A Study On The Current Situation Of Utilization Of Textbook Illustrations In English Reading Teaching In Primary School

English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2011 Edition)emphasizes that teachers should actively utilize existing teaching resources to carry out teaching activities.Illustration is one of the most convenient and important teaching resources that English teachers can use.Illustrations not only have gorgeous colors,but also have strong intuitiveness.Therefore,illustration can arouse students’ learning enthusiasm and deepen students’ understanding of texts to a great extent.The combination of illustration and text can broaden the connotation of the text.As a "second language" in textbooks,illustrations play an irreplaceable role in English reading teaching.In view of this,the author uses questionnaire survey,student interview and classroom observation to investigate the use of illustration in English classroom teaching in primary school.Based on constructive theory and visual learning theory,this study conducted a preliminary investigation on the use of reading illustrations of 36 English teachers in three primary schools in Guangzhou.SPSS 26 is used for statistical analysis of the data results.The questionnaire includes three dimensions: teachers’ view on reading illustration,usage of reading illustration and using effect of reading illustration.On the basis of the questionnaire,the author randomly selected 6 students for interviews to further understand the teaching situation of illustrations and the problems existing in the using process.Finally,classroom observation is used to observe whether teachers use text illustration in actual teaching or not,the ways of using illustration,the teaching effect of using reading illustrations and the problems existing in textbooks.The purpose of this study is to explore the following two questions:(1)What is the overall situation of textbook illustrations used in primary school English reading teaching?(2)In the process of English reading teaching,do teachers use illustrations appropriately,if not,what are the reasons?Results show that:(1)The overall situation of teachers’ application of illustration in teaching is fairly good,but there are still shortcomings.Therefore,there is still room for further improvement.First of all,teachers’ awareness of using illustrations remains low.Secondly,teachers lack of corresponding strategies for using illustrations,so the interpretation of illustrations by teachers is not thorough enough.Finally,some teachers pay too much attention to the text content,thus ignoring the educational value of illustration.(2)The reasons that affect the use of illustrations include teachers’ insufficient awareness of using illustrations,teachers’ inadequate analysis of illustrations,single teaching methods,students’ insufficient understanding of illustrations and students’ lack of corresponding strategies for using illustrations.Based on the research findings,some advice is given respectively in respects of schools,teachers and students.For schools,education and teaching training should be improved and evaluation content should be refined.For teachers,it is necessary to strengthen their ability to explore the connotation of illustrations and enrich the teaching methods of illustrations.Students should have a correct understanding of illustration and take the initiative to learn how to read them.