Action Research Into How To Resolve The Misuse And Absence Of Relative Pronouns In English Review Classes

This study was conducted to explore how to resolve the misuse and absence of relative pronouns in attributive clauses in English review classes at a township high school through two-cycle action research.The study is theoretically based on Krashen's input hypothesis,Swain's output hypothesis and language transfer.The theoretical significance is to enrich the existing research in the review of English grammar.The practical significance is to improve the effectiveness of the review of attributive clauses through rule summarization,repeated exercises,back translation and personalized coaching;to draw the attention of the high school English teachers to research in action,research on action and research for action;and to promote their professional development.The action research aimed to explore two research questions:1.How is the misuse of relative pronouns in attributive clauses resolved in the English review classes at a township high school?2.How is the absence of relative pronouns in attributive clauses resolved in the English review classes at a township high school?The subjects were 49 first-year students in Class 9,whose learning performances were unsatisfactory at a township high school in Yangzhou.Before the action research,the teacher found that most of the students did not have a good mastery of attributive clauses in the quiz specified for attributive clauses and the monthly quiz,where the misuse and absence of relative pronouns were two major problems.The instruments in the research involved teaching journal,classroom observation,unstructured interview and two tests.There were two cycles in the action research.The first cycle consisted of problem identification,plan making,plan implementation,assessments,and reflections.The second cycle involved problem re-identification,plan re-making,plan re-implementation,re-assessments and re-reflections.The data were collected before class,in class and after class,and analyzed by mean calculation,categorization and comparison.The study has yielded the following findings:In the first-cycle action research,both the misuse and absence of relative pronouns in attributive clauses were somewhat resolved,especially "who","whom" and "whose".In terms of the misuse resolution,their mean increased by 1.3 points,compared with the quiz specified for attributive clauses.In terms of the absence resolution,their mean increased by 2.4 points.The reasons might be back translation to help them understand the concept of relative pronouns;rule summarization to help them grasp rules of relative pronouns;and repeated exercises to help them consolidate the usages of relative pronouns.In the second-cycle action research,the misuse of relative pronouns "that" and "which" was better resolved with their mean increasing by 4.92 points compared with the first-cycle action research.One reason might be personalized coaching to help those low achievers make up their inadequacy in vocabulary and grammar;the other might be reinforced rule summarization and more targeted exercises to distinguish between the different usages of relative pronouns "that"and "which".The study had two limitations.Firstly,this study is tentative in nature,whose objective is to resolve the misuse and absence of relative pronouns in attributive clauses at a township high school,so it can not be generalized to other grammar lessons.Secondly,some details,like students' reactions,might be overlooked because of the researcher's inadequate experience in action research,which might affect the effectiveness of action research to some extent.