Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Nowadays, the development of information technology has brought great changes to all aspects of our society. Human beings have entered an era of information hypertext from the oral era, and the era of reading and writing. Therefore, the development of information technology has also put forward new requirements for English teaching. The traditional single-mode teaching mode, which focuses on language and characters, is increasingly unable to meet the learning needs of modern senior high school students in terms of meaning expression. Non-verbal symbol forms (such as picture, voice, animation, body language and other symbol) have gradually become an indispensable teaching mode in English teaching.
In the 1990s, the New London Group (1996) apply the theory of Multimodal Discourse Analysis to language teaching. Leeuwen (2010) explores how the meaning of science classroom can be realized through the interaction of speech, writing, image, body, action and other objects, and proves that non-verbal symbols not only play an auxiliary role in the classroom, but also an important part of the teaching process. In 2003, Chinese scholar Li Zhanzi introduces Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory for the first time in China. Zhu Yongsheng (2007) describes the research methods and theory foundation of Multimodal Discourse Analysis on the basis of systematic functional linguistics. Gu Yueguo (2007) first presents the multimodality and multimedia, which are two learning models, and then introduces the network teaching with the method of multimodal teaching mode. Hu Zhuanglin (2007) distinguishes multimodal from multimedia. Zhang Delu (2009, 2010) studies the application of Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory in foreign language teaching, builds a complex framework of theory based on the Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory, and discusses the principles of mode selection and the relationship between modes. In conclusion, the multimodal teaching mode has been widely used in language teaching.
........................
1.2 Purpose of the Study
This study takes the theory of Krashen’ Input Hypothesis and the Multimodal Discourse Analysis as the theoretical basis. The author explores the application of multimodal teaching mode to English newspaper reading teaching based on the practical classroom teaching, and try to research the following two questions:
(1) What is the change of students’ interest in newspaper reading after teacher apply multimodal teaching mode to English newspaper reading class?
(2) What is the impact of the application of multimodal teaching mode on students’ reading grades?
The purpose of this study is to apply multimodal teaching mode to English newspaper reading teaching in senior high school, so as to improve the single teaching mode that pays attention to textbook knowledge and ignores non-text information. So it is necessary for students to read newspapers. At the same time, the cultivation of students’ interest in newspaper reading should also be paid attention to, so as to increase students’ language input and improve their grades in reading comprehension.
.............................
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Research on Multimodal Teaching Mode
The multimodal teaching mode is developed from the Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory, which is first proposed by the new London Group in 1996. The theory of Multimodal Discourse Analysis mainly analyzes the different modes of communication symbols, the relationship between them, the overall meaning, characteristics and functions. The theory focuses on the design, production and distribution of resources in social context, as well as the process of recombining various modalities in social practice. The definition of the main terms and the development of multimodal teaching mode at home and abroad will be introduced in this chapter.
2.1.1 Definition of Main Terms
Zhu Yongaheng (2007) states that “the discourse is characterized by multimodality in the era of new media. The concepts of the following keywords will be distinguished: mode, modality and medium” (p. 83). So the author introduces the definition of main terms in this part, including mode, medium, modality, multimodality and multimodal teaching mode.
The Definition of “Mode”
“Mode” refers to the mode of discourse, which is one of the three elements of context, including field of discourse, tenor of discourse and systemic functional linguistics. It means the channels of communication, such as oral, written, electronic, etc.
The Definition of “Medium”
Zhu Yongaheng (2007) points out “Medium” is a physical tool to express information, which refers to the medium and channels of information exchange, consisting of symbol resources, such as technology, music, language, picture, color, etc. Using a certain medium can still have different modes to express information, and the same mode can be expressed by different medium.
...........................
2.2 Research on English Newspaper Reading Teaching
2.2.1 Requirements in the National Curriculum Standards for High School
National English Curriculum Standards for General High School (Experiment) (2017) clearly points out that language skills are an important part of comprehensive language application ability, and language skills include the following aspects: listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing. Comprehension skills consist of listening, reading and viewing, among which “viewing” usually refers to the skills of using figures, tables, animations, symbols and videos in multimodal discourse to understand meaning. In order to understand multimodal discourse, it is needed that there should be the use of traditional reading skills, as well as the observation of the information in the charts, where the students can get the use of the understanding of the meaning of symbols and animation. In view of the increasing importance of this skill in the new media era, the curriculum standard adds the skill of “viewing” to language skills.
The language skills requirements of English compulsory courses, optional compulsory courses and optional courses (improvement) in the National English Curriculum Standards for General High School (Experiment) (2017) are as follows:
.........................
Chapter Three Research Methodology ................................ 25
3.1 Research Questions .................................. 25
3.2 Research Participants ................................. 26
3.3 Research Instruments .................................. 26
Chapter Four Results and Discussions ..................................... 48
4.1 The Current Situation of English Newspaper Reading Teaching in Senior High School ....................................... 48
4.2 The Changes of Students’ Interest after Applying MTM in English Newspaper Reading Teaching .............................. 50
Chapter Five Conclusion ................................. 65
5.1 Major Findings ............................................... 65
5.2 Pedagogical Implications ................................. 66
Chapter Four Results and Discussions
4.1 The Current Situation of English Newspaper Reading Teaching in Senior High School In order to directly and clearly compare the learning effect and classroom atmosphere of the experimental class and the control class, the author uses the method of classroom observation to observe and contrast the two classes. On the one hand, the author teaches the experimental class and the control class, so has the opportunity to directly observe and compare the two classes. On the other hand, the author records the two classes through video recording, which is helpful for the author to reflect on her own teaching and observe students’ performance after class, and make relevant records based on the observation table. The details are shown in Appendix 1. The classroom observation of this study refers to observing the students’ performance and the teacher’s teaching in the newspaper reading class. So there are mainly two aspects of classroom observation, including students’ learning and teacher’s teaching. The author draws on the scholar Zhang Yuxiu’s (2017) classroom observation table, which is divided into four parts, including teaching design, teacher’s teaching, students’
.....................
Chapter Five Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings
This study is an empirical research, which discusses the application of multimodal teaching mode in English newspaper reading teaching. The author finds the answers of the research questions through classroom observation, questionnaires, tests, interview and teaching experiment.
The results of the questionnaires show that students’ interest in English newspaper reading has improved significantly. Compared with the traditional translation-explaining reading teaching mode, students believe that the application of multimodal teaching mode in English newspaper reading class can attract their attention. The author chooses the appropriate mode and sends the colorful information to the students, which can help them better understand the newspaper and expand their knowledge. This teaching mode improves students’ classroom participation and they are willing to interact with teachers and classmates in the newspaper reading class, the process of which can cultivate students’ critical and creative thinking ability. The results of the interview show that the students are in favor of the English newspaper reading class, which applies the multimodal teaching mode. Students believe that they learn in an authentic language environment and the classroom atmosphere is relaxed and enjoyable. Therefore, the results of the questionnaire and interview verifies the first question of this study that the multimodal teaching mode can improve students’ reading interest after teacher apply it in English newspaper reading class.
The results of the tests show that the English reading scores of the experimental class has improved significantly. (1) The mean score of EC is 12.09. (2) Paired samples statistics shows that t=-13.991 and the Sig.(2-tailed) = 0.000, 0.000<0.05, which means that there is an obvious progress in the experiment class after the experiment. (3) Independent samples t-test shows that the Sig.(2-tailed) is 0.00<0.05, so there is particular difference in reading scores between CC and EC after the experiment, and the reading scores of EC is significantly higher than EC. Therefore, the second question that the application of multimodal teaching mode is beneficial to improve students’ reading grades of this study is verified.
reference(omitted)