The Effects Of Reading Teaching Based On Information-gap Tasks On Junior High School Students’ English Reading Competence

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of English reading teaching based on information-gap tasks on junior high school students’ English reading competence in terms of literal,general and inferential reading competence.The theoretical bases of this study are Krashen’s Input Hypothesis,Swain’s Output Hypothesis,Long’s Interaction Hypothesis and Constructivism Theory.The significance of the study is to provide some guidance on junior high school English reading teaching and learning with the expectation of improving students’English reading competence in multiple aspects.The research questions in this study are as follows:1.What are the effects of English reading teaching based on information-gap tasks on junior high school students’ literal reading competence?2.What are the effects of English reading teaching based on information-gap tasks on junior high school students’ general reading competence?3.What are the effects of English reading teaching based on information-gap tasks on junior high school students’ inferential reading competence?The subjects in this study were 78 8th’grade students in a rural junior high school of Nantong,with 39 students in EC and 39 students in CC.The instruments of this study were two reading tests and an interview.Before and after the 12-week’s teaching experiment,the reading tests were given,which would serve as pre-test and post-test in this research.During the teaching experiment,IGT-based reading teaching mode was adopted in EC,while the traditional task-based reading teaching mode was adopted in CC.After the post-test,an interview was conducted among 6 students selected from EC for further analysis.All the data in this study,including the reading test papers and the interview recording,were collected by the researcher in class and in the interview.Data analysis involved scoring,calculation and comparison.The two tests were scored by the researcher in three parts including literal,general and inferential reading.Independent-Samples T-test and Paired-Samples T-test were employed to calculate and compare students’ reading competence in terms of literal,general and inferential reading.The study has yielded the following major findings:Firstly,IGT-based English reading teaching has no significant effects on improving junior high school students’ literal reading competence.In terms of literal reading,the total score was 35.In the post-test,the mean scores of EC and CC were 31.41 and 30.90 respectively,with a significance of 0.591,showing no significant difference.One reason may be that learners pay primary attention on language meaning rather than language form when conducting information-gap reading tasks.Another reason may be that literal reading is relatively easier for learners no matter in IGT-based reading class or traditional reading class.Secondly,IGT-based English reading teaching has positive effects on improving junior high school students’ general reading competence.In terms of general reading,the total score was 30.In the post-test,the mean score of EC was 2.82 points higher than that of CC,with a significance of 0.008,showing a significant difference.One reason may be that learners are required to retell or summarize in some information-gap reading tasks.Another reason may be that learners negotiate meaning through interactional modifications when doing information-gap reading tasks.Thirdly,IGT-based English reading teaching has positive effects on improving junior high school students’ inferential reading competence.In terms of inferential reading,the total score was 35.In the post-test,the mean score of EC was 2.82 points higher than that of CC,with a significance of 0.032,showing a significant difference.One reason may be that learners are exposed to more comprehensible input during interaction in information-gap reading tasks.Another reason may be that IGT-based reading class is student-centered,which encourages learners to think and infer more independently.The pedagogical implications are as follows.First,teachers should design and apply interesting and appealing IGTs.Second,teachers should design and apply some IGTs with emphasis on language forms.Third,teachers should design and apply some IGTs which requires students to retell or summarize the reading content.Fourth,teachers should encourage peer interaction as well as independent thinking in IGT-based reading class.There are some limitations in this study.First,the experimental time was not sufficient to explore the long-term effects.Second,the sample size was not large enough to represent the whole population.Therefore,this study remains to be improved in future studies.