Strategies for Improving Middle School Students English Reading Comprehension Ability 提高中学生英语阅读水平的策略.doc

strategies for improving middle school students english reading comprehension ability提高中学生英语阅读水平的策略abstract: there are five basic skills in learning english as a foreign language: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translating. reading plays the fundamental role. conventional english reading teaching redundantly teaches basic knowledge about vocabulary, grammar, etc. english teachers often spend more energy on teaching techniques, reviews, expressions. and they dont take care of developing personal skills or advancing reading ability, particularly the ability of understanding the context, the ability of thinking independently. it is fair to say that without proper strategies in reading, little will students improve in reading comprehension ability. therefore appropriate strategies in reading play important role in students english learning. the purpose of reading strategies is not only adjusting reading habits to diverse materials but acquisition of reading methods and skills. this paper first discusses the deficiency of reading ability of students and the necessity of improving students english reading ability. then it is followed by the previous views, and the authors opinion about improving students english reading comprehension ability.keywords: english reading; learning strategies; students comprehension; ability; personal skills; independent thinking 【摘要】英语包含听、说、读、写、译五种技能，其中阅读是最重要也是最基础的一项。传统的英语阅读教学过多地承担了词汇、语法、语篇分析等语言基础知识的教学任务，教师常把大量的时间、精力用于讲授语言点、复习和操练，而忽略思维能力和阅读技巧等阅读能力的训练不足，致使很多学生的阅读能力并没有实质性的提高，尤其是最关键的对篇章的整体把握以及独立思考能力。阅读能力的培养在中学生英语学习中占有重要的地位。毫不夸张的说，必要的合适的阅读策略在提高英语阅读能力中十分重要。阅读策略并不仅仅是要让学生调整阅读习惯以适应种类繁多的阅读材料,更重要的是要让学生掌握正确有效地阅读的方法,掌握略读等阅读技巧及阅读技巧的变换,培养逻辑思维及独立思考能力等终身受益的能力。本文第一部分提出中学生阅读能力的不足与缺陷以及提高中学生英语阅读能力的必要性。第二部分提出前人对提高中学生英语阅读能力的观点和见解。第三部分就提高中学生阅读能力的策略给出作者的建议。关键词：英语阅读；学习策略；综合理解能力；能力；个人技巧；独立思考181. introductionthe modern science and society are making great strides, so the main goal of modern education is tending more and more to improve ones ability and strengthen ones overall quality. the knowledge that students received at school cant meet the needs of social development. this situation urgently requires teachers that they should not only teach students knowledge, but also teach students how to learn. autonomous learning is considered as a desirable and pedagogical goal by many researchers, for learner autonomy can help students to assume greater responsibility and take charge of their own learning. hence, it is quite necessary for students to cultivate their autonomous learning ability. the first part of this paper talks about the deficiency of reading ability of students and the necessity of improve students english reading ability. in the second part, the author illustrates the previous persons views about improving students english reading ability. part three is talks about the authors opinion of improving students english reading comprehension ability. learner autonomy is increasingly taken as the goal of foreign language teaching. as the saying goes,” (白学军,1999:13)giving a person a fish, and he enjoys a meal. tell a person how to fish, and he enjoys his whole life.” the idea that students should be encouraged to learn by themselves has been proved to be the essential problem being discussed in the current education research in china. it has been advocated from pedagogical point of view that learning autonomy is a means of effective learning and a desirable goal of teaching as well. the mode of autonomous learning, whose theoretical and strategic system has been evolving, has been applied in many countries in the world. therefore, to apply autonomous learning in middle school english class accords with the requirements of the current curriculum reform in china. in recent years, cultivating learner autonomy has become a hot issue in the field of education both at home and abroad. there are also many studies on cultivating learner autonomy in china. substantial researches on cultivating learner autonomy have been carried out by researchers and teachers, most of which aim to cultivate learner autonomy in universities. thus, the present study focuses on cultivating learner autonomy in english classroom teaching in middle school. 2. the status quo of english reading learning of middle school studentstable 1.1 is a description of what has been discovered in the survey, involving the data from the questionnaires which present result directly related to english learning and learner autonomy at high school. table 1.1 a questionnaire of english learningq1.you_english.a.like very much b. dont much likec.dont like at all d. fear a.20 b.53c.18d.10a.19.8% b.52.5%c.17.9%d.9.9%q2. what do you think the main purpose of english is?a. to pass the exams b.to satisfy your interestc. to fulfill the assignment of the teacherd. to find a good job in futurea.61b.10c.20d.10a.60.4%b.9.9%c.19.8%d.9.9%q3.do you evaluate your english learning after a period?a. often b. sometimes c.rarely d. nevera.17b.15c.25d.44a.16.8%b.14.8%c.24.8%d.43.6%q4. do you think you have the ability to learn english well on your own?a. very much b.a littlec. little d. noa.50b.32c.7d.12a.49.5%b.31.7%c.6.93%d.11.9%q5. do you read english articles using reading strategies and methods?a. always b. oftenc. sometimes d.rarelya.14b.25c.18d.44a.13.9%b.24.8%c.17.9%d.43.7%q6. which way is more helpful to you in improving your english? a. the teacher explains everything in class.b. i learn english under teachers supervision.c. i learn english hard out of class.d. i learn english all by myself.a.14b.59c.18d.10a.13.9%b.58.4%c.17.8%d.9.9%this table indicates how the 101 students respond in english learning.item 1 and item 2 attempt to explore students level of interest in english and their motivation. the results indicate low interest as well as a variety of motivation. first of all, there is a low percentage of the response to a, “like very much”. instead, 53 out of 101(52.5%) choose “dont much like” and 17.9% choose c, “dont like at all”. worse of all, 10 in 101 respondents express they have ahead for reading. accordingly, responses to item 2 are not satisfying. more than half of students (60.4%) think they learn english just for passing the exam. and 19.8% students purposes to learn english are just to “fulfill the assignment of the teacher”. but it is happy to see that 9.9% students choose b “satisfy their interest”. 