Research On The Teaching Of Extensive Reading In Senior High Schools Via Internet

The English Curriculum attaches great importance to the improvement of students'reading ability. The Internet has provided rich resources for extensive reading. In order to make full use of the resources via internet, the writer conducted this research in the latter half of the year 2006.With regard to topic, discourse and lexis English teaching materials in secondary schools have gone through a continuous trials and innovations. However the process of updating in terms of the amount of the materials and the expansion of topics has been lagging behind. To some extent this has affected the students'reading ability. Now that senior high students have acquired certain amount of vocabulary, it is possible to develop their all-around language ability by providing authentic, updated materials for extensive reading via Internet.An extensive reading is a prerequisite for improving reading ability. The fact that resources provided through Internet is rich, interesting and can be shared by all enables this research to make a full use of it. In terms of teaching contents materials used for extensive reading include aural and visual materials that are enlightening and interesting. Teachers help students deal with problems in the reading process through internet technology such as BBS and chat room. Reading strategies were instructed through case studies. Teachers did on-line assessment making timely adjustment in re-orienting teaching.This research took one semester. In the reading section of the final examination the scores of the students in the experimental class were noticeably higher than those of the students in the control class. The questionnaire conducted in the research revealed that the majority students were in favor of extensive reading via Internet. As a newly-emerging thing, the research on extensive reading via Internet has a long way to go. With the enhancement of teachers quality and the improvement of internet technology, there will be wider and greater prospect in using internet to assist the teaching of extensive reading in senior high schools.