| This study aims to explore the effect of Reading Circles on high school students’ English cooperative learning ability and reading comprehension.Specifically,based on the relevant teaching theories of Reading Circles,it was integrated into high school English teaching.This study conducted a one-semester applied research,aiming at answering the following two questions:1.How do Reading Circles improve senior high school students’ cooperative learning ability?2.What are the effects of Reading Circles on students’ reading achievements?Eighty-six participants in Grade two were from Xining Shude Senior High School.In this experiment,EC and CC classed received pre-test and post-test during the experiment.For the first research question,the author adopted questionnaires to collect data,and semi-structured interview was also used to assist the questionnaire survey,so as to make a more comprehensive and systematic investigation of students’ cooperative learning ability.For the second research question,the author used authoritative test to quantify the changes in participants’ reading comprehension,before and after the experiment.The research employed SPSS 26.0 to analyze quantitative data from English reading comprehension tests and cooperative learning questionnaires to obtain descriptive and inferential statistical results.The results revealed that the readers’ reading comprehension performance and cooperative learning ability were improved effectively after implementing Reading Circles teaching activity for one semester.In particular,the reading comprehension performance of low-and intermediate-level students enhanced significantly,and the improvement of reading comprehension of low-level participants was slightly more significant than that of intermediate-level participants.In addition,students’ cooperative learning ability in five dimensions all had been improved significantly,which is also confirmed by the conclusion of the interview analysis.This study also got the following enlightenment,hoping to help other researchers and front-line teachers.First,Reading Circles can be combined with the daily English teaching activities of high school students,adding vitality to traditional reading teaching.Reading circles can also be combined with the instruction of reading skills.Secondly,before and during Reading Circles,teachers should explain and demonstrate some key points and techniques of cooperative learning.In addition,Reading Circles can be used as a remedial instruction method to improve intermediate and low readers’ reading comprehension.During Reading Circles,teachers should not forget their facilitators’ identity and refrain from interfering too much with students’ independent exploration and learning.Finally,teachers can select interesting materials close to life as reading texts so students can engage in reading activities better. |
