Increasing The Comprehensible English Input

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

(1)Can increasing the comprehensible English input promote students’ English achievement?

(2) What are students’ attitudes towards the increase of comprehensible English input ?

3.2 Subjects

The subjects who participated in this experiment were all students of grade 5 in Jiu shuikeng Primary School, Panyu, Guangzhou. Of the 90 students，32 were girls and 58 were boys. Their average age was 10 years old. The students were randomly divided into two classes. A language proficiency test was given before the first English class(a pretest was carried out at the beginning of the first semester in the new term). 14 girls and 31 boys were in Class 1, and 18 girls and 27 boys were in Class 2，who have formally studied English for about 4 years from grade 1 to grade 4 . In order to keep this study valid, the author gave the analyses of those two classes by their pretest examination scores(see appendix I)，which was carded out on September 1，2011.Class 1 was chosen as the experimental group(EG)，and Class 2 as the control group(CG).The two classes were taught by the same teacher .The same set of textbook was used as the teaching materials .Each class had four periods of English lessons a week.

3.3 Instruments

The instruments used in the experiment were tests, questionnaires and interviews.

3.3.1 Two Tests

Two tests were held at the beginning and the end of the experiment respectively to measure the students’ achievements in two groups. The two tests were scored by the researcher in an anonymous way to make sure the reliability of the marking of the two tests，which was essential for the comparison of the results of the experiment .The pretest was designed by Panyu teaching and research section of the Department of Education of Panyu；the researcher first used the language proficiency test to measure the participants’ English proficiency before the experiment .The Success With English book 5(published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.)was used as the teaching materials for both groups .The textbooks contained dialogue, sing along, rhyme, work with language, fun with language, story time, project, do you know , additional words and assessment .After a semester’s teaching，a final examination was held to test the results of experiment .The posttest was designed by Panyu teaching and research section of the Department of Education of Panyu as the final exam of grade 5. Both included two parts: listening and reading and writing. In the listening part, there were 5 sections. It needed the students choose or write the right answer according the listening materials. In the reading and writing part, there were 5 parts : asking and answering the questions ，reading comprehension(multiple choices)，vocabulary and structure(multiple choices)，Complete the dialogue (choosing the proper words or sentences)，and writing(under given topic)(see Table 3.1).Both of the tests were required to finish within 90 minutes. All the students’ scores of the posttest(see appendix II)were calculated and tested by way of independent sample t-test analysis with the software SPSS.

Table 3.1 is the composition of the two tests .All the participants took a pretest before the students started their first English class and also all the participants took the final examination of the first term(posttest).The contents of the pretest and final examination(posttest)consisted of the same contents(See Table 3.1).

1istening comprehension

40%

vocabulary and structure

10%

reading comprehension

30%

Complete the dialogue

12%

Write a passage

8%

3.3.2 Questionnaires

Questionnaires were also appointed to be the instrument in this survey. The author delivered the pre-experiment questionnaire(Appendix III)to the students on the first day of the semester before the first English class.There were five questions. They were given in the form of multiple choices .

3.3.3 Interview

At the end of the experiment，the author interviewed some of the students in order to find out the students’actual attitudes towards the increase of comprehensible English input output in the English classroom.(See appendix IV).

3.4 Procedure of the Experiment

The author has adopted two different teaching approaches in the control class and the experiment class respectively. The experiment was carried out in the first term of the year 2011.It lasted from September 2011 to January 2012.The participants were students of grade 5 in a primary school. Each class had four periods of English lesson a week. During this experimental period，the subjects were expected to finish 6 modules(Module 1,2,3,4,5,6)，approximately 8 periods of classes(320 minutes)for one module. The teaching procedures of the two classes were as follows：

3.4.1 The Experimental Class

The teacher tries out a variety of short activities to challenge and motivate the students as well as provide them with enough comprehensible input. The teacher uses these activities at the beginning of the classes to review previous lessons or to introduce new lessons in an imaginative way. It’s pleased with the results. The students welcome the activities and they benefit a lot from the conversational interaction. The teacher also encourages the students to make good use of their spare time to get as much comprehensible input as they could. The teacher does not ask students to read between the lines, only ask them to make themselves enjoy reading. In this way, students are exposed to large quantities of input apart from their textbooks. Now they also can locate a variety of interesting and relevant levels English reading materials from the Websites of the Internet or The TV. The teacher teaches students grammar and vocabulary by asking them to use the grammar to express different communicative meanings through group discussing and story-retelling.

