A Study On Applying Concept Maps To English Reading In Junior High School

Reading is an essential skill in English learning that many English learners focus on.And English reading is also a crucial part in English education of junior high school.However,many students only focus on new words and grammar knowledge in reading process instead of reading strategies.Concept maps are tools for organizing and representing knowledge that consist of concepts,propositions,cross-links and hierarchical frameworks.Based on the concept maps theory,this research is devoted to the study of the application of concept maps strategy in reading,the attitude of students,the impact on reading strategies of students and the impact on reading proficiency.The research questions are:(1)Does the application of concept maps strategy have a positive effect on the students' attitude of using concept maps in reading?(2)Does the application of concept maps strategy in reading have a positive influence on the students' reading strategies?(3)Does the application of concept maps strategy in reading have a positive influence on the reading proficiency of students?This study was conducted in The First Junior High School,Chaoyang,Liaoning Province,for a period of 13 weeks(September 2 to December 2,2016).The participants were 82 students from eighth grade.The 42 students in Class Two were set up as the experimental class(EC)students,and the 40 students of Class Five were considered as the control class(CC)students.In this experiment,EC students use concept maps as the strategy for reading and CC students use traditional translation strategy to learn how to read.The instruments involved in the experiment included questionnaires,tests and interview.The data was analyzed with the SPSS(Social Science Statistical Package)(version 19.0).Based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data,it is found that,through application of concept maps in this period,the students' attitudes towards the concept maps strategy in reading have been changed positively,and the ability to use reading strategies has also been improved and the reading proficiency has been advanced,too.Therefore,the use of concept maps strategy in reading is positive and effective.It is hoped that the findings of this paper can help students to achieve better performance in reading activities and promote the teaching level of teachers.And this paper contains exposition on its own conclusions,implications,limitations and the suggestions for further research.