Abstract
Abstract From the perspective of Activity Theory (AT), this paper analyses the author's task-based teaching practice of English journal and newspaper reading and adopts a qualitative study approach to examine the influence of task design on students’ reading competence development. The tasks are designed mainly in the form of group work, highlighting the students as the subject and the regulating role of mediating artefacts, community, rules and division of labour. The data of students’ reflection journals, reading reports and group work records show that after the training of a series of tasks for eight units, students’ ability in reading English newspapers has been greatly developed, and they are also more confident in speaking and writing.
Highlights
Reading articles from English journals and newspapers can broaden our cultural horizons and help us understand idiomatic language expressions, which is an important way to effectively improve one’s English reading ability
There are some differences in their basic level of language, none of them has ever taken any systematic training in English newspaper reading before learning this course, and they are eager to broaden their cultural horizons and improve their reading through this course
The teacher gives us enough time for group discussion, and everyone participates in the discussion and makes his own contribution to the group work
Summary
Reading articles from English journals and newspapers can broaden our cultural horizons and help us understand idiomatic language expressions, which is an important way to effectively improve one’s English reading ability. With the deepening of higher education reform, many colleges and universities begin to offer English newspaper and journal reading courses for non-English majors. Owing to its wide coverage of subjects, usage of professional terms and difficult language, it is not easy for the non-English majors to ISSN 2444-8656 doi:10.2478/amns.2021.2.00043. Chen et al Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences 6(2021) 261–268 master this course. Many teachers are still using the old teaching method, leaving the class lifeless and students puzzled. The current situation deserves every foreign language teacher’s reflection
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