Chapter OneTheoretical Basis of the Research
1.1. Input Hypothesis
These five hypotheses, though given by Krashen in different periods, make up thewhole system of Krashen’s theories.Krashen(1981), in Acquisition-learning Distinction Hypothesis, distinguishesacquisition and learning. When exposed in second language, people can subconsciouslypick up second language. This is called acquisition. The process, similar to children’sacquiring of mother tongue, is subconscious-implicit learning, which is inductive andmeaning focused. However, learning is a conscious process which is deductive andgrammar focused. It is the way adults learn a second language (Ellis, 1986:75-77).Natural Sequence Hypothesis claims the second language acquisition happens in anunavoidable order like children’s acquiring mother tongue. People hold different ideasfrom Krashen because this hypothesis ignores factors like age, background andexposure to second language.Monitor Hypothesis claims when people learn grammar in a second language,correctness and rules must be focused. Learners use what they have learned to makesure what they are saying grammatical. Affective Filter Hypothesis claims second language acquisition is influenced byaffective variables. Negative ones like anxiety will have bad effects on second languageacquisition, while positive ones like strong motivation will help with second languageacquisition.The above four hypotheses have close relation to Input Hypothesis, because“humans obtain language in only one way-by comprehending messages or by gettingcomprehensible input.” (Krashen, 1985:2). That is to say, without comprehensible input,no learning or acquisition can happen. When language learners are exposed in thesecond language environment, or engaged in the second language learning, all the inputmust be comprehensible. If they have come to the level of understanding the input, theycan acquire or learn. In the learning of function and grammar rules, learners will usethe previous knowledge to correct the new structure. And the low affective filter makesthe second language learning of acquisition progress better. Whichever hypothesiswill not work without the comprehensible input, which means Input Hypothesis playsthe most fundamental role in Krashen’ theories.
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1.2 Output Hypothesis
Output（Ricahards，2000: 135） means “the language a learner produces is byanalogy”. Output Hypothesis is also called “Comprehensive Output Hypothesis”.Successful language acquisition requires not only comprehensive input, but alsocomprehensive output; language produced by the learners can be understood by otherspeakers of the language.On the basis of Input Hypothesis, Merrill Swain (1985) in Canada, developed thecomprehensible Output Hypothesis after the immersion teaching, which suggestscomprehensible output as well as large quantities of comprehensible input enablessuccessful second language learning.. Second language Learners can not speak fluentlyand accurately only by input. Successful learners must have got large quantities ofcomprehensible input and produced comprehensible output. “Learning takes placewhen encountering a gap in the linguistic knowledge of the second language” (Swain,1985:235). When learners notice this gap and become aware of it, they may be able toamend his output. In this case learners learn new things about the second language andfacilitate the previous language.
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Chapter TwoCurrent Situation of Oral English TeachingIn Junior Middle Schools in China
2.1 Questionnaire of Students
The questionnaire (see appendix1)which is taken among 116 students in GradeSeven, Lie Wu Middle School in Chengdu in September, 2012, covers the questions ofage, gender, time of English learning, interests, classroom performance and ways topractice oral English in and after class. The purpose is to find out the general situationof the students oral English learning. The first item is about students’ feelings about oralEnglish. 32% of students think oral English very important. 12% think it useless. Andthe rest of the students think it has nothing to do with their testsThe second item is where they practice oral English. 51% of the students onlypractice in class. 7% do the oral practice at home. Just two students say they keeppracticing together as much as possible.The third item is whether they like the textbook? 73% say no.The fourth item is whether they would like to do the duty report alone or with apartner? Only 9 students would like to do the duty report by themselves. The rest allwant to share it as pairwork.The fifth is about their confidence in speaking in class. Most students, 69% are notconfident enough.
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2.2 Reasons for Students' Failure of Current Oral English
Why do Chinese middle school students fail in their oral English? Oral Englishperforms the important role in communication. And language itself should be and is thetool for people to communicate. If students fail in oral English, they can not take activepart in class and gradually lose interests in English, which leads to the failure of thissubject. As teachers in junior middle, the author tries to find out the reasons fromteachers, students and teaching materials. Some schools have their own choice of textbooks now, but most schools still use“Go for it” as their textbooks. Whatever textbooks chosen, they are with too many newwords and grammar structures. Teachers spend most of their time explaining andstudents have to spend a lot of time memorizing the words, sentence patterns, and thepassages. Most of the materials need to be recited, or it means failure in all kinds oftests. In the latest version of “Go for it”, editors added new modals of dialogues asexamples for students to improve oral communication, which ended up as morememorizing work for students instead of improving oral English.Secondly, there are too much units in one textbook for each term and the time tofinish each textbook is restricted and teachers need to catch up with the timetable. Thepart about oral English that is not in the tests will be the first to leave behind. Especiallybefore the tests, most classes are full of language points and grammar. Both the teachersand the students are afraid of missing some language points which might appear in thetests. After students draw lines under the language points in dialogues, the oral Englishparts come to a closure.
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Chapter ThreeStrategies for Improving Junior Middle ………19
3.1 Theories and Junior Middle school English .... 19
3.2 How to Make Valid Input ........ 22
3.3 How to Make Appropriate Output....... 24
3.3.1 Right Attitude toward Fluency and Accuracy....... 24
3.3.2 Peer Correction of Errors........ 24
3.4 Good Habit Formation ...... 25
3.4.1 Efficient Stimulus ....... 25
3.4.2 Timely Reinforcement ...... 25
Chapter Four The Experiment to Test the Strategies ...... 27
4.1 Purpose ...... 27
4.2 Subjects ..... 27
4.3 Instruments ......28
4.4 Collecting Data and Analyzing Data .........31
4.4.1 Analysis of the Two Questionnaires....31
4.4.2 Analysis of the Two Tests........32
4.5 Findings and limitation ......40
Chapter FourThe Experiment to Test the Strategies
4.1 Purpose
The design of this experiment is to test whether the application of the theories caninfluence students’ oral English. The experiment lasts for a whole school year fromSeptember, 2012 to June, 2013. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used inthe experiment. The subjects of the experiment are the 116 students from two classes in Lie WuMiddle School in Chengdu. Both the students from the experimental class and theControlled class are of the same level according to the school entrance exam. Thesubjects all have been told that the questionnaire will be taken anonymously and willnot have any bad effect on their school learning. The mean score of experimental classis 39.5 and the Controlled class’s is 38.9. Full score of the test is 50. There is nosignificant distinction between the two classes.
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Conclusion
In today’s world, with communication between China and foreign countriesbecoming more and more important, English has become a universal language. In China,English has been taught as a middle school subject for many years. While many peoplestill can’t use it fluently to talk with foreigners, even though some can get very highscores in tests and read very professional English materials in their own field. As ateacher in junior middle school, the author also has the same question, “Why can’tjunior middle school students speak English after so many years’ of English Learning?”In most teachers’ opinion, time was spent in how to pass the tests and get high score.Can we improve our oral English as well as successfully passing the tests? These twothings are not contrary to each other according to New National English Curriculum”.Besides, in the students-centered classroom, activities cannot be carried out withoutstudents’ oral English ability. Teachers should try to find out ways to improve students’oral English with the help of Input and Output Hypotheses and Multi-intelligenceTheory.
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