The Role of Lexical Chunks in Writing and Its Implications for College English Teaching

Abstract

Lexical chunks are considered as composites of form and function and they are the ideal units of language learning and teaching. This study aims to review the role of lexical chunks in writing and discuss its pedagogical implications for college English teaching. Through reviewing the related research on lexical chunks, it is found that most of the research supports that lexical chunks play vital role in improving fluency, accuracy and idiomaticity of English writing. In view of these findings, this study suggests that it is necessary and feasible in Chinese universities to apply the lexical approach to English teaching, divert students’ attention to larger segments of texts and cultivate students’ awareness of lexical chunks. However, this study is just a bibliographic review of the research on lexical chunks and doesn’t conduct any experiment on the application of lexical approach in classroom and its effects on English writing.