An Action Study On The Application Of Metacognitive Strategies To English Reading Teaching In Junior High School

With the development of social informatization,good reading ability can help people occupy a favorable position in the competitive environment.The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 edition)emphasizes that English reading has a significant impact on the cultivation of junior high school students’ comprehensive English learning ability,and puts forward higher requirements for junior high school students’ English reading ability.However,at present,junior high school students not only have weak reading ability,but also have a low frequency of using metacognitive strategies,especially planning strategies.Meta-cognitive strategies can help junior high school students plan,monitor,evaluate,reflect and adjust their reading learning process and improve their reading ability.Therefore,based on schema theory and constructivist learning theory,the author conducts an action study on whether metacognitive strategies can improve junior high school students’ English reading ability.This study selected the natural class of Grade8,Grade 1,S School,Huaibei City,Anhui Province as the research object.Before the study,the author learned about the current situation of junior high school students’ English reading ability and the use of metacognitive strategies through reading tests and questionnaires,and put forward the following research questions:(1)How about the current situation of junior high school students’ English reading ability and the use of metacognitive strategies?(2)After the action research,can the application of metacognitive strategies improve junior high school students’ English reading ability?The author uses action research,test,questionnaire,interview,log and other research methods to carry out 16-week action research with the questionnaire,interview outline,reading and learning log and teaching log as research tools.The research is divided into two rounds: the first round of action research trains the four sub-strategies of metacognitive strategy(planning strategy,selective attention strategy,monitoring strategy and evaluation strategy)in turn,one sub-strategy a week;In the second round,teachers will reflect on the interview content and further adjust the action research plan to guide students to comprehensively and flexibly choose appropriate metacognitive strategies to improve their English reading ability.The results of this action study are as follows:(1)Junior high school students have problems in the five dimensions of language knowledge,discourse,cultural background,reading strategy,and reading motivation.Among them,the score of reading strategy dimension is low,and the overall reading situation is not optimistic.In addition,the frequency of metacognitive strategies used by junior high school students is relatively low,and the frequency of four sub-strategies from high to low is selective attention strategy,monitoring strategy,evaluation strategy and planning strategy.(2)The application of metacognitive strategies in junior high school English reading can effectively improve junior high school students’ English reading ability.The average score of English reading reached 27.79,and the number of students in the middle score segment increased;The use frequency of metacognitive strategies of junior high school students increased,and the use frequency of sub-strategies from high to low was selected attention strategy,monitoring strategy,evaluation strategy and planning strategy,among which the use frequency of selected attention strategy and planning strategy increased the most.According to interviews and logs,training metacognitive strategies can help junior high school students increase their vocabulary,develop good reading habits and stimulate reading interest.Based on the above results,this study proves to some extent that metacognitive strategies can improve junior high school students’ English reading ability.Therefore,teachers should pay attention to the metacognitive reading strategy training in textbooks,and use metacognitive strategies to explain reading activities,and pay attention to the combination of in-class and out-of-class training.Students should actively seek for reading materials suitable for their own level,and volunteer to form reading learning communication groups to improve the frequency of using metacognitive strategies in English reading.However,there are also many shortcomings,such as small sample size,short research cycle,and the limitations of the author’s own ability.Therefore,the design and conclusion of this topic need to be further explored and improved.Future relevant research should expand the sample size,extend the research cycle,and improve the research plan.