Application Of Task-Based Teaching Method To The Teaching Of English Reading In Junior High School

English, as an international language in the world, has been considered as both a second language and compulsory course in junior high schools in many countries recently. English teaching has become an issue which has been under intense study by researchers and educators. Therefore, teaching methods have become of great significance in the field of language teaching.The teaching of English reading in junior high schools is an essential part of English education. The main objective of reading lessons is to cultivate and improve the students’ comprehension of English articles. Now many teachers and educationist advocate using Task-based teaching mode, and "New Standards for Junior High Schools English Curriculum" recommend the task-based teaching method in English teaching as well. However, in China, this method has not been successfully practiced in the classroom teaching. Therefore, it is highly necessary to investigate into its implementing in English teaching, especially in the teaching of reading comprehension, since reading comprehension has been placing a dominant role in the teaching of English in junior high schools in China. This thesis will, from theory and practice, research into how to use the Task-based teaching method to arouse students’imagination and improve their reading abilities in order to form their language using habit, so that they can learn the language by themselves. Through this we try to prove that Task-based teaching method is a good way to cultivate students’consciousness of creation, improve their reading abilities and enhance their language abilities.Apart from introduction and conclusion, this paper is divided into five parts. In part one, the author reviews the backgrounds and significance of this research in a reading class in Chinese junior high schools, and a brief introduction to reading, including the relevant theories:the definition of reading, the features of reading, and requirements of English reading skills in junior high school, etc. And part two is theoretical foundation; it will state the theories which support in this research, including constructivism, socio-constructivism, second language acquisition and task-based teaching method, etc. Part three and four apply the Tasked-based teaching method to practice, including principles of designing reading tasks, the procedures of reading tasks in a class, an experimental research on Task-based Teaching. Part five is about findings, suggestions and implications, In the research, the writer got some data by doing pretests, posttests, questionnaires and interviews. By means of SPSS13.5and comparing the data, the writer made it clear that Task-based teaching method will have some effect on improving students’English reading. The subjects are118students from Changchun NO.87Junior High School. The study lasts one semester from March to June2013, and the interview is held on June28th,2013. The reading abilities and performance of EG improve greatly compared with those of CG. The research shows that Task-based teaching method can cultivate students’consciousness of creation, improve their reading abilities and help them use the language which they have learned. At the same time, it can make students read more actively and efficiently.