Action Research On English Group Text Reading Teaching In Junior Middle School Based On Thematic Meaning

The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022)emphasizes that the teaching of English reading should be theme-oriented,combined with multi-genre discourses,and carry out teaching activities that are conducive to the coordinated development of students’ language ability,thinking quality,cultural awareness and learning ability.Currently,reading teaching mostly focuses on single discourse and fails to explore its deep meaning under the guidance of the theme,which leads to students’ misunderstanding of the theme and makes their thoughts at face value.However,group text reading is a reading process in which a group of texts are selected in relation to a unit theme,and the teacher designs activities around the theme that are consistent with students’ physical and mental development,and then the teacher and students discuss the topics and reach a consensus.Thus,this study is based on the input hypothesis,constructivism learning theory and the view of English learning activities.It applies group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning in junior middle school English reading classes,aiming at improving students’ reading ability and interest so as to achieve their in-depth understanding of discourses.This action research lasts for four months.The subjects of the study are 54 students and 2 in-service English teachers in the Class 5,Grade 8 of a middle school in Linyi City.The research methods such as action research,questionnaire and interview are adopted.Three rounds of action are carried out in this research,each involving four steps of planning,implementation,observation and reflection,in order to answer the following three questions:(1)How does English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning influence junior middle school students’ English reading performance?(2)How does English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning influence junior middle school students’ use of reading strategies?(3)How does English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning enhance junior middle school students’ interest in English reading?By reflecting on the problems for improvement and combining them with data analysis,the following research findings are summarized.Firstly,English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning can effectively improve students’ reading performance.Secondly,English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning can effectively infiltrate reading strategies in the classroom,enrich students’ English reading strategies,and thus increase their awareness of using reading strategies.After the implementation of this teaching model,the frequency of students using prediction,skimming,browsing and inference increased significantly,but the use of structural analysis and vocabulary strategy increased less.Finally,English group text reading teaching based on thematic meaning can integrate reading inside and outside the classroom,broaden students’ reading horizons,and guide them to actively read extracurricular materials on related topics,thus enhancing their interest in reading.Based on the above conclusions,this study draws the following teaching implications:Firstly,teachers should carefully select reading texts based on the theme.Secondly,emphasis should be placed on the penetration of group text reading strategies to cultivate students’ ability of using strategies.Finally,reading in class and reading after class should be connected to achieve overall reading.