Effects of a Lexical Approach to Chinese English Major Students' Reading Comprehension Ability

This study aimed to explore the effects of a lexical approach to Chinese English major students' reading comprehension ability as well as students' opinions of this approach. A quasiexperimental study was carried out in a Normal University in southern China for 11 weeks. An intact class of 45 first-year English major students at intermediate level participated in the study. They were instructed using a lexical approach to study four long reading texts. The instruments included reading comprehension tests, a questionnaire, and a semistructured interview. The results showed that students made much progress in reading comprehension after the treatment and they had positive opinions of the lexical approach. It can be concluded from this that the lexical approach had positive impacts on Chinese English major students' reading comprehension ability and it suggests that this approach could be implemented in English language teaching and learning for English majors in higher education.