An Experimental Study Of The Relationship Between Affective Factors Of Senior Highs And English Newspaper Reading

According to New English Curriculum Criteria, English newspaper reading is regarded as one of the teaching sources. English newspaper reading has long been an important role in English teaching in colleges, now it also plays an active role in Senior English teaching reform with its distinctive characteristics such as up-to-minute contents, authentic language, useful words, etc.The thesis mainly focuses on the possible influence on the learners'affective factors by reading English newspaper. After the literature review, claims have been made that newspaper reading falls into the category of extensive reading, and extensive reading could lead to significant improvement in learners'motivation to read in a second/foreign language. However, the evidence of such gains is anecdotal and most of the studies laid much attention to the conclusion of the teaching approaches. But as for quantitative data analysis of the motivation to read newspaper, far less study can be found in China.So in this thesis, the author mainly focuses on three questions based on the teaching process by using the quantitative research method.1.What are the language obstacles of students while reading newspaper?2.Will the classroom activities and the training of reading strategies for newspaper reading have a positive effect on students?3.Will newspaper reading foster students'reading motivation and their positive affect?At the beginning of the research, a survey of reading obstacles and status among 137 Chinese senior high school students reveals that most students show great interest in press reading, but the vocabulary and unfamiliar cultural background knowledge are their main obstacles. Also, in the survey, most of the students are in support of an appropriate press reading course to increase their reading interests and motivation.According to the results of the first survey and enlightened by the researches and related theories given by the former researchers, a ten-month English newspaper reading aiding English teaching program was carried out between an Experimental Group of senior high school students (n=65) and a Control Group (n=72). The students in the Experimental Group were exposed the program which consisted of press reading lessons once every two weeks including in-class reading and home reading. The teaching periods for the Control Group is the same as given to the Experimental Group. However the classroom teaching is without the instruction of the teacher and is only based on the self-reading of the articles selected from the newspaper. A motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) is administered in Chinese to the students in both groups in the last lesson of the program. Students'reading motivation are measured from four aspects: intrinsic value of reading, extrinsic utility value of reading, importance of reading and reading efficacy, with different items loaded on each factor. The data has been analyzed by computer software EXCEL. The results show that the students in the Experimental Group have overall higher press reading motivation after receiving the press reading lessons than the students in the Control Group who have received a normal intensive-based reading program.The students'extrinsic reading motivation in both groups has reached a relatively positive level. From that point of view, we can conclude that English newspaper is intended for teens, no matter it is read extensively or intensively, it has impact on students'extrinsic reading motivation. Although the students in both groups have similar English reading background and reading experience, students in the Experimental Group have responded more positively on their present reading ability than those in the Control Group, which indicates that the press reading may have positive effect on students'reading efficacy.Besides, the students also report that the most significant improvement of English newspaper reading is the enlargement of their word power. Once students develop their reading habit, they will voluntarily go on to engage in reading tasks of their own choice according to their interest. Furthermore, in many cases the reading habit will outlast their time at school and accompany them into adult life.The implications of the study tell us that it is the right time for us to design English newspaper reading course as an noncredit extracurricular activity or in other words, as an optional course. It can train student's learning emotion, improve student's qualities and help them to lay a solid foundation for their life-long study. It meanwhile set higher requirements for the English teachers in middle school from the perspectives of knowledge and teaching ability.