An Experimental Study On The Application Of Concept Map To English Reading Teaching In Senior High School

With the implement of educational reformation, new English curriculum standard demands students not only master the basic knowledge and skill of English but also enhance their ability in different aspects by active participation so as to improve their comprehensive ability in using English, for this aim, teachers have to get rid of the bound of the traditional teaching and exploit new way for English learning and teaching in their teaching practice.Concept map, as an effective knowledge organizing tool, can visualize students’ thinking process. In their reading, it can help them relate the new information with their obtained knowledge to reach meaningful learning, thus they can comprehend the text as whole.This paper attempts to apply the concept map into English reading in senior high school and discusses whether concept map can help to improve students’ reading proficiency and their using of the reading strategies. Thus from the end of August,2014 to January,2015, almost five months, two regular classes of grade one in Luquan No.1 senior high school located in Shijiazhuang city are chosen as samples to do the experiment. In experimental class the concept map is used, while in control class, it is still the traditional teaching method. Before the experiment, the author investigates the students’ using of reading strategies by a questionnaire, also, the first monthly examination proves that there is no significant difference between the two classes. After experiment, the same questionnaire is conducted in experimental class and 9 students with different English levels from the experimental class are invited to make an interview with the author, in addition, by class observation, the author records the changes that happen in experimental class students to discuss whether students’ using of reading strategies have been improved with the help of concept map. At last, the fourth monthly examination is used to make a comparison with the first one to analyze whether the concept map can help to improve the students’ reading proficiency.Experimental result proves that the concept map can help to improve the students’ using of reading strategies and their reading proficiency. Concept map shows the relationship among concepts in form of diagram, which is helpful to visualize the students’ thinking process, in the process of building a concept map, students can combine their old and new knowledge so as to achieve meaningful learning.