On The Theme-based Teaching Of English Reading Under The ARCS Model In Junior Middle Schools

In traditional English reading instruction, it is the cramming method of teaching that has made the classes lack of vitality and interests. It is hard to improve the students' initiative of learning English, because the classroom teaching mainly focuses on the “grammar-translation method” under the examination-oriented education system. The English textbook of the People's Education Press Go for it in the junior middle schools is based on the unit by taking a topic as a core. However, due to the lack of vitality and flexibility in current classroom teaching, students are not very much interested in learning new knowledge, thus their reading interests have not been much stimulated in classes. These problems have inspired us to do some researches in this new subject.The theme-based teaching of English reading has become a new teaching method in recent years. With the teaching content as the carrier and the teaching topic as the core,students are allowed to study independently in the situation which connects to the realities of life. So, the students' interests are closely connected to the activation of learning motivation.Professor John M. Keller of the University of Florida raised the ARCS model, which contains four teaching steps, i.e. Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.This thesis, based on the ARCS model, takes the Grade Nine English book of the People's Education Press Go for it as an example, and uses the theme-based teaching method to guide the reading instruction. By using the methods of questionnaire survey, interview, and classroom observations, this thesis takes the Changde No.11 Middle School as an example,analyzes whether the theme-based teaching method can stimulate students' motivation and interests or not.Results show that the theme-based teaching of English reading under the ARCS model can firstly stimulate the students' learning motivation. The teaching method fully attracts students' curiosity and attention, so they can get new knowledge quickly in a relaxing atmosphere.Secondly, it can fully develop the students' subject learning. In the theme-based Englishreading class, there are enriched and colorful classroom teaching activities, where the students' subject learning can be fully developed. The increase of the group cooperation in the classroom shows the importance of students' collaborative exploration.Thirdly, it can maintain the students' motivation. In the teaching of English reading,stimulating the students' learning motivation is as important as maintaining it. Teachers should use a variety of teaching organization form to contain it.Finally, it can enhance the reading instruction. The theme-based teaching of English reading under the ARCS model can not only stimulate the students' motivation, but also enhance the development of reading instruction. It can settle down the issues of the traditional English reading instruction, and bring about new research directions for the reading instruction. But there are still some deficiencies of the current research, such as a small size of sample and students' low fitness about this teaching method. This research discusses the effects and significance on English reading instruction of the theme-based teaching, and puts forward the author's expectation of further research.