1。2 Purpose and Significance of the Study 

It is true that English is one of the most important subjects in all kinds of schools。 English is also regarded as a basic skill in today’s society since we are living in an increasingly international world。 There are altogether four skills in English language learning。 Speaking is one necessary skill for students to grasp。 Therefore, teachers are responsible for encouraging each student to speak English in primary schools。 In China, most students begin learning English from grade 3 in primary school。 There are at least 10 years for them to gradually learn to grasp this language。 However, many of them are still unable to have a good command of it。 Even college students majoring in English find difficulties in English learning, especially in speaking。 Few students can express themselves in a fluent and authentic way。 Speaking is a process of language production, which requires proficiency in word selection and sentence organization。 Some surveys also show that the traditional ways of English teaching in primary school in China are still very common。 In these ways, teaching is conducted in a settled mode。 Many Chinese teachers and students have the same idea that learning English is just something like doing a large quantity of exercises, reciting words and expressions and so on。 That’s one of the reasons why many students are not interested in English and seldom active when doing activities or assignments。 Although teachers teach wholeheartedly, the result is not satisfying and even disappointing。 Their students' speaking ability can only be improved very slowly and students are unable to be confident in speaking English。 In order to change the current situation, the author proposes it is necessary to improve students' speaking ability in a suitable teaching model, which is called a picture book reading model。 As is known to us all, picture books can bring some benefits。 For example, they can bring children into a colorful world and present interesting stories in a vivid and brief way to make them easy to understand。 Picture books conform to primary students’ cognitive habits as well as their psychological needs。 Thus, picture books, when used in language teaching, will help teachers to create suitable situations and build atmosphere, where children can practice speaking more naturally and willingly。

Despite the claims about the benefits of picture books, however, there has been little research on how they can be used to develop English speaking ability in primary school。 Also, the recourse of the picture books also need to be considered。 This study is conducted to further explore whether students' speaking ability can be better improved through a new picture book reading model at primary schools。 In a word, the purpose of the paper is to supply certain effective guidance for the picture book reading model in primary school and to prove that the effectiveness of picture book reading model should be promoted。文献综述

1。3 The Layout of the Thesis 

The whole thesis consists of five parts。 Chapter One is a general introduction of the present study。 It makes clear background information, significance rationale and the structure of this paper。 In Chapter Two, the study reviews previous relevant studies and the theoretical framework for thesis writing。 Chapter Three introduces the methodology。 Chapter Four presents the results and analysis。 The last part is the conclusion where the main findings, implications, suggestions and limitations of the research are given