电大英语本科论文

Project Title:

Reading Design & Learners’ Reading Ability-improving

Investigator

Baiyin Branch, Gansu Radio & TV University

Submitted on 10th December 2006

In fulfillment of the course

Practical Project Design

Acknowledgment

It is a hard work to conduct researches in English, especially to Chinese teachers, so I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and respect to those who have dedicated their energies to the studies in this field, especially to Professor Gu Yueguo for editing us such a good course.

I am mostly grateful to my supervisor professor Wang Xingze .Although the place where Mir Wang works is far away from the place in which I am, he always gives me good suggestions by sending e-mails. Also my sincere thanks go to my tutor Du Yujing she is very kind. She has given me many constructive advices to fulfill my project design. My supervisor professor guide Mir Wang and my patient tutor Miss Du who helped me to clarify my thought and sharpen my thinking patiently and kindly, without whose kind effort, purely-hearted support and patience this project would not even have got off the ground.

No amount of thanks will be adequate for my students who supported me greatly in the investigation and gave me the concern and support with the interviewing. I choose Class 1 students as experimental group. My students are third year students. They are facing graduation, so they have a lot of tasks toed every day. Although they are busy, they hold on to read a piece of short passage every day. Without whose willing participation in the project implementation it would have remained on paper.

Abstract

This research presents a detailed report of the project implemented to solve the problem that some of my students do not like doing reading exercises. In my English teaching experience, I have unavoidably met with a load of difficulties and problems. Some have called for my immediate action, but some have obsessed me for many years. One of them is that many students of mine cannot achieve a good result in their usual English reading. To say more exactly, most students of mine cannot achieve good marks in English reading at their examinations. But as a fact, English reading plays an important role in many aspects of our life and becomes more and more important in school‟s teaching.

On the other hand this research presents a detailed report of the project implemented to foster students‟ interest in English reading and to improve students‟ reading skill, through better-designed reading exercises. Based on the assumption that better-designed reading exercises and better-organized reading class can increased the students‟ interest in reading and thus motivate the students to do reading happily, a twelve-week program was adopted. The hypothesis is verified by a three-week classroom teaching of the newly designed reading exercises and used all kinds of reading methods such as skimming, scan. Data were collected through observation and discussion of which shows that better-designed reading exercises really contributes to students‟ motivation in reading. Based on the data collected between the target group and control group, it can be seen that the better-designed task is helpful to most learners. The learners‟ interest in English reading in the experimental group has distinctly increased. However, the program seems to be powerless to a certain number students, the application of the design seems not as completely successful as expected. Therefore, further research and adaptation are needed. In order to seek the reason out, another investigation --- interview --- on the attitudes towards the designed tasks is applied, and the learners‟ comments are helpful to the improvement of the project design. Some good suggestions are offered so as to revise the tasks much better and effective.

Key words: Reading Interest Skill Better-design

Main Headings of the Project Report

Problem Identification ....... ………………………………………………………………1 1. Project objective……………………………………………………………………2 2. Project hypothesis…………………………………………………………………… 2 3. Project rationale…………………………………………………………………… 3

1) The role of students…………………………………………………………… 4 2) The role of the teacher……………………………………………………… 4 3) The methods of teaching reading…………………………………………………5 4) Choosing the meaningful reading materials to read after class …………………5 5) The role of reading in class and its purpose……………………………………5 4. Reading work design………………………………………………………………6

Week 1 Activity 1……………………………………………………………… 6 Activity 2……………………………………………………………… 7 Week 2 Activity 3……………………………………………………………… 7 Week 3 Activity 4……………………………………………………………………… 8 Week 4 Activity 5………………………………………………………………………8 5. Control and experimental groups………………………………………………8 6. Project implementation…………………………………………………………… 9 7. Project evaluation……………………………………………………………… 9 8. Project findings and discussions……………………………………………… 12 References…………………………………………………………………………… 13

Appendix：

Appendix A the Timetable of the Project Appendix B the Methods of Problem Analysis Appendix C Teaching Notes Appendix D Diary-keeping Appendix E Reading Exercises Appendix F Students‟ handouts

Appendix G the Audio Tape of One Classroom Performance (pack)

Problem identification

I am an apprentice teacher. I practice teaching in Shuiquan Middle School in Pin Chuan District. The place where I practice teaching is in the countryside. I teach junior middle school students, Class one and two, Grade nine. There are sixty-seven students in Class one; there are sixty-six students in Class two. All of my students are from little village. Their listening、speaking、reading and writing skills are not very good. Especially their reading skill is poor. But they work hard. In my teaching, the problem identified was really a serious problem. That is: Although I spend a lot of time enhancing my students‟ interest in reading and improving their reading skill, a majority of my students don‟t like doing the reading practice, some of them always seem to not have enough patience; their skill is improved a little.

