A Research On The Effects Of Theme-based Lexical Chunks Input On Ninth Graders' English Writing

Writing,as a productive skill,is considered as an overall indicator of students' English level.However,in recent years,there are some common problems existing in examinees' compositions in Nantong Senior High School Entrance Examination,such as,Chinglish expressions,insufficient vocabulary,misused phrases,collocation errors,unreasonable layouts and so on.Hence,what teachers need to do with English writing teaching is to help students cast about for more appropriate learning methods.Lexical chunks,as the combination of syntax,semantics and context,possess the advantages of vocabulary and grammar.They can be regarded as semi-finished products of language.It is noteworthy that they can be stored as well as extracted in our memory as a whole.Students can retrieve and apply these lexical chunks directly,which makes it easier for them to adapt to English writing habits and helps them write in a more correct and native-like way.Furthermore,English textbooks(Oxford English,Yi Lin Edition)used by students are arranged in units in accordance with different themes.More precisely,each unit has a great many theme-related lexical chunks.Related researches state clearly that theme teaching can optimize the way as well as the quantity of language input.Therefore,if lexical chunks can be accumulated in line with different themes,students must have a better grasp of them,which helps them extract rich theme-based lexical chunks in the limited examination time.In the study,combining theme-based teaching with lexical chunks input,the author intends to form a new teaching mode,namely theme-based lexical chunks input teaching.The main research contents are as follows: 1)To what extent do the theme-based lexical chunks input help to enhance Ninth Graders' writing achievements? 2)What aspects of Ninth Graders' compositions have improved after the experiment? 3)What is the effect of the theme-based lexical chunks input on Ninth Graders' attitudes to writing?Based on Krashen's Input Hypothesis,Swain's Output Hypothesis and Whole Language Approach,this paper mainly adopts the methods of literature research,questionnaires,interviews and experiment.Before the experiment,the author selects two parallel classes with no significant differences in their language ability or writing ability to carry out the current experiment.During the experimental study,Class 1 is chosen as CC(control class)and Class 4 is chosen as EC(experimental class).Oxford English 9A(Yi Lin Edition)is their common learning material.The author emphasizes theme-based lexical chunks input in EC while adopting the traditional teaching method in CC.The teaching experiment lasts for nearly three months,and the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the experimental results shows that themed-based lexical chunks input has a better impact on the experimental students' English writing achievements.Further analysis shows that the quantity of lexical chunks in students' compositions increases.Besides,the students have improved the fluency and accuracy of their compositions after the experiment.Additionally,questionnaires and interviews with participants in EC indicate that the theme-based lexical chunks input not only helps students improve their English writing achievements but also enhances their confidence in English writing.This study suggests that teachers should attach importance to the input method of lexical chunks and adopt various ways to strengthen students' awareness of using lexical chunks around the theme.Students should take the initiative to absorb new methods and construct their own lexicon so as to ensure efficient output in English writing in limited examination time.