An Empirical Research On Applying Simplified Literary Masterpieces To English Teaching In High School

With the development of English core competences and the reform of college entrance examination of English,using literary works in English teaching has been attached importance by more and more teachers.Nevertheless,literary masterpieces are far beyond the English understanding abilities of Chinese senior high school students'.As a matter of fact,simplified literary masterpieces are more suitable for them than original versions.They are rewritten by people who are experts in literature,keeping the thoughts and forms together with the culture elements of the original works,only with the words that can be easily digested.They are good reading materials for Chinese senior high school students.Meanwhile,to figure out the effects of simplified literary masterpieces on senior high school English teaching is essential.Simplified literary masterpieces have gained a good reputation among Chinese experts and scholars.What's more,they have been proved to be effective in senior high school English teaching in developed areas in China.Thus,this thesis is about to explore the value of simplified literary masterpieces in a less developed area and to find out whether they can improve senior high school students' interests in English learning and their English.This research uses two research methods,quantitative research and qualitative research.Two groups of senior high school students in Grade Two are selected for this research.The group of 58 students is experimental group and the other group of62 students is as control group.According to the pretest result there is no essential differences between the two groups and most of them hold a less active attitude towards English learning,literary masterpieces and literary masterpiece reading.The two groups get different treatment during the research.Simplified literary masterpieces are used inEnglish teaching of experimental group while original exercises and examinations are used in English teaching of control group.The Post-measurement results indicate two findings as follows:First,simplified literary masterpieces help to increase students' interests in English.Second,simplified literary masterpieces have positive effects on senior high school students' grade in English.Last but not least,there are limitations in this study.Some suggestions are put forward then for further teaching and research.