The Application of Situational Teaching Method in Middle School English Reading

Introduction

Living in the world of globalization， if he wants to better fit into society， it is very crucial for a person to learn English well. English reading course has become one of the most significant courses in middle schools for ages. Besides， in the college entrance examination reading accounts for about 27% in the English paper exams. Thus we may find reading is not just a major skill in the process of learning English， but also a key element to determine whether the student may get a high score or not. Thus， it is necessary to improve the current English reading teaching.

I The Current Situation in Middle School English Reading Teaching

Teachers do not have clear aims for English reading teaching. In the aspect of the organization of English reading teaching， sometimes teachers overlook the characteristics of reading lessons and they take traditional teaching method to teach lessons. Besides， they put emphasis too much on the teaching process of language points teaching such as pronunciation， vocabulary and grammar， which they regard as a key issue.

Teachers do not have clear aims of reading teaching resulting in dull and monotonous atmosphere in the English class. It gradually prevent students from thinking independently， which not only impedes the students in forming effective reading habits， but also does harm to the students' creative thinking training.

II The Theories of Situational Teaching Method and its Functions

As we all know， situational teaching method can activate students' study motivation and create relaxing classroom climate. It's an effective and practical method to teach a language. It is originally called oral approach， which is developed by British applied linguists from the 1930’s to 1960's （Shu Dingfang and Zhuang Zhixiang 180）.

It can make full use of language， material objects and music to create a realistic situation to stimulate learners’ emotional experience and inspire their positive emotion and refine the character and form the perfect personality， which may help students gain the spirit of innovation， cooperation and practice and cultivate students’ aesthetic activity through a feeling of beauty， appreciating beauty and creating beauty.

III The Application of Situational Teaching Method

In the reading process， the readers get information from the visual input to achieve information transferring and ideas exchanging， which is an intended dialogue， a mental process and integrated thinking activities. Reading is an important way to get information. The main purpose of language learning is to improve the effectiveness of obtaining information so that it is crucial to improve the quality of reading teaching.

Multimedia can vividly show the time sequence， spatial structure and operation movements of objective things. It can combine text， symbols， animation， sound and image to create realistic audio-visual effects. Video can break through the limit of traditional teaching in boundaries of time， age and geography so as to improve the teaching effect.

The text "A Night the Earth Didn't Sleep" is an example of how to use multimedia before reading， in reading and after reading to create situations in high school English reading teaching. First of all， this text can be divided into three sessions， which mainly talks about precursor before the Tangshan earthquake， phenomenon and destruction when it occurred and rescue after the earthquake. Before reading the text， the teacher plays a video with floods， tsunamis， typhoons， and other natural disasters on the earth. Then the earthquake appears on the screen， at the same time the teacher add some questions in it， for example "What's happening when an earthquake begins？ Please describe what you see in the video."

After watching the video， the teacher gives the students some hints such as hills， the ground，houses and buildings，trees and electric lines. It is helpful to students' applications of English. Next， use pictures on the screen to show the animals' action before the earthquake occurs. Let students think and ask some of them to describe these natural phenomena such as barking dogs， flying chickens and so on. After the description， the teacher raise some questions， "If you see such strange events， how do you feel and what would you do？" Based on their own knowledge， the students may talk about their feelings and experiences， this can achieve the application of language. To train students' divergent and expansive thinking， "What did the people in Tangshan think of the strange events？"

The second paragraph talks about what happened during the Tangshan earthquake. The teacher takes advantages of charts and pictures on the screen to prompt students to find details to make a brief conclusion of the damages of buildings and death tolls. It may help students to get information of the text. Later， the flash animation appears on the screen with a man crying and the earth crying. The painful experience causes students to think， "Why did the people and the earth cry？ If the earthquake happened in modern society， would so many people die and so many buildings be destroyed？"

The third paragraph mainly talks about the rescue of the Tangshan earthquake. After showing pictures of the rescue work with the help of soldiers， doctors and paramedics， the teacher presents a photo and asks them， "If you are one member of them， what will you give？" It will help students to cultivate their own emotional attitudes and values. Later， a picture of the earth with a big smile flowing on the screen tells the students， "As long as love is given by each and every one of us it will make the world more harmonious and beautiful，" allowing students to better understand the last sentence of the text， "Slowly， the city began to breathe again."

Conclusion

Situational teaching method is an effective and feasible way to improve teaching efficiency， which can greatly mobilize the students' interest in learning English in the English reading class activation. It plays an important role in English reading teaching on behalf of the direction of modern English development. We should fully recognize the importance of this approach and make efforts to practice this approach so as to train more qualified experts and meet the needs of the 21 century.

References

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