The Effect Of Theme-based Teaching Model On Junior High School Students’ English Reading Comprehension Ability

Reading teaching is the most important and difficult part of English teaching in junior high school.And cultivating students’ reading comprehension ability is also an important aspect of reading teaching.The study aims to help students improve their English reading comprehension ability under the guidance of the theme-based teaching model,and to explore new teaching methods suitable for junior high school students’ reading comprehension based on the Six-T’s Approach proposed in previous theories,and finally hope to provide new ideas for reading teaching.The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of theme-based teaching model on junior high school students’ English reading comprehension ability.The research questions include:(1)What is the effect of theme-based teaching model on junior high school students’ability of detail comprehension?(2)What is the effect of theme-based teaching model on junior high school students’ ability of summarizing comprehension?(3)What is the effect of theme-based teaching model on junior high school students’ ability of inferential comprehension?This study mainly adopts the quantitative and qualitative methods,and the research subjects are selected from Grade nine of a junior high school in Lanling County,Linyi City.In the quantitative study,Class 1 is the experimental class(EC),and Class 2 is the control class(CC).According to the pretest,there is no significant difference about the students’original ability of English reading comprehension between the two classes.There is also nearly the same level on the abilities of detail comprehension,summarizing comprehension,and inferential comprehension in English reading comprehension.The traditional teaching method was used in the CC as usual,while the EC is taught with the Six-T’s Approach under the guidance of theme-based teaching model.After a four-month experiment,the two classes are post-tested,and the data is collected and analyzed by SPSS with independent sample ttests and paired sample t-tests.The qualitative study is also conducted by interviewing eight students of different academic levels in the EC before and after the experiment,and then by comparing what they say to obtain their feedback about the effects of theme-based teaching model on their three English reading comprehension abilities.The main findings of this study are as follows:(1)The theme-based teaching model has a positive effect on junior high school students’ ability of detail comprehension,with statistics showing significant difference between the EC and the CC(p<0.05).(2)The theme-based teaching model also has a positive effect on junior high school students’ ability of summarizing comprehension,and the statistical data shows that the difference between the two classes is significant(p<0.05).(3)The theme-based teaching model also has a positive impact on junior high school students’ inferential comprehension ability,especially on the author’s attitude tendency,and the statistical data shows the significant difference between the two classes(p<0.05).The results of the study show that the theme-based teaching model has a positive effect on English reading comprehension ability of junior high school students.Under the guidance of theme-based teaching model,the training of reading comprehension with different topics under the same theme can broaden students’ horizon and stimulate their interest in learning English.At the same time,the training of thinking maps can consolidate students’ basic knowledge,help them form a knowledge network and improve their self-confidence.Therefore,the author suggests that teachers in junior high schools can try using the themebased teaching model,update teaching theories,and open new perspectives and ways for the improvement of English reading teaching quality.