Application Of Jigsaw Method To English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

In English learning,reading ability is one of the most important standards to verify whether the students are equipped with good comprehensive ability.At the same time,English reading class also is the basic occasion for students to acquire the foreign language.In recent years,according to English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2017),it advocates classroom should be student-centered,encouraging students to participate in classroom activities actively,cultivating their cooperation awareness and developing their ability of cooperation.As a kind of cooperative learning method,Jigsaw method lets the students become the center of the classroom.Through interaction and cooperation,Jigsaw method not only has a positive effect on improving students’ reading interest and establishing their confidence,but also enlarging students’ engagement to a great extent.Based on constructivism theory,social interdependence theory and affective filter hypothesis,under the guidance of theoretical and empirical study experience of the previous researches,the study applies Jigsaw method into reading class of Junior high school.The specific research questions are as follows:1.What is the effect of Jigsaw method on junior high school students’ reading achievement?2.What is the effect of Jigsaw method on junior high school students’ engagement in classroom?This study adopts experimental research and questionnaire survey.And 108 Junior high school students from a middle school in Yining City are selected as the research participants,54 students are experimental group and 54 students are control group.During experiment,the experimental class adopts the Jigsaw method,while the control class adopts the conventional teaching method.After experiment,based on the data analysis of experiments and questionnaires,the results show: First,Jigsaw method has a positive effect on improving students reading achievements.Before experiment,there is no significant difference(p=.627>0.05)in students reading achievements in EC(28.074)and CC(28.111).After experiment,there is a significant difference(p=.040<0.05)in students reading achievements in EC(30.037)and CC(27.963).Secondly,Jigsaw method effectively enlarges students engagement,including behavioral engagement,cognitive engagement and affective engagement.Before experiment,there is no significant difference in behavioral engagement(p=.356>0.05),cognitive engagement(p=.823>0.05)and affective engagement(p=.582>0.05)in EC and CC.However,after experiment,there is a significant difference in behavioral engagement(p=.000<0.01),cognitive engagement(p=.000<0.01)and affective engagement(p=.000<0.01)in EC and CC.More specially,for behavioral engagement,students be more concentrate and diligent during class;for cognitive engagement,Jigsaw method is helpful for students to reduce the usage of surface strategies;for affective engagement,students’ sense of boredom and anxiety are decreased and they experience more sense of achievement in English reading classroom.In conclusion,there are some implications: first,teacher should master the teaching method which can inspire the enthusiasm and initiative of students;secondly,teacher should establish correct views on students engagement and encourage students to participate in classroom actively;finally,teacher should cultivate students self-confidence by the design of various classroom activities.