Besides teaching the ordinary materials,the teacher also teaches the students phonetics ,which helps students learn how to read and how to write the new words quickly. In this way ,The teacher can teach the ordinary teaching materials more quickly than the control class. So the teacher choose another reading books "Developing Read and Write" as another teaching materials .In the books , there are 6 units just like the text book. In each unit ,there are 6 passages from level 1 to level 3 . There are 2 passages in each level .And level 1 is the easiest , and level 3 is the most difficult .

The teacher guarantee the effective foreign language teaching has to master the following skills:

Firstly, know how to guide the students effectively. Provide clear and effective instructions for the students, which will be helpful to the students’ understanding.

Secondly, ask good questions that can provide the introduction of the backgrounds about the text or that can give the students' some hints about the text. This will greatly facilitate the students' understanding.

Thirdly, organize interesting activities, which can attract the students to take part in classroom activities and help them realize the aim of learning in playing. And also, this is a very good chance for the students to practice what they had learned.

Fourthly, use effective means to make the language input comprehensible, such as repetition, paraphrase, showing actual things with pictures and so on.

At last, ask the students to take part in the outside activities, for example, listen to the broadcasting, watch English TV and films, read simple English newspapers and magazine and require them to guarantee the time of language input out of the classroom.

3.4.2 The Control Class

The teacher teaches students about language and its rules, asking them to learn facts about language. Grammar is taught as rules to be memorized. Students listened to and read specially written classroom texts. They have to rely only on the textbook as an aid to language learning and sit in rows facing the teacher and spend most of their time repeating what the teacher says. They do not learn how to express their own ideas. Teacher alone assesses the student’s progress. Learners do not develop ability to assess what they have learned. The teaching procedures of the control class are as following：

1)The teacher gives introductory words to the teaching content.

2)The teacher asks the students to read the material and to do the comprehension exercises.

3)The teacher reads and explains the teaching material word by word，and explains the new words and structures according to teacher’s book.

4)The teacher asks the students to do exercises.

There were 90 subjects in the two groups ,they took part in two tests .The one was held on the morning of September 1st ,2011(at the beginning of the experiment), then all the papers were marked on September 2nd,2011 .The other test was held on January 9th，2012(at the end of the experiment)，with the purpose to investigate how effective the method in this thesis. The results of the posttest were available on January 10th，2012.As to the questionnaire，i.e. attitudes towards the input and output，and the new teaching method，subjects in the experimental group had it in a regular lesson. The valid number of subjects in the experimental group was 45，and the valid number of subjects in the control group was also 45.It meant that the 90 subjects in total were considered in the data analyses and further discussion.

For the two tests，the researcher did the entire counting job，which was to present some findings for the study. Moreover, the tests were scored in an anonymous way to guarantee the results of the two tests. The comparison of the scores of the first test at the very beginning of the first term might show whether the English proficiency level of the two groups were equivalent before the experiment. The results of the two classes were analyzed with the SPSS Windows. If the difference was not significant when the results were processed with independent samples t-test，the two classes respectively could undertake this experiment which could be compared after the experiment. The post test results were analyzed to know there was a significant difference between the control class and the experimental class whether or not. So the new teaching method could be proved effective or not.

3.5 Data collection and analysis

For better investigation of application of increasing the input in primary teaching, both quantitative data and qualitative data were collected in this study. Data collected for the present study were mainly through proficiency tests and questionnaires. The data from tests belonged to quantitative data while the data from questionnaire survey belonged to qualitative data. The quantitative data was used to examine the effects of increasing the input; further, qualitative data was used to investigated the EG participants’ attitude to learning before and after the application.

