The Application Of Thinking Visualization In English Non-Fiction Reading Teaching At Senior High Schools

Nowadays,there is no doubt that English reading ability is crucial for students in an open and international society.As is pointed out in the National English Curriculum Standards for Common Senior High School(2017),to realize students’ long-term and profound development,both fiction reading and non-fiction reading are indispensable in English learning.English non-fiction reading is vital for the development of students’ reading ability and thinking quality.However,the value of English non-fiction is not fully realized in English reading teaching and learning on account of the complex and invisible text structures and logical relationships.To fully exert the value of English non-fiction,predecessors have done some relative studies and the application of thinking visualization is one of them.The main trait of thinking visualization is that it could make invisible text structures and logical relationships visible.To be specific,each text structure is in accordance with one or two kinds of graphic organizers of thinking visualization.Thus,it seems that using thinking visualization could promote students’ in-depth reading and develop their thinking quality to some extent.Thinking visualization has been applied widely in English listening,English reading,and English vocabulary teaching.However,some domestic English teachers have not noticed the close relationship between thinking visualization and English non-fiction.Based on previous studies,the Schema Theory and the Dual Coding Theory,the following three research questions guide this study:1.What are the effects of thinking visualization on students’ English non-fiction readingproficiency?2.What are the effects of thinking visualization on students’ interest in English non-fictionreading?3.How could thinking visualization be used effectively in English non-fiction readingteaching?This study has lasted for three months.The research participants are 100 students from two parallel classes at a senior high school in Jinan.One class is the experimental class and theother is the control class.Reading pre-test,reading post-test and questionnaires are the primary research instruments.Before the experiment,a pre-test of English non-fiction reading proficiency was conducted both in the experimental and the control class.At the same time,the first questionnaire,which aimed to investigate students’ interest in English non-fiction reading,was given away to the experimental class.After the experiment,a post-test of English non-fiction reading proficiency was conducted both in the experimental and the control class.Meanwhile,the second questionnaire was delivered to the experimental class.At last,the author used SPSS 19.0 and Excel to collect data to do analysis and discuss the effective application of thinking visualization based on teaching activities.The results of reading tests and questionnaires showed that there are some changes in students’ English non-fiction reading proficiency and interest in English non-fiction reading.Firstly,most students’ English non-fiction reading proficiency got improved under the guide of thinking visualization.Secondly,students’ interest and attitudes towards English non-fiction reading enhanced.This study has some implications for English non-fiction reading teaching.Firstly,it is necessary to do deep text analysis to achieve effective teaching.Secondly,extraneous factors should be avoided in the tool of thinking visualization;Thirdly,the establishment of routine about the application of thinking visualization could benefit students’ non-fiction reading ability.Fourthly,the application of thinking visualization should break the limitation of classroom and English learning and become an ability in students’ study and life.This study has some limitations due to the tiny sample and limited research time.In further research,lasting the experiment duration could prove the correlation between the enhancement of students’ English non-fiction reading proficiency and the application of thinking visualization.In addition,it seems that the research could focus on the influence of complete graphic organizers and incomplete organizers on students’ reading ability and comprehension of text.