A Survey Of Senior High School Students’ Deep Learning In English Reading

Since the 21st century,with the development of science and technology,deep learning has become the requirement of the information age and trend of education reform and development.The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defined deep learning as an umbrella term for the skills and knowledge that students must possess to succeed in 21 st century jobs and civic life,namely,the mastery of core academic content knowledge,critical thinking and problem solving,effective communication,collaboration,learning to learn,and academic aspirations.The National Research Council of the United States(2012)divides deep learning abilities into three domains: cognitive domains,interpersonal domains,and intrapersonal domains.These three domains perfectly encompass the six competences of deep learning defined by the Hewlett Foundation.What’s more,the 5C model of core literacy in the21 st century and the subject core literacy advocate students’ cultural understanding,critical thinking,problem-solving ability,and learning to communicate and cooperate are also emphasized,which are consistent with the connotation of deep learning theory.Reading learning is the foundation of English learning.Reading discourse not only carries language and cultural knowledge,but also conveys ways of thinking,cultural connotations,and value orientations through its internal logic,cultural forms,and language characteristics.It is an important way to cultivate students’ core literacy and comprehensive competences.However,currently,deep learning has not attracted the attention of teachers and students in English reading.English reading teaching still focuses on surface of language knowledge,with less attention on deeper aspects such as the meaning of the text,the connection between culture and knowledge,or solving complex problems.Therefore,it is imperative to integrate the concept of deep learning into English reading classes.Based on the deep learning theory,this study used questionnaire,classroom observation,and interview as the main research tools,combining the quantitative research with qualitative research.213 students from a senior high school in Beihai are randomly chosen to do the questionnaire.Five English teachers and five students in senior high school are interviewed.Furthermore,five English reading classes are randomly selected as the subjects of the observation.This study aims to address the following two questions:(1)What are the current situation of deep learning of English reading among high school students in cognitive domain,interpersonal domain,and intrapersonal domain?(2)What are the factors that influence senior high school students’ deep learning in English reading?Research results show that:(1)The performance of students in the cognitive domain is not ideal.Their abilities of mastering core academic content,thinking critically and solving complex problem still need to be improved.They perform well in interpersonal domain.They are able to communicate and cooperate with classmates.As for the intrapersonal domain,they have a firm belief in English learning,but the learning ability of high school students still needs to be improved.In addition,the comparative analysis results indicate that gender differences in deep learning of English reading are not significant.In terms of grade differences,the English deep learning ability of in third grade is significantly better than other grades.(2)There are three factors that affect high school students’ deep learning of English reading: environmental factors: exam pressure.Student’ factors: less learning interests,with low engagement in reading class,and constraints from low-order thinking.Teachers’ factors:insufficient understanding of deep learning,inadequate professionalism,defective teaching design,and the neglect of extracurricular reading.Based on the above research,this thesis puts forward to promote deep learning of English reading for high school students from three aspects: schools,teachers,and students.(1)Schools should broaden channels and provide relevant support for teachers.(2)Teachers should improve their personal professionalism,improve the depth of text interpretation,emphasize subjective status of students,enhance students’ interest,adopt multiple evaluation methods and explore reading resources.(3)Students should develop a plan to persist in reading,monitor and reflect on the learning process,and utilize high-order thinking in English Reading.