A Research On Application Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy To English Reading Teaching In Senior High School

In the context of rapid urbanization,modernization and globalization,English reading has become the most important means of language input for developing English core literacy.Therefore,an effective approach to teaching English reading is especially more important.The current English reading teaching focuses too much on language knowledge and does not pay enough attention to Chinese and foreign cultural knowledge,resulting in a lack of practical exploration of cultural awareness cultivation at the theoretical level of learning.Culturally responsive pedagogy(CRP)meets the needs of cultural awareness cultivation by emphasizing the close connection between students’ learning and their own cultural backgrounds.It does not only encourage students from different cultural backgrounds to learn about Chinese and foreign cultures,but also guides them to transform their way of thinking about English learning through their own cultural strengths.However,the application of CRP is relatively rare in the current senior high school English reading teaching,so this research attempts to apply CRP in a teaching experiment with the aim of discussing the following three questions:(1)What effects does the application of CRP in senior high school English reading teaching have on students’ reading engagement?(2)What effects does the application of CRP in senior high school English reading teaching have on students’ cultural awareness?(3)What effects does the application of CRP in senior high school English reading teaching have on students’ reading achievement?In this research,a 20-week lasting teaching experiment was conducted with 96 students of Grade Two in a senior high school of Guizhou Province.And two B-level classes were randomly selected for the research,the experimental class and the control class,respectively.The experimental class used CRP and the control class used regular teaching methods.This research used questionnaires,interviews,and tests as research instruments.By comparing and analyzing the results of the two questionnaires and the test scores before and after the experiment,this research draws main findings as follows:Firstly,CRP could improve students’ reading engagement to a certain extent,and reading cognitive engagement,reading behavioral engagement,and reading affective engagement were all improved.Secondly,CRP could improve students’ cultural awareness to a certain extent,and cultural understanding,cultural participation and cultural cognition were all significantly improved.Thirdly,CRP applied to senior high school English reading teaching could have a positive effect on student learning outcomes,effectively improving overall reading achievement.The pedagogical implications of this research are two aspects as follows: firstly,teachers should integrate the curriculum and teaching in a meaningful way,using students’ cultural backgrounds and experiences to build scaffolds that enhances students’ engagement in learning.Secondly,teachers should focus on building learning communities in the teaching process,enabling students from diverse cultural backgrounds to exert their cultural strengths,fostering a sense of participation,thereby promoting better cultural awareness development and academic performance.