“TOPIC SENTENCE”： GETTING THE IDEA ACROSS ABOUT GETTING IDEAS ACROSS

“主题句”:讲授与习得(英文)

This paper reports on an experimental study of the acquisition of topic sentence by Chinese learners of English. In the preliminary experiment, on the basis of formal instruction theory and noticing theory, we isolated two types of teaching practice: formal instruction and pushed output. Then we carried out different teaching practices on two groups of subjects respectively, taking the third group of subjects as the control group. However, contrary to our expectation, the results indicated that the acquisition of topic sentence does not have much to do with different teaching practices, but depends on learners'cof using topic sentence, as was corroborated in the following further experiment. In the further experiment, the subjects were required to write two compositions. For composition 1, the use of topic sentence was not required ; for composition 2, the use of topic sentence was clearly demanded. The results showed a considerable increase in topic sentences in composition 2, implying that the acquisition of topic sentence is closely related with learners' consciousness of use, and teachers' clear instruction can raise learners'consciousness.

This paper reports on an experimental study of the acquisition of topic sentence by Chinese learners of English.In the preliminary experiment,on the basis of formal instruction theory and noticing theory,we isolated two types of teaching practice:formal instruction and pushed output.Then we carried out different teaching practices on two groups of subjects respectively,taking the third group of subjects as the control group.However,contrary to our expectation,the results indicated that the acquisition of topic sentence does not have much to do with different teaching practices,but depends on learners' consciousness of using topic sentence,as was corroborated in the following further experiment.In the further experiment,the subjects were required to write two compositions.For composition 1,the use of topic sentence was not required;for composition 2,the use of topic sentence was clearly demanded.The results showed a considerable increase in topic sentences in composition 2,implying that the acquisition of topic sentence is closely related With learners' consciousness of use,and teachers' clear instruction can raise learners' consciousness.