The problems had been troubling me for a long time and now I was determined to find a solution to the problem .I have already worked out the timetable of my project. I used several methods of problem to analyze the problem. They are the analytic method, observation and interview. I used observation; I went and sat in my colleagues‟ classes to see how they organized the reading class. Some of them just explained the new words、complemented some phrases、enumerated collocation or translated the sentences one by one. Some of them looked on reading as an unimportant part; students just know the story‟s plot. Their students aren‟t interested in reading. The observation gives me an opportunity to compare my teaching with my colleagues‟ teaching. I see my own problem in a new perspective. It‟s like look at me in a mirror. Through careful analysis and observation, I came to know that students don‟t like doing reading, it become a common practice. Some of my students tending to depend on the teacher, they hope the teacher does all tasks for them; they just listen to the teacher. Most of them felt overloaded because the reading passage is too long and because of a heavier homework assignments, they don‟t have enough time to do reading practice, some of them are not familiar with foreign culture, a few of them felt that they don‟t have enough vocabulary. Now I‟ll finish my study in Baiyin Branch Gansu Radio & TV University. I hope I can solve the problems that have troubled me for some time through the action research so that I can apply my knowledge and theory into practice, which I learned from Baiyin Branch Gansu Radio & TV University. I have made my decision to solve the problem.

1. Project objective:

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My research objective is to enhance my students‟ interest in doing reading and improve their reading skill.

2. Project hypothesis:

The hypothesis of my project is learners‟ interest in reading is increased and reading skill is improved by better-designed reading exercises

3. Project rationale

1). The role of the students:

The students are the main body or the principal part in the teaching. The students should do the reading actively under my directions given. I would like the students to feel that learning is not only a collaborative endeavor but also an independent process, not a competitive one. They should come to realize that they can learn from each other and help each other, when they work in pairs or groups. This trains them for more teacher-independent. I would like separating the students into three administrative levels (ABC). A in order to organize quickly layer, account for 20% of the number of people of the class, is participated in by the students with good level, expect much, the progress is quick, rely mainly on teaching oneself, the teacher coaches in order to complement, is not restricted by textbook and syllabus, it is identical not to impose students. “Try one's best to fly and try one's best to go \".This kind of student's teacher mainly adopts and talks smartly concisely, progressive mode. C is a slow group on storey, account for 25% of the number of people of the class, is made up of a standard student, do not require justice should be high, the progress is general, only require students to finish the content on the books, there is certain application ability, take teacher's teaching as the core, teach oneself it in order to complement, can let these students \" eat \". This kind of student's teacher mainly adopts the mode of “talk more concisely and follow in order and advance step by step \". B is a middle group on storey, account for 55% of the number of people of the class, is made up of student with about medium-sized level, as to this kind of student, the teacher adopts \" lets them go and come of their own will he slow group to go to the slow group, require the students in the intermediate layer grasp the knowledge studied skillfully, Use flexibly, as to this kind of student, the teacher takes the incentive measure, pass as they go to organize and fail quickly. Certainly it is a dynamic change that this kind is divided by different level, when siring, according to situation, have to can rise a level prominent progress, study not all rightly, can drop a level too, the students of such dynamic change divide layer, to student, it is a pressure, is the motive force, help to arouse the enthusiasm of all students.

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2). The role of the teacher:

Teacher should be playing a leading role, respect and believe the students, give the students initiative and make them take the initiative in reading .Let them study and put into practice audacious by themselves. The teacher should stimulate students' study interest Instructional psychology tells us, “The interest is the best teacher \". Only the thing that students are interested in, he will start the brain actively, ponder deeply, and with most simple and direct, effective method obtain essential knowledge most, this is curiosity. We can say that no interest, no curiosity. It is easy to find, students' study interest has very close contacts with the teacher's personal glamour in teaching practice. The teacher wants to use the ardent smile, cordial and self-confident sight, expression just right, graceful and proper figure gesture, rich in the LOGO of artistry, beautiful and normal writing on the blackboard to infect students, put forth effort to build \" resonance system \" of the harmonious coordination between teachers and students in the classroom. Secondly, except that teacher's deep grounding in basic skills of language and art of the artistry are explained, master the duration and degree of heating, accelerate rhythm appropriately, cause and \" shy, strange, dangerous \" and design the suspense. Love the strong psychological characteristic of the competition, desire to excel according to students, design the fast reaction, distinguish the proposition etc. and carry on the contest. It is in excitement, active state in the changeable reading of form all the time to enable them. The sciences, interest of the reading material have met their curiosity greatly. Students should realize that the teacher has many roles in the classroom, not just that of evaluator. I would like to demonstrate these different roles so that students realize when the teacher takes a major instructional role in class and when she takes only a minor helping role. I would like students to get used to being responsible for their own learning and not depend on the teacher all the time. 3.) The methods of teaching reading

Some teachers like explaining and anglicizing the language phenomenon which appears to the text thoroughly and carefully one sentence by one sentence. To some words usage, they like drafting cites from many sources, even guide the students to study certain words more excessively and find the slight difference between two words. Some teachers also think so long as understanding the text general idea has sufficed ,thus does not say to the lecture of language knowledge .These two kinds of deviations do not raise students‟ reading ability, it has no favor in training the students‟ reading skill. If the teacher spends a lot of time on explaining the language knowledge excessively, the language ability can neglect inevitably. In order to improve the enthusiasm of student's participation, stimulate the interest that they read, form the positive attitude towards study, develop students and probe into the study and spirit of cooperation, thus improve students to read and analyze judgment. First, I adopt (1)

