Effects Of Different Ways For College English Reading Instruction

The new college English teaching model has introduced computer,particularly network technology,into classroom teaching.The new model has changed the teaching method and enriched the content of English reading.As a result,both virtual and non-virtual resources are important means for learners to get information in English through reading.This thesis reports a quasi-experiment in a between-subjects design with the new model.It investigated the effects of different methods of using intranet- and internet-based CALL in college English reading instruction upon students' English reading achievement. 100 students from 2 natural classes participated in the experiment,in their 1^st,2^nd and 3^rd terms.In the 1^st term,before the experiment,from one of the two classes,which had 42 students majoring in News and Media,30 were selected as the subjects for the Experimental Group.And from the 58 students majoring in Computer Engineering from the other class,30 were selected as subjects of the Control Group.The sampling was based on the subjects' scores for English reading in the college entrance examination so as to ensure that the 2 groups were not significantly different in their starting levels of reading proficiency.The Experimental Group and the Control Group adopted the methods of students' use of curriculum-based intranet followed by class teaching and that preceded by class teaching respectively.At the beginning of the 2^nd term,29 subjects were selected from the 30 ones in each group for the 1^st term,based on their scores in a reading test given at the end of the 1^st term so that the 2 new groups did not differ significantly.And in the 2^nd term,intranet-and internet-based CALL was practiced in the Experimental Group,and intranet-based CALL alone in the Control Group.At the beginning of the 3^rd term,from the 29 subjects of each of the 2 groups for the 2^nd term,28 were selected to form 2 newer groups,based on the subjects' scores in the reading proficiency section of the terminal reading test of the 2^nd term.The 2 new groups were also checked and guaranteed to have no significant difference.And in the 3^rd term,a comparison was made on intranet- and internet-based CALL in the presence and the absence of class discussion and report what they learned,which were employed in the Experimental Group and the Control Group respectively.The experiment involved the use of intranet and internet,and employed 5 English reading tests and 2 questionnaires.The 5 tests were 1 English reading test in the college entrance examination before the experiment,1 English reading test at the end of each of the 3 terms,and 1 CET 4 before the end of the 3^rd term.One of the questionnaires,in an open-ended format,was used at the end of the 1^st term to elicit the students' evaluation of the use of intranet for this term.And the other questionnaire,based on the result from the first questionnaire and designed in a close-ended format,was used in the middle of the 2^nd term,to collect information of the students' attitudes towards the use of intranet and internet in the first half of that term.Qualitative analyses were made on the statistic data from the questionnaires and from the subjects' work at the forum discussion of intranet.And statistical analyses,using the procedure of independent-samples t test,were conducted on the data from the reading tests. Thus,the study adopted a mixed methods research that involved both qualitative research and quantitative research.The results showed that students using curriculum-based intranet made greater progress when followed by the teacher's class teaching than when preceded by the teacher's class teaching.Intranet- and internet-based CALL improved the students' English reading more than did intranet-based CALL alone.And intranet- and internet-based CALL was more facilitative to the students' English reading in the presence of class discussion and report than in the absence of class discussion and report.More importantly,these results were supported by both the quantitative analyses and the qualitative analyses.The results have important implications for CALL-based instruction on college English reading.First,the instruction should be designed in several steps,as demonstrated in the experiment.Second,at each step of the process,the teacher should serve as an organizer,a guider,and a consultant.Thirdly,computer- and classroom-based instruction on college English reading is constructivist-oriented and task-based.