG) and Control Group (CG). At the beginning of the experiment, a pretest of writing is carried out and group comparison about holistic scores and chunks numbers between the two groups (EG and CG) in the pretest of writing is conducted with the help of SPSS software to discover whether the two groups are different from the perspective of writing competence. During the experiment, awareness raising activity of the information related to the lexical chunks to learners in EG is conducted by the researcher with some simple examples to avoid focusing on the definition and abstract theories. At the same time, students in EG are encouraged to be sensitive about, find out and memorize the lexical chunks appearing in the text. During the process, both the students in EG and CG are required to write one composition each week with common topic, requirements and the relevant feedbacks. The only difference between EG and CG is that the students in EG are asked to recite chunk-related materials and the paragraphs of every unit of Book One with the noticing and analyzing of chunks that the author selected for them after class, and the students in CG are required to recite only the same selected paragraphs in every unit of the same book without noticing and analyzing of chunks. When approaching to the final of the research, the participants of the two groups are required to take a posttest with same topic and requirements. Group comparison about holistic scores and chunk numbers between the two groups (EG and CG) in the posttest writing is also conducted with the help of SPSS software to discover whether there are significant difference in writing proficiency between the two groups. Both the pretest writing and posttest writing are rated by the same rater in the same way according to the same criteria to ensure its reliability and consistency; at the same time, chunks numbers are also compared, to be more exact, the following aspects are compared and analyzed:group comparison of the pretest scores between EG and CG; group comparison of the pretest chunks number between EG and CG; group comparison of the posttest scores between EG and CG; group comparison of the posttest chunks number between EG and CG; paired sample test on the pretest and posttest writing scores of EG and CG; paired sample test on the pretest and posttest chunks number of EG and CG. Data related to interview for further information is also collected and analyzed.It is concluded from the experiment that lexical chunks recitation input approach contributes to the improvement of learners’writing proficiency and that the approach is effective and practically feasible. The result of data analysis shows that there is positive correlation between numbers of chunks and writing proficiency, that is, there are more lexical chunks in the high-score compositions than the low-score ones. At the same time, chunks recitation not only can promote learner’s self-confidence, reduce the number of Chinglish but also can improve the fluency and accuracy of learner’s writing. In addition, the results of this study not only provide evidence for lexical chunks theories but also offer constructive suggestion to employ lexical chunks approach in English teaching and learning. However, due to its limitations for the small sample size and limited time, further study is necessary in the future.