An Empirical Study On English Reading Activity Design In Middle Schools—From The Perspective Of Text Interpretation

English reading is an important part of learning English and it takes a vital role in English teaching in middle schools. English reading is also one of the basic ways of getting information and having linguistic input. As we all know, reading ability is of great importance in English reading and learning because it can not only help to promote English learning but also is the base and premise of other language skills. Therefore, developing students’ reading ability is not only the aim but also the means of English teaching in middle schools. As English teaching reform develops, there are more and more English teachers in middle schools realizing that reading is important in English teaching. However, there still exists some problems in English reading teaching in middle schools and the overall situation is not satisfying. A large number of English teachers pay more attention to vocabulary and grammar points than to the reading text itself and most of them have no awareness of text interpretation and reading classroom activity design, which results in students’lacking of reading ability and can not meet the requirements of English Curriculum Standard. In order to improve the present situation of English reading teaching in middle schools and cultivate students’reading ability, this research takes text interpretation and reading classroom activities as new insights to explore the effects of classroom reading activity design based on text interpretation.To discuss the following three research questions:1) What are the major problems of English reading teaching in middle schools in terms of classroom activity and text interpretation; 2) How does the reading classroom activity design based on the text interpretation influence students’ reading ability; 3) How to design reading classroom activity based on text interpretation to improve students’ reading ability, both qualitative study and quantitative study are adopted in the research. First, questionnaires on the existing problems of English reading teaching and learning in Hangzhou Jiangnan Experimental School are conducted.18 teachers and 72 students are investigated to find out the present situation and problems in English reading teaching and learning in middle schools. It is found in the research that:most of the teachers adopt the traditional teaching method, paying more attention to language points and grammar rather than the text itself; most teachers have no awareness of text interpretation and sometimes ignore the context when teaching reading; few teachers spend time designing various classroom reading activities to develop students’ reading ability; a large number of students have no interests in learning English reading and mink the reading class is boring; most students find it difficult to comprehend a reading passage. Then an experiment in two classes in grade 3 of Jiangnan Experimental School is carried out. Totally 72 students take part in the experiment and 36 in each class:one is the control class and the other the experimental class. The control class is under the traditional teaching method while the experimental class adopts the method of designing classroom reading activities based on text interpretation. After a two-month experiment, the students are asked to take a reading test and 5 students from the experimental class are selected for the interview of the new reading teaching. With the comparison of the results of the two classes, there comes the conclusion that the application of designing reading activities based on text interpretation is more beneficial, which to some extent can improve middle school students’ reading competence.