A Study On English Classroom Activities In Junior High From The Perspective Of Input And Output Theory

Based on Input Hypothesis,Output Hypothesis,and form-focused instruction theory,from the perspective of input and output,form and meaning,the study attempts to carry out quantitative and qualitative analysis of the types of classroom activities in four English reading demonstration lessons from the Junior High School English Teaching Demonstration Seminar in Jiangsu Province.This research aims to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the classroom activities in English reading demo classes with the intention of shedding some lights on regular English reading classes.With four demonstration classes being its subject,the study tries to explore the following questions: 1)What is the status of the time distribution of input activities and output activities in the demo classes;2)What are the strengths and weaknesses of the input activities and output activities in terms of the degree of interaction;3)Are language forms taken into account in the meaning-centered activities? If so,does such form-focused instruction truly demonstrate learners' autonomy.The research collects data on the basis of observation and analysis of transcriptions in four English reading classes of Junior High School,teaching plans and expert reviews.The major findings are as follows:Firstly,input activities and output activities are both taken into account and achieve the balance to some degree from the perspective of time distribution.Secondly,input and output activities both pay attention to interaction,but the degree is not the same.Thirdly,the classroom activities pay attention to meaning and necessary language forms and try to avoid focusing on forms solely and breaking away from the specified context.Focus-on-form activities are mostly planned and mainly initiated by teachers without active participation of learners themselves or peers.In such case,learners' autonomy is severely weakened.Some suggestions on how to properly arrange and conduct classroom activities in English reading class are given: try to balance the input and output activities;adopt multiple ways to increase the degree of interaction in input activities and output activities,such as arranging both manipulated and communicative activities;clarify the purpose of the classroom activities in reading classes and properly deal with the relationship between form and meaning;decide on whether to pay attention to the language form and on how to achieve it according to the purpose of the activity;arouse leaners' autonomy in understanding difficult language forms by competition and cooperation.