An Action Research On The Application Of "reading Circles" In The Teaching Of English Reading In Senior High School

Reading is a vital part of English learning in senior high school.Good reading ability is the key for students to achieve good results.Therefore,the teaching of English reading should give priority to developing and improving students’ reading ability.However,during the internship,the author found that there were some problems in students’ reading learning.For instance,the reading class was mostly dominated by the teacher’s explanation and translation of texts,resulting in students’ weak reading comprehension ability and unsatisfactory reading performance;students were not interested in reading and the classroom atmosphere was inactive.“Reading circles” is a new reading teaching mode,which has attracted more and more educators’ attention in recent years.It is a type of reading activity in which students read,discuss and share on their own（Furr,2007）,reflecting the concept of student-centered teaching.Therefore,under the guidance of input hypothesis and cooperative learning theory,this action research attempts to apply the “reading circles” teaching model in the teaching of English reading in senior high school.In this research,66 students in a senior class in Hefei,Anhui Province were selected as the research participants.Tests,questionnaires,and interviews were used as the research instruments.Eight reading texts from Compulsory 1and Compulsory 2 of senior high school English textbooks published by Beijing Normal University Press were taken as the reading materials.An 18-week teaching action research was carried out in this class.This action research followed the four steps proposed by Kurt Lewin: plan,action,observation,and reflection.The author does this research mainly to discuss the following two questions:（1）What is the impact of the “reading circles” model on students’ interest and attitude towards English reading?（2）What is the impact of the“reading circles” model on students’ English reading ability?After a semester of action research,the following conclusions are drawn: 1.The application of the “reading circles” model in teaching English reading in senior high school could help to improve students’ reading interest and attitude.2.The application of the“reading circles” model in teaching English reading in senior high school could help to improve students’ English reading ability.After the introduction of “reading circles”,students’ ability to summarize the main idea,find factual details,reason,and judge,and guess the meaning of words has improved to a certain extent.This research has the following three implications for the teaching of English reading in senior high school: First,teachers should emphasize the importance of discussing rules with students.Second,teachers should change their traditional roles.Third,teachers should pay attention to students at different levels.Finally,combined with the problems existing in the process of “reading circles” teaching,the author puts forward targeted suggestions to provide reference suggestions for the better application of “reading circles” in senior high school teaching of English reading.