Applied Research On Textbook Illustrations In Junior High School English Teaching

Illustrations are important parts of textbooks,which have significant values in teaching.However,whether textbook illustrations can play active roles in assisting teaching is mainly due to the teacher’s correct interpretation and use of textbook illustrations.Currently,there is a lack of empirical research on the use of textbook illustrations in English teaching.In view of this,this paper is conducted to investigate the current situation of the teachers’ use of textbook illustrations in junior high school English teaching,find out the problems for teachers using textbook illustrations,and put forward the corresponding suggestions for improvement,which has certain theoretical and practical significance for enriching the relevant theories of textbook illustrations and promoting the teaching of textbook illustrations.First of all,this paper carries out textual analysis of the illustrations in five volumes of Go For It.In terms of the number of illustrations,there are a large number of illustrations in Go For It,and with the increase of grades,the number of illustrations gradually reduces.In terms of the types of illustrations,with the increase of grades,the number of cartoons and stick figures gradually reduces,and the number of photos and charts increases firstly and then reduces,but the gap in the number of four types of illustrations is still wide,and there are a number of cartoons,but few photos,charts and stick figures.Secondly,this paper conducts classroom observation and interview on the use of textbook illustrations by five English teachers in Grade 7 of Qujiang No.2 Middle School.From the perspective of teaching contents,teachers use more illustrations in listening and speaking teaching,but less illustrations in vocabulary teaching,grammar teaching,reading teaching and writing teaching,and teachers use textbook illustrations differently in the five parts of teaching contents.From the perspective of teaching procedures,the frequency of using illustrations in language teaching and language practice is significantly higher than that of lead-in.Finally,this paper summarizes the problems of textbook illustrations found in classroom observation and interview into two aspects: the deficiencies in the design of textbook illustrations,specifically manifesting in the relevance of illustrations and text,the physical characteristics of illustrations and the function orientations of illustrations,and the problems for teachers using textbook illustrations,including the teaching strategies and procedures of textbook illustrations are stereotyped,and students’ skills of viewing are ignored,and the cultural and emotional functions of textbook illustrations are underutilized.In view of these problems,this paper puts forward some suggestions for editors to reasonably design textbook illustrations and teachers to effectively use textbook illustrations,in order to effectively play the role of textbook illustrations in assisting teaching.