An empirical study of application of multimodal approach to teaching reading in EFL in senior high school

Abstract

English reading skill is one of the most important skills for senior high school students who learn English as a foreign language (EFL). However, the present reading teaching in ELF is still teacher-centered which neglects students' learning interest and their participation in the teaching process. In 1990s, scholars proposed the application of multimodal theory which suggests that semiotic resources (sound, images, video, animation, motion, color, facial expressions, etc.) can be used to stimulate different senses of students so as to improve their learning efficiency. The present study is intended to apply multimodal approach to reading teaching in EFL in senior high school and tries to find out whether the multimodal teaching can motivate students' participation in English reading class and improve their reading proficiency, and to get to know students' attitude towards multimodal approach. With students of a high school in Anhui in China as the research subjects, an English reading teaching experiment was carried out. The data collected from reading tests and questionnaires indicated that the application of multimodal teaching approach in high school English reading teaching can motivate students' participation in reading class and improve their English reading proficiency, and most students take a positive attitude towards multimodal teaching approach.