A Study Of English Reading Teaching In Senior High School Based On Context Theory

Reading is a salient skill in language learning.Reading instruction is conducive to language acquisition,improving reading competence,cultivating cross-cultural awareness.From aspects of teaching and learning as well as the theoretical application,some problems more or less exist in English reading teaching in domestic senior high schools.This research aims to explore new approaches of English reading teaching by the reasonable and effective application of context theory in terms of linguistic angles so that students' English reading competence can be improved.Context refers to the language environment,a significant concept in the field of pragmatics.In 1923,anthropologist Malinowski put forward the concept of context and made a preliminary classification of it.In recent years,context has become a hot topic in the field of linguistics.Many experts and scholars at home and abroad have conducted in-depth discussions and studies on context.Different perspectives result in different definitions and classifications.With the development of linguistics,experts and scholars have also shifted the application of context to the practice of foreign language teaching which has made some achievements.In this thesis,based on the researches conducted by some cathedratic experts and scholars,the context is taken as the theoretical basis of this study and divided into the linguistic context and the non-linguistic context.Accordingly,this empirical study in which the contextualized teaching is applied to English reading teaching in senior high school is conducted.This research is conducted in Chongming Senior High School in Shanghai which lasts one semester.The research instruments used in the research are questionnaire,test and interview.According to the data collected,research questions are answered comprehensively.Therefore,the conclusions are drawn rationally.Totally 72 students from two parallel classes in senior 2 are selected as research subjects,and two classes are set as experimental class and control class respectively.Additionally 36 students in the experimental class adopted the reading teaching method under the guidance of context theory while the established teaching method,bottom-up is applied to the control class.Two different teaching models are embodied through the design of the sample lessons.The purpose of the questionnaire is to understand the current situation of high school English reading teaching in Chongming Senior High School and students' attitudes toward reading teaching methods.Test is divided into pre-test and post-test,and used to compare the changes in students' reading scores.Interview is designed to understand the attitudes and ideas of the students from the experimental class for the new teaching model.In this study,qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis are applied,and the SPSS 20.0 software is used to analyze the data collected.The results of the teaching experiment indicate that teaching reading under the guidance of the context theory can change students' attitudes to reading,improve their reading competence,and develop the reading strategies.It also proves the feasibility and effectiveness of teaching reading under the guidance of the context theory.At the end of this thesis,according to the major research findings,some pedagogical implications about reading teaching in senior high school are demonstrated.Firstly,students can be given some guidance on reading strategies based on the context theory in order to comprehend the target material accurately.Additionally teachers should encourage students to think deeply based on the contextual clues provided by the reading material.On the other hand,some suggestions for the further study are proposed as well.