A Study On Application Of Genre-based Teaching Approach In Senior High English Reading Instruction

Genre-based approaches, as a major trend in foreign language teaching, focus onunderstanding selected genres of texts. Based on the idea of genre and genre knowledge,it is helpful for us to understand the language use and text structure in the particular text,and to read and analyze the text in an appropriate way. This study focuses on theapplication of genre-based teaching approach to English reading teaching in senior highschools, and the present study try to answer the following questions:1) Can this genre-based approach help students develop their genre awarenesseffectively and improve their reading ability?2) Can this approach have impact on senior school students‘reading habits,reading interest, and other aspects of reading?Based on the theories of genre-based approaches, the author conducted a teachingexperiment. The author first made use of the textbooks (published by Foreign Languageand Teaching Research Press) to devise a serials of lessons which could be undertakento guide the students to understand different types of texts, namely, narration, expositionand argumentation. Then the author chose Class2, Grade1in Chengdu Railway HighSchool as the experimental class to implement her teaching plans. After8weeks, shehad an investigation to review the teaching experiment. Questionnaires and proficiency tests were employed in the investigation. Proficiency tests were conducted before theexperiment and after as well. The results showed that students‘genre awareness andreading ability were improved.The study proves that the application of genre-based teaching approach helpsstudents master the genre knowledge, develop their genre awareness and improvestudents‘reading ability. Besides, it also verifies that application of the genre-basedteaching approach can arouse students‘reading interest, develop their reading habits andreading strategies.