A Research On The Application Of Theme-based Model Of Content-based Instruction In Senior High School English Reading Teaching

Reading is an important indication of language ability and also an inevitable topic in language teaching.Under the current international situation and domestic requirements for the cultivation of foreign language talents,reading teaching has also received increasing attention.So,the focus on foreign reading teaching has transferred to the analysis and comprehension of English discourse.Students must possess the ability to comprehend the topic of certain discourse to ensure the efficiency of reading and achieve the goal of improving their integrated linguistic competence.Single grammar translation method is applied in China’s high school English reading classes,which emphasizes on the translation of vocabulary,grammar and sentence.Although such method has gained some positive results,but undoubtedly,it causes automatic and blind study in English reading class,and makes students lack of the ability to comprehend and analyze the passage roundly,which makes it adverse to cultivate the linguistic competence of students.Under such circumstances,the author tend to use the theme-based model of content-based instruction,which integrates subject content and language learning and contends to confer students subject meaning instead of simple vocabulary,grammar and sentence analysis,most importantly,it is a method that puts emphasis on the students needs,interests and the real language material.In order to explore whether the theme-based model of content-based instruction is an effective reading teaching model,the author proposes to apply such method in high school English reading classes.This research focuses on the following questions:(1)Can applying theme-based model of content-based instruction to English reading teaching in Senior High School enhance students’ interest in reading?(2)Can applying theme-based model of content-based instruction to English reading teaching in Senior High School improve the reading level and integrated linguistic competence of students?(3)Does it have the same influence on the reading skills of students at different proficiency levels?In order to answer the above three questions,a teaching experiment combining qualitative and quantitative methods was conducted on 100 students from two classes in the first year of senior high school in Harbin by using theme-based model of content-based instruction.The theoretical bases of the research are the theory of comprehensible input and output hypothesis,graphic theory and scaffolding theory.Classes participating in the experiment are divided into experimental class and control class.The experimental class adopts theme-based CBI model of content-based instruction,while the control class adopts traditional grammar translation method.After the experiment,the following findings are obtained.First,most of students accepted and liked the theme-based model of content-based instruction.They are willing to find out the “subject”of the passage by various interesting activities designed by the teacher.Moreover,they expect such model can be applied in reading class in the future.Secondly,applying the theme-based model of content-based instruction in reading class can improve students’ reading level and also has a positive effect on the improvement of students’ comprehensive language ability.Students in low-score group make great progress on English reading skills,followed by middle-score group and high-score group.The theme-based model of content-based instruction has a positive influence on students’ mastery of discourse theme,discourse content and grammatical expression.Finally,such model can solve the problem that the traditional teaching method separates the language from the thematic content,and integrate the knowledge of other subjects into the process of English learning to enhance students’ interest in learning,to cultivate the all-round development of students and meet the requirements of quality-oriented education.This study also brings some enlightenment for English reading teaching in senior high school.First,English reading teaching should fully understand the needs and interests of students.Second,teachers should strike a balance between language and content in the process of reading teaching instead of focusing on one side.Third,teachers should improve their professional quality.Finally,due to the short experimental period,limited experimental sample size and other factors,this study has some deficiencies.Further and more detailed studies are needed in the future.