An Empirical Study On English Reading Teaching In Junior High School Based On Formative Assessment

According to evaluating function,Education Assessment can be divided into formative assessment and summative assessment.Most of English teachers prefer to assess learners' achievement through examinations,and judge their potential according to scores.In recent years,more and more attention has been given to formative assessment,which could provide the most direct feedback for teachers and learners.It also contributes to improve students' learning competence and help teachers revise teaching plan in time.It is a kind of effective teaching method.Scholars abroad and at home have got quite certain degree of achievements on the research of formative assessment.However,studies on the application of formative assessment to English reading are quite few.In English reading teaching,traditional quantified approach cannot reflect students' cognitive abilities well.Thus how to improve English reading effectively is worth researching.This study attempts to apply formative assessment to English reading teaching in junior high school.The paper mainly discusses three questions as follows:(1)What are the changes of learners' attitude towards English reading before and after the teaching experiment?(2)What effect does the formative assessment have on the learners' autonomous learning ability in English reading?(3)Can the formative assessment improve students' scores of English reading?The experiment lasted for four months.The participants were from two parallel classes of Grade Two in Hengshui No.7 Junior High School.The control class kept on adopting the traditional assessment,while the experimental class adopted the formative assessment.Test,questionnaire and interview were adopted for collecting data.Evaluation scales were used during the process of formative assessment to record and collect information of students' performance in English reading teaching and kept in their portfolios.Data analyses show that the formative assessment can change students' attitude toward English reading,strengthen their autonomous learning ability in a large extent after the same treatment.Students make much progress in acquisition of English reading.Although there are still some limitations restrictions of some factors,it is hoped that the study may provide some practical references for formative assessment.