Towards Theme-Based Instruction In Senior High School English Reading Teaching:An Action Research Approach

In recent years,Theme-Based Instruction(TBI)is the kind of teaching approach increasingly popular in foreign language teaching,especially in European and American countries.Theme-Based Instruction refers to a kind of language course in which all the learning activities are organized around a certain theme.Many empirical studies have demonstrated the good effects of applying TBI on developing English learners' language proficiency at the college level.However,TBI is much less discussed at the level of senior high school.How to effectively improve senior high school English reading teaching by applying TBI to English reading teaching is still a topic worthy of studying.The research questions of this study include:(1)How can teachers effectively improve senior high school English reading teaching by applying TBI?(2)What effect does TBI have on senior high school students' English proficiency?This research,based on Constructivism,Krashen's Comprehensible Input Hypothesis and O'Malley and Chatom's CALLA approach,was carried out in Weihai No.2 Senior High School,in which 100 students from two classes in Grade One were chosen as participants.Two questionnaires,classroom observation,teaching journals and two tests were adopted as research instruments in the research.Firstly,based on the analysis of the results of pre-questionnaire,the author identified the research questions,put forward hypotheses and action plan.Secondly,based on classroom observation and the analysis of teaching journals in the course of the action research,adjustments about the action plan were made.Finally,the conclusion of the action plan was made after the author analyzed the results of pre-test,post-test and post-questionnaire.SPSS was used to analyze the data of pre-test and post-test.It was found that "Six-T" approach,combined with high-level question strategies,was an effective way to improve senior high school English reading teaching when TBI was applied.“Six-T” approach refers to themes,texts,topics,threads,tasks and transitions.Besides,the application of TBI could promote students' reading ability and oral expression ability.Students were able to explore the theme or purpose of texts more specific and express their opinions in an organized and logical way.