An Experimental Study Of Problem Chain Teaching Approach In Junior High School English Reading Teaching

The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)makes it clear that students should improve their core literacy of English subject,which includes linguistic proficiency,cultural awareness,thinking quality,and learning ability.Currently,English teachers usually control the classroom and ignore students’ primary position in domestic classroom;they place an emphasis on teaching language skills while neglecting the cultural output of discourse and the improvement of students’ learning abilities,which is in conflict with the standards of English subject’s core literacy and fails to meet students’reading needs.The purpose of this study,grounded in the related theories of problem chain teaching,is to examine the impact of problem chain teaching approach on junior high school students’ proficiency and interest in English reading.This research specifically intends to respond to the following two questions:(1)What impacts do problem chain teaching approach have on English reading proficiency of junior high school students?(2)What impacts do problem chain teaching approach have on junior high school students’ interest in English reading?The study uses a three-month teaching experiment with two classes of students in the third grade at Suzhou Changqiao Junior High School in Jiangsu Province,whose English proficiency levels were similar.The experimental class consists of 47 students and uses problem chain teaching approach,while the control class consists of 46 students and uses the daily English teaching method of Changqiao Junior High School.The author compares the changes in the experimental class’s English reading proficiency and interest to those in the control class by using survey questionnaires,English reading tests,and interviews.The following are the study’s primary findings:(1)Problem chain teaching approach has a significant role in promoting English reading proficiency of Junior high school students.Their English reading scores dramatically improve when comparing pre-rest with post-test results,particularly in main idea questions,inference and judgment questions as well as information reduction questions,which demonstrates that problem chain teaching approach has a considerably positive impact on students’ capacity to reason,synthesize and evaluate.(2)Problem chain teaching approach can considerably raise students’ general interest in English reading,but it suffers from a lack of internal consistency according to the analysis of SPSS.The major reason is that problem chain teaching approach is challenging and innovative for students.In contrast to their daily teaching method,it attaches importance to classroom teaching activities of analyzing problem situations,asking and solving problems,which help students acquire knowledge and skills so as to cultivate independent thinking.Some students are unwilling to adapt or not fully adapt to this teaching method,resulting in a reduced internal consistency although it can increase students’ general interest in English reading.The findings and results of this study manifest that by presenting students with demanding learning tasks,problem chain teaching approach may,to a certain extent,boost students’ interest and enthusiasm for English reading learning.Additionally,problem chain teaching method can create a spiral-up drive chain featured a series of centralized,sequential,relatively independent,and interrelated problems to foster students’ proactive thinking and develop their problem-solving skills,thereby raising their English reading proficiency.Furthermore,the author hopes that this study can provide a reference for the application of problem chain teaching approach in junior high school English reading,and also that scholars will try to apply this method to other aspects of English teaching to further explore the applicability of this method.