The Research On Applying Problem-based Learning Approach To English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

As an important way of language input,reading helps students to acquire and master linguistic and cultural knowledge.It has been acknowledged that English reading teaching plays an important role in language teaching.In the traditional reading teaching,grammar-oriented and teacher-centered teaching method emphasizes vocabularies and analyzes difficult sentence structures.It is difficult for students to improve the independent reading ability and have a deeper understanding from the overall perspective.Therefore,the attention is paid to carrying out English reading teaching effectively.Based on the requirements of the New Curriculum Reform,many scholars attempt to apply problem-based learning approach(PBL)to English reading teaching in order to improve the present condition of the English reading teaching and learning.This study applies problem-based learning approach to English reading teaching in junior high school,and it is dedicated to exploring how to improve the abilities of grasping the main idea and guessing the word meaning through the target reading activities.The research aims to answer two questions as follows:(1)Can the ability of grasping the main idea in English reading teaching be improved with PBL approach?(2)Can the ability of guessing the word meaning in English reading teaching be improved with PBL approach?The thesis presents the study of problem-based learning approach at home and abroad and is based on the theories of constructivism,humanism and cooperative learning,which contributes to making an attempt to apply problem-based learning approach to English reading teaching in junior high school.The research chooses 126 students in Grade 9 of NO.4Middle School,Shuozhou City,Shanxi Province,as the research subjects from two parallel classes,Class 9 and Class 10.Problem-based learning approach is adopted in Class 10(the experimental class),while the traditional grammar-translation method is adopted in Class 9(the controlled class).The research is involved in the two research instruments: questionnaires and test papers,and analyzes the data through SPSS 19.0 and Excel 2010.By contrasting and analyzing the results of questionnaires and test papers,it can be found that the reading level between the experimental class and controlled class is the same before experimenting.However,this thesis finds that the achievement of the experimental class is apparently better than that of the controlled class after experimenting.There are some conclusions drawn through the experiment.Firstly,PBL approach can greatly improve students' ability of grasping the main idea.Secondly,PBL approach can significantly improve students' ability of guessing the word meaning.PBL approach can cultivate students' learning interests,independent learning ability and enhance their learning initiative.Therefore,it concludes that it is necessary to employ problem-based learning approach to English reading teaching in junior high school.This research brings some enlightenment for the teachers and students as well.The teaching process pays attention to the relationship of students and the teacher.The teacher creates the problem situation and students raise problems,analyze problems and solve problems independently so as to improve reading ability.It is expected that this study can provide some meaningful references for researchers and inspirations for the further researches on PBL approach.