Effects Of "Reading Circles" Teaching Model On Junior High School Students’ English Reading Ability

English reading is an important way for students to acquire information,gain knowledge,expand vocabulary,and improve sense for the language.Therefore,it is of great significance for English teachers to find out effective teaching methods to help learners develop their comprehensive reading ability.As a mature teaching method,"reading circle"has been widely used abroad,but the domestic attention to the application of "reading circle"to English reading teaching is not enough.Based on this,the thesis explores the effects of the"reading circles" teaching model on junior high school students’ English reading ability,hoping to provide feasible suggestions for the teaching and learning of English reading.Based on the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education（2022）and classification of English reading ability（Wang＆Chen,2016）,this thesis seeks to answer the following three questions:（1）What effect does the "reading circles" teaching model have on junior high school students’ reading ability in terms of language knowledge?（2）What effect does the "reading circles" teaching model have on junior high school students’ reading ability in terms of reading comprehension?（3）What effect does the "reading circles"teaching model have on junior high school students’ reading ability in terms of cultural awareness?This study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods.The quantitative research involves the experiment and the questionnaire survey.Firstly,a three-month teaching experiment on 90 students in Grade 7 from a middle school in Huai’an,Jiangsu Province.Class 1,grade 7 is used as an experimental class（EC）with a total of 45 students,and Class 2,Grade 7 is used as a control class（CC）with a total of 45 students.Different teaching models are adopted in two classes,that is,the EC implements the "reading circles"teaching model,and the CC follows the traditional teaching model.After the experiment,students’ language knowledge and reading comprehension in the two classes are tested.Besides,questionnaire survey is also involved in the quantitative research,which is used to study students’ cultural awareness.The questionnaire is adapted from ICC assessment scale（Peng,Fan＆Wu,2013）,with a total of 20 items.Students from two classes are asked to complete this questionnaire.The qualitative research involves an interview.Five students in the EC are invited to be interviewed to further understand the cultural awareness of the students after the "reading circles" teaching.Major findings of this study are as follows:First,in the "reading circles" teaching model,when students are exposed to reading materials in the learning process,students are no longer restricted to the mere mastering of the book knowledge,and they are more interested in the exploration of what’s between and beyond the lines of the reading materials.After the experiment,in terms of language knowledge,the post-test results show that there is a difference in the language knowledge between two classes（p=.002）,indicating a significant improvement of students’ language knowledge in the EC.Second,in "reading circles" teaching,each student is responsible for different parts,including not only the understanding of sentences and discourse,but also the exploration of reading materials.After the experiment,in terms of the reading comprehension,the students in the EC have a significant difference（p=.00）,but there is no difference in the CC（p=.183）,showing that students’ reading comprehension in the EC has been improved a lot.Third,in "reading circles" teaching,students independently explore cultural knowledge in materials in "reading circles" teaching.Therefore,the results of questionnaire survey show that the students in the EC have a significant difference in four dimensions of cultural awareness compared with the students in the CC（p<.05）.And the analysis of interview shows that students in the EC have a great interest in the study of cultural knowledge.Based on these findings,this thesis draws some pedagogical implications.Firstly,teacher should act as knowledge guide rather than manipulator in the classroom,and teachers should pay attention to students’ autonomous learning ability and cooperative learning ability.Secondly,Chinese and Western cultural knowledge should be supplemented in English reading teaching,which can not only promote students’ interest in English learning,but also enhance their cultural confidence.Finally,students should take the initiative to improve their reading ability through active participation in classroom learning,creative use of reading materials.