A Study On The Current Status Of English Language Input In English Classroom Teaching In Rural Junior Middle Schools

Input Hypothesis is the core of the second language acquisition theory put forward by American linguist Stephend Krashen(1985).The input hypothesis contains four elements:first,the amount of input:Krashen believes that language acquisition relies on plenty of language input and sufficient amount of language input for learners;second,input quality:The language input that learners are exposed to must be "understandable";third,input mode:Krashen emphasizes that input should be of natural reception of language materials in the language environment,and we should mainly paid attention to the coarse input of the language;fourth,the input conditions:Only in low emotional anxiety and weak emotional barriers can the learners receive the input better.The input hypothesis theory has a profound influence on second language acquisition,which has great enlightenment to our English teaching.Based on the input hypothesis theory,the questionnaires,observation and interviews are made focusing on the four elements.The study mainly aims to answer the following three questions:(1)How is the overall situation of English input in English classroom teaching in the junior middle schools?(2)What problems are there in English input in junior middle school?(3)And what are the reasons?In this study,160 students and 70 teachers from seven junior middle schools in Tieshangang District in Beihai are under survey.15 teachers and 20 students are interviewed.At the same time,the author does the classroom observation.The study indicates that many students can't follow what the teacher and the other students say in English class.They can't follow the recording of the text;they can't understand the reading passages,the content in the multi-media courseware or the writing on the blackboard in English.There exist problems on the quantity of input,the input quality,input mode and the input conditions.The author tries to find out the reasons of the problems:(1)Teachers' professional quality,especially their oral English is not good.(2)Students have a poor foundation and a small vocabulary.So the author puts forward some suggestions for teachers and students.Suggestions for English teachers:(1)Through multi-channel learning,the English teachers should improve their professional quality,especially their oral English.(2)In English teaching,the teachers should apply the input hypothesis theory to the practice,and avoid the problems in English language input,trying to find out a set of suitable teaching methods to improve the students' English learning in the area.Suggestions for students:(1)They should enhance the confidence of English learning and remove the high feeling of anxiety.And they should work hard and persist in English learning.(2)They should communicate with their teachers and classmates more in English.The students should practice more,especially in listening and reading.Thus they will enlarge their vocabulary and enhance the motivation of learning.