The experiment consisted three phases: before-training phase, on-training phase and after-training phase. Data collections took place in before-training phase and after-training phase. In before-training phase, namely from September 1st to January 10th , 2011, pretests were conducted to both groups to measure their abilities and to see if all participants owed the approximate entry level so that the researcher could determined the training scheme.

This study is designed to present the results of the experiment and discussion is made with the comparison between the EG and the CG in order to answer the research questions. The results were from multiple data resources which included quantitative and qualitative information. First, quantitative data was gained through analyzing the participants’ scores with the aid of the computer software SPSS 13.0 and independent t-test was used to illustrate the differences between groups in the score of pretest and posttest for the purpose of measuring the effect of the increasing the input . Means, standard deviation (SD), t-value and probability were chosen in t-test to examine the differences in the students’ achievement between and within groups. Before the comparing the means between tests and groups, guidelines for interpreting alpha as is shown in Figure 3 (Qin, 2003).

Table 3.2 The relationship between probability and hypothesis

The level of P

The probability for the truth of the null hypothesis

The degree of the significance of the difference

P≤0.01

Very low

Very significant

P≤0.05

Low

Significant

P＞0.05

High

Not significant

And then quantitative data from questionnaire instrumentations within EG was complementary to quantitative analysis to verify the findings from analyzing the participants’ scores and take a close look at students’achievements by increasing input . The qualitative data in this study was obtained through questionnaire survey and it was shown in percentage to obtain some general information before and after the training from the perspective of EG participants’ attitude before and after the training. Specifically, in pre-questionnaire, the percentages were calculated for a) their achievements through their former English learning; b) their attitudes of learning English. In post interview, the contents are about the students ‘s achievements and learning attitudes through increasing the input .

Chapter Four Results and Discussion

4.1 Overview

Based on the data collected in the experiment, this chapter presents the results of the study and a discussion to the two research questions will be made one by one with the reference of the experiment results from quantitative perspective and qualitative perspective. Section 4.2 is devoted to the pretest and posttest results and the related data analysis will be focused in the section. In section 4.3, the discussion in relations to the research questions will be preceded and the questionnaire results will verify the findings as a complement from the perspective of attitude change within EG. Section 4.4 is the summary from the two questions .

4.2 Results of the study

In this part, the pretest and posttest scores of both groups in are investigated and the research questions will be addressed through quantitative data analysis below.

Tables 4.1 provides the participants’ progress in the tests respectively. According to the data, in pretest, participants in EG scored 89.6817, but scored 97.2013,respectively; participants in CG scored 89.7434in pretest but scored 91.3726 in posttest respectively. The examination of t-test yielded the t-values -1.333 (P = 0.185 > 0.05) in pretest. It showed that the tests there was no difference between EG and CG in the pretest. To say in another words, EG and CG had almost the same levels at the beginning of the experiment. However, after a term’s training, participants in EG yielded the t-values 3.976 in posttest respectively (P = 0.000 < 0.05) individually, which indicated that there is a significant difference of EG between tests.

Table 4.1 Results of t-test for the pretest and posttest

Test

Group

N

Mean

SD

t

p

Pretest

EG

45

89.6817

7.90710

-1.333

0.185

CG

45

89.7434

7.84673

Posttest

EG

45

97.2013

6.16323

3.976

0.000

CG

45

91.3726

6.88744

4.2.1The results of Pretest

All the participants took the test(pretest)before the students started their first English class and also all the participants took the final examination of the first term(posttest).Both of the two tests included two parts: listening and reading and writing. In the listening part, there are 5 sections. It needs the students choose or write the right answer according the listening materials. In the reading and writing part, there are 5 parts :asking and answering the questions ，reading comprehension(multiple choices)，vocabulary and structure(multiple choices)，Complete the dialogue (choosing the proper words or sentences)，and writing(under given topic) The research aims at verification of the hypothesis：compared with the traditional teaching method in the control class, the new method in the experimental class can help the students to improve English proficiency.

