Research On Application Of Content-based Instruction To English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

According to the new English curriculum standards,there are new requirements for English reading teaching,and more and more attention is paid to cultivating students’ comprehensive English language ability.Enriching students’ knowledge and cross-cultural awareness is the key point of English reading teaching.Reading occupies an extremely important position of English teaching in junior high school.To achieve the objectives of English reading teaching and improve students’ reading ability effectively,the teachers have been exploring the more effective reading teaching method in junior high school.Content-based Instruction(CBI)is a teaching model that combines language and content organically to promote students’ subject knowledge and train students’ language skills,while abandoning the idea of teaching a series of rules in English teaching.Based on the comprehensible input hypothesis and cognitive learning theory,the author has carried out the research on the application of CBI to English reading teaching in junior high school.In this way,the author hopes to find out whether CBI has impact on student’engagement,critical thinking disposition and English reading scores.The research questions are as follows:Question1: What is the effect of content-based instruction on students’ engagement in English reading class?Question2: What is the effect of content-based instruction on students’ critical thinking disposition in English reading class?Question3: To what extent does content-based instruction impact the students’ English reading scores?The experimental study is conducted for 5 months in the Third Grade of the 29th Middle School in Yingkou City,Liaoning Province.Research subjects are 90 students from two parallel classes.Class 7 is the experimental class(EC)with 45 students.Class 8 is the control class(CC)with 45 students.The English courses in EC and CC are taught by the same experienced teacher.The EC adopts the content-based instruction,while CC still adopts the traditional teaching method.Students in both classes use English textbooks published by foreign language teaching and research.The qualitative and quantitative research methods are employed by means of using questionnaires,tests and interview.The research results show that CBI promotes student engagement in the English reading class,raises student’ critical thinking disposition and improves student’ English reading scores.Therefore,it is viable to apply CBI to English reading teaching in junior high school.It is hoped that the research can provide useful help for related research in English reading teaching.