| The goal of learning a language is be capable of communicating,only by mastering grammar can convey one’s intentions accurately and understand the other’s meaning.Grammar is a language principle that is commonly used to guide language practice,and without conceptual knowledge of grammar in foreign language learning,it is difficult to use one’s cognitive,thinking or output processes in the target language.This is the root that causes of Chinese English learners’ “inauthentic” expressions in the target language.Concept-based Instruction（CBI）,proposed by Lantolf’s（2011）team,focuses on conceptual understanding and it is effective for students to understand English grammar concepts in English language teaching.This study attempted to apply C-BI to teaching subjunctive mood in high school in order to foster students’ comprehensive understanding of grammatical concepts,with a view to improving the effectiveness of high school grammar teaching.This study conducted an experimental research of subjunctive mood teaching according to the five stages of C-BI,namely,explanation,materialization,communicative activity,verbalization and internalization,and intended to investigate the following three questions.（1）What is the situation of high school students’ attitudes and difficulties in English grammar learning before the experiment?（2）Taking subjunctive mood as an example,what effect does C-BI have on students’ grammar performance?（3）What are the changes in students’ attitudes and difficulties in grammar learning after using C-BI?The author used two sophomore classes of XXX school with 90 students as research subjects,in which the number of both experimental and control classes was 45.The research methods of this study included questionnaire,pre-and post-tests,and interview.The author conducted a pre-test in two classes before the experiment and distributed a pre-questionnaire about students’ attitudes and difficulties in learning grammar.After the experiment,the author carried out a post-test for both classes and conducted a post-questionnaire in the experimental class.In addition to this,the author selected six students from the experimental class to be interviewed after the experiment.The results of the study showed that,first,according to the pre-questionnaire,before the experiment,students claimed that grammar was important in learning English,but 76% of students did not like the grammar teaching method.Their difficulties with grammar were mainly due to the lack of effort,the fact that grammar was too abstract and the confusion about grammatical structures.Second,after the teaching experiment,the average score of the experimental class improved by 9 points,and there was a significant difference in the performance of the experimental class compared with the control class.Third,the results of the post-questionnaire and interview showed that 62% of students liked C-BI after it was used.There was a significant decrease in the number of students who thought grammar was too abstract and confused about grammatical structures,besides,students gained a deeper understanding of grammatical concepts and were able to grasp them more firmly.Students felt that C-BI had increased their interest in learning grammar.This study aims to improve senior high school students’ mastery of the subjunctive mood through C-BI and to demonstrate the effectiveness of C-BI in high school grammar teaching.C-BI cannot solve all grammar teaching problems,but the findings in this study can still provide new ideas for teaching grammar in high school and provide some inspiration for related researches. |
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