An Experimental Research Of English Leveled Reading In Junior High School Based On Input Hypothesis

The physical and mental development of students follows certain pattern of regularity.English teaching should respect the regularity of students’ physical and mental development pattern while fulfilling the teaching goals.Based on the Input Hypotheses,the vocabulary,grammar,sentence pattern and content in English leveled readings are carefully designed.The classification of levels is based on the principles from simple to complex and from low level to high level,which conforms to the laws of readers’ physical and psychological development.The purpose of this study is to explore the auxiliary role of English leveled reading in English reading teaching in junior high school,especially the impact on junior high school students’ reading ability(language knowledge,reading comprehension,cultural awareness).The author selected a total of 67 students in two classes of Grade Seven from X Junior High School in Kunming.They were randomly divided into experimental class and control class.English reading was implemented in the experimental class and newspapers reading was carried out in the control class.Data were collected through questionnaires,tests and interviews,and SPSS was employed for statistical analysis.This study aims at answering the following research questions:(1)How does English leveled reading affect students’ language knowledge compare to English reading?(2)How does English leveled reading affect students’ reading comprehension compare to English reading?(3)Compared with English reading,what is the effect of English leveled reading on the cultivation of students’ cultural consciousness?Results of the study are as follows:(1)English leveled reading can effectively help students improve their language knowledge(vocabulary,grammar,discourse).It mainly includes strengthening the understanding and use of word meanings,increasing the vocabulary,improving the perception and understanding of sentence patterns and enhancing students’ ability to use the learned sentence patterns in context and to imitate sentence pairs.(2)English leveled reading can help students improve their reading comprehension ability,especially their ability to predict and extract information.(3)English leveled reading plays a good auxiliary role in cultivating students’ cultural awareness,and thus helps students better perceive and understand culture and conduct simple comparison between Chinese and Western cultures under the guidance of teachers.Based on the research results,the author explored the strategies for selecting English leveled reading materials for junior high school students and put forward pedagogical suggestions on how to carry out English leveled reading in junior high school.This study will shed light on the English reading teaching in junior high schools with similar background.