| Most EFL teachers in the local place of the present study have to face the tension between examination-oriented education and the quality education and the NMET exerts strong washback effects on teaching, which result in the prevalence of teacher-centred classroom teaching practice, with limited effect at the cost of great efforts.To seek a way out, the Extensive Reading Approach is formed on the basis of the Input Hypothesis and the Affective Hypothesis and some reading theories, for the purpose of replacing the traditional teaching method.This thesis addresses the above-mentioned issue by presenting the design, results, and implications from a study involving senior school students who read 50 simplified graded readers, 21st Century weekly and 21st Century High School Edition over 3 academic years. During the 3 years, the Experimented Class (N: 45) not only followed the same standard syllabus and used the same textbooks in class as the Control Class (N: 45), but also received treatment according to the Extensive Reading Approach, focusing on reading strategies and reading tasks. The effects of the treatment were assessed on the basis of the two groups' results on: (a) one mid-term test, two final-term term tests and NMET 2002 , and (b) 1 interview, 3 questionnaires and class observation. A statistical analysis of these two kinds of measures yielded 2 central findings. First, Extensive Heading Approach could improve high school students' English proficiency. Second, Extensive Reading Approach could help to increase the percentage of the competent English learners in classroom teaching situation.This thesis consists of six chapters.The first chapter is an introduction. It mainly focuses on current EFL practice in the local situation of the present study and significance of this study - to develop the students' overall language competence by providing them with greater exposure to authentic L2 reading materials and easing them from the burden of mechanical exercises.The second chapter concentrates on literature review. Previous research into extensive reading by over ten researchers or teachers both at home and abroad offered strong suggestive evidence that extensive reading (using graded readers, at least) can provide language learners with a set of linguistic models of the target language model which may subsequently be incorporated into subjects' active competence in this language.In the third chapter, the author attempts to explore the rationale for this study. Krashen's Input Hypotheses claims that acquisition depends solely on comprehensible input - language that is always slightly ahead of the learner's current stage of progress but which contains message that the learner can comprehend through means such as situational clues. Hence any teaching method is said to succeed to the extent that it provides comprehensible input. The Affective Filter Hypothesis implies that our pedagogical goals should not only include supplying comprehensible input, but also creating a situation that encourages a low filter. The effective language teacher is someonewho can provide input and help it comprehensible in a low anxiety situation. Grammar translation method and other teaching approaches influenced by structural linguistics, transformational generative linguistics and behaviorist psychology advocate a passive and 'bottom-up' view of the reading process. Psycholinguistic theorists, especially Keneth Goodman, propose the 'top-down', or meaning making concepts. Most recent research and developments in psycholinguistic theory, including the interactive psycholinguistic models, the social reading theory and the critical reading theory have suggested that reading may be a combination of both 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' processes.The fourth chapter presents the Extensive Reading Approach, which is made up of the relation between intensive reading and extensive reading, effective instruction, reading strategies, reading tasks, activities focusing on language awareness and reading after class.The fifth chapter is about the present stu... |
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