A Research Of The Influence Of Reading Aloud On Senior High School Students’ English Learning Self-efficacy

Quality-oriented education advocates the cultivation of students’ autonomous learning ability and to a great extent it is influenced by the self-efficacy.The self-efficacy influences students’ learning behavior by disturbing their choice of learning activities,the degree of effort and persistence faced with difficulties etc.Students’ high level of self-efficacy is not only the method of learning English,but also the goals of learning English.However,some students in the general senior high schools have a weak English foundation and a low self-efficacy.Although some researchers have realized the importance of reading aloud in improving students’ English learning self-efficacy,there are few empirical researches on this subject.The National English Curriculum Standard for General High School(2017)points out that in the teaching of compulsory courses for Grade One students,the teachers should attach great importance to reading aloud training to help students form the language sense which can improve students’ confidence and fluency in their English expression.Therefore,whether it is feasible to improve students’ self-efficacy through reading aloud training deserves further research.This research combed literature of reading aloud and self-efficacy.In reference to relevant theories,the author put up a plan for reading aloud training,attempting to explore the influence of reading aloud training on students’ self-efficacy by addressing two questions:(1)What changes have taken place in students’ English learning self-efficacy after a period of reading aloud training?(2)To what degree have the students’ English achievements been improved after a period of reading aloud training? The research which lasted for 4months was performed in two classes of Grade One in Xinzhou No.3 senior high school and it is a general senior high school.A questionnaire,tests and an interview are used to analyze and summarize the experiment results in this research.The research procedure is divided into three stages: the pre-experiment stage,the while-experiment stage and the post-experiment stage.In the pre-experiment stage,a pre-test,a self-efficacy questionnaire are conducted to investigate students’ self-efficacy and English levels.In the while-experiment stage,a reading aloud training is conducted in the experimental class.In the post-experiment stage,students are required to finish the post-test and the questionnaire.Meanwhile,an interview including six students in the experimental class with high level,middle level and low level is performed as a qualitative supplement for the self-efficacy questionnaire.Data of tests and the self-efficacy questionnaire are analyzed by SPSS22.0.The research results indicate that the mean value of each dimension of students’ self-efficacy in the experiment class increases significantly.Meanwhile,the interview results shows that students in the EC have more confidence in their English learning ability and they prefer to make an effort to learn English.They are more willing to deal with the difficulties encountering in English learning and challenge difficult tasks.Compared with the control class,students in the experimental class have significantly higher scores after a four-month reading aloud training,especially for middle-level and low-level students.The results reflect that reading aloud training has a positive effect on students’ self-efficacy and English achievement.The research implies that teachers in the general senior high school should pay attention to the cultivation of students’ self-efficacy and integrate reading aloud training into daily language teaching,which gradually improve students’ self-efficacy.For students,more attention should be paid on reading aloud in English learning so as to improve learning proficiency and English learning self-efficacy.