Integration Of Call Into The Teaching Of College English Reading

In the institutions of higher education, college English teaching has always been regarded as one of the priorities for the overwhelming non-English majors and received widely attention from the teachers and students. Relevant Researchers and educator have made great efforts on the study of the foreign language reading and its instruction. However, the current situation of reading teaching in college is far from satisfaction and many college students are still weak in reading comprehension. Compared with the time and effort they have put in, many college students have reaped disproportionate reward.In recent years, in tune with the rapid development of the information age and the digital, audio-visual technology, computer assisted language learning and its application has also entered a new era of development in the people's life, especially in the academic field. Much attention is paid to the research and practice of CALL in the world and the application of CALL technology is now rapidly becoming the mainstream in the development of educational technology. With the guidance of foreign language teaching and learning theories, CALL technology has shown its vast advantages in assisting and facilitating the teaching of college English reading. It not only provides richer and more authentic language learning environment and stimulates students'sensory inputs, but also enables reading teaching to be progressive, versatile and responsive to individual learning needs.However, there is relatively little information available on English reading through CALL with Chinese characteristics compared with the vast amount of researches carried out around the world. Because CALL in China is a rather new approach, and for the reason of economy or population, CALL requires making decisions of what, when, and how to teach.The thesis can be divided into five chapters. The first chapter is about the background, aim and significance of the thesis. The second Chapter is a general introduction to the teaching of computer assisted college English reading. In this part, the traditional mode of reading teaching and problems Chinese students have in reading are analyzed. Then chapter three of the thesis states the theoretical foundation of the research from the perspectives of constructivism, individualized instruction and interaction. Chapter four is about the research in which subjects are second-year non-English majors at Shandong Normal University. Two classes are chosen randomly: one class as control group, receiving traditional teacher-centered instruction; the other as experiment group receiving new CALL instruction. The study lasts for eighteen weeks, and both pre-tests and post-tests are held to investigate the effect of the new CALL on writing, reading comprehension, attitude, interest, and self-efficacy in English learning. The data obtained are processed with ANOVA, indicates that the reading class assisted by CALL and the Internet is beneficial to improve students'reading comprehension, stimulate students'reading interest. Finally, chapter five summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of CALL and points out the key and fundamentals of integrating CALL into the teaching of college English reading.Since integrating CALL technology into college English reading teaching is still on the beginning stage, many problems may emerge during the teaching process, such as the financial barriers, development of CALL materials, individualization, person to person interaction, students'autonomous learning competence and teacher's role. And it will be undoubtedly undergoing a long process of self-development and improvement. Therefore, some problems and suggestions for further consideration are also raised for further researching and exploring.Reforming the teaching mode by integrating CALL into college English reading teaching is a possible and efficient solution to the current situation of college reading teaching. The hypothesis about the efficiency of CALL and its feasibility in Chinese college reading courses are confirmed and computer will act as a device enabling the college students in China to have greater achievement and motivation in reading. The results of this study indicate that CALL is an effective instruction mode in teaching English reading and have practical implications for the administrators, teachers, and students.