A Study On The Application Of Lexical Chunk Approach To English Reading In Senior High School

With the development of globalization,the cultivation of English reading ability has become an indispensable part of English teaching.According to The English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017),special emphasis must be laid on the improvements of the core qualities of English subject,so teachers' attention should focus on students' language knowledge,language competence,learning ability and cultural awareness in teaching English,wherein English reading is one of the effective ways to boost students' all-round development.However,traditional reading teaching method puts too much emphasis on grammar,which leads to many students' losing interest and confidence in English reading so that their reading ability cannot be improved.In recent years,lexical chunk approach has attracted extensive attention of language researchers and foreign language teachers.Lexical chunks,which consist of several semi-fixed or fixed linguistic structures stored in the brain as a whole,are ideal units in the language processing as well as in language teaching.However,most researches in China only focus on the role of lexical chunks in vocabulary,spoken English and writing,and few scholars have studied the role of lexical chunks in the process of language input,such as reading and listening teaching.Therefore,this paper is intended to make a study on the application of lexical chunks to teaching English reading in senior high school.Based on lexical chunk theory,input hypothesis and schema theory,this research aims to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of lexical chunk approach in English reading in senior high school.An eleven-week experiment was carried out.90 students from two parallel classes in Grade Two of Fuzhou Overseas Chinese Middle School were selected as research subjects,one as an experimental class and the other as a control class.Questionnaires,pre-test,post-test and interview were used to collect experimental data,which were analyzed through SPSS.This paper intends to explore the following three questions:(1)Can the lexical chunk approach raise senior high school students' interest in English reading?(2)Can the lexical chunk approach improve senior high school students' English reading score?(3)Is there any difference in the influence of lexical chunk approach on students with high,middle and low score?The major findings of this research are as follows.Firstly,lexical chunk approach is beneficial to students' interest,habits,attitudes,strategies and confidence in English reading.Secondly,lexical chunk approach is helpful to the improvement of students' English reading score.Lastly,lexical chunks have various impacts on students with different English levels.The students who have a relatively good foundation in English have made significant progress,while those who are at the lower level just a little.To some extent,this research proves the validity and feasibility of lexical chunk approach in English reading teaching in senior high schools.The results of the experiment provide feasible pedagogical implications for senior high school English teachers.Therefore,this study is of some significance both theoretically and practically.