An Experimental Research On Original English Literary Works As Supplementary Materiais For Extensive Reading Teaching In Senior High School

Original English literary works play an essential role in English learning. By reading original English literary works, English learners can enlarge their vocabulary, improve their reading and writing ability. They will be motivated to learn English well. No wonder the new English Curriculum Standards (2003) included the appreciation of original English literary works in it. However, the reality is that there are few excerpts from original English literary works in the textbooks such as New Senior English for China Student’s book by PEP. The students in senior high schools generally fix their attention on their textbooks and read less after class, let alone reading the entire original English literary works. Few English teachers choose original English literary works as extensive reading materials in view of the stereotype about the difficulty in reading them. This study is aimed at probing into whether it is appropriate to utilize original English literary works as supplementary materials for extensive reading teaching in senior high school by assigning the experiment class to read three novels with the teacher’s proper interference, such as offering them possible-new-word lists, giving guidance on how to deal with new words, requiring them to write summaries and the impression of the novel regularly, etc. The experiment suggests that with teachers’proper interference, the practice of reading original English literary works out of class can improve students’reading and writing ability and the scores in the English proficiency test. It can also motivate the students to learn English well. Therefore, it is feasible and appropriate for the senior high school students to read original English literary works as supplementary extensive reading materials.