Influence Of Reading-Strategies-Based Interactive Teaching On The English Reading Proficiency Of The Junior High School Students

Reading is important for junior high school students to obtain information,learn language and culture and get language input.National English Curriculum Standard for Compulsory Education(2011),textbooks and annual secondary school entrance exams all focus on the students' English reading.However,influenced by traditional teaching methods and belief,most English teachers mainly focus on the teaching of English language knowledge instead of language skills.Since teacher-centered teaching method is used,students just receive knowledge passively instead of taking part in learning activities actively,which makes it difficult to improve students' English reading skills and enhance their reading interest.This thesis aims to study the influence of reading-strategies-based interactive teaching on English reading proficiency of the junior high school students.The teaching method involved in this thesis is different from traditional ones,which incorporate reading strategy instruction into interactive language teaching.After analyzing the English reading problems of Grade 8 students and reflecting on the author's own teaching experiences,the author referred to Oxford's Learning Strategy Training Model(Oxford et al.,1990)and Cohen's Strategies-based Instruction(Cohen,2000:81-83),and then tried to use reading-strategies-based interactive teaching in class.Two groups of Grade 8 students in a middle school of Nantong participated in the study.One is the experimental class and the other is the control class.In the experimental class,the author used reading-strategies-based interactive teaching to teach reading,while in the control class,traditional teaching method was used.Moreover,questionnaire,tests and interviews were adopted to collect data.Four research questions of the study are addressed as follows.(1)What is the status quo of the Grade 8 students' use of English reading strategies?(2)Can reading-strategies-based interactive teaching improve students' English reading proficiency? If yes,to what extent?(3)What is the influence of the reading strategies involved in the teaching on the students' English reading proficiency at different levels?(4)What are the students' opinions about reading-strategies-based interactive teaching?After the careful study and discussion of the data,some major findings are summarized in the following.(1)From M value(2.35)of the questionnaire,it is obvious that Grade 8 students have low awareness of using reading strategies.Most of them are not aware of using reading strategies while reading,and they do not know how to choose or use the proper reading strategies,either.(2)The results indicates that the Reading-strategies-based interactive teaching can help students improve their academic scores of reading.It encourages students to enhance cooperative learning,multiple perspectives as well as self-evaluation and adjustments.It helps students construct knowledge and reading strategies actively.(3)The reading strategies involved in the research have greater influence on the higher achievers than the middle and lower groups of students.In class,higher achievers often give a hand to other students who need help.In the process of helping others,they review and reinforce some related reading strategies.(4)80% of the students approve of the reading-strategies-based interactive teaching,which can help them improve their reading interest and confidence.They also mention that students' language knowledge and background knowledge affect the use of reading strategies.