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Cross over the obstacle of the new word; grasp the method to infer the meaning of a word Influence the biggest obstacle of read rate to be no more than the new word. It can be through guessing to cross over the new word the meaning of a word is solved. Guess by context there are the following four methods in the word: Utilize definition, explanation given in the article, repeat; Utilize general knowledge into relevant information; Utilize examples; Utilize compares and contrast. (2) Learn to read the law fast. Psychology shows, people, while reading, the information unit that can accept may be large or small, the bigger, the more through reading information of transmitting to the brain the unit is, the higher the efficiency read is. If the unit read is only limited to a word, then eyes are stopped once, the brain can only accept an information of isolating the concept at most; If the unit read is sentence, then eyes are stopped once, the brain will produce an intact judgments and deduce accordingly. This is very important too for nervous function of the brain to train, can make great efforts to expand the unit read, can be said to be and read silently and trained the most basic task. The training about this, reality is to expand “the training for range of visibility \". (3) Learn to catch keywords. In order to improve read rate, readers can follow one's own reading the purpose, content of the reading materials and recreation and sports and adjusting read rate in the course of reading, utilize existing relevant knowledge in the head, choose, infer and deduce through possible and few characters information, also can jump out reading materials intention to judge author objectively if necessary. This is jumping and skimming. The key jumped is to catch beginning and ending, every section of key marks and theme sentence of the article. Independent in keyword, last the time one they each other, in space or array relation of respects behavioral. Catch keywords, establish the essential connection between the concepts, understand the directness of English for thinking and can be passed unimpeded, can find out the theme sentence easily. The theme one is used for summarizing the careless sentence in an article, the theme one is probably the some one section of first sentences, it may be in the last sentence too, under special circumstances may appear in the paragraph. Through discerning the theme sentence, can catch the main meaning of each paragraph in the article fast, accurately. If can catch the main idea of every paragraph, the central idea of so the whole article has been just held, discern the theme sentence and understand its meaning in reading, can help us to find out about the author's thinking of style of writing, Analyze the content structure of the article, find out the logic relation between each paragraph, facilitate pace and accuracy of understanding read to improve, strive to make, \" make oneself get involved read, or and thought sympathetic response of protagonist, or the thought sympathetic response with the author \". The universal law of one is to refine the centre: Read English heart bright, look for centre to be most serious, cut relation confirm, summarize, summarize in the beginning of the sentence

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again, form a connecting link in the sentence, has not summed up and summarized in the sentence, has emphasized or the head or end should be considered. (4) Design the question meticulously; check the result of reading. Check strictly in reading silently. Could supervise students to work hard to complete and raise the quality constantly to every requirement read silently in this way. Answer questions, choose the answer, fill a vacancy, and translate from English to Chinese by way to check. Among them in order to answer question to be most practical, answer can with oral, may in the form of nib too. The checking question can be a general interrogative sentence, can choose the interrogative sentence too, it also can be a special interrogative sentence. The first kind of answer is the simplest, only say Yes, No is all right; the second and the third kind of answer is a little more complicated, often need to use a concrete phrase or sentence structure. The most difficult one is Why……？What‟s the……meaning of…？ 4). Choosing the meaningful reading materials to read after class:

Reading is trained in practice of reading in a large amount out; only rely on the limited text material not to train reading. (1) The teacher must choose a certain amount of reading materials after class with interesting content which suits their language level for students. To reading materials after class, require students to understand the main idea of article, don‟t analyze language. The reading amount should be crescent, the pace should be accelerated gradually too, should ask the quality in quantity (2) Should make the materials selected in the subject matter on the choice of the reading material, types, real standard with students that respects such as the difficulty, etc. They are suitable for reality of teaching's purpose, the teacher must choose a certain amount of interesting reading material after class which suits their language level for students, stimulate students' interest of reading, make students experience and is read in abundant reading day by day, thus improve reading. (3) To make students be interested in reading, no matter in order to ask knowledge, the pastime, or in order to obtain information, it is very important to select suitable materials. First of all, it is difficult to be easy to be appropriate. The English level lf the students of the same class will have differences, so the teacher wants the level based on different students, select the difficult reading materials apt to be different for them, In this way, the competence of reading of the students of the whole class can be improved on themselves‟ already existing foundation, they will be interested in English. At the beginning, should choose the material under 2% of new words amount, after students have had certain reading and learnt to consult the dictionary, the new word amount can be by increasing appropriately, but can‟t be too much either , Because if student spend too many time on, consult dictionary, they feel dry as dust reading. Secondly, materials contents should be diversified the selecting range should be wide, the interest is eager to excel in whatever one does, such as the story, the fable. Heroic figure‟s biography, popular

