A Study On Senior Three Grammar Teaching Based On Discourse Analysis Theory

Grammar plays an important role in English study. How to teach grammar in middle school, especially in senior three effectively, is a continuous focus for many English teachers and educational experts. However, since the New Curriculum Reform was implemented for many years, traditional grammar teaching method based on sentences has still had a great influence on many teachers. Memorizing grammatical rules and items and doing exercises in sentences are still the focus in most senior three grammar classes.In 2014, the Ministry of Education started using a new test type of grammar: grammatical filling. Grammatical filling replaced the multiple choices. The shift reflects the change of the concept of grammar teaching---highlighting discourse.The new type of test, grammatical filling, is to test the examinees? comprehensive application of grammar knowledge in the discourse context. Besides, according to Halliday, the originator of systemic functional grammar, textual function is the indispensable part in conveying the meaning of language function. Discourse analysis is based on grammar, thus discourse analysis can?t go without grammar analysis. Therefore, discourse analysis theory of systemic function grammar provides theoretical basis for grammatical filling.Discourse analysis theory provides theoretical basis for grammatical filling. Meanwhile, grammatical filling provides discourse materials for senior three grammar teaching. Therefore, the author attempts to apply discourse analysis theory to senior three grammar teaching.The specific theories used in the experiment are context of discourse, cohesion of discourse, coherence of discourse and theme and rheme theory. All these theories were illustrated clearly and systematically in the thesis.The experiment began in early September 2015, lasting about 5 months. Pre-test and post-test were employed in the experiment. Pre-test was taken on early September 2015, the content of which was the grammatical filling of the 2014 National College Entrance Examination II. After about 5 months, post-test was taken. Participants in the experiment were 80 senior three students in Baotou Steel and Iron No.4 Middle School. Traditional English grammar teaching method was used in the control group and the method based on discourse analysis was employed in the experimental group.The experiment was divided into two stages. In stage one, specific theories applied to grammatical filling were introduced to students. In stage two, the students were guided to analyze the specific theories applied in grammatical filling. Having finished two tests, the pre-test and the post-test, the author collected and analyzed the data of them using SPSS 19. 0. The results were as it had been expected. In the experimental group, not only had the higher scores been resulted in after the experiment, but the gap between poor and good performance has been reduced as well. It is obvious that senior three grammar teaching method based on discourse analysis is effective.