畢業(yè)論文on using reading strategies to make reading efficient

1、<p>　　On using reading Strategies to make reading efficient</p><p>　　Investigator: Zhang Yaoming</p><p>　　Submitted on May 14th，2009</p><p><b&

2、gt;　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………… 3</p><p>　　Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… …4</p><p>　　1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………

3、…………… 5</p><p>　　2. Problem analysis…………………………………………………………………………… 6</p><p>　　3. Possible solutions……………………………………………………………………………7</p><p>　　4. Project object …………………………………………………………………

4、…………… 8</p><p>　　5. Project hypothesis……………………………………………………………………………9</p><p>　　6. Project rationale …………………………………………………………………………10 </p><p>　　7. Research design……………………………………………………………

5、…………………7</p><p>　　7.1 Subjects…………………………………………………………………………………7</p><p>　　7.2 Procedure………………………………………………………………………………7</p><p>　　7.3 procedure………………………………………………………………………………7</p>

6、<p>　　7.4 Techniques for Data collection………………………………………………………7</p><p>　　8. Project implementation………………………………………………………………………7</p><p>　　8.1 Being an efficient reader……………………………………………………………8

7、</p><p>　　8.2 Pre-reading Stage………………………………………………………………………9</p><p>　　8.3While-readingstage………………………………………………………11</p><p>　　8.4Post-readingStage…………………………………………………………11</p>&l

8、t;p>　　9.Dataanalysis……………………………………………………………………12</p><p>　　10.Conclusion………………………………………………………………………13</p><p>　　11.References………………………………………………………………………………13</p><p>　　Acknowledgeme

9、nts</p><p>　　My gratitude should go firstly to my supervisor Miss Liu, without her support and patience this project would not even have got off the ground.</p><p>　　I am grateful to Professor G

10、u Yueguo for editing us such a good course.</p><p>　　No amount of thanks will be adequate for my students without whose willing participation in the project implementation it would have remained on paper.<

11、;/p><p>　　Last but not the least, big thanks to some other teachers from whom I have acquired knowledge and theories of linguistics and thus gathered some ideas of paper. I should also like to thank the stuff o

12、f our library and for their supply of references that are greatly needed. </p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　Reading is an active process that the reader tries to understand the