A Study On The Application Of PACE Model In Junior English Grammar Teaching

With the deepening of junior English new curriculum reform, obvious changes take place in junior English classes. However, there are still some controversies in junior English grammar teaching, such as the controversy between the English grammar learning and communicative competence developing and that between explicit and implicit grammar instruction. Hence, some experts and teachers are exploring more applicable grammar teaching methods and Adair-Hauck and Donato first proposed PACE model,which aimed at making students better master grammar knowledge and know how to use language to communicate.This study, with the guidance of the input hypothesis, Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and constructivism, is to mainly explore the following questions:(1) Can the application of PACE model in junior English grammar teaching improve students' English grammar achievements?(2) Can the application of PACE model in junior English grammar teaching change students' attitude towards English grammar learning? The study selected the 60 junior eighth-grade students of two parallel classes(class 98 and class 99) in Hongshui Junior Middle School of Jinzhong city in Shanxi province as subjects and class98 is experimental class while class 99 is control class. First, pre-tests are conducted for the two classes in order to know the general English grammar levels. Then, two-month teaching practice is arranged for the two classes during which, teaching content is the main grammar structures in the first four units of the textbook Go for it! for those students published by People's Education Press and PACE Model is applied in experimental class while control class continues to adopt PPP model as before. Afterwards, post-tests,questionnaire survey and interview are conducted and relative data are collected. Finally, collected data are compared and analyzed via SPSS 17.0.The results indicate that the application of PACE model in junior English grammar teaching can improve students' English grammar achievements and change their attitude to English grammar learning.Thus, PACE model not only theoretically compromises the controversy between grammar learning and communicative competence developing and realizes the integration of explicit and implicit grammar instruction, but also practically enhances students' grammar learning and improve their language competence. And some suggestions on English grammar teaching are provided.