An Experimental Study Of Lexical Chunk Approach In English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High School

Human thinking activities and ideas basically depend on vocabulary. Vocabulary is the basic unit of language,which is linked to the pronunciation and grammar. And it is the foundation of improving learners’ language proficiency. Vocabulary teaching plays a key role in English Teaching in senior high school, which runs through the whole process of English teaching. And English teaching is a long-term and arduous task. However, in the daily teaching, teachers find that vocabulary learning has always been a common problem for teachers and students. The traditional way of vocabulary learning is to mechanically memorize a large quantity of words, and vocabulary teaching is just to explain words out of context, which has been proved to be time-consuming and inefficient. Many learners can not seek out the words in their mind when they are needed and they can not use words appropriately. What’s more, the usage of some words is unfit for the expressive habit of English. Based on this problem of English vocabulary learning, many linguists and English teachers are trying to explore an effective teaching method and help students more effectively to master and appropriately use English vocabulary, and lexical chunk approach is the main strategy of vocabulary teaching. In this thesis, the practical effects of lexical chunk method in senior English vocabulary teaching are explored based on the theory of lexical chunks.The researcher selects two parallel classes in Grade one, Class 13 and Class 14 Qin Huangdao Funing No. 1 senior high school for a semester of teaching experiment. Before the experiment, an individual interview is conducted among some students, and a questionnaire survey is conducted among 80 students in both two classes in order to know about vocabulary learning situation of senior high school students. Then a diagnostic test is offered to the high school freshmen, which is treated as the pre-test and is aimed to find out the students’ basic English level. After that, the experiment begins, in which the experimental class is trained based on lexical chunks in daily vocabulary teaching, while the control class is trained by conventional methods of vocabulary teaching. After the experiment, a second interview and questionnaire are again conducted in the same students of the two classes. Meanwhile, the post-test is conducted. The pre-test paper is the one which is used as the diagnostic test for senior school freshmen, while the post-test paper is the one used as the final exam for Grade one in senior school in Qin Huangdao city. The researcher analyzes and summarizes the results of the two tests and the results of the two questionnaires through SPSS.Through the analysis of experimental data, the researcher concludes as follows: Lexical chunk approach in English vocabulary teaching has a significant effect. Through a semester’s experiment, under the influence of the theory of lexical chunks, students’ awareness of lexical chunks is effectively developed, and their interest and enthusiasm in English has greatly improved. In this way, not only can they use English vocabulary more appropriately but also their overall English have significantly improved.