An Empirical Study On The Application Of Model Text Reciting And Memorial Writing In Primary School English Teaching

Model text reciting refers to restate or repeat texts based on memory and has always been considered as an effective way for learners to consolidate what has been learned. Memorial writing of the model text is to write down the text that has been recited based on memory, which is of great benefit for learners to improve the precision of language. According to Krashen's Input Hypothesis(1982) and Swain's Output Hypothesis(1985), both input and output are indispensible in language acquisition. Reciting and memorial writing are just the two means for learners to receive language input and produce output. For the previous researches, few of them focus on the combination of the two and the way for reciting and memorial writing is very mechanical and dull. Besides, in the previous research, the subject concerning primary school learners is rather rare. The present research aims to combine the model text reciting and memorial writing by adopting some diversified teaching ways and applies it into primary school English teaching since it is the crucial stage for English learning.The present research takes 120 students from two parallel classes of fifth-grade as the subjects. One class is taken as the experimental group, in which diversified ways of model text reciting and memorial writing are implemented. The other is regarded as the controlled group, in which only the traditional way of reciting is carried out. A pre-test and a post-test are carried out in both groups separately in the beginning and the end of the semester. Besides, two interviews are also conducted before and after the experiment in the experimental group to see the changes of subjects' attitudes towards model text reciting and memorial writing. Data collected from two tests will be analyzed by SPSS 16.0 and the interviews will be analyzed textually. They are served to address the following issues:(1) Can the teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing influence learners' overall English proficiency?(2) Does the teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing influence learners' listening and vocabulary proficiency?(3) What are learners' attitudes towards the teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing?The present study has yielded the following results:Firstly, after adopting the teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing, the average total score of the control group is 81.5500 and the experimental group is 85.9333. It can be seen that there is a significant difference in the mean score between the two groups with the sig. value shown as 0.038(0.038<0.05). In addition, by comparing the average total score between the pre-test and post-test within the experimental group, the result shows that the experimental group has improved a lot in the post-test and there is an obvious difference between the two tests with the sig. value presented as 0.000(0.000<0.05). On the whole, after the implementation of the teaching method, learners' overall English proficiency has improved significantly.Secondly, the teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing also shows a positive impact on learners' listening and vocabulary proficiency. By analyzing the two groups' mean scores of the listening and vocabulary parts in the post-test, the results show that the experimental group performs better and is significantly different from that of the controlled group. Moreover, the experimental group itself also improves a lot concerning the two parts when comparing the mean scores between the pre-test and post-test.Lastly, by comparing subjects' attitudes before and after the empirical study in the experimental group, they show more approval towards the present teaching method of model text reciting and memorial writing. Most of them feel that text reciting is not as boring as before and memorial writing of the texts is a good way to help achieve vocabulary though some of them find it difficult to complete the tasks.The present research aims at finding the pedagogical effects of the teaching method of combining model text reciting and memorial writing and some implications have drawn from the present findings and previous research. Besides, some limitations of the present research will be pointed out and suggestions are also proposed for future study.