9.9% students motivation to learn english is to “find a good job in future”.the majority of the students think they have the ability to learn english by themselves (item 4). it shows that they all have enough confidence to learn english. here 49.5% of the students choose “very much” and “a little”, only 11.9% choose the “rarely” and “never”. but when asked “which way is more helpful to you in improving your english?”(王福荣,2007:25)(item 6) 58.4% of the students think they can learn english well with teacher supervision. the result shows that though students have confidence and realize the importance of learning independently, they still lack ability to learn by themselves.with regard to learning methods and strategies, only a few use and know learning strategies when they read articles (item 5). only 16.8% of the students evaluate their english learning after a period of time (item 3). this indicates that the majority of students lack of learning english methods and approaches. it means that the training of learning strategies is necessary.from the survey, the author got some information about students learning english and their attitudes towards autonomous learning. it was concluded as follows:(a) most students think english is very important. but for some reason, they have not enough interest on it.(b) most students know learning independently is very helpful to their english, but for lack of methods and perseverance, they are not really learned by themselves for a period of time.(c) most students have confidence to learn english well.(d) most students have enough motivation. (e) the majority of students do not know learning strategies and do not use strategies when they learn english.3. the previous strategies in english reading teaching 3.1 cognitive theory of reading “cognitive psychology involves an information processing system to questions concerning these mental activities”. 2 this system is based on a computer model of the mind; that is, cognitive psychologists try to understand mental workings by analogy with the operations of computer. the information processing system is used to identify how humans store, encode, and retrieve information. here, storage is the process of placing information into memory. encoding is the process that is used to change information in some way before it is stored, because information is not stored exactly as it is presented. retrieval refers to the process of remembering or finding previously stored information. language processing is one of important forms in information processing system.3.1.1 schema theory in readingthe schematic theory of reading provides the theoretical confirmation that background knowledge is a potent determiner of the readers performance. empirically, a large amount of experimental researches have been carried out to identify the exact functions schemata play in reading. the most revealing among them is a series of studies” (leather, 2003:78)leather said. in the studies, subjects were asked to pretend that they were either burglars or some buyers before reading a story about what two boys did at one of the boys home while they were skipping school. the passage was written to contain approximately equal numbers of features of interest to a burglar and to a prospective home buyer. the finding was that people learned more of the information relevant to their assigned perspective. for instance, the pretend burglars were more likely to learn that three 10-speed bikes were parked in the garage, whereas the fake home buyers were more likely to learn that the house had a leaky roof.anderson and pichert carried this research further by asking the subjects to switch perspectives after their first attempt to recall. it was found that in their second attempt, they were able to recall additional, previously unnoticed information important to their new perspective but unimportant to their original perspective. a reader might fail to remember that the side door was kept unlocked, but later recalled this information when told to assume the role of a burglar.it can be seen from the findings of this series of researches that schemata influence decoding when activated before reading and retrieval when accessed after reading. therefore, schemata affect both learning and remembering, but in different ways.anderson proposed that schemata perform altogether six functions.with respect to decoding,1) a schema furnishes the ideational scaffolding for assimilating information. a schema provides slots, or niches, for selected categories of text information. information which fits readily into a slot will be instantiated as part of the decoded representation of the text. for instance, the information about famous paintings and coin collection will be assimilated into the “loot” slot of the burglar schema, with little mental effort.2) a schema facilitates selective allocation of attention. a schema provides the basis for determining the important aspects of a text, thus serving as a guide for allocating cognitive resources. since burglars should be most concerned about how to enter the premises, avoid detection, find loot and get away, information in these aspects will be paid close attention to and learned well.3) a schema enables inferential elaboration. no text is