A Chunk-Based Study Of English Newspaper Reading In Junior High School

Reading is a complex cognitive process to obtain meaning from linguistic signs,and it also plays an important part in English learning process.Through reading,students can not only obtain information and enrich their knowledge,but also improve their language sensitivity,enhance the standardization of language use,and develop their communication skills.Therefore,it’s necessary to improve students’ English reading ability.However,most teachers still overuse some traditional reading teaching methods at present,such as translating articles word by word,explaining grammar knowledge and finishing exercises.Such methods have seriously affected the cultivation of students’ reading ability and reading interest.At the same time,the teacher misleads the students to hold a wrong ida that they can improve their reading ability if they master enough vocabularies and grammar.However,the students’ reading ability has not improved significantly with much time and energy.Based on this,the author tries to apply lexical chunk theory into 21 st Century Student’s English Newspaper reading,which can offer more materials and topics for students.Students can learn and master how to use chunks in reading in order to improve their reading ability and self-access reading.This study tries to explore the following two questions:1.Whether newspaper reading based on lexical chunk theory can improve students’ reading ability?2.What are the effects of newspaper reading based on lexical chunk theory on self-access reading?This study selects two second-year classes from Chengdu No.7 Yucai Middle School,the Class 3 from Class 5 from Grade 8,the experimental class is Class 3 while the control class is Class 5.Both are not experimental classes and the two classes’ reading abilities are at the same level.In order to find out the influence of English newspaper reading teaching based on lexical chunks theory on students’ English self-access reading and reading ability,the author conducted two questionnaires and a pretest and posttest.The questionnaires were conducted before and after the teaching experiment.After each test and questionnaire,the author will collect data and use SPSS 26.0 to analyze the data.Through the analysis of all the questionnaires and test data,it can be seen that before the experiment,both classes were not interested in English reading,lacked confidence in reading,and they didn’t develop good reading habits and were weak in English self-access reading and reading ability.Then the experimental class adopted the English newspaper reading teaching based on the lexical chunk theory,while the control class adopted the traditional reading teaching method.After the two classes had a systematic reading training for four months,the experimental class has properly solved these problems.More and more students are interested in English reading,and their reading confidence has improved.At the same time,students have a lexical awareness,and they have developed the habit of accumulating lexical chunks.Their English self-access reading has been improved while the control class hasn’t improved significantly.Therefore,the author concludes taht the English newspaper reading teaching based on lexical chunks theory can effectively improve students’ self-access reading and reading ability.