Chapter I Introduction
1.1 BackgroundFor the past three decades, with a rapid progress in the areas of psycholinguisticand cognitive linguistic, much more attention has been focused on lexical chunkslearning which has several app}llatic}i3s iz} o}}e: central }nea}}ing. Meanwhile, with thehelp of computers, researchers are able to collect thousands of actual language data todetect how language is used in practice. Investigations demonstrate that 90% parts ofdaily discourse are composed of relatively fixed prefabricated phrases (Altenberg,1998). These lexical chunks are of characteristic with grammar and lexicon. It is alanguage using routine that can be learned, used and stored in mind as a whole
The main idea of early researchers" study on lexical chunks (Becker 1975:Pawley and Syder, 1983;Nattinger and DeCarrico 1989; Sinclair(1991);Lewis1993;Wray, 2002a;Lewis 1993，1997), can be summarized, as cognitiveScientists Newell(1990)state from the cognitive perspective that chunking is theprinciple for the cognition of human beings. A chunk is a unit of memory whichmakes the sets of chunks stored in memory into a larger chunk. Chunking abilitymeans connecting these structure recursively. It is a pervasive characteristic forhuman memory.
In second language acquisition area, researchers have also found that the bestunit of learning a language is to learn a larger lexical-grammatical unit rather thansolely memorize single vocabulary and grammatical rules. DeCarrico and Nattinger(1992) conclude that earlier researchers have shown the pervasiveness of ritualizationin language behavior. They also mention that human beings are creatures of habit inother respects of the behavior, particularly in the ways to use language, which providea strong support for us to study the function and role that the ritualized bits oflanguage plays in second language acquisition and performing.
Since the trend is that the grammar and lexicon have been treated holistically,and as Skehan states formulaic language make a frame to highlight the newinformation we present (Peter Skehan, 1998). There is a need to highlight the lexicalchunks as well as its memory strategy as great importance in second languagelearning, for it has certainly given us new ways of looking at language, and hasalready "revealed quite unsuspected patterns" phenomena which "traditionaldescriptive frameworks are normally not able to account for" (Sinclair 1991 p xvii) bymeans of analyzing enormous quantities of naturally occurring text.
Another concept related to this study is memory strategy which has beendeveloped from learning strategy. It is known to us that language learning has a closerelationship with memory and memory strategy. Almost in the parallel time with theresearches on lexical chunks, a series of studies on memory strategies and memorystrategy use were conducted (Cohen&Aphek,1981;Lambert&Freed, 1982;Oxford, 1982b, 1985b; Nyikos,1987; Nyikos&Oxford,1987; Hague,1987). It hasbeen demonstrated that the memory strategy plays an important role when studentsare learning English materials. Researches to date also lends general support to theclaim that memory strategy impact positively on foreign language learning(O' Malley&Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990; Cohen,20072000), as well as many Chinese scholars (SaiDan&Li Boyue, 2005, Hong ZhenLi Hong 2007).
1.2 Objective and Significance of the Study
According to Becker, one of the earliest people to point out the importancelexical chunks, language communication does not depend on the single word, butthose fixed or semi-fixed prefabricated phrases of varying length. Since then, manyresearches demonstrate that lexical chunks or lexical phrases play an important role inlanguage applications among native English speakers. (Pawley and Syder, 1983;Wray,1992; Sinclair，1991;Nattinger and DeCan-ico, 1992). In this respect,mastering the lexical chunks by memory strategies is an effective way to learnEnglish.
However, for such a long time, grammars and vocabularies has been regardedas separated in traditional Chinese language teaching and learning. And even if thetwo parts can be achieved perfectly, sometimes learners' performance on languageoutput may not be satisfactory. In the near two decades, scholars in China graduallyintroduce the language chunk theory into domestic foreign language teaching andlearning.
This study combines the two concepts, lexical chunks learning and memorystrategy use together. In review of previous studies in the relative field, we found thatstudies on a specific type of strategies were rather few while the researches onmemorizing lexical chunks were not abundant. To help improve the lexical chunks
References
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高二学生英语语块记忆策略使用调查研究
摘要 5-6
Abstract 6
Chapter Ⅰ Introduction 9-14
1.1 Background 9-11
1.2 Objective and Significance of the Study 11-12
1.3 Organization of the Thesis 12-14
Chapter Ⅱ Literature Review 14-39
2.1 Lexical Chunks 14-29
2.1.1 Definition and Terminology of Lexical Chunks 14-17
2.1.2 Classification of Lexical Chunks 17-20
2.1.3 Nature and Function of Lexical Chunks 20-24
2.1.4 Studies of Lexical Chunks Acquisition Abroad and at Home 24-29
2.2 Memory Process,Learning Strategy and Memory Strategies 29-35
2.2.1 Memory Process 29-32
2.2.2 Language Learning Strategy 32-33
2.2.3 Memory Strategy 33-35
2.3 Relative Researches on the Use of Memory Strategy in Learning LexicalChunks at Home and Abroad 35-39
Chapter Ⅲ Research Methodology 39-45
3.1 Research Questions and Hypothesis 39
3.2 Participants 39-41
3.3 Instruments 41-44
3.3.1 Questionnaire 41-43
3.3.2 Interviews 43-44
3.4 Data Collection 44-45
Chapter Ⅳ Analyses of the Data 45-66
4.1 The Analysis of Questionnaire 45-62
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