completely explicit. facts necessary to understanding are often omitted. the readers schema enables him to make inference that go beyond the explicitly stated information to get a complete understanding of the text.the functions of schemata in facilitation retrieval are:4) a schema allows orderly searches of memory. by tracing through the general concepts incorporated in the schema used to structure the text, the reader gains access to information important in the light of the schema. this schema-guided search will not turn up information unrelated to the schema in operation, even thought it is stored in the readers memory.5) a schema facilitates editing and summarizing. the currently operative schema provides the criteria for the reader to judge which information to report when recalling a passage. he can draw in these criteria to compose summaries that include significant propositions and omit trivial ones.6) a schema permits inferential reconstruction. when there are gaps in the readers memory of a text, the schema, coupled with the specific text information that can be recalled, helps to generate inferences about what must have been in the passage. often these inferences will further trigger the corresponding information latent in the memory to manifest it. when a reader taking on the perspective of a burglar fails to retrieve the fact that “a side door is always kept unlocked”, bases on the schematic information that a burglar must find ways to enter the house, he may be able to rediscover it in his mental archives.3.1.2 perception of written words most people think their eyes move smoothly over the print, scanning across letters, words, and phrases. but it is not the truth. over one hundred years ago, a french scientist named java discovered that the eyes did not scan smoothly across the lines of print. rather they made a series of fixations with fast movements in between; javal named these movements “saccades”. the saccades take approximately 10 to 20 milliseconds in duration, and it has been established that our eyes are moving too quickly for us to pick up any visual information from the printed page during these saccades.when the reader meets some key-points, he usually has more fixations. the average fixation lasts about 250 milliseconds, although this is a great deal of variability in the duration. most of a readers fixations are forward fixations, from earlier words to later words in the text. sometimes when a reader misses perceives or misunderstands some portion of a text, he usually goes back to reanalyze it. they are regressive fixations, also called regressions, which mean the fixations to earlier parts of the text. about 15% of the eyes movements of mature readers are regressions.if we recognize words in a letter-by-letter process then a long word “comprehend” with 10 letters would take two and half times as long to identify, as a four-letter word “read”, but it does not. long words do take slightly more time to process than shorter ones, but it doesnt depend on the number of letters. the most powerful evidence against this serial letter-by-letter account of reading is provided by the “word superiority” effect. letters are sometimes identified more easily when there are several letters to be processed than when they are presented in isolation. if reading were a serial letter recognition process then it would take less time to identify a single letter on a screen than to identify a letter in a specific position within a word. this is not the case. to say that the third letter in a brief presentation of the word ”wage” is a “g” and not a “d” is easier than saying that a single presentation of the letter “g” is a “g” and not a “d”.lexical access and word identification will be used interchangeably. or rather “lexical access” will be taken to include word identification. word identification has meant the recognition of a letter string as a particular word, while lexical access is the process of finding the meaning of written words in long-term memory. it initiates the critical process of semantic encoding, which attaching contextually relevant meanings for the word to the ongoing text processing. it initiates also the process of phonetic activation, which may also play an essential role in reading. 3.1.3 comprehension of written texts we usually hear somebody says, “well, ive already read the book but i couldnt comprehend it”. (davies,2002:61) from this saying, we can get the important role of comprehension in reading. the distinction between lexicon access and comprehension is not one between two stages of processing. the skilled reader does not first access a word and then comprehend. instead, in normal reading comprehension and lexical access are concurrent ongoing processes.3.2 insufficiencies of the previous studiesnow if we make an evaluation of these views as a whole, we will have to recognize that they have several insufficiencies that are worth our attention. one shortcoming of these views is that the material used to examine the effects of the activator is self-constructed. the other shortcoming may arise with employing multiple-choice questions as the only test in assessing comprehension of the paper about card counters. so the following part gives a suggestion in order to improve students reading comprehension by autonomous learning. 4 suggestions 4.1 autonomous learning: the call of the times “the world is progressing. it is a world full of challenges, competition and opportunities. though the competitive principle of “survival of the fittest” has prevailed in our society for a long time, yet autonomous learning has been found to have direct relation with success. the development of science and technology is calling for qualified citizens who are not only professionally knowledgeable but also able to obtain life-long learning”. (宾利萍,1999:34)it is known to us that educati