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science, history, geographical knowledge and speaking the folkways and customs of English country… All the subjects matter that middle school students like. Those contents are fascinating, the subject matter of the story with beautiful and moving plot will make students read and stand up and is so fond that will not let out of one‟s hand. This will increase their interest of reading constantly, reside and study for entertainment. The students‟ union meets another kind of language expression way gradually unconsciously. The knowledge of abundant foreign language, broaden one‟s outlook, can also find out about knowledge such as the local conditions and customs of the alien land of foreign country and historical geography like this. The anecdote of celebrity which has never heard of in the past time, through one‟s own reading and knowing in the reading material. This will stimulate students‟ study enthusiasm greatly, strengthen the interest of studying. Most students no longer regard English as the dangerous road. It is smooth to study the text and does not walk with difficulty again but naturally. This makes students taste good benefits and fun to study a foreign language tentatively. (4) In order to enable students to well understand the content of the reading material, teachers should introduce the background knowledge of the article, social culture knowledge and folkways and customs of the language country study, there are close relation between language and culture. Students can understand the surface meaning of the article. Reason one of to study language folkways and customs with culture background of country lack essential understanding teacher should combine reading material give student lie between before not reading student continue relevant knowledge, reduce the difficulty that they understand the article. Students, through reading a large number of reading materials after class suitable for their language level, not only can review a lot of words studied, but also the phrase and sentence pattern, but also can use the knowledge of word-building to expand the vocabulary.

5). The role of reading in class and its purpose:

In the English teaching of junior middle school, read the important component which is regarded as the skill of the language, the key link input as the language, has already occupied the leading position. The course read is to the cognitive process of the language; it facilitates consolidating and expanding the vocabulary to read, abundant language knowledge; improve the ability to use language. Reading can train thinking ability, understand ability, summarize ability and judgment. English read purpose of teaching one of, to train student understand and use English a basic tool of skill, it is a main route to implement communication practicality. English lesson regards training students' reading as the main teaching goal.

4. Reading design

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For this research, I choose the two classes of my students as subjects, Class 1 as the experimental group, Class 2 as the control group. Throughout the project, the experimental group will receive special designed reading activities, while the control group goes on with its routine instruction.

Giving a short passage to the students read before every class. First accord the students‟ interest and practicability with the contents of the teaching materials and the age of the students. Then adopt the reading to student‟s range of knowledge. Creating a good teacher-student relationship motivate and encourage them without forcing. Provide a stress-free and learner-centered environment.

During this research two techniques were adopted, namely interview and test. (1) Two gather information for the design of the research and to test whether the research is effective, two interviews will be issued, one at the beginning of the research and the other at the end. (2) Two tests will be included (one as the pretest, the other as the post test for comparison) to test the co-efficiency.

My project hypothesis is that if the reading exercises are better designed, then the learners‟ interest in reading could be increased and their reading skill will be improved. I designed an adequate amount of activities to test the hypothesis. In my project, I have designed many activities to be tried out in four weeks. And these activities are reported as follows.

Week 1

Activity 1: For use with model test paper. Purpose: To knew students‟ reading ability.

Instructions: Students do the reading exercise individually in the model test paper. For the students: You are going to check the reading work in your model test paper. Do it by yourselves. When you finished, hand it in. Model test paper: To see Appendix F Activity 2

Reading: For use with Junior English for China, Book3, Unit3, Section, 3a Purpose: To practice a piece of reading and train good habit of reading

Instructions: Students listen to the teacher‟s explanations carefully and then answer the questions. Procedures:

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Step1.Greetings and Revision

Greet the students as usual and check the homework. Step2. Warm up

Read a short piece of reading article about Bill Gates to students. Encourage them to work hard and learn from famous people. Step3.

 Call attention to the article. Read it to the class or have a student read it.  Read the instructions to the class. Elicit the first answer from the class (The

students think the uniforms are ugly.)

 Say, now read the article. Answer the questions in your exercise book.  Ask students to do the activity individually.  Check the answers. Step4.3b

Role -play. Ask students use the information in 3a to have a conversation. Reading exercise: To see Appendix E

Week 2

Activity 3

Reading: For use with Junior English Exercise-Book3 for China Purpose: To stimulate students‟ interest in reading

Instructions: Carrying on the contest. Students read the short passage individually and finish the reading work.

The teacher reckons by time, every fifteen minutes, in order writes 1,2,3、、、When the students finish reading and look at the blackboard can know how many minutes he/she takes. Who takes the shortest time, which will win? At last, ask students say the main idea about this article.

For the students: You are going to read the article about Effendi. After you read, please finish the exercises by yourself. Read it as quickly as you can and then find out the main idea.

Week3 Activity 4

Reading: For use with Junior English for China Unit Topic: I like music that I can dance to. Activity Topic: I only eat food that tastes good.

Objectives: To use Relative Clause with that and who.

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Functional Item: Express preferences Procedures:

Step1. .Greetings and Revision

Greet the students as usual and check the homework. Step2.Warm up Step3.1a

 Prepare two settings of food: one with Linda‟s preferences in food, one with Jack‟s.

Note: Use real food.

 Ask for descriptions of what students see. Elicit the necessary vocabulary for the

discussion to follow.

 Divide the class into groups to discuss the two diets. Ask students to decide on

which diet is healthier, and why.