The mean scores and standard deviations of the two classes are compared of the pretest were shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.1 The mean scores and standard deviations of the two classes

group

N

Mean

Std.Deviation

Std.Error Mean

pretest E—Group

45

89.6817

7.90710

1.04167

pretest C—Group

45

89.7434

7.84673

1.03365

Before the experiment，a pretest is conducted with the results that the mean of the experiment class as 89.6817 and S.D.7.90710, while those of the control class as 89.7434 and 7.84673 respectively. We see the descriptive statistics for the two groups that the mean of the control group is a little higher than that of the experimental group. That is，the scores of the students in control group，on average，a little higher than those of the students who are in experimental group. So it is easy to make a conclusion that the students in two classes have the approximately equal English competence.

4.2.2 The Results of Posttest

Table 4.2：The mean scores and standard deviations of the two classes in posttest are compared and shown.

group

N

Mean

Std.Deviation

Std.Error Mean

posttest E-Group

45

97.2013

6.16323

0.85713

posttest C-Group

45

91.3726

6.88744

0.93557

After one term experiment of implementation of the method,the final test is conducted at the end of the term. In order to validate the test. with their S.D. as 6.16323experimental class)and 6.88744 (control class)respectively, the experimental class gets the mean of 97.2013points more than that(91.3726)of the control class. From this table，it is easy to find the result from the scores：the mean scores in the experimental class are higher than those of control class. So in the posttest ,the performance of the test in experimental class is better than that in control class .

4.2.3 Results of Pre-experiment Questionnaire

In order to have a general idea of the subjects’ past experience，attitudes and desire to the English class before the new term ,a pre-questionnaire was carried out before the experiment.45 students in the experimental class gave their answers to the questions.

4.2.3.1Results about students’ Achievements

Q1.The first question：What’s your previous scores of English Test ?Did you satisfy your English achievements ? (See Table 5.1)

Table5.1 What’s your previous scores of English Test ? Did you satisfy your English achievements ?

viewpoint

80-90/

Unsatisfied

80-90/

Unsatisfied

80-90/

Unsatisfied

90-100/

Satisfied

number

9

26

7

3

percentage

20%

54.5%

18.2%

7.3%

It is found that 42 students(92.7%)of the students taking this questionnaire think that they were unsatisfied their English achievements at all ，only3 students(7. 3%)think that they were satisfied their English scores of the test . From the numbers we can see clearly that most of the students were unsatisfied their English scores .They want to change the situation .

Q2. Have you ever taken part in the English activities or competitons?How many ? their answers are shown in Table 5.3.

Table 4.2：The times of taken part in the English activities or competitions；

Times

Many tines /term

Twice/term

Once/term

Never

number

2

6

11

26

percentage

4.4%

13.3%

24.5%

57.8%

As to the aspect of students’ times of English activities or competitions，26students(57.8%)of them show that they never have any chances to take part in the English activities and competitions .And only 11 students just had one chance in a term .Most of them have few chance to output what did they learn . we can conclude that the students are bored with the traditional teaching method for so many years.They are eager to have a new teaching method for a change in English class. It is easy to find that the need for language input is far from satisfaction for most of the students with the very high percentage. Most of students are not satisfied with the input in English class.

4.2.3.2Results about students’ Attitudes

The following questions explore the students’input about their English classes before(in grade 1 to grade four).we can know what the needs of the students are.

Question 3 In your English class ,did your English teacher use the teaching cards , pictures and do micro teaching ?(See Table5.3).

Table 5.3 In your English class ,did your English teacher use the teaching cards , pictures and do micro teaching ?

100%

80%

70%

60%

Number

0

1

2

42

Percentage

33.3%

2.2%

4.4%

93.4%

Therefore，it is not difficult to draw a conclusion that students want a change in the teaching method. Teacher should utilize an efficient and effective way to organize the English class in which activities for abundant language input and output are prevalently available because most of students believe the knowledge from the teacher are very important. Meanwhile，they are not very satisfied with the quality and quantity of input and output in English class.

