An Analysis Of Classroom Activities In High School English Reading Lessons

Based on Input Hypothesis, Output Hypothesis, and form-focused instruction, from the perspective of input and output, form and meaning, the present study attempts to describe and analyze the characteristics of classroom activities in four reading lessons of a teacher in a foreign language school. The teacher is interviewed afterwards in order to indicate some explanations for the observed results from the teacher’s perspective.From the perspective of input and output, the study focuses on the following characteristics of classroom activities in the four reading lessons: 1. the time distribution of input activities and output activities; 2. the interactive degree of the input activities; 3. the proportion of controlled output and communicative output activities.From the perspective of meaning and form, the following features are studied:1. the distribution and characteristics of focus on forms (FOFS), focus on meaning (FOM), and focus on form (FOF) activities; 2. the types of the focused forms and their distribution in planned focus on form activities; 3. the types of the focused forms and their distribution in incidental focus on form activities.After observing the classes and analyzing the transcripts, the major findings are as follows:From the perspective of input and output, the output activities take more time than the input activities in the observed lessons. The teacher designed many activities for students to use English to communicate, but the time for reading is much less. The input has high-leveled interactivity, which means students can get i+1 input from interaction and negotiation. The output activities vary from controlled activities to communicative ones, and more stress is on communicative output. From the perspective of form and meaning, FOM activities take the largest percentage in the observed reading lessons, then follows FOF activities, and FOFS activity takes the smallest percentage. The most frequently focused form in planned FOF is vocabulary, followed by grammar, pronunciation and discourse. The most frequently focused forms in incidental FOF are vocabulary and grammar in order to correct students’ mistakes and to make sure the communications go on smoothly.Based on the results of the present study, implications and suggestions about classroom activities in reading lessons are made in the last section of the thesis. For example, the teacher should give students more time to think and read in the class, and try to guide the students to analyze the passages in depth; forms should be focused in the communicative activities; the teachers are suggested not to interrupt the students to correct their mistakes when they try to communicate.