Application Of The Lexical Approach To EFL Reading Teaching In A Vocational And Technical School

This study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of the application of lexical chunks to the English reading teaching in Vocational and Technical School, and at the same time to prove that it can influence students? reading of EFL learners? performance. English reading is the one of the basic skills of English learning, without reading,nothing can be done in the development of competence in listening, speaking and writing, translation. But despite much efforts being put into the reading, most of Chinese students still have some difficulties in reading comprehension. To deal with this problem, innovative approaches are badly needed. In recent years, the lexical chunks approach which was put forward by Lewis in 1993, has received great interests in second language teaching as an alternative to grammar-based approach. Lexical chunks approach provides a new idea for English reading teaching in vocational school. It is a kind of new teaching theory which emphasizes both grammar structure and practical application. Based on the theoretical foundation of lexical chunks, to answer the following research questions:1. Do the EFL learners of vocational school always use lexical chunk approach in English reading?2. Can the application of the lexical chunk approach to the teaching of EFL reading influence learners? performance?As to the questions above, the author carries out an experiment which lasts about four months from the March 2014 to June 2014 in the two parallel classes(90 students) in Dingxi vocational and technical school. Class one; controlled class(45 students) was adopted the traditional way. As experimental class while Class Two(45 students) was applying lexical chunks to teaching reading. The instruments of the experiment are composed of one questionnaire, three tests and individual interview. The experiment lasted about four months from the March 2014 to June 2014.From the data analysis and study results, we can find that the experimental class yielded promising results: their progress is significant. In controlled class the subjects? progress is not very significant, and its developmental process is not stable. From the t-test between groups, we can know that two classes almost had an equal start before the experiment was carried out. With the development of time and the different treatments in methodology, experimental class performed better and better than controlled class. The study data proved that the application of lexical chunks to the English reading teaching in vocational and technical school is effective, which can help students improve their English reading performance,play a critical role in the English readingHowever, because of the low level of theories and practical teaching and there are some advantages in methods, the study can improve and develop further. All in all, lexical-chunk approach is an effective way to students? reading and it has a prosperous future.