An Action Research On The Narrow Reading In Junior High English Reading Teaching

English reading is a significant factor in enhancing junior high school students’ English comprehensive competence.However,in English reading classes,junior high school teachers pay much more attention on language details and lack the overall analysis of the articles.In addition,most junior high school students have weak foundation in English reading which has the possibility of causing them lack reading interest,having less classroom participation.What’s worse,they are lacking in reading strategies.Therefore,narrow reading is introduced into the English reading as a beneficial proposal which can improve students’ reading ability efficiently and quickly in a limited time.Narrow reading is an effective strategy for learners by reading numbers of articles which belong to the same category such as the same topic,the same genre or a certain author.Under the same context,it is easy for students to accumulate and expand their vocabulary.Besides,students have a better understanding on the structures or the contents of the articles because of the same genre or of the same author.In short,students can increase the speed of reading and reduce the anxiety of reading,therefore,improving their reading comprehension ability.This study aims to apply “narrow reading” into the English reading teaching of junior high school,and discusses the influence of “narrow reading” on junior high school students’ English reading interest and reading ability.Consequently,the researcher conducted an action research to solve the following two research questions:1.What effects does the narrow reading have on junior high school students’ achievements in English reading? 2.What effects does the narrow reading have on junior high school students’ interest in English reading?The study lasted for three months,and each round of the research had been carried out for six weeks,including four steps: identifying problems,making the action plan,implementing the action plan,as well as reflection and evaluation.The author conducted an action study on 53 students in the seventh grade at No.43 Junior High School of Shenyang.At first,the researcher conducted a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire in order to understand the current situation of English reading teaching in junior high school and attempted to find the problems students might face with.Then,the researcher illustrated to the students the features and advantages of narrow reading,and then carried out the first-round action research.In the second-round action research,the researcher proposed reasonable changes and made a plan aiming to solve students’ existing problems in the first-action research.Then the researcher applied narrow reading to the English reading class again through improving the teaching plan and strengthening students’ after-class supervision and guidance.After analyzing various data of two-round research,the author concludes that narrow reading can not only increase students’ interest in English reading,but also help students improve their reading achievements and reading ability.