| English popular science texts usually involve knowledge of different subjects,which are more difficult for English learners to understand.Among many reading teaching methods,the reading circles has been applied widely in the teaching of English reading at home and abroad.This thesis,using quantitative and qualitative research methods,focuses on the effectiveness of reading circles in the teaching of English popular science text reading in Senior One English classrooms.There are three research questions:(1)What are the effects of applying reading circles to the teaching of English popular science text reading on Senior One students’ reading attitudes towards such texts?(2)What are the effects of applying reading circles to the teaching of English popular science text reading on Senior One students’ ability to read such texts?(3)What factors in the reading circles contribute to the changes?The research was carried out in Minhou No.1 Senior High School in Fuzhou City,lasting nineteen weeks.One hundred students from two Senior One parallel classes were chosen as the research subjects.The experimental class was asked to learn the texts through the reading circles.Meanwhile,the teacher used the discourse analysis method to teach the control class.Through the questionnaire survey,the author found that the positive effect of reading circles on students’ reading attitudes was not superior to the effect of the discourse analysis method used in the control class,indicating that reading circles could not significantly improve Senior One students’ reading attitudes towards English popular science texts.However,the experimental class scored significantly higher than the control class in the post-test,indicating that the reading circles significantly improved students’ reading ability,especially on the inference and judgment ability.There were three factors in reading circles that played a positive role in Senior One students’ reading attitudes.Firstly,working in groups made students enjoy reading.Secondly,group cooperation deepened the friendship between group members.Thirdly,students improved their reading ability,which helped increase their sense of achievement in reading.The main reason why the mean scores of reading attitudes of the experimental class did not improve significantly was that reading circles occupied students’ too much time after class,which increased their psychological and academic burdens.As for the students’ reading ability,two main factors in reading circles contributed to the improvement.One was the division of labor between group members in the reading circles.The other was help and support among group members in the reading circles.This research explores the effectiveness of reading circles in the teaching of Senior One English popular science text reading,which has practical value for bringing implications for future teaching. |
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