The Application Of Dual Coding Theory In The Teaching Of English Reading In Senior High Schools

Based on experiment and research, this thesis reports a study in the setting of senior high schools on how to apply the Dual Coding Theory into English reading class.Teaching English reading has always been an important aspect in senior high schools. For a long time, students' reading comprehension is quite limited by the traditional ways of teaching. Teachers are keen on teaching single words, phrases or language points. As a result, students often face great obstacles in the comprehension of the text as a whole. Therefore, the application of DCT to improve readers' comprehension seems to be very important in teaching students in senior high schools. This paper aims at the application of DCT in the hope of guiding the teaching of English reading in senior high schools.In this thesis, the definition and principles of DCT are presented to readers. DCT assumes that cognition in reading consists of the activity of two separate coding systems of mental representation, one system specialized for language, which is referred to as verbal system, and one system specialized for dealing with nonverbal objects and event, referred to as imagery systems. The verbal representation, or logogens are arranged in sequential and hierarchical structures. While imagens have different internal organization. It is more synchronous, which means all the information is available at one time.According to DCT, information is stored in memory in both verbal and nonverbal forms, and would be remembered better than information encoded in only one way. Verbal cues and imagery can be used in evaluating and monitoring the performance of the reading materials. In addition, readers' affective and motivational responses are related to both of the two systems. It is assumed that all of these aspects can be applied to the teaching of reading comprehension.Conclusions are drawn from the data achieved through experiments. The statistics presented in the tests show clearly that EG did better in reading comprehension and recall of information than CG. Moreover, the correlation coefficient indicates that imagery forming has a positive effect on reading. Therefore, the use of imagery and affective responses is an effective way in the teaching of ESL reading. It brings new insight into EFL reading and...