语块理论在英语口语教学中的应用英语学士学位论文.doc

广州大学松田学院2013届毕业论文（设计）

广州大学松田学院

毕业论文（设计）

题 目（英）Application of the Lexical Chunks to the
Oral English Teaching
（中）语块理论在英语口语教学中的应用

学生姓名 吴 健
学 号 0905010521
专业班级 2009级英语 5 班
指导教师 李亚琴

二○一三年五月

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作者签名：
2013 年 5 月 18 日

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作者签名：
2013 年 5 月 18 日
导师签名：
2013 年 5 月18 日

Application of the Lexical Chunks to the
Oral English Teaching

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement for
the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

By
Wu Jian
Under the Supervision of Lecturer Li Yaqin

Department of Foreign Languages
Guangzhou University Sontan College

May 18, 2013

Application of the Lexical Chunks to the
Oral English Teaching

Abstract

It is widely recognized that lexical chunks play an important role in second language acquisition. Lexical chunks are set of language parts which appear in a high frequency in natural language. Lexical chunks are phrases or some syntactic structures on the sentence level and are featured by a high degree of fixed structure and meaning. These lexical chunks are stored in the human in form of the whole and can help to turn the complex syntactic analysis into relatively simple chunk processing, thus facilitate language processing and use and ease the pressure of language production. As a result, language learners’ oral English proficiency can be greatly improved. The theory of lexical chunks in the teaching emphasis on language input that combined with the specific context, not simple form of language teaching, but the complementary development of communicative approach, is a new way of spoken English teaching. So in order to improve the students’ spoken English in fluency and accuracy, we should make students play their subjective initiative, accumulate more lexical chunks, use the language frequently in oral English teaching.

Keywords: lexical chunk, oral English proficiency, oral English teaching

语块理论在英语口语教学中的应用

摘 要

近年来, 语块在二语习得中所发挥的作用得到了广泛的认可。语块是在自然话语中高频率出现的, 由短语或者其他句法单位构成的大于单词, 且语义和形式都较为固定的语言片段, 语块以整体的形式预存在人的大脑中。它集中了语法、语义和语境的优势, 便利了话语的组织及应用过程, 减轻了语言使用者的现时语言处理负担。语块的习得对于英语学习者口语输出的流利度、准确度均有推动作用。语块理论在教学上强调语言的输入与具体语境的结合, 不是单纯的语言形式教学, 而是对交际法的补充发展, 是英语口语课堂教学的一条新途径。因此, 在口语课堂教学中要让学生发挥其主观能动性, 多积累, 多使用语块, 增进其口语表达的地道性、流利性及准确性, 以提高其英语口语水平。

关键词： 语块, 口语能力, 口语教学

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT I
摘 要 II
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of the study 1
1.2 Significance of the study 2
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3
2.1 Introduction to lexical chunk 3
2.1.1 Definition of lexical chunk 3
2.1.2 Classification of lexical chunk 4
2.1.3 Functions of lexical chunk 6
2.2 An overview of oral English skills 8
2.2.1 General elements of oral English skills 8
2.2.2 General features of oral English skills 9
2.2.3 Research on oral English skills 10
3 LEXICAL APPROACH AND ORAL ENGLISH TEACHING 11
3.1 Introduction to lexical approach 11
3.2 The role of lexical approach in oral English teaching 13
4 CONCLUSION 15
4.1 Major findings 15
4.2 Suggestions for future research 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY 17
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 18

