Application Of Genre-based Approach To Reading Teaching In Senior Middle Schools

As is known, reading plays a quite important role in teaching and learning English. How to improve the teaching of English reading has always been a hot topic in the teachers and experts of second language acquisition. In the recent years, genre-based approach (GBA) has attracted many teachers and specialists'eyes.GBA is a kind of teaching method based on genre and genre-analysis theory. It mainly pays attention to genre structures of discourse of the text, and making good use of the genre knowledge in the classroom. This approach mainly wants to let the students know the knowledge of genre, so that the students can get information according to the structural framework and linguistic features,which are associated with the knowledge of genre. In this way, the students can improve their ability of reading.Genre and genre analysis have been made use of abroad in the language teaching and till now the genre-based approach has affected language use and teaching in some places of the world. However, in China, GBA has been made little use, and furthermore, the results of it are not as satisfying as expected. At the same time, Senior English for China student Textbooks (published by People Education Press) mainly belong to three Genres: narration, exposition and argumentation. The articles in National Matriculation English Test (NMET)are also mainly of these three genres. All of these made it impossible and necessary for teachers to adopt GBA in English reading teaching in the classroom.Therefore, the writer does the experiment on GBA to see if and how GBA can influence the English reading teaching in China.The whole experiment is done among the 99 students of the two senior middle school classes in No.1 Middle School of Anqiu, Shandong in one term. The present paper shows the experiment and its data and findings, trying to set light on the application of GBA in reading teaching in senior middle schools. The article presents if and how GBA produces a good effect on the students'performance in reading in senior schools in China.The writer reviews reading theory, including genre, genre analysis and GBA, and the use of GBA abroad and at home. This chapter consists of the experimental hypothesis, experimental Subjects, experimental observation, and the experimental questionnaire.There are also experimental procedure, according to the three genres: narration, exposition and argumentation. The writer collects and analysis the data from the experiment and summarizes the major findings about the study and the findings. The study shows that the experiment has yielded the promising results.The use of GBA in English reading in Chinese senior middle schools can improve the students'reading ability effectively. The students in the experimental class have their reading comprehension level improved. They can grasp the main ideas, find out the topic sentence, infer and make judge from the passage they are reading after the training of GBA. The findings indicate that the use of GBA can stimulating students'interest in reading and build up their confidence of it, and also can arouse the initiative and form their good reading habits and strategies.In a word, the results of the experiment show that GBA is effective to improve students'reading ability as well as improve their reading interest and confidence. The results also suggest that GBA is useful in enhancing students'reading strategies and raising their reading speed .