A Study On The Application Of Literature Circle To The Teaching Of English Extracurricular Reading In Junior High School

Reading is one of the essential skills for language learners and reading teaching occupies a very important position in junior high school English teaching.Teachers in junior high school attach great importance to classroom reading teaching,but they often neglect extracurricular reading teaching which is also an indispensable part of reading teaching.According to the requirements of English curriculum standards of compulsory education(2011 Edition),junior high school English reading teaching should not only put emphasis on classroom reading teaching,but also pay attention to extracurricular reading teaching,so as to help students develop good reading habits in combination with classroom reading teaching and extracurricular reading teaching.Many scholars have begun to explore different teaching methods of extracurricular reading,and literature circle is one of the reading teaching methods that has attracted much attention of scholars.Literature circle is a kind of reading teaching method,which has been carried out for a long time in foreign countries,especially in the United States,and has been favored by students and teachers.Compared with abundant application research abroad,the domestic research on literature circle is relatively insufficient and most of them focus on Chinese reading teaching.Based on reader response theory and cooperative learning theory,this study explores the specific application of literature circle to junior high school English extracurricular reading teaching,attempting to answer the following three questions: 1)Can literature circle affect junior high school students’ interest in English reading? 2)Can literature circle affect junior high school students’ self-efficacy in English reading?3)Can literature circle affect junior high school students’ English reading ability?Ninety-two students from two parallel classes of Grade 7 in the internship school were selected as the participants for a three-month experimental study.During this period,the experimental class used the literature circle for extracurricular reading teaching,while the control class maintained the original extracurricular reading teaching method.After collecting and analyzing the relevant data of the experiment,the researcher finds that: 1)Literature circle has a positive influence on students’ interest in English reading and it can improve students’ interest in English reading to a certain extent;2)Literature circle has a positive impact on students’ English reading self-efficacy and it can improve students’ English reading self-efficacy to a certain extent;3)Literature circle has a positive influence on students’ English reading ability and it can improve students’ English reading ability to a certain extent.Based on the experimental implementation process and main findings of this study,the researcher puts forward the following teaching suggestions: 1)Teachers should choose appropriate articles as the reading materials for literature circle;2)Teachers can design different roles of literature circle according to the characteristics of the article instead of sticking to the fixed roles;3)Teachers should not underestimate independent reading while cultivating the awareness of cooperative learning in literature circle;4)As literature circle needs higher requirements for teachers,teachers should constantly strengthen their teaching ability and quality.In addition,the limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are also expounded.