Chapter 1 Introduction
With the development of globalization, our world gradually becomes smaller.As a result, English has become an increasingly important language to share andcommunicate the development fruits of science, technology, economy, trade, etc, allaround the world. English reading is not only an significant way to obtain information,but also a crucial way to promote other skills. Therefore, improving reading ability isin badly need. Meanwhile, in senior high school, new curriculum standard has raisedthe requirements to students’ reading comprehension ability. Therefore, more teachingapproaches are tried by teachers in order to achieve this aim. Problem-based learninggradually catches more and more attention of education experts and teachers. In thischapter, firstly, the researcher gives the background of the study on problem-basedlearning. Then the researcher introduces significance and purpose of this study. At last,the researcher gives the overall structure of this thesis.
1.1 Background of the Study
Since the Reform and Opening, China’s basic education has made greatachievements. With the implementation of the New Curriculum Reform and teachers’increasing research awareness, the methods of English reading teaching in SeniorHigh School also get a continuous optimization. The objectives of basic curriculumreform program point out: The tendency of the curriculum which pays most attentionon imparting knowledge should be changed. The active study attitude should beemphasized. The process of obtaining basic knowledge and skills should also be theprocess of learning how to study and forming correct values. Too much emphasis on reception learning, learning by rote, and mechanical training in curriculumimplementation should be changed. It advocates that students should participate in theprocess of study actively, and they should have desire to explore knowledge as well aspractice diligently. It also pays attention to cultivating students’ abilities of collectingand processing information, acquiring new knowledge, analyzing and solvingproblems, and communicating and cooperating.Reading is an important part in English teaching. Especially in today’s CollegeEntrance Examination, English reading is the first part in the English test. In thetraditional reading teaching, students usually study in a frame, which is designed byteachers in advanced, and with teachers’ guide, students can finish learning tasksgiven by the teachers. However, this kind of class cannot arouse students’ interests inlearning as well as enlighten students’ thought. It is difficult to achieve the goal ofimproving students’ integrated skills. The researcher has done a survey on senior highschool English reading teaching in a senior high school in Shenyang, and found thatthere were some problems existing in teachers and students, which are showed asfollowing.
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1.2 Significance of the Study
As one of the four basic English skills, reading is a crucial part in the process ofEnglish teaching and it attracts lots of teachers and experts attention. With theimplementation of New Curriculum Standards, the requirements to students’ reading ability have been improved. New Curriculum Standards require that students are ableto use different reading strategies for different reading purposes. Besides, studentsneed to recognize the features of different types of literature. Students also need tohave the ability to appreciate and have a simple understanding about literature workswith teacher’s help. They can understand various opinions or attitudes of the articleauthor. In addition, New Curriculum Standards also require that students are capableof getting information through a variety of media and deal with the informationaccording to the study tasks. To fulfill these requirements, teachers need to use properand effective teaching methods to guide students. Just using traditional teachingmethods may be hard to meet the needs of New Curriculum Standards.Facing this situation, the researcher chooses problem-based learning to solvethese kinds of problems. PBL pays more attention to creating conditions and raisingquestions. It enables students to explore the problems which they are interested in andthen solve the problems. Reading is a major part in English teaching. Applying PBLin English reading teaching can contribute to cultivating students’ spirit of innovation,promoting students’ research study, and improving students’ practice ability.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
This chapter mainly discusses PBL and reading teaching. The relationshipbetween them and previous studies at home and abroad on them is showed in thischapter.
2.1 Problem-based Learning
Problem-based learning is a problem oriented teaching mode. The researcherintroduces it through the following aspects: definition, feature, and basicimplementation process.PBL was pioneered in the medical school program at McMaster University inHamilton, Ontario, Canada in the late 1960s which was put forward by HowardBarrows and his colleagues. The PBL curriculum was developed in order to stimulateand assist learners in realizing the relevance of learning to future roles and maintain ahigher level of motivation towards learning, and show learners the importance ofresponsible and professional attitudes (Barrows, 1996). There are various kinds ofdefinitions about PBL.Barrow and Tamblyn (1980) put forward that PBL is a mode of learning thatemerges during the process of understanding or solving a problem. In the learningprocess, the problem is posed first. In Barrows’ point of view, problem-based learningis a total approach to education. It is not only a curriculum, but also a process. Thecurriculum is made of problems which are created carefully. These problemscorrespond to the learner’s demands of acquisition of critical knowledge, problemsolving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills. Theprocess uses the same systemic method which is used commonly to resolvingproblems or meeting challenges which appear in life and career. Azer (2011) believedthat Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach that encourages students to“learn to learn,” cooperating with each other in groups to solve the problems in theactual world. Teachers utilize these problems to attract students’ curiosity and start thelearning process. PBL prepares students to think critically and analytically, and toseek and utilize suitable learning resources. Boud (2007) held the opinion that PBL isa systematic instructional method which employs students in learning basic andfundamental knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complicated, real questions and productsand tasks which are carefully planned.
