Application Of Theme-Based Model Of CBI To English Reading Teaching For Art Major

Content-Based Instruction is an effective approach to teaching foreign language on the basis of a subject or a certain topic, which combines content with language learning. In recent years, CBI has aroused more and more attention from researchers both at home and abroad. However, there is little research about CBI in China, especially for art major in college up to now. Therefore, the author considers it is necessary to do research on this aspect, and an empirical study was carried out on the application of Theme-based model of CBI in English reading teaching for art major so as to make up for the inadequacy of this empirical study. The author tried to apply theme-based model of CBI to English reading teaching for art major based on the Input Hypothesis, Schema theory, and Cooperative Learning theory.In this study, the author aims to discuss the two following questions.(1) Can the theme-based model of CBI improve students’ reading comprehension achievement?(2) Can the theme-based model of CBI increase students’ interest in reading?The author carried out a reading teaching experiment which lasted 12 weeks. The subjects were 60 sophomores of two parallel classes from art major in a college in Lanzhou, and they were divided into experimental class and control class randomly. In control class, traditional reading teaching method was used, while in the experimental class, theme-based model of CBI was applied. Then the author will verify teaching effects based on tests and questionnaires. After the experiment, all the collected data are analyzed by SPSS17.0.From the results, we can make a conclusion that theme-based model of CBI is an effective and feasible way to cultivate and enhance art major students’ reading comprehension achievement. Moreover, based on the results from the questionnaires which are related to students’ interest in English reading, we can see that theme-based model of CBI in English reading teaching can enhance students’ interest in reading.The implications from the study are: In college English reading teaching, theme-based model of CBI can effectively improve students’ reading competence and increase their reading interest. However, in the process of applying the approach, teachers should pay attention to the combination of content with the language skills so that the language can become a tool of getting information and communication.Finally, based on the analysis of experiment results, some limitations and suggestions of the study are put forward.