Q4 How do you like the questions that the teacher asked ?

Difficult

Normal

Too easy

Number

8

12

25

Percentage

17.8%

26.7%

55.6%

Q5 How do you think of the content of former English class ?

Too much

Normal

Too little

Number

9

13

23

Percentage

20%

28.9%

55.1%

From the two tables of above ,we can see that in the former English class ,most of students can’t satisfy their learning .They are eager to learn more English knowledge .They want the teachers can give more input to them in class.

Q6.Do you like your English teacher and her or his teaching? Do you like the subject of English ?( Table 5.6)

Dislike it

No idea

Like it

Number

31

8

6

Percentage

68.9%

17.8%

13.3%

The question is about the direct attitudes of the students to their English learning. Unfortunately from the question，we can find students learn English passively.31students say they don’t like the present teaching method. Only 6 students say they like it .

From the tables of above ,we can see that in the former English class ,most of students can’t satisfy their learning .They are eager to learn more English knowledge .They want the teachers to give more input to them in class.

4.2.4 Results of the Interview

After the final examination , the author interviewed 8 students who were chosen from the experimental class at random. According to the interview with the students, we can prove some points we have discussed in the previous part in another way.

Q1. How do you think of your scores of English Test in this term ? Did you satisfy your English achievements ?

All the students (8 students)hold that their English scores has improved now .And they were very happy and proud of that .And they satisfied what they did in learning English in this term.

Q2. Have you ever taken part in the English activities or competitons?How many ?

All the students (8 students)said that the times they took part in the English activities or competitons were increasing .Because they were more confident.If there ware any chances ,they would more active to show what they had learn .

Q3. What do you think of the English lessons of this term ?

All the participants(8 students)taking part in the interview think that the classes are more interesting and vivid than the classes in the former class.2 students feel happy and proud when they can speak English in public.6 students agree that they can make a lot of friends，and cultivate their cooperative ability.5 students say they don’t need to write down everything you write on the blackboard as we did before. The teacher explained the texts word by word and sentence by sentence in a traditional way. The teacher only explains the difficult points to us in the new teaching method. He only asks the students to pay much special attention to the points that are difficult for me to understand. So from this point. we can conclude that all the students enjoy the current class and can learn more knowledge from it.

Q4.Do you like teachers choose Multimedia teaching to provide more opptunities of input and out put?

Among the 8 students，all the students say they like Multimedia teaching .Because It’s more interesting and can learn more English knowledge. The content of the classes is much more than before .They can see more ,listen more .From the topic，it is not difficult to find that all the students believe the input and output are very important in English study. With the teachers’help, all the students are motivated to get more input and get more chances for output in or out of English class.

Q5. Do you like teachers Broaden our horizon, besides the content of the textbook ,also give more relate cultural information ?

All the students (8 students)say they like teachers give them more relate cultural information.Because they think the cultural information is very interesting and important ,which can let them understand the knowledge of the textbook deeply.

4.3 Discussion

The author did this study to investigate whether the increase of target language input could lead to the improvement of students' English learning achievement . By studying the gathered data throughout the 21weeks, the author is happy to state that following ideas in response to the research questions.

4.3.1 Discussion on Research Question 1

Research Question 1:Can the increase of the comprehensible English input promote the students’ English achievement?

By adding the target language materials, students increased their learning input, and the learning input activities helped students language schema in background and cultural knowledge. Gradually students learned to listen and read for comprehension such as listening or reading for gist, listening or reading for details, listening or reading for selective context, predicting appropriate responses and so on. With the increase of content schema, students' English learning ability and language proficiency were also improved as a result of the constructive nature of the promoting English input process, and the interaction between the text and the learns’ prior knowledge. This can be illustrated by reports from the students and their academic records in English.

4.3.2 Disccusion on Research Question 2

Research question 2: Can the increase of the comprehensible English input promote students’ interest of learning English?

