An Experimental Study Of Jigsaw Task In Senior High School English Reading Teaching

Not only is reading acknowledged as a key step in learning a second and foreign language,but also it is an essential way of improving students' reading comprehension.New English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School released in 2017 has placed greater emphasis on reading and put forward higher requirements on it.The preliminary survey,however,showed that senior high school English reading instruction was inflexible and students showed low motivation for reading.Therefore,their reading comprehension was far below expectations.Over the past few decades,Jigsaw Task has gradually been favored by researchers as a cooperative learning technique,which can help promote the enthusiasm and initiative of team members.Although Jigsaw Task has received certain teaching outcomes,little reference to the existence of reading motivation and reading comprehension of students of varying levels appears in senior high school English reading instruction in our country.Against this background and on the basis of previous studies,this research,in embracing both qualitative and quantitative analysis,is intended to investigate the following research questions: 1)How can we apply Jigsaw Task in English reading instruction in senior high school? 2)How does Jigsaw Task influence senior high school learners' motivation towards English reading? 3)What effects does Jigsaw Task have on senior high school learners' reading comprehension? What influence does Jigsaw Task exert on the English reading comprehension of students at different levels? A cohort group of 108 students from Senior Grade Two of a high school in Jiangmen city,Guangdong,were involved in the experimental study.They were from two parallel groups,whose English reading levels were almost the same.Among them,54 subjects from Experimental Class were instructed by Jigsaw Task while the rest were presented with a range of traditional lectures.The results were collected by way of tests,questionnaires and interviews,which were subsequently loaded on a computer and analyzed by relevant statistical software.Based on the results of the experiment,the research came to three conclusions: 1)Jigsaw Task IV can be applied flexibly to help with English reading instruction in senior high school.The research successfully received a satisfactory performance.2)Jigsaw Task positively influences senior high school learners' motivation towards English reading.The influences reflect in three major aspects,including the intrinsic value of reading,the extrinsic utility value of reading and the importance of reading.3)Jigsaw Task receives more positive outcomes on improving senior high school learners' reading comprehension than traditional teaching method.And it particularly appeals to Potential Learners and Poor Learners,whose English reading performance is equal to or lower than average.