| Context plays a significant role in English reading teaching and students can be exposed to,experience and understand real language in it.However,in the current reading teaching,the context created by teachers are often scattered which is lack of a main line to connect the teaching content organically.Theme-based context is a kind of learning language environment created around a central theme.It uses a clue to connect and link each teaching part in English classroom teaching,which makes it integral.As English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017)points out,the content of English curriculum is the foundation of the development of students’ key competence,which includes six elements: theme-based context,discourse type,language knowledge,cultural knowledge,cultural skills and learning strategies.Theme-based context is the primary element among the six elements in the English curriculum content.It covers man and self,man and society and man and nature and provides a meaningful context for language learning.It is much important for students to explore the meaning of the theme to learn a language,which directly affects students’ level of discourse understanding,development of logical reasoning and effectiveness of language learning.This is an adjustment to the previous emphasis simply on language knowledge and skill training in English teaching,and it is also meaningful for guiding senior high school English teaching.Under this background,this research attempts to conduct a survey of the creation of theme-based context and its effect on senior high school English reading teaching with the aim to know teachers’ understanding of the role of theme-based context in English reading teaching and the current situation of teaching.This research uses questionnaires,classroom observation checklist and interviews as research tools.It selects 105 students and 22 teachers from Xuzhou No.3 Middle School to conduct a questionnaire survey and two interviews with 7 English teachers and students.The researcher attended 13 English reading classes for a comprehensive study by classroom observation.Through systematic observation,recording,and analysis of reading classes,this thesis analyzes and summarizes related teaching strategies according to the core research questions,in order to provide useful suggestions for teachers in their daily teaching.This study mainly discusses the following questions:(1)What is the situation of English teachers’ exploration of the theme-based context in senior high school English reading teaching?(2)What is the effect of creation of theme-based context on senior high school English reading teaching?(3)What are the problems with the creation of theme-based context in senior high school English reading teaching?According to the results of the research,it is easy to find that first of all,most teachers can understand the concept of “theme-based context” and apply it to specific reading teaching,such as creating the context or organizing effective discussions,and following a main line from activating,exploring,and sublimating the thematic meaning.But there are still some teachers who do not have a deep understanding of the connotation and function of the theme-based context.Secondly,the theme-based context has had a significant effect on the teaching of English reading in senior high school.For one thing,it has promoted the transformation of the role of teachers and improved their reading teaching strategies to some extent.For another thing,it has effects on students’ reading learning,which moves from comprehension of the text to in-depth application practice of the text,development of the critical and creative thinking,and improvement of language ability.Finally,due to the limited time,enormous teaching pressure and lack of systematic theory learning,the contexts adopted by teachers are unitary and far from students’ daily life to some extent.Taking this questions into consideration,the research proposes corresponding improvement strategies and suggestions based on the existing problems from English reading teaching with the aim to promote the effective implementation of classroom activities in senior high school English reading classes and the improvement of students’ reading efficiency and ability.Meantime,it lays a foundation for cultivating students’ core qualities of English discipline. |
