Previous research findings showed that interaction plays a crucial role in L1 and L2 acquisition. The teaching method of classroom interaction arose in 1970s, and ever since then the western researchers have conducted a great deal of studies on it and have gained great success. Now it is a very popular method in the foreign language teaching and learning in western countries. The researchers in our country have just begun to attach importance to it recently. However, in China the theories of the method have not been fully reviewed. And what's more, the research into its application to English classroom teaching for non-English majors is neither comprehensive nor systematic. At the same time, the importance of reading course and the position it assumes in the curriculum are valued increasingly by more and more scholars. However, in China, college English reading course mainly focuses on the teaching of intensive reading. Extensive reading, as a complement of intensive reading, has not been regarded seriously by most of the college English teachers. We cannot ignore that the setup of extensive reading course itself has its positive meaning. It not only can open students' views, but also is important to enhance their reading comprehension and improve their general English proficiency.In my research study, the participants were two normal English classes in Wuhan University. In the experimental class, there were 36 students majoring in Electric Science from the Physics Department and majoring in Material Chemistry from the Chemistry Department. In the control class, there were 46 students majoring in Journalism and Media from the Journalism Department. The purpose of the research is to enhance the reading comprehension and improve the general English proficiency of the students in the experimental class through one semester's interaction in the extensive reading course. College English Reading Course 3, Student' s Book was used here as the experimental teaching materials. The interaction teaching method was carried out in the experimental class while in the control class, the traditional teaching method was used.SPSS was applied on the analysis of the pretest and posttest in both the experimental class and the control class, and the analysis of the questionnaire in the experimental class. The independent-samples T-test indicates that, after one semester's interaction in theextensive reading course, the experimental class shows statistically significant difference in the results of the posttest from the control class. The paired-samples T-test shows that there are very significant differences between the pretest and posttest in the experimental class while almost no statistically significant difference is showed in the control class. Moreover, significantly positive correlations between reading comprehension ability and other English learning abilities of the experimental class are testified in the correlations analysis. Results from the questionnaire also reveal that students like this interaction teaching method. Interaction in the reading course can facilitate the process of teaching and learning and it does train students to think independently and motivate their interests in English learning. At the end of the experimental semester, both the experimental class and the control class took part in an oral test mainly for their comprehension on the extensive reading texts. The results demonstrate that the students in the experimental class had a more accurate and deeper understanding in those texts.This research aims to make some attempts at classroom teaching on English reading from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective, which has been testified by the subjective method. The results from this research shows that interaction in English reading course can effectively improve English learners' reading comprehension and general English proficiency, activate classroom atmosphere, promote the teacher-student and student-student communication, motivate students' initiative to participate in the classroom activities, and therefore, further motivate their learning potential, thus facilitate English teaching and learning in the language classroom. Small group work can effectively improve classroom interaction and provide students with equal opportunities to participate in. Comprehensible input from the teacher is the basic element to develop such interaction. Teachers play a crucial role in managing and organizing teaching and learning in the interactive reading course. They should create a harmonious classroom environment that will be beneficial for students' SLA so as to bring the extensive reading course into full play in college English classroom. |