A Study On The Application Of Noticing Function Of Output Hypothesis To English Grammar Teaching In Junior High School

English grammar teaching has always been an important part of foreign language teaching,which is also a focal and difficult problem in English teaching in junior middle school.Many investigations from students show that they think their poor English level mainly results from poor English grammar.They often complain about spending a lot of time and efforts learning it,but the results are still unsatisfactory.Therefore,it is necessary to explore an effective teaching method.Swain(1995)proposes three functions based on the output hypothesis theory,namely,noticing function,hypothesis-testing function,and metalinguistic function.Noticing function means that the output production of the target language can make learners notice the language problems and be aware of the gap between interlanguage and the target language.Therefore this study attempts to apply the noticing function to English grammar teaching in junior high school and explore the following three research questions:(1)Will noticing function enhance the students' motivation in grammar learning?(2)Will noticing function improve students' grammar proficiency?(3)Does noticing function promote students' better retention of grammar knowledge?This study lasts for four months,adopting contrast classes.A total of 74 students of Grade 8 participate in the study.37 students in the experimental class(EC)received the teaching method based on output hypothesis and 37 students in the control class(CC)received traditional grammar teaching method.Data analyses show that students in EC have a stronger motivation for grammar learning.The difference between the EC and CC is obvious on intrinsic motivation,extrinsic motivation and motivational intensity.After the experiment,students' grammar proficiency of EC is improved a lot.Meanwhile results of immediate test and delayed test indicate that the application of the noticing function reinforces students' better retention on grammar rules than that by traditional teaching method.These findings prove the validity of applying noticing function of output hypothesis to English grammar teaching in junior high school,and hope to offer some practical reference for English grammar teaching.