Extensive Recitation--An Effective FL Learning Strategy

English, as a foreign language, has been widely learned throughout China in the past thirty years or so. In the 21st century, English is becoming more and more important in the international communication due to the globalization. At college, all the students, including the English majors and the non-English majors, have to learn English. Both the teachers and the learners have tried a variety of strategies in order to achieve high proficiency of English.Language is a tool for communication and it can only realize its function when it is used in different realistic communicative contexts. Thus, to learn a foreign language successfully means to acquire the skill of using the target language properly and exactly in different social situations.In order to achieve this final aim, productive vocabulary and fluent usage of all grammatical rules in sentences making become especially important in learning a foreign language. And in the development and acquisition of the skill, recitation plays a very important role in China where the learners have their own particular learning background and traditional learning strategy.In China, English can only be learned as a foreign language instead of a second language since there is no English language environment at all. In order to make the learners acquire the language skills effectively, different learning strategies have been used in the past years. These strategies include grammatical translation, direct approach, the situational approach, listening and speaking approach and the communicative methodology. Because of the variety of teaching strategy introduced into China, recitation as the Chinese traditional learning strategy is submerged and abandoned.In this paper, the writer reviews the related language learning theories and the studies of recitation and attempts to explore a learning strategy which is practical for the Chinese English learners at the basic stage in college. That is "extensiverecitation", which is based on the theory of "input hypothesis" and accords with the cognitive process of human mind. It is realized on the basis of comprehension and appreciation. The learners must first read extensively according to their own interest, and then choose some parts from the reading material to recite. Later on, they are to imitate, repeat and recreate those recited sentences or paragraphs in their own speaking or writing. It is different from the traditional way of recitation and has its own specialties and advantages. The most distinguished specialty is that it takes the learner's personal interest into account and hence it is very helpful in enhancing learning motivation and realizing individual learning. The paper also tries to prove the function of extensive recitation by carrying out a four-month test over 67 first-year English majors. The result shows the learners in the experimental group makes greater progress in reading speed and speaking and writing proficiency than those in the control group.This paper proceeds in the following way:Chapter 1 points out the necessity of introducing extensive recitation.Chapter 2 introduces the related studies concerning about language learning and recitation. Extensive recitation is based on these studies. The differences between traditional recitation and extensive recitation are fully analyzed.Chapter 3 discusses the cognitive process of extensive recitation based on the cognitive and psychological analysis of discourse. Extensive recitation helps knowledge intake of the target language and the process can be divided into fivestages.Chapter 4 explains the whole procedure of the research. It covers the research questions, subjects of the research, and data collection.Chapter 5 analyzes the results of the research and discusses the findings and limitations of the research.In the end, on the basis of the research, the writer comes to the conclusion that extensive recitation is a good learning strategy in foreign language learning.The findings of the present study are enlightening in guiding both the foreignlanguage learners and the teachers as to what to recite, how to recite and how to make the recitation most effective. Of course, his conclusion is not intended to be the final word on the topic. There is a lot to be desired. The paper hopes to be an introduction to elicit the further research in this respect.