An Action Research Approach To Teaching Reading Abilities In Senior Middle School

Teachers often complain that students are unable to read effectively and correctly in foreign language. But usually neither the teacher nor the students have a clear idea of what actually goes wrong, and so are unable to decide on the proper remedies. This study is an attempt to examine the problem and solve it based on an action research approach, which has been popular topic in the field of foreign language teacher development in the past ten years.The primary focus of the present study is on the implementation and development of an action research approach to teaching English reading abilities as a foreign language in Lanzhou No.l Senior Middle School. By undertaking this action research, the author aims to make the notion of action research connected with the teaching practice, classroom research and reflective teaching, and to act as a bridge between the action research and reading theories (the schema theory) and the practical reading teaching of the classroom.Based on both qualitative and quantitative data obtained from questionnaire, interview, teacher's log and comparative study between an experimental class and control class, it is indicated that students in the experimental class where the author carried out the action research on fostering senior students' reading abilities make greater progress in reading compared to the control class. This demonstrates Action Research Approach is effective in turning a teacher into a researcher as well as in helping the learners to improve their reading skills successfully.