Application of Multimodality to Teaching Reading

Abstract

To improve students’ reading ability is one of the fundamental requirements for English teaching for English majors. However, some English majors are not interested in reading English and lack motivation to learn it. Even teachers may lose enthusiasm to teach them English. As a result, teaching English reading is inefficient.Application of multimodality in teaching English has attracted many researchers’ attention; the author applies multimodality to teaching English reading and attempts to answer the following question: Is the application of multimodality to teaching English reading effective?An experiment is carried out in two parallel classes for a whole term. In the experimental class, multimodality is applied in teaching reading and teaching procedures are all designed according to the theory of elements of designing multimodality while in the control class, ordinary multimedia teaching is applied. The data of pre-test, reading quizzes, a post-test are analyzed by SPSS 16.0. The research finds out that on the one hand, the application of multimodality in teaching reading is indeed effective. On the other hand, multimodal teaching is more popular among English majors for it can help activate classroom atmosphere, inspire students’ motivation to read after class and build up their confidence in learn English, especially English reading. The author also provides the suggestions for English teaching based on the research findings.