A Study On The Application Of Narrow Reading Strategy In English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

Reading has always played an important role in English learning,and it is also an effective way for students to improve their language proficiency.However,there are still some problems in English reading teaching in junior high school.On the one hand,teachers’ excessive emphasis on vocabulary,grammar and other language knowledge is not conducive to the development of students’ reading ability.On the other hand,the traditional teaching mode ignores the cultivation of students’ interest in English reading and their personal needs.The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)has put forward a“key competence-oriented” discipline target,which requires the reform of English teaching mode.Therefore,it becomes the focus of English teaching to explore effective learning methods that correspond with the requirements of Curriculum Standards and help students improve their ability.Narrow reading is an effective reading strategy which stresses on reading in only one genre,one subject matter or the works of one author,further to promote learners’ language proficiency.This research aims to investigate the effect of narrow reading on junior high school students’ English reading ability,interest and confidence after applying this strategy in English reading teaching in junior high school.This research mainly explores two questions:1.To what extent can narrow reading affect junior high school students’ English reading ability?2.What is the influence of narrow reading on junior high school students’ English reading interest and confidence?The research subject involves eighty Grade Nine students from two classes in a junior high school in Luoyang.In order to explore the effect of narrow reading strategy,these students are divided into experimental class and control class.In the process of experiment,students in control class follow the traditional teaching mode,whereas students in experimental class are asked to read passages that relate to the topic of textbook in extracurricular time.At the same time,test,questionnaire,and interview are used as research instruments for data collection.After two months’ intervention,SPSS 23.0 software is used to analyze the collected data of test and questionnaire,and the content of interview is explained as well.The results show that there exists a significant difference in the test score of experimental class students and control class students.The scores of experimental class students improve a lot after the experiment.What’s more,the result of questionnaire and interview indicates that experimental class students’ reading interest and confidence are enhanced.Through the process of narrow reading training,students could repeatedly be exposed to relevant vocabulary and expressions,and naturally remember them by reading several passages with the same topic.Meanwhile,students could form related schema and prepare for later reading by contacting and accumulating relevant information.The mastery of language knowledge can remove obstacles for students to obtain text information and improve their reading confidence.Students’ interest in reading may also be improved with the deeper understanding of the topic meaning.Therefore,the application of narrow reading in English reading teaching is beneficial to students’ English learning.