Research On The Application Of "Reading Circles" Mode In High School English Reading Teaching From The Perspective Of Core Competencies

In the field of education,reading continues to be a concern.However,English reading still presents several challenges,such as the teaching materials being limited to textbooks,the focus being on “teaching” rather than “learning”,and the failure of some teachers to guide students to explore the cultural meaning behind the text.In the context of core literacy,the author applies the “reading circles” mode to teach English reading to high school students to address the existing problems,based on reader response theory,cooperative learning theory,humanistic learning theory and input hypothesis theory.The goal is to improve students’ problem-solving skills externally and enhance their core competencies internally.This study explores two research questions.First,can the “reading circles” mode improve students’ reading achievements from the perspective of English subject core competencies? If so,what are the implications?Second,can the “reading circles” mode improve students’ cultural awareness from the perspective of English subject core competencies? If so,what are the implications?The experiment used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods,with questionnaires,reading test papers and interview as research tools.A total of 101 students were involved in the experiment in two parallel classes in Taizhou,Zhejiang Province.There were 51 students in the experimental class and the teacher adopted the “reading circles” mode in EC.In the control class,there were 50 students,and the mode of teaching was “PWP”.The reading materials were selected from the first and second volumes of the Compulsory English published by People’s Education Press and the extra-curricular book “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.Before the experiment,the author administered reading tests and cultural awareness questionnaires to both classes.In the two classes,reading levels and cultural awareness did not differ significantly in the beginning.Both classes were given post reading tests and questionnaires again after the experiment.At the same time,the author divided the experimental class into three levels according to their English scores in the pre-test,and two to three students from each level were randomly selected for interviews.The results of the experiment showed that students’ reading ability and cultural awareness in the experimental class were significantly higher than those in the control class.And after the experiment students’ reading ability and cultural awareness in the experimental class also improved significantly.Although the reading ability and cultural awareness of the control class also improved to some extent after the experiment,their improvements were much smaller than that of the experimental class.In addition,the results of the interviews further confirmed that the “reading circles”mode is beneficial to the English reading ability and cultural awareness of high school students.Hence,the use of the “reading circles” mode in high school English reading is feasible and effective.Front-line teachers should explore different teaching modes and methods to better cultivate the core competencies of the English subject in reading teaching.