Study On The Application Of Information Gap Task Theory To English Reading Teaching In Senior High Schools

English reading is one of the most important segments of English teaching in senior high school. Reading teaching is able to cultivate students’ comprehensive competence of using language. The former English teaching syllabus of senior high school regards “master basic language knowledge and skills” as the primary goal, while National English Curriculum Standards for Common Senior High School(2003) takes cultivating students’ language intuition, interest in reading and reading strategies as the goal of English reading teaching in senior high school, with a particular emphasis on the cultivation of students’ ability of acquiring and processing information during the process of reading. However, current English reading teaching in senior high school focus on enhancing students’ mastery of vocabulary and grammar by text reading teaching, which ignores students’ grasp of whole reading material, kindling of students reading interest and cultivation of communicative competence. Factors responsible for this situation are multi-dimensional, but the negligence of using Information Gap Task Theory in English reading teaching should be an important factor.Information Gap Theory is one of the important theoretical bases in communicative language teaching method. A successful Information Gap Task activity should be full of information gap, that is, two sides hold different information fulfill the communicative task by exchanging information with communicative method and making up the gap of information. In the process of implementing Information Gap Task activity, English teacher should provide two communicative sides with different segments of information, and students fulfill the information gap through mutual exchange and transmission of information, in order to complete particular tasks. This research takes the empirical research method to apply Information Gap Task Theory into English reading teaching in senior high school. The major findings of the study are: Information Gap Task Theory makes English reading teaching more communicative, and it can arouse students’ interest in English reading, achieve students’ overall sensation of reading materials, improve their reading ability and meet the requirements of new national curriculum standard.The thesis is made up of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the current situation of English reading teaching in senior high schools and the importance of English reading. After analyzing the problems existing in English reading teaching from the aspects of both teachers and students, the author puts forward the purpose and significance of the study.Chapter Two is the literature review. The first part is Communicative Language Teaching Method theory, in which the definition and classification are introduced in detail; the second part is Task Based Language Teaching; the third part is Information Gap Task Theory and Classification and design principles of the Information Gap Tasks; the fourth part is the Information Gap Tasks studies at home and abroad.Chapter Three is the research design. 117 students from two natural classes of senior two in Liaocheng No.4 Middle School were chosen as the subjects of the experiment. The experiment lasted for one semester, from September 2014 to January 2015. In the experimental class, students were taught by the Information Gap Task Theory Mode, while students in the control class were still taught by the traditional method. The author used questionnaires, reading tests and interviews to test the effectiveness of this teaching method. And the teaching mode based on Information Gap Task Theory includes teaching strategies like Jigsaw reading method, Filling in different blanks, Comparing different content, and Opinion gap activity.Chapter Four is experimental results and analysis. After collecting all of the data in the experiment, and conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses, the author compares the teaching effect of Information Gap Task English reading teaching and traditional English reading teaching.The last chapter is conclusion and suggestion, in which the author puts forward the major findings and the limitations of the study, the suggestions for further research, and the implications for English reading teaching in senior high schools.