Action Research On Teaching Reading In Middle Schools

It is impossible to learn a foreign language without reading. Teaching reading is an important part of foreign language teaching in middle schools and the main means of improving students' reading ability. In recent years, the research on teaching reading in middle schools has focused on reading theories, skills, strategies, and typical models of teaching reading. However, how to apply these theories to their teaching practice and gradually build individual theories of teaching reading, leading to bettering teaching effects and speeding up their professional development is a more important and practical problem for many English teachers in middle schools.Action research (AR) based on self-reflection teaching model is one of the methods which can bridge the gap between educational theory and professional practice and has in recent years become a popular pedagogical theory and research approach in foreign countries. It is not only an effective method in teachers' training but also a short-cut for on-the-job teachers to improve themselves. AR focuses on the concept that teachers should be researchers and should be able to make in-depth self-reflection in actual instruction, analyze the problems, work out plans to solve them and enhance the teaching so as to ensure sustained development of education and teaching. Such flexible, pragmatic and dynamic concept and approach can be applied to teaching reading so that progress can be made through classroom experiment and investigation in its theory, methods, quality and development.This thesis presents a concise summary on the background, fundamental concept, characteristics, steps, principles, types and significance of AR, and relevant theories of teaching reading, particularly describes and analyzes the process of applying AR to teaching reading in middle schools and reflects its practical effect in teaching reading, further illustrates the practicality and feasibility of this research method if applied to teaching reading and recommends AR as a new tool for improving teaching quality, perfecting educational theory and enhancing their professional development to English teachers in middle schools.