A Study Of Application Of Text Structure Strategy In English Reading Teaching In Junior Three

For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in second language learning, particularly in English as a second or foreign language (Carrell,1988). English reading has occupied a lofty position in our English teaching and study. However, most teachers in middle schools follow the traditional way of reading teaching so that students’ English reading ability still can not be effectively improved after three years.According to "New English Curriculum for Chinese Primary Schools and Junior/Senior Middle Schools (2011), students in Junior Three should be able to read reading materials of various genres. The total task of extracurricular reading is150,000words except text books, what’s more, reading accounts for50%of the total scores according to the Entrance English Examination to the Senior High School in Hunan Province. Therefore, how to improve our reading teaching is really a challenge for us. The author realized the importance of reading and began the research in this field.Based on the previous research achievements in this field, this thesis intends to make a study of text structure strategy in English reading teaching in Junior Three. The study aims to find out the answers to the following questions:1) What influence can text structure strategy exert on students’ interest, attitude and confidence in English reading teaching for Junior Three?2) What effect can text structure strategy produce on English reading teaching for Junior Three?The author chose two parallel classes (Class253and Class254) from Yuelu Experimental School of Foreign languages in Changsha City as the subjects for the16-week-long study. Class254is treated as the experimental class, while Class253as the control class. Both classes (EC and CC) are taught by the author and both used the same textbook Go For It. Before the experiment, the students were given the pre-test and pre-questionnaire to examine whether the experimental class and the control classes are identical. During the experiment, the author conducted the text structure English reading teaching in experimental class and guided the students to understand the structure of a paragraph, find out the topic sentence of a paragraph and analyze the text types and texture pattern. In the control class, the teacher took the traditional way, paying much attention on teaching grammar rules or words and phrases. After the experiment, the students of the two classes were given the post-test and post-questionnaire to find out if there was any difference between EC and CC. The pre-test and the post-test, the pre-questionnaire and the pos-questionnaire followed instructions. All the data and results are collected, analyzed and compared in details. The results of tests are shown that the students’ levels of the two classes are roughly the same before the experiment. But after a semester’s practice, the students’ reading ability of the experimental class is obviously higher than that of control class. The results of questionnaires show that the students from EC are more interested in reading than in pre-questionnaire. In contrast, the students from CC have no changes in pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire.The author guided the students understand the structure of a paragraph, find out the topic sentence of a paragraph and analyze the text types and texture pattern to achieve students-centered teaching pattern, which is consistent with the nature of Constructivism. Constructivism insists that teachers act as facilitators and organizers in teaching activities while students are constructors of knowledge. On the basis of all research results in the experiments, the author finds that the application of text structure strategy in English reading teaching in Junior Three can improve students’ reading ability, arouse students’ interest in reading in and out class and change the attitude and confidence in reading from negative to positive.Until then, the former studies in this field are mainly in university or high school, the author is one of the earliest experimenters who conduct text structure strategy in Junior Three, and the author believes it can present a reference to teachers as to how to teach English reading in the future.