| Reading,as one of the important means of language input,plays an enormous role in English teaching.The English Curriculum Standards of Compulsory Education(2011)stipulated that students need to master reading skills and methods and the cultivation of students’ ability to obtain and process information should be developed by reading.Although foreign language teaching pays attention to the cultivation of students’ reading ability from different aspects,however,the teaching effect is far from satisfactory.Lexical chunk theory lays a good foundation for English teaching and it has aroused much attention from linguists at home and abroad in second language learning.Lexical chunks are conductive to improving the students’ ability of discourse comprehension as well as promoting the learning of language.Under the guidance of the new curriculum reform,how to make effective chunks training to assist students to improve their reading ability becomes an important research subject.This action research lasted for more than four months.The teaching experiment was carried out among fifty students in Class Three,Grade Eight in Puyang Second Senior High School.This action research was to probe the effect of the application of lexical chunks to the teaching of English reading in junior middle schools.Based on students’ physiological and psychological characteristics,cognitive level and their actual level of English in grade eight,the reading pre-test was designed firstly in order to have a preliminary understanding of the students’ reading level.And then the first questionnaire and the first interview were also devised by the author to inquire the students’ interest,confidence,attitude and methods used in the learning of English reading,during which the author conducted the teaching experiment on students’ reading for one semester by using lexical chunks.At the end of this semester,the second questionnaire,interview and reading test were also conducted by the author.The results showed that the application of lexical chunks could improve students’ interest in English reading,strengthen students’ confidence to learn English,enhance students awareness of paying attention to the importance of reading,help students’ to master reading skills and also enhance their reading ability.However,the effect of application of lexical chunks on students of different levels was different.It had some influence on students who came from high-score group and low-score group in a certain degree;however,it exerted little effect on students who came from medium-score group.At the same time,the researcher also analyzed the limitation of this teaching experiment and gave some suggestions and prospection on future research. |
