A Study On Context Setting In English Grammar Teaching In Senior High School

Grammar teaching is a controversial issue since the time when foreign language teaching came into being. As linguistic studies and language teaching developed, the three components of a language: form, meaning and function are treated as a whole. Thus, when a language is learned, its appropriateness, fluency and accuracy should be paid equal attention to, which is of great importance and practice. At present, the most heated but controversial issues in foreign language teaching is how to teach grammar, not whether to teach it or not. What’s more, with the globalization of economy and frequent international exchanges in various fields, people with solid English ability in communication are urgently needed in China. Therefore, when teaching a foreign language, it is essential for us to lay much emphasis on the use, form and meaning of a language.It is known that in China the foundation of foreign language education is laid in senior middle schools, where grammar teaching plays a basic role in foreign language teaching. But in the present practice of grammar teaching, the actual and appropriate use is often ignored. English teachers usually teach grammar desolately and for its own sake. Because of this, students cannot appropriately use grammatical structures if they are placed in real situations, although they are able to make correct grammatical utterances. With the increasingly expectations and necessities of improving learners’ abilities to communicate accurately, fluently and appropriately in real-world circumstances, English grammar teaching should be shifted from traditional ways of treating grammar as an isolated, context-free language system to teach and study in contexts.According to an analysis of current situation and problems of grammar teaching in high school, the theory of linguistic context, the relative studies on applying context and context setting in grammar teaching, this thesis attempts to explore the principles and approaches of context setting in the teaching of grammarin senior high school as well as probe into its teaching effect. This study attempts to explore the following two questions:(1) Can the method of context setting in the teaching of grammar in senior high school improve the accuracy and appropriateness of students’ grammar?(2) Can the method of context setting in the teaching of grammar in senior high school better promote learners’ ability of grammar use in real communication?To answer these two questions, the writer carried out an experiment for about a term(sixteen weeks). The subjects involved in this experiment consisted of 129 students from two classes in Senior One in No. 18 Middle School: One was designed as the controlled class(n=63) and the other as the experimental one(n=66). In the part of grammar of every unit, the experimental class was taught with the method of context setting, whereas the controlled class was taught with mechanical practice. Pre-tests and posttests were conducted in the two classes at the same time to examine the appropriateness of students’ grammar and their ability in the actual use of grammar. The papers were made by the experienced teachers who were in the research team studying the grammar teaching methods in rural area.The statistic results of their scores were calculated by the software SPSS16.0 and the Independent Samples T-test was adopted to process the data analysis.In conclusion, these findings not only solved the practical grammar teaching problems of how to deal with the relationship between context and grammar but also suggested the solution of how to improve the appropriateness of students’ grammar and their use of grammar in real communications. Based on the findings, English teachers may apply set context in their teaching of grammar in the future.