Step4. Learning Strategy Step5. While You Read

First divides the whole class into three groups by their English level (A, B, C). The teacher gives the tasks that designs meticulously. Group A find out relative clause with that and who. Group B fill in the blanks. Group C match the statements with each person. Each group just finishes their job. Next, check the result of reading. Tell students cross over the obstacle of the new words when they meet them. At last, I explain the article and check the answer together.

Week 4 Activity5

Reading: For use with model test paper.

Purpose: To practice several pieces of reading

Instructions: Students finish the reading work individually in the model test paper. After they finish the reading work, check by them and hand in the papers.

For the students: You are going to check the reading work in your model test papers. First you check by yourselves, then, hand in the paper. Model test paper: To see Appendix F

5. Control and Experimental groups

For this research, I set up Experimental and Control group. I choose the two classes of my students as subjects, one as the Experimental group, and the other as the Control group. The Experimental group and Control group were randomly selected by reading lots. Throughout the project, the Experimental group will receive special

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designed reading exercises, while the Control group goes on with its routine instruction.

The results obtained from the comparison show whether the students in the Experimental group than the Control group. This will show whether the students‟ interest can be increased and their reading skill can be improved in reading by better-designed reading exercises.

6. Project implementation

The students always feel dull and difficult when they first learn to read. This time, I gave my students some useful methods of reading and choose meaningful reading materials read for them before every class to train their interest. I also have two tests to check the reading ability of my student increased or not. 6.1 Make up groups

After the first test, I divided my students into three groups (ABC) according to their English level. In my class there were students, so I divided them into 8 groups. Each group was composed of the students of different English levels so that good students could help those who had lagged behind. 6.2 Choosing meaningful materials

In order to make it sure that the students could do the reading tasks better, I provided them with a lot of reading materials for reference. The students of 16-17 years old are usually curious. They have strong desire of seeking knowledge and novelty. They hope to know a lot. They are not satisfied with the materials supplied only from texts. In order to solve the problem, I provided them with a lot of reading materials. Moreover, I also especially selected those materials that they were close to real life and could interest the students. I thought the materials were very useful for helping the students to expand their trains of thought and learn more. I found with such help they could do reading exercises more confidence than before. 6.3 Reduce their pressure

I decided to simplify the students‟ reading tasks. The students often complained they had too much written homework-not only English homework, but also the homework of other subjects. They thought written homework must be finished on time, so they had no enough time to do reading exercises. I thought I should make allowances for the students‟ pressure. So I adopted two effective measures to reduce their pressure.

One was that I gave them less written homework when I asked them to do reading exercises after class. For example, in order to help them know foreign culture more, every class I give them a short passage and translate it into Chinese, and then I asked

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them to say main idea of the passage. Sometimes I asked one of them read an interesting passage to the whole class. When we did that like this, we could get two benefits. Firstly, they learn to master the main idea. Secondly, they felt happier to know a lot about things such as heroic figure‟s biography, popular science, history, geographical knowledge and customs of English country.

6.4 Three sources of data.

1) The previous interview I did with my students for the cause analysis of my initial problem.

From the interview I know that I should give more practice and emphasizing. I should speak loudly and write down the important points on the blackboard. I pay more attention to provide varied reading materials and varied reading skills. And find that the students can go with me easily. From the post-trial interview, the students say they are quite satisfied with what I have done for them.

2) Classroom observations I took in my diary.

My students became more active than before. They are willing to do reading. They even feel the reading work is very interesting. It‟s easy for them to do the reading exercises and increase their interest.

3) The comparison of the final reading work between the control group and the experimental group. The experimental group is much better than the control group. They made fewer mistakes than the control group in reading exercises. They also like doing reading better than before. The comparison between the first model test paper and the second model test paper is wonderful. The first score rate is 45%; the second score rate 85%. The last comparison maybe compared after the graduation paper. I think it will be more forceful. Let‟s look and see.

It took three weeks for me to implement my project. For each week I am also scheduled to do these:

 Teaching notes: To see Appendix C  Students‟ handouts: To see Appendix F

 My students‟ handouts include: 1) Reading exercises 2) Homework  Diary keeping: Students‟ responses and my own observation. To see

Appendix D

From the above analysis I draw a conclusion learners‟ interest in reading will be increased and their reading skill can be improved.

7. Project evolution

 The problem

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Is the problem a researchable one? Yes. If give me the resources, the time and the expertise I have, I can launch a project to solve the problem. (I can do something to change the present situation.)

 The methods used in problem analysis

Are the methods used to analyze the problem acceptable, suitable to it and properly applied? Yes. I used the analytic method, cause analysis and interview. These are all acceptable methods suitable to my problem. I also used them properly.

 The project objective

Is the project objective realistic? Yes. For it is researchable. It is realistic. It can be achieved. M y project objective is to increase learners‟ interest and to improve learners‟ skill in reading---are realistic.

 The project hypothesis

Is the project hypothesis provable? Yes. My hypothesis---Learners‟ interest can be increased and their reading skill can be improved by better-designed reading exercises-is provable. I have found that my students‟ interest in reading has indeed been increased after I used varied reading techniques.