17

Application of the Lexical Chunks to the
Oral English Teaching
1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
With the globalization of the world, English, as a basic and powerful means of communication, play an important role in the world wide communication in many fields, so for English learners, to improve language proficiency, especially their oral English proficiency, seems urgent under such circumstances.
While speaking a language means conversing in it, and comprehending a language means understanding phrases, not as isolated bits of grammatical structure, but as parts of general ebb and flow of the surrounding discourse. In term of oral English proficiency, at least two aspects should be paid attention to and they are native like accuracy and native like fluency. However, the status quo of English learners is far from satisfactory.
Recent work in corpus analysis and computational linguistics has made it possible that huge quantities of natural text can be analyzed, and it is considered that there exits a phenomenon of language chunks in English and much of our language output is not formed from the smallest units but are formed in the form of multi-word ‘chunks” of language. These lexical chunks are stored in the human brain in forms of the whole, and draw their advantages in grammar, meaning as well as the context. What’s more, cognitive and psycho-linguistic research give evidences to support the use of lexical chunks. It is believed that language acquisition is a dual mode system, in which a balance is achieved between rules and examples, lexical chunks in particular, according to different communication goals. The lexical chunks can help turn the complex syntactic analysis into relatively simple chunk processing, greatly making language processing easy, reducing the burden of language processing, improving the fluency and accuracy and helping internalizing grammatical rules of language output.

1.2 Significance of the study
Generally, despite many years of English learning, the most of the English learners in China, haven’t laid a solid foundation of English knowledge relatively. Although they are eager to study English well, when they put great effort to learn English and but to get little progress, they will lose confidence and believe English to hard to learn well. In most cases, their grammar is weak, their vocabulary in memory is small and they speak English with dissatisfied accuracy and fluency, even if they are eager to study English language well.
From the perspective of this phenomenon, a new English teaching and learning approach should be conducted in order to meet the needs. In this paper, a lexical chunk-based approach is put forward as a new way to improve language learner’s oral English teaching, relative strategies can be carried out to provide instructions for an oral language teaching and learning.

2 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction to lexical chunk
In this section, the definition of lexical chunks is introduced firstly, and then will come to the classification and characteristics of chunks, in order to get an overview and a better understanding why chunk plays an important role in teaching approach, it is followed by some insights about the functions of chunks.
2.1.1 Definition of lexical chunk
Many researchers are aware of the formulaic nature of language, and they believe that some ready-made memorized combinations or multi-word lexical units could be stored or retrieved quickly. For native speakers, they store many prefabricated chunk in their memory.
With the rapid development of corpus linguistics, language chunks in the position and role of second language acquisition has become a hot spot of linguistic increasingly. Simply speaking, lexical chunks preformed a string or meaningful unit continuously or discontinuously, it is stored in memory, when using we can extract directly, without grammar generated and analyzed. Lexical chunks incorporates the advantage of syntax, semantics and context, has a fixed grammar structure limit, stability, collocation meaning and specific pragmatic environment, it is like a language of semi-finished products, can be used as the ideal unit for storage and output, is advantageous to the accuracy of language expression. According to Widdowson H. G’s study (1989) found that 80% of the English words by the plate structure, that is to say, most of the words are realized by language chunks, lexical chunks is English the language unit.
Biber D.&Finegan E.(1989) introduced the concept about lexical chunks. They pointed out that lexical chunks originally referred to a particular multi-word phenomenon, which have the characteristics of traditional grammar and lexis, and at the same time it is usually stored in a formulaic structure of fixed or semi-fixed chunks.
The lexical phrases as “chunks’ of language of varying length, and lexical phrases traditional poles are multi-word lexical phenomena which exist somewhere between the traditional grammar of lexical and syntax, conventionalized form composites that happen more frequently and have more idiomatically formed meaning than the forms of language that is put together every time.
Wood(1986) claims that lexical chunks are “as parts of language, they are sequence, continuous or sometimes discontinuous, of words or other components, which are, prefabricated; which means that they are stored and retrieved as whole from memory at the time of use, instead they are being subject to analysis by the language grammar rules”. The lexical chunks as the vocabulary items which include a sequence of two or multi-words that semantically or syntactically form a meaningful and inseparable component.
Therefore, it is idea of “lexical approach” presented by Lewis as an alternative to the traditional grammar-based teaching approaches. And the main principle of a lexical approach is the “language include grammaticalized lexis,(lewis,1993). Lexis greatly emphasized in this teaching approach.

