A Case Study On The Effects Of Sustained Silent Reading Upon Students' English Reading Competence In Junior Middle School

Reading plays an important role in the process of second language acquisition.Through reading,students expose to the target language and obtain information.Reading is also a major part of the English exam in a middle school.Therefore,junior middle school English teachers attach great importance to English reading teaching.In daily English teaching,the objectives of reading teaching are mainly to stimulate students' reading enthusiasm,deepen students' understanding of western culture,accumulate students' language knowledge,cultivate students' reading skills and improve their reading competence.However,with the system of exam-oriented education,the present effect of junior middle school English reading teaching is not optimistic,failing to cultivate students' reading literacy.This study applies sustained silent reading practicing so as to provide better teaching methods for middle school English reading teaching,which can improve students' English reading competence.Based on input hypothesis theory and motivation theory,a three-month case study is employed to explore the following two aspects:(1)How does sustained silent reading affect the English reading competence of junior middle school students at different levels?(2)How does sustained silent reading affect the English reading emotional attitude of junior middle school students at different levels?Six students from a class in the eighth grade of a middle school in Heyuan city,Guangdong province were involved in the present study.Judging from their reading competence,the author classifies them into high-level,middle-level and low-level,each level having 2 students,who are instructed to independently select the reading materials according to their interests and reading levels.The 6 students perform sustained silent reading for 15 minutes every day,followed by filling in the reading log and share reading experience.The research instruments for this study are tests,questionnaires and interviews.It is found that the reading competence of the participants improve to varying degrees after practicing sustained silent reading,and their attitudes toward reading are more positive.Among them,the improvement of reading competence of middle and high level students isgreater than that of low level students,and their change of emotional attitude is more obvious compared with those of low level students.Implication of the present study is that students should be encouraged to read independently according to their hobbies and reading levels.Teachers should make every effort to help students keep on doing sustained silent reading by creating relaxed environment,playing appropriate roles and organizing interesting activities.