 The project rationale

Does the project have a sound basis? Yes. My project was based on the theoretical assumptions that are valid and sound.

 The project design

I have defined my project objective and hypothesis. I have stated my project rationale.

I have worked out the details for implementing.

I have also planned the stages and timetable for the project implementation.

 The stages and details of project implementation. The stages are necessary

and complete. The implementation details are properly maintained. In my case, I am assessed on the following items. Week 1

Teaching notes Students‟ handout Diary-keeping Week 2

Teaching notes Students‟ handout Diary-keeping Week 3

Teaching notes Students‟ handout

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Diary-keeping

 The methods used in implementation.

In what way has the project been implemented? In my case, I first set up control and experimental groups and used the classroom teaching.

 The methods used to obtain the results.

In what way has the investigator obtained the project results? Is it acceptable, suitable and properly used? I used observations diary keeping, and interviews to obtain the project results. They are all acceptable, suitable to the task and properly used.

Table1. Summarizes the methods I have used in my project. Stages of project Problem analysis The methods used Analytic method Cause analysis Interview Project design Project implementation Control and experimental groups Observation Diary-keeping  The results obtained from the project implementation. My hypothesis has been proved to be correct.

8. Project findings and discussions

This paper is the result of the action I conducted in November 2006, which aimed at motivating the students through reading exercises, which was assumed to be capable of cultivating motivation in middle school learners. In order to solve the identified problem, several solutions were implemented during the action research. The

information was randomly conducted among 42 students from the target group and the control group after the implementation of the project. According to their responses, most students (80%) in target group accept the new reading tasks, while the control group, was shown to have no or little progress on English reading. I have still found that the methods I used in the experiment are more effective than the teaching method I used before, even if the tasks seems not so quite completely successful designed as expected. I feel that I should have done better if I had implemented the project earlier and been given plenty of time. Data also collected from interviews and

examination shows that better-designed reading exercises can help motivate middle school learners in the reading, which contributes to the students‟ academic record. Of course there are some problems with it. Still, several students in my class think that

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they do not like learning reading; I shall analyze the problem further using the scientific methods and design some new tasks to solve the problem.

Therefore, further research and adaptation are needed. Some good suggestions are offered so as to revise the tasks better and more effective. It is agreed that I should make best use of all the chances to teach my students in any place and at anytime, and to do such project as early as possible. I will ameliorate my design, and put some new and fresh methods into the practice of teaching to monitor students‟ writing work, and it maybe brings about better results. I would offer them more helps,

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References

Gu Yueguo (2000). English for Studying. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

Gu Yueguo (1999). English Language Teaching Methodology. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

Gu Yueguo (1998). Language and Linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

Gu Yueguo (2002). Practical Project Design. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

Ma Junming(1997). Teaching Thought Records Nanjing: Education Press of Jiangsu Song Xuedong & Yu Aiping(2000) Teaching Basic Training of English Dalian:

Normal University of Liaoning Press

Liu Jianhua (1999).Middle School English Innovative Teaching Method Biejing:

Xueyuan Press

Liu Daoyi & C. Jacques (eds. 1995). Senior English for China Teacher’s Book 3. Beijing: People‟s Education Press.

N.J.H. Grant & Liu Daoyi (eds. 1995). Junior English for China Students’ Book 3. Beijing: People‟s Education Press.

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Appendix A： The timetable of the project Stage Week 1 Calendar 10~17 Sep,2006 Tasks identify a problem ◇ identifying a specific problem ◇ formulating a detail timetable Materials needed Senior English for China Students‟ Book 3. A College Handbook of Reading English for Studying. English Language Teaching Methodology (2). Language and Linguistic. Practical Project Design. Senior English for China Teacher‟s Book 3 Junior English for China Students‟ Book 3 Ⅰ analyze the problem using scientific methods of investigation ◇ analyzing the teaching situation ◇ analyzing the teaching objective/ teacher‟s role/task/types/students‟ roles, etc. ◇ analyzing the possible cause of the identified problem ◇ asking my supervisor to clarify my thoughts and sharpen my thinking about how to do the design better Ⅱ 2 Sep18 ~Oct7 design a problem-solving project ◇ formulating the project objective and hypothesis ◇ making a lesson plan ◇ preparing material and resources needed ◇ proposing data collection method: audio taping/teaching journal/questionnaire/survey/interview/samples of students assignments, etc. ◇ soliciting my supervisor‟ suggestions to my draft design ◇ revising the project design firstly ◇ Ⅲ 3~6 Oct18~ Nov4 implement the project Ⅳ 7~9 Nov5 ~Nov26 ◇ making the report of the classroom implementation of the lesson plan ◇ recording the audio tape of one classroom teaching action ◇ collecting the data of the report evaluate the project against a checklist Ⅴ 10 Nov27 ~Dec3 ◇ critical comment on my own teaching by checking my subjective comments against the collected data ◇ revising my design again secondly Dec4~10 write the project report ◇ writing the acknowledgment and the abstract ◇ delivering the project design report to my supervisor ◇ revising the project report thirdly based on the supervisor‟s pure-hearted opinion Ⅵ 11 (36hrs) - 1 -

Appendix B： The methods of problem analysis

The analytic method:

Through careful analysis, I was led to a series of questions: For instance, I found a majority of my students do not like doing reading, and I wanted to know why it should be the case, and whether they thought it important and necessary to practice doing reading or not? If they thought it important and necessary, the problem was actually caused by me, not by my students. Probably the reading work I assigned my students to do was poorly designed.