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2.2 Theoretical Bases for Problem-based Learning
Each teaching method needs theoretical bases to support it. So does problem-based learning. There are three learning theory providing theoretical support toproblem-based learning.Constructivism believes that each person’s understanding of the world isdetermined by the individual’s own decisions. People try to build and explain realitybased on their own experience. Constructivism focuses on the original experience,psychological structure and belief foundation of human beings. Constructive learningis an intrinsic cognitive motivation-driven learning. The interpretations of learninggiven by Constructivist are as follow: First, learning is the process that the subjectactively finishes the internal psychological construction. Second, the understanding inlearning is the results of using existed experience and provided information. Theconstruction in learning is not only the construction of the new information, but alsothe transformation and reorganization of the prior experience. Last, learners buildunderstanding of something in their own way. Therefore, there is no unique standardfor understanding. Cooperation enables learners to understand more comprehensivelyand abundantly. Problem-based learning also emphasizes that students transform andreorganize the original experience as well as construct the new knowledge.The construction can be both individual and social, which means that the newknowledge can be built by oneself or created in a group. Problem-based learning is akind of social constructivism, since students work together in groups to solveproblems or make meaning of information obtained from lectures or a book (Savery,1995).Constructivism has a long history which can dates from 1900s. John Dewey putforward “learning by doing” idea, and promoted teaching strategies which helpingstudents engaged in learning actively by choosing topics related to their lives (Wilson,1998). In the point of Savery’s (1995) view, teaching is not just a matter oftransmitting knowledge. However, actually, it requires students to constructknowledge based on their existing knowledge and with their own activities.
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Chapter 3 Methodology.......25
3.1 Research Questions.....25
3.2 Research Subjects .......25
3.3 Instruments.........26
3.3.1 Questionnaires............26
3.3.2 Interview ...........27
3.3.3 Pre-test .....27
3.3.4 Post-test.......28
3.4 Teaching Procedure.....28
3.5 Data Collection ...........34
3.6 Data Analysis .....35
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion ..........36
4.1 Results.......36
4.2 Discussion ..........48
Chapter 5 Conclusion ............53
5.1 Major Findings............53
5.2 Pedagogical Implications .....55
5.3 Limitations of the Study.......56
5.4 Suggestions for Further Research ..........57
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion
This chapter is research results and discussion. In this chapter, the researchergives the results of the four research instruments, questionnaire, interview, pre-test,and post- test. According to these results, the researcher also discuss the changes ofstudents’ attitudes to English reading and effects of PBL on students’ English readingperformance.
4.1 Results
Though collecting and analyzing the experiment data, the researcher gets theresults of the experiment, including the results of the questionnaire, the interview, thepre-test, and post-test.In order to find out the changes of students attitude toward English reading andtoward PBL after the experiment, the researcher designs a questionnaire (Appendix 1)for the students in the experimental class. The researcher hands out 55 pieces ofquestionnaires which are all sent back and are all effective. In order to analyze theresults of the questionnaire, the researcher adopts Likert’s five levels method tocalculate the results. Each question has five options: option A is “totally agree”,option B is “agree”, option C is “general”, option D is “disagree”, and option E is“totally disagree”. Each option is assigned a value from one to five. Each question’saverage score, standard deviation, variance, minimum score and maximum scorequestion are counted and presented in the following tables. Besides, students’ choicetendency of each question is also presented in the tables.Question 1, 2, 3, and 4 are designed to test student’s attitude toward the readingafter the experiment.
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Conclusion
The researcher in this chapter makes a conclusion of this research, which showsthe major findings and pedagogical implication. The limitations of the study is alsotalked about in chapter, according to which, the researcher poses some suggestions forfurther research.In recent years, with the implementation of the new curriculum reform,problem-based learning method attracts more and more people’s attention. Problem-based learning method promotes the situationality of the problems which should beclose to students’ present and future life. Students are required to gather information,analyze problems, cooperate with group members, discuss in groups, solve problems,give presentation, give feedback and make evaluation based on their existingknowledge. These processes are conducive to the comprehensive development ofstudents and change the role of students, so that to develop students’ ability ofcollecting information effectively, analyzing the problem, learning independently,cooperating and exploring, and building new knowledge. These are in line with thenew curriculum requirements for students. After the four months’ experiment, thereare some findings summarized as following.
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References (abbreviated)
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