Abstract

This thesis started from China’s real foreign language teaching problems combined with the language attrition phenomenon to explore effective English teaching strategies to solve the existing teaching deficits. All the time, researchers put their eyes only to language acquisition and rarely noticed the role of language attrition. Based on the latest research findings on language attrition, the author summed up some enlightenment from language attrition and applied these enlightenments to the English teaching practice. By the reviews of studies of language attrition at home and abroad, this thesis searches for the effective teaching strategies of slowing and avoiding the English attrition.

Keywords: language attrition; teaching strategy; English teaching

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-1

2.1 The definition of language attrition-1

2.2 The development of language attrition as a research area-2

2.3 The definition of teaching strategy-2

3. Theories about Language Attrition-3

3.1 Hypotheses about language attrition-3

3.2 Influential factors in language attrition-5

4. Enlightenment to English Teaching Strategies-8

4.1 Having a timely review-8

4.2 Having diagnostic tests frequently-8

4.3 Making language knowledge a dynamic system-8

4.4 Combining several routes of second language acquisition-9

4.5 Popularizing life-long education-11

4.6 Attaching importance to pronunciation teaching-11

4.7 Intensifying listening and reading training-12

4.8 Extending the second classroom-12

5. Conclusion-13

Works Cited-14