Cause analysis:

In this situation, I asked myself a serried of questions and tried to provide some

answers to them.

Why did most of my students not do reading practice? In order to know more about this issue, I designed a cause exploration procedure like this.

Questions Answers

Is it because they do not like reading? Maybe Is it because the reading tasks are poorly designed? Maybe Is it because they are not motivated? Possibly yes Is it because my instructions are not clear? Maybe Is it because do not like to practice reading alone? Maybe Is it because they have lots of other things to do? Yes Is it because they do not think reading is important

and necessary? Maybe Is it because they have some difficulties unsolved?

by themselves? Yes

Interview

I interviewed several students and find out my week points. My reading technique is ineffective. I just translate the sentences. I give few analyses and seldom emphasize

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the common reading strategies. And I don‟t like writing the words on the blackboard, either.

The results of the interview and brainstorming.

The students need preparation work before reading. They tend to treat reading as a test rather than a learning process, therefore, they don‟t discuss it with their peers or the teacher when they having problems. They do not usually study the reading materials as expected; instead they pay more attention to the marks they get. They all hope that there will be some changes in the ways of reading interest be increased and skill will be improved.

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Appendix C: Teaching notes

Week 1:

Teaching Plan 1

Date: Monday, October 23rd, 2006 Time: 2:10—2:55 Class: 1

For use with Junior English for China, Book3

Today‟s objectives: To foster students‟ good reading habits and simple reading method: skimming

Teaching methods: Reading; Speaking Teaching procedures:

Step 1: Call attention to the article. Read it to the class or have a student read it. Step 2: Read the instructions to the class.

Step 3: Ask students read the article. Answer the questions him the exercise book. Step 4: Check the answers. Ask single student answers.

Step 5: Role play. Ask students use the information in the article to have a conversation.

Step 6: Act out the conversation. Choose several pairs do it. Step 7: Summarizing the lesson.

Homework: Do some additional exercises.

Teaching Plan 2

Date: Friday, October27th, 2006 Time: 10:40—11:25 Class: 1

For use with Junior English for China, Book3

Today‟s objectives: To practice students‟ reading ability Teaching methods: Reading; Practicing Teaching procedures: Step 1: Before You Read

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Ask students work in groups and discuss the following questions: 1. How old is a teenagers?

2. What are some of the rules that a teenagers should obey? Step 2: Learning strategy

The teacher teaches students “Activating Your Language Learning” and writes it on the blackboard. Step 3: Reading

First, ask students‟ read the article, cross over the new words when they read. Always use the information around the word or phrase you don‟t understand to help you guess the meaning. Using context can help you learn new words and phrases. Step 4: After You Read

1. Ask students put these phrases (1.get in the way of 2. (Be) serious about 3.spend time on) from the reading into sentences of your own.

2. Scan the reading to find more examples to place under each heading. Step 5: Summarizing the lesson Homework: Read this article loudly

Week 2:

Teaching Plan 3

Teaching Time: Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 Time: 10:40—11:25 Class: 1

For use with Junior English for China, Book3 Teaching Aims and Demands

1. Knowledge and Ability Objects

①.New words: downstairs; correct; safety… ②.A reading passage

③.To train students‟ abilities of reading and writing 2. Method objects in teaching ①.Self check method ②.Reading method

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Teaching Key Points:

1. Key words and phrases 2. Reading passage Teaching Difficulty:

How to know of problem and accident Teaching Aids: 1. The blackboard 2. Brief drawing Teaching Procedures:

Step 1: Greetings and Revision

Greet the students as usual and check the homework. Step 2: Self check 1.

Ask students to fill in the blanks on their own. Check the answers.

Ask students to make their own sentences with the words, preferably sentences those are meaningful. Step 3: Reading

Draw a picture of a sad face on the board. Ask students what things in their lives make them sad. Write up examples they give which could be classified as „accidents‟ on the left, and examples of „problems‟ on the right. Add some myself to balance the two columns.

Divide the class into groups. Ask them to discuss the two questions and note down a) a list of accidents and b) what the group decide is the „biggest‟ problem fir teenagers?

Share each group‟s idea and compare the results. Step 4: Learning Strategy Using What You Know Step 5: While You Read

Ask students to look at the artwork and the cartoon, and then draw on their knowledge to say what this reading is.

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Ask students to notice the format.

Ask students to repeat the reading aloud in pairs, changing over for each page. Step 6: After You Read

Ask students to pool the knowledge they have to answer the questions. Discuss the answers. Step 7.Summarizing the lesson

Homework: Add more “accidents” and “one problem” to Dr Robinson‟s book.

