A Research On The Influence Of Frequency On The Acquisition Of Noun Lexical Chunks And Verb Lexical Chunks

In recent years,the second language acquisition is undergoing a major transformation in paradigm shift which is "the transformation of research ideas and trends"(Wang,2009:53).The study of second language acquisition based on universal grammar has gradually faded out of the researchers’ view,and at the same time,the usage-based theory have gradually attracted researchers’ attention.It thinks that usage is the basic of language acquisition,and repetitive contact is the key to language acquisition,therefore frequency becomes the focus of its research.At the same time,lexical chunks have the characteristics that they can be stored and extracted as a whole and improve efficiency and fluency in language output,therefore lexical chunks have also raised the researchers’ attention.Frequency and lexical chunk acquisition have been the focus of research in recent years,but few scholars have combined these two for research.Frequency refers to the number of repetition.Lexical chunk refers to the combination of collocation of words,that is phrases,lexical collocations or idioms.Based on frequency theory,this study will use lexical chunk approach to explore effective ways for high school students to acquire lexical chunks by combining frequency and acquisition of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks.This study is designed to investigate the effect of frequency on acquisition of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks in senior high school students.This study takes 90 students from two classes in the first grade as the research subject,and uses the experimental group and the control group to carry out a three-month practical teaching of lexical chunk acquisition through research methods such as survey,literature review and empirical research which intends to study the following three questions:1.Does frequency have effect on acquisition of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks?2.What is the difference between noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks in immediate acquisition under influence of the same frequency?3.After using traditional teaching method and lexical chunk approach respectively,what is the difference between noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks on retention effect under influence of frequency?In the course of experiment,students from two classes were asked to read two kinds of materials containing the same target lexical chunks,and the frequency of which is 3,4,5and 6 times.Students took the immediate test after reading the material within the prescribed time.The purpose of test was to check instant acquisition effect on form and meaning of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks.The author conducted a three-month experiment teaching after instant test,which Class 1 used traditional teaching method,while Class 2 used lexical chunk approach.After three months,students did the same test but with different arrangement of the questions,which was to test frequency effect on retention of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks after using traditional teaching method and lexical chunk approach respectively.The result shows that:(1)Frequency is beneficial to the acquisition of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks,and the acquisition effect is different under different frequencies.(2)Obvious difference exists on immediate acquisition between noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks under influence of a certain frequency.Noun lexical chunks are easier to acquire on form,but verb lexical chunks are easier to acquire on meaning.(3)Frequency has different effect on retention of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks after using traditional teaching method and lexical chunk approach.These two teaching methods have similar effect on retention of form under influence of the same frequency.But on meaning retention,frequency can bring better retention effect on noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks after using lexical chunk approach.However,the retention effect doesn’t improve with the increase of frequency in these two teaching methods.The conclusion of this study has some enlightenment on how to improve the acquisition effect and teaching of noun lexical chunks and verb lexical chunks for high school students.Due to the limited kinds of lexical chunks,time of empirical teaching and experimental subjects,the generalization of research conclusion needs further verification.