In general, students do have made great progress in their language learning in listening, speaking, reading and writing. As a result of the increase of the comprehensible English input, students not only enlarged their vocabularies and idioms, they also built up the interest and confidence in learning the second language well. The longer students listened or read , the more input they would have, and the better learning competence and language interest they would have.

As a good supplementary material for the comprehensible English input, it has provided a variety of topics, rich contents as well as appropriate length, which are suitable for students to be engaged in the process of learning a foreign language. All those interviews, feedback, as well as the data of students’ twenty –one -week academic performance, have clearly revealed effectiveness of increasing the comprehensible English input by using newspapers or magazines .The activities of increasing the comprehensible English input help students a lot with their schemata in the following aspects of providing students with a large vocabulary and idioms, offering students learning opportunity, build up students’ interest and confidence, and cultivating students’ cultural awareness and knowledge.

4.4 Summary

To summarize, the comparison between groups and tests showed that increasing the inptut group (EG) improved more significantly in improving students’achievements than traditional teaching group. Furthermore, the qualitative data from questionnaire survey revealed significantly overall improvements in attitude toward learning happened to EG participants.

Chapter Five Conclusion

5.1 Overview of the study

It is not easy to find a way to improve students’ achievements efficiency, to facilitate pupils’ ability under the second language settings. This study tried to implement the program of increasing the input training to the participants in EG. The pre- and post-tests results of EG were shown in Chapter four and data were compared with CG, which participants were taught without increasing the input , to evaluate if the application of increasing the input teaching was positive or negative. Furthermore, the research questions were discussed and answered based on the experiment data and observation evidence.

5.2 Implications

Krashen (1982) holds that the classroom especially is valuable for those who do not have other sources to receive comprehensible input and who are not linguistically advanced enough to take advantage of input. So the instruction in the classroom is very important and necessary in Chinese context, for English is taught and learnt in China as SLA, and classroom is almost the only place where most students learn English. In this situation, the important thing is to know what should be taught.

5.2.1 Improving the Quantities of Language Input

According to Krashen’s input hypothesis, there are two types of input in language teaching. They are roughly tuned input and finely tuned input. He believes that it is unnecessary to provide finely tuned input, but to provide roughly tuned input through casting a net. Just as human being’s other behaviors, language learning, in fact, is a process of conditioned response. Repeatedly stimulating and using can form a right habit . Therefore, when we train the students' communicative competence, we'd better provide them with more chances to practice their language on one hand; and on the other hand, we have to provide them with large amount of language materials.

Corder(1981)believed that effective language teaching should not flout the natural process, but adapt to it. The author believes that this process must be based on a large number of real materials, because language was born in a social environment with natural conditions, and language learning should be close to this natural process. Sometimes informal way is better than formal way to the language learning.

Shao Yongzhen believes(1999:14) that the amount of language input is always more than the amount of the language you acquired and much more than the amount of language output, just like a factory processing products, the investment is always more than out-products for wear and tear. Krashen’s second language input theory has great effects on us and we should pay much attention on the quantities of language input. According to Krashen’s input hypothesis, the comprehensible input is the critical key to lead to the second language acquisition. To sum up , in foreign language learning and teching, if the learners’ present language level is "i" and there are large amount of language exposed to them, they will move from"i" to "i+1".So we must increase quantities of language input and emphasize learners' rough-tuned input improve the students’ study effectively. Teachers should fully use the limited time in class to provide more opportunities of speaking and writing exercises for the students and to provide more comprehensible input to the students. Intensive reading is important in imparting the learners' basic language knowledge, and improving language use norms and accuracy. But in teaching, we found out that only mastering some rules, remembering some classic sentences or practicing some typical patterns can realize language learning. Practices show us that language learning, no matter who they are, children or adults, can succeed through large amount of language uses, imitations and practices. Large quantities of reading can enlarge the learners' vocabulary and make the learners understand the syntax better. Therefore, except for intensive reading, we need to provide the students with abundant and various types of materials. Extensive reading and listening emphasizes the learners' macro-control to the text and discourse, which is the most important way to improve and realize language communicative competence.