2.1.2 Classification of lexical chunk
Chomsky's language acquisition research has found that children learn language from lexical chunks acquisition, especially in the early learning and memory. When the children use the "what day is it today? ", they use the five words as a integral unit , and don't know that is a five-words constitute linguistic unit. While they learn "What day is it tomorrow?" , they still regard “What day is it " as a whole unit. They use “It’s ...” as a whole unit to answer that question. At the same time, They store “come-on, kiss-me, I-love-you " such structures as a whole unit of memory. Children repeatedly and successfully use some similar modes. They generalize the structure rules and then form the grammatical ability that as a part of the lexical chunks, as a whole exists in the mental lexicon.
Nattinger&Decarrico (1992) argue that language fluency is not depend on how much the generative rules of grammar has stored in the learners’ brains but depends on how much lexical chunks of the language has actually stored in the learners’ brains. It is lexical chunks that enable people to express themselves fluently. In 1993, Michaei Lewis, a linguist, put forward the lexical chunk teaching theory (Lexical Approach) in his treatise. Lexical chunks is composed of multiple words, combined with the syntax and semantics and context, both have the function of vocabulary and grammar, the form of that is relatively fixed so that is remembered, processed, stored and extracted as a whole unit. In 1997, Lewis divided lexical chunks into the following several types:
(1) Phrasal verbs: put off, get out; (2) Polywords : by the way, inside out; (3) collocations or word partnerships: motor vehicle, absolutely convinced; (4) Idioms (institutional utterances) : I 'll get it, we 'll see, that' ll do, if 1 were you, would you like a cup of coffee; (5) sentence frame and quotation (sentence frames the and heads : That 's not as... as you think, The problem was; (6) Text frames : In this paper, we explore...：firstly...; secondly...; finally..; Use a conversation of security inspection as an example in the professional oral English:
Passenger Check-In
(P=Passenger A=Agent)
P：Good morning．Can I check in here for HU 7278 to Tokyo?
A：Here you are．Please put your baggage on the conveyor belt．
P：OK. How many pieces of baggage can I carry onto the plane?
A：Passengers holding first class tickets may carry 2 pieces within the total weight of 5 kg onto plane．
P：Can I take this briefcase as my hand baggage?
A：That’s all right．What kind of seat do you prefer?
P：Please give me a first row, aisle seat．
A：I’m sorry. No more aisle seats are available．Will the window seat be all right?
P：That’s okay．
A：Here are your ticket and passport．and here are your boarding pass and baggage checks．
P：Thank you very much!
A：Have a nice flight!
In the above dialogue of the passengers and the security personnel , has total 98 words of lexical chunks, accounting for 81.6%. The collocation such as conveyor belt, first class tickets, total weight, aisle seats, carry.. onto the plane, and idioms : What kind of seat do you prefer, Will the window seat be all right? Have a nice flight. All are restricted by language environment, and associated to specific context. Sentence frame such as No more... are available; Here are your...; Passengers... can carry...onto plane and so on, are related to the context of security inspection. When communicate with others, as long as using the proper words according to the real context can achieve the goal of communication.
2.1.3 Functions of lexical chunk
The functions of lexical chunks are closely related to communication, either in written or spoken forms. Thus, it is necessary for language learners to understand the function of lexical chunks in order to facilitate discourse comprehension. There are two ways of functions of chunks. One of them is presented by Moon(1998), who sums up five functions of lexical chunks based on the way in which they play the role in the content and structure of a text, and they are informational function, evaluative function situational function, moralizing function and organizational function, respectively.
Information function refers that the lexical chunks can represent proposition and convey meaning (e.g. white as a sheet, in the running). Evaluative function states that
lexical chunks may deliver the speaker's evaluation and attitude (e.g. a pain in the neck).And, situational function are connected with extralinguistic context and respond to situation (e.g. Would you mind..., Excuse me.). However, modalizing function states that the lexical chunks may convey request, advice, truth values, etc. (e.g. I suggest you not ... You know what I mean.). At last, organizational function suggests that formulaic expressions convey the function of organizing text and marking discourse structure (e.g further more, for example, etc
The other classification of the function of chunks is summarized by Nattinger and DeCarrico (2001). It is based on the way that reflect the requirements of spoken and written language. The three types of functions are social interactions, necessary topics, and discourse topics respectively.
A. Social interactions: This