Teaching English Writing Based On Lexical Chunks: A Case Study Of Senior High School Underachievers

From the perspective of the characteristics and learning rules of underachievers,this research selects input hypothesis,information processing theory and output hypothesis as the theoretical basis,and based on Lewis(1993)’s teaching model,in the first round of senior three review,through cross-unit integration of related topics,a series of highly relevant and practical review teaching of topic-based lexical chunks is carried out.And the whole review process is divided into four different stages: "enhancing the awareness of lexical chunks","internalizing and consolidating lexical chunks","supervising the recitation of lexical chunks" and "processing and outputting lexical chunks".Through the input and internalization of a large number of topic-based lexical chunks,the close relationship between new and old knowledge is formed,and the long-term memory network of topic-based lexical chunks is constructed.At the same time,a lot of targeted training is carried out to consolidate and deepen the internalization and absorption of lexical chunks by underachievers,so as to pave the way for the efficient output of subsequent writing.After topic-based lexical chunks review,the underachievers will be given a three-step writing teaching "from lexical chunks,paragraphs to texts".This study uses such methods as classroom observation,literature analysis,questionnaire and interview to carry out experiments on two parallel classes in grade three of senior high school,and finalizes 10 underachievers with equivalent English scores from each of the two classes as the control and experimental objects for case study.Among them,the experimental class uses topic-based review teaching of lexical chunks and the control class uses traditional vocabulary review teaching,in order to explore the effect of lexical chunks teaching on the English writing performance of senior three underachievers.This study mainly answers the following questions:1.What is the current situation of underachievers’ writing with lexical chunks?2.How does the chunk-based writing teaching affect the writing performance of underachievers?3.How does the chunk-based writing teaching affect the writing attitude and interest of underachievers?Through the analysis of Excel and SPSS 27.0 statistical software combined with interview results,the research results show that:First,The situation of underachievers using lexical chunks in writing is not optimistic,and their performance in the five dimensions of "self-efficacy,writing anxiety,writing strategies,intrinsic value,and lexical awareness" is not as good as that of ordinary students.The specific performance is as follows:(1)Underachievers have a low sense of self-efficacy,lack interest in writing,and lack confidence in whether they can improve their writing later.(2)Underachievers are vulnerable to external interference due to their weak willpower and have weak anti-pressure ability.They do not always affirm the value of learning which makes their enthusiasm for learning unstable,and they cannot always adhere to learning activities or tasks such as writing.(3)As a group with weak foundation and poor writing ability,underachievers have a fear of writing.They are powerless and helpless when facing writing,which aggravates writing anxiety.(4)Underachievers lack good writing strategies,such as deviating from the topics caused by unclear examination of topics,failure to accurately understand the main points and norms of writing,failure to apply the new lexical chunks to writing,lack of transitions words in the text,and lack of communication strategies.(5)The lexical awareness of underachievers is relatively strong in the five dimensions,but their writing scores are still low,which shows that underachievers only memorize lexical chunks by rote,cannot understand lexical chunks or use lexical chunks flexibly,and are reluctant to review notes on time,which causes the phenomenon of memorizing and forgetting.Second,the average of the writing scores of the experimental class and the control class was obtained through two pretest and two post test before and after the experiment.Through horizontal and vertical comparison,the conclusion was drawn that the writing scores of underachievers in the experimental class were significantly different before and after the experiment,and had been greatly improved.There is no significant difference in the writing performance of underachievers in the control class,but the average score has increased slightly,indicating that the performance has made little progress.To sum up,the four-stage topic-based teaching of lexical chunks--"enhancing the awareness of lexical chunks","internalizing and consolidating lexical chunks","supervising the recitation of lexical chunks" and "processing and outputting lexical chunks" and the three-step writing guide "from lexical chunks,paragraphs to texts" have achieved initial results,which has a positive impact on the English writing of underachievers and has achieved remarkable results.As a form with both lexical and grammatical functions,lexical chunks can be used as a breakthrough in the teaching of writing.Mastering the lexical chunks in the English language can achieve the expression ability closer to the native English speakers,and make the language production and writing more authentic,accurate and fluent.At the same time,based on the input hypothesis,output hypothesis and information processing theory,this study analyzes the process of underachievers’ writing with lexical chunks,and proves the practicability and effectiveness of applying input hypothesis,output hypothesis and information processing theory to this process.Third,after the experiment,the interest and attitude of underachievers in English writing have changed positively.The underachievers no longer have the mentality of resistance to writing.After a large number of lexical chunks are accumulated and internalized and some writing strategies are mastered,they find that writing is actually quite simple,thus regaining their confidence in learning English.Moreover,with successful experience in writing,the underachievers have improved their sense of selfworth and self-efficacy,and found effective ways to write and learn English.In addition,in the process of achieving the goal,the difficult task is broken down into small goals that can be completed to reduce the difficulty and make it easier to stick to it.Every underachiever has a tendency and desire to learn well,but lacks the willpower to persevere,the internal drive to act,and certain strategic guidance.Therefore,help the underachievers attribute their progress to hard work,make them realize that it is effective to make efforts,so as to stimulate their potential learning ability,changing from passive learning to active learning in order to make greater progress.