In addition, we should enlarge the scope of language exposed to the students, create a good language environment and provide them with good opportunities of learning. For example, we can increase the amount of English listening and speaking activities through organizing English speech contest or corner, and also can provide more chances for the learners to learn language material naturally through watching the foreign cartoons or films or using the advanced means like PowerPoint or computer. To the advanced students, we can require them to watch original films or English TV programs and also can require them to read English newspapers or magazines for getting more language input. As Professor Liu Runqing said,"…if you want to master a foreign language, you have to read a lot.…"

5.2.2 Improving the Qualities of Language Input

Krashen believes that language input should be comprehensible, sufficient and unconscious. The author believes that it is the teachers' responsibility to provide the comprehensible input for the students. First the teachers should know the current level of the students clearly. If the teachers do not know the current level of the students, for example, the current level of the students is not "i"，but "i 1",even "i-2"，then the input of "i+1" will become incomprehensible.

K.S.Goodman says that language is social and also with user's individuality. Language appears because of the needs for the communication between society and human beings. Language is a carrier of social culture. Language is a mirror which can reflect the culture. Language is not only the form of culture, but also is one of the most important components of culture. On the contrary, culture determines the language form. It continuously fuses itself into the language and becomes the basic content of language form. Therefore , language acquisition cannot be dependent from the culture learning. Language use should comply with the social norms and develop in that direction. Different language users have different individualities, which made us believe that variety of individual differences is helpful to the development of language use.

1 .Teachers have to know their students ‘present level clearly.

The new language knowledge the teachers or teaching materials which are provided can only be a little beyond the current level of the students, and they must be understandable to the students. This requires the teachers to know the current level of the students and choose the appropriate teaching materials and use concise and understandable languages not under their current level in order to ensure the quality of language input. Otherwise, learners cannot take in the knowledge and let alone the second language acquisition. At present, in China's foreign language teaching, teachers can seldom know the students current level, thus they often provide incomprehensible input or over-input, "i+2"，even"i+3". students can accept and cope with. In China's English teaching, the language input provided by the teachers is much more than the capacity the students can handle, which causes their brain's language processor to close and to refuse to process language or information.

2. Teachers can provide the context and make full use of the linguistic competence that the students themselves equip with to infer the related meaning to get correct understanding.

5.2.3 Creating Natural Communicative Environment

Krashen emphasized the unconscious process of learning to acquire language, which can only be realized in the natural environment. Over a long period of time, China's foreign language teaching takes up "the teacher-centered" teaching mode. Traditionally, we usually take the theories of behavior-psychologist, "objective stimulation and reinforcement", as the direction and believe that students should follow what and how the teachers taught them. But teacher-centered teaching mode cannot conform to the development of our society. The teachers should realize that: learning is a process of active construction. Learners do not accept the outside information passively but actively to notice and choose the outside information according to the proceeding cognitive structure and construct the meaning. So teachers should arouse the students' creativities and make them take part in the class activities. When I have a lesson, I usually choose a topic, related to the teaching content and which attracts the students to ask them to take part in the discussion so as to change their position from passiveness to activeness. So the author holds that teachers should guide and stimulate students' enthusiasm to improve their interests and make them study actively and take learning as an interesting work but not a burden to get the aim of improving learning effects.

Krashen’s five hypotheses of second language acquisition are invaluable to our English learning and teaching nowadays. His Input Hypothesis is particularly significant to improve students’ English achievement. It may be one of the most important concepts in second language acquisition theory today Krashen:1982 . It attempts to answer the crucial theoretical question of how we acquire language.

To provide the optimal input, a language teacher needs the following requirements: proficient in the target language, knowledgeable in encyclopedic information and resourceful in methodology. At the same time, a language teacher can present messages of interest and put students at ease. Unfortunately, traditional language teaching attaches too much importance to the correctness of language, and they are teachers of grammar rules rather than communicators of messages. If Krashen’s Input Hypothesis is correct, language teaching should move towards a more comprehensible input orientation, and teacher may be facing a period of adjustment.

