A Study On The Effect Of Content-based Instruction On The English Reading Teaching In Senior High School

English is an important subject for senior high school students in China.Reading, as one of the literacy skills, is always highlighted, not only for it is beingone of the four basic skills but also for it being one of the main ways for students toobtain the adequate English comprehensible learning materials. Therefore, reading isboth the skill that needs to maser and the way by way of which students understandEnglish thinking and obtain more broad cultural and world knowledge. Besides,reading comprehension is one of the main test items and counts much in the collegeentrance examination. It is never too much to explore how to improve Englishteaching effect in China.This study applied the content-based instruction (CBI) in the English readingclass in Senior High School aiming to improve students’ English reading interest andcomprehension with more emphasis on the reading contents rather than the languageforms such as vocabulary, grammar and single sentence. It is more meaningful andtheme based with the language forms embedded in the content, not the other way,which is represents the traditional way of reading teaching and learning.This three-month study started from March,2013, with two parallel classes,respectively as the controlled class and the experimental class. And the teachingcontent and order are both textbook-based. Each module consists of the “Vocabularyand Reading” part. The research instruments include tests, questionnaire and interview.With the support of the software SPSS16.0, independent sample test andpaired-sample T-test were conducted. The results showed that CBI does have a statistically significant effect on improving both the students’ English readingcomprehension and their reading interest.