An Experimental Study On The Application Of Lexical-chunk Theory To English Vocabulary Teaching In Junior Three

Vocabulary is an essential part of a language. Wilkins (1972:9-10) pointed outthat “Very little can be conveyed without grammar, while nothing can be conveyedwithout vocabulary.” In the second or foreign language teaching, vocabularyteaching plays an important role. However, the research of vocabulary teachingdidn’t develop in the field of applied linguistics until the1970s.Researchers had a new insight into vocabulary teaching in the1980s. Theyfound that there were a large number of semi-fixed or fixed expressions (i.e. lexicalchunks) in English natural speech. Lexical chunks have the features of syntax.People store, retrieve and use them as a whole. Lexical chunks make up most of theeveryday conversation. Michael Lewis (1993) claimed that language consisted ofgrammatical lexis, not lexical grammar. The existence of lexical chunks can help toimprove the language processing and foster the language acquisition.Linguists and language teaching experts have paid much attention to the lexicalchunk instruction in recent years. It is found that lexical chunk instruction can makelearners master vocabulary more effectively. Firstly, the meanings of lexical chunksare relatively integrated but not isolated. Secondly, the students can easilyunderstand the meanings of lexical chunks with the help of the context. Finally,once learners have mastered the lexical chunks, it will be easier and faster for themto search for appropriate expressions while using. The teachers using the lexicalapproach will be more likely to lead the learners to concentrate on lexical chunkswhile they will not analyze the target language in class. This new approach isregarded as a successful attempt at language learning and teaching. However, thestudies of lexical chunk instruction are mostly on the theoretical level and there arestill many practical problems to be explored.In this thesis, the lexical chunk approach is to be explored to improve Englishvocabulary teaching in Junior3. The author also tries to review lexical chunk theoryand attempts to find a way out to put the theory into practice. The author mainly explores the vocabulary teaching through lexical chunks by carrying out anexperimental study. The subjects of this research are100students from twoequal-level classes in Junior Three. There are two hypotheses in this research: a)The lexical chunk instruction in Junior3can improve the students’ vocabularylearning. b) The lexical approach can improve the vocabulary teaching in Junior3.During the experimental period, two lexical chunk tests, two questionnaires andtwo final exams were given to the students. The author analyzed the quantitativeresults by SPSS. Through this experiment, we find that it is feasible to apply lexicalchunks to Junior3English vocabulary teaching. The lexical chunk approach canhelp to enhance the vocabulary teaching and therefore help Junior3learners acquirevocabulary more effectively.