Week 3:

Teaching Plan 4

Date: Monday, November 6th, 2006 Time: 8:50—9: 35 Class: 1

For use with Junior English for China, Book3

Today‟s objectives: to practice students‟ reading ability. Teaching methods: Reading and speaking Teaching Aid: A blackboard Teaching Procedures:

Step 1: Repeat the reading skill we have used before.

Step 2: Ask them to read the article by themselves follow the learning strategy. Step 3: Ask students to go through the passage again and do 3a. Step 4: Ask students scan the passage and finish 3b. Step 5: Check the answers. Step 6: Summarizing the lesson.

Homework: do some additional exercises.

Teaching Plan 5

Date: Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 Time: 9: 40—10:25 am Class: 1

For use with Junior English for China, Book3

Today‟s objectives: to practice reading and improve students‟ reading ability.

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Teaching methods: Pre-reading; Reading Teaching Aids: A tape recorder; A blackboard Teaching Procedures:

Step 1: Greetings and Revision Step 2: 1a

Ask students to work in pairs to discuss the difference between a „hope‟ and a „dream‟. Ask the class does this, helping with vocabulary they need and problems they have expressing ideas.

Ask a few students to share what they have written as a „hope‟. Step 3: Reading

1. Plain the learning strategy: Reading with Focus

2. Ask students go through each part of passage and ask students cover the passage answer some questions in their own words on exercise book. 3. Go through the passage again and check their answers.

4. Scan the passage and discuss questions in small groups. Write the question on the blackboard.

Step 4: Summarizing the lesson

Homework: Do some additional exercises.

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Appendix D: Diaries

Week 1

Date: Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 Weather: Fine

I‟m glad to see my students‟ progress. When they read the article, most of them can catch the main information; they didn‟t read one word by one word any more phrases instead. I noticed a little boy in the front. It was Pan Yanzhao. He is below average. But he read the passage very attentively. I asked him how to read, he told me he read the passage with the questions teacher given. After they finished reading, they answered my questions actively.

Another period of time, I gave a short passage to them and asked them to retell the main content in their own words. Luo Xiangying‟s eloquence is excellent. She can retell very wonderful. All of them did a good job.

Week 2

Date: Tuesday, November14th, 2006 Weather: Fine, windy

I‟m very glad that my students become more active in my reading class. Especially when I asked them to translate the context in groups, check the answers in pairs. They like what I have done for them. The whole lesson went smoothly. I found Pan Yanzhao was smiling. He did his reading work quite well. I was surprised to see it.

Today, I also taught them several reading skills: scanning, inferring, skimming, my students are interested in this class. I found that all of them took notes. Liu Xiaofeng‟s notebook is very neat; the important and difficult points are very clearly. A boy named Chang Fengmao who is very naughty and some teachers said he was also lazy, but in my class, he is taking notes.

Week 3

Date: Tuesday, November21st, 2006 Weather: Fine,

This period of time, I dealt with the reading of model paper. Like the steps of the last two weeks. I ask them first to check by them selves, and then I ask some volunteers to come to the blackboard. To my surprise, they are more active than I expected. They come to the front and they correct the mistakes. Pan Yanzhao said, “How time flies!

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It‟s so interesting.” They like reading and they are willing to read all kinds of styles of English. I‟m happier. To my surprise, four students raise their hands and ask me whether they can have a competition between girls and boys. My students are more interested in my reading class.

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Appendix E: Reading Exercises

Week1

Activity 2 Reading exercise

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Week2

Activity 3

Once Effendi had a joke with the Prime Minster (宰相). He said that the Minister would die the next day. The next day, the Minister fell to the ground from the horse and really died. When the king learned this, he got angry and sent his men to catch Effendi at once.

When Effendi was brought to him, the king shouted angrily, “Effendi, since (既然) you knew when my Minister would die, you must know the date of your own death. Say it out, or you will die today.”

Effendi looked at the king for a while. Then he answered, “But how can I know? I will die two days earlier than you.” The king was afraid that if he killed Effendi, he himself would die after that. He thought he must keep Effendi alive as long as possible, so he let Effendi go. 1. This story tells us________. A. how Effendi fooled the king B. when the king would die C. why the Minister died

D. Effendi knew the dates of everyone‟s death 2. The prime died because _________. A. Effendi killed him B. Effendi said he would die C. He was badly ill D. He fell of the horse

3. Why did the king ask Effendi to tell the date of Effendi‟s own death? A. Because the king wanted to know when he himself would die. B. Because he wanted to find an excuse to kill Effendi. C. Because he himself had known the date of Effendi‟s death. D. Because he wanted to know when Effendi would die. 4. The king let Effendi go because_________. A. he hoped to live a long life B. he was afraid of Effendi

C. he did not believe Effendi‟s words

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D. he knew he would die two days later 5. Which of the following is not true? A. Effendi played a joke on the Minister B. The king was afraid of death

C. Effendi didn‟t know when the king would die

D. If the king killed Effendi, he himself would die two days later

Week 3

Activity4 Reading exercise

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