Language learning is a natural response to communicative needs. Therefore, we should try to ensure that students are always aware of the communicative value of what they are learning. For example, we should help them to relate the language to the social contexts in which the language is spoken. We should encourage students to access to the comprehensible input as much as possible through the media outside classes such as the multi-media and the Internet.

5.3 Limitations

Although every effort has been made to carry out the experiment for the better, still there are some limitations .Therefore, there are also a number of problems with Krashen’s input hypothesis .By concentrating on meaning and context, he neglects the fact that certain aspects of grammar development in the learner are largely internally driven, and independent of context or meaning. And he overestimates the role and benefits of simplified input. And the problem is that the notion of "i+1" is indefinable. The input hypothesis itself is not specific as to how to define level of knowledge.

First of all，due to time and conditions，the sample in this study was comparatively small. There were altogether 90 subjects. The validity of the study might be decreased. However，this teaching method works better in small class due to the fact that the teacher’s work-load in the new teaching method is huge. If the class is a big one , the work-load might be too heavy for the teacher to handle.

Secondly, for the sake of the benefits of the students，the practice of the new teaching was carded out just one term in the experimental class，though the one-term performance has made a difference.

Thirdly，the experiment excluded some variables from consideration. Despite the fact that the teacher was working closely to ensure the reliability of the experiment, the personal subjective tendency could make influence on the experiment result. What’s more, a better or more comprehensively designed questionnaire will help much to investigate learner’s opinions in this study.

5.3 Recommendations for Further Study

Despite the fact that there exist some problems, Krashen’s Input hypothesis has been proved and will be further proved effective in second/foreign language teaching. We, therefore, should try to absorb the highlight of Krashen’s input hypothesis and apply it to foreign language teaching and learning according to China’s foreign language learning and teaching situation. Therefore, an integrated use of the classroom instruction and the comprehensible input outside classes with the help of multi-media and Internet will be the most effective way to teach a second language. With the development of economy and technology and science and China’s entrance of WTO, the foreign language education, particularly, the English teaching and learning, will meet a bright future and the students’ foreign language performance is sure to be improved.

Input hypothesis and output theory are not wholly discussed much in the research. As far as the output theory is concerned，the meta.1inguistic function of output has not got apparent evidence in this study. Considering that the meta—linguistic function owns much benefit for language learning(Swain，1995；Swain & Lapkin，1995)，further studies are wanted to explore the use of this function to promote SLA..

Comprehensible input is not sufficient for SLA to take place"(Ellis.1985：158). "It is axiomatic that in order for SLA to take place，there must be(1)some L2 data made available to the learner as input and(2) a set of internal learner mechanisms to account for how the L2 data are processed. Krashen (1981；1982)and Long(1983) have argued strongly that SLA is dependent on the availability of comprehensible input before the learner’s internal processing mechanism can work"(Ellis. 1985：157).However, Even if input is understood.it may not be processed by the learner’s internal mechanisms. That is what Krashen mean when he states that comprehensible input is not a sufficient condition for SLA. It is only when input becomes intake that SLA takes place. Language teachers should try every method to reduce the influence of affected filter .They try to make the input comprehensible that students are interested in. Affective factors play a role in output，too. Oral production is very much delayed by nervousness and discouragement .However, it is secondary in learning .With the increase of input ,and the improvement of competence，students will gradually get rid of this disturbance. Foreign language teachers have much work to do in the study of affective factors. They can make use of favorable motivations in obtaining input and reducing the affective filter in speaking .This dissertation ,however ,will not go further into it. In the computerizing times，computer has played important part in the teaching of English .It is recently advocated by the State Ministry of Education that in the near future，much of the English study should be accomplished by the learners with the assistance of computers .With such a tendency，the method proposed in this study will be put into full play to improve students’English teaching.