The Application Of "Literature Circles" Model In Teaching English Reading In Junior Middle Schools

"Literature Circles" reading teaching mode takes students as the center in class. It aims at stimulating students’reading interests and cultivating readers’independent thinking ability. There are more and more scholars who try to study the influence of "Literature Circles" reading teaching mode on students’reading proficiency, however, little study has been conducted on junior middle schools’English reading teaching. This study is to explore how "Literature Circles" reading teaching mode influence junior middle school students’English reading competence. Specifically, this study attempts to answer the following three questions by understanding the changes in students’reading motivation, reading attitude, reading strategies and reading achievements:1. What are the target students’current problems in English reading?2. How can English teachers apply "Literature Circles" model in English reading teaching?3. How does "Literature Circles" influence students’English reading competence?In this study, two tests, two questionnaires and an interview are used before and after the experiment to study the subjects in two parallel groups from X Junior Middle School in Hangzhou. During the experiment of half an academic year, the English teaching mode of "Literature Circles" is used for the Experimental Group in the additional reading class, while the students in Control Group receive the traditional reading practice training during the same period. After the experiment, all the experimental statistics are collected and analyzed promptly. The study finds that "Literature Circles" reading teaching mode can not only improve the students’ English achievements, but also improve the students’reading motivation, reading attitude and reading strategies. Hence, the"Literature Circles" mode has a positive impact on junior middle schools’ English reading teaching.According to the discussion and analysis of the research results, the author puts forward some suggestions on English reading teaching in junior middle schools in this paper. The teacher should do a good job to improve students’ reading ability and make timely reflection after each discussion activity, furthermore, he should also focus on training students’ awareness of cooperation in reading process, and making "Literature Circles" reading teaching mode a better service for English teaching in junior middle schools. In addition, this study also explains the limitations of "Literature Circles" mode in the current English reading teaching. Some problems that should be paid attention to in the future are also discussed.