A Study on the Effectiveness of Context Theory-based College English Reading

This research project aims to explore new approaches of English reading teaching by the effective use of context theories in order to improve college students' English reading abilities. The experimental study was undertaken in a university in the Northeast of China, from March to June 2015. Fifty-eight sophomore students in experimental class were taught by using the context-based reading teaching method, while fifty-seven sophomore students in control class were taught by the traditional teaching method. Research instruments in this study included questionnaires, tests and interviews. All the data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The experiment shows that English reading teaching by using context theory can improve students' reading comprehension ability, which can also alter students' attitude towards reading. Therefore, applying context theory to college English reading teaching is feasible and effective. Finally, it is expected that college English teachers can be enlightened by the result of the study in terms of these English reading teaching methods, which can contributes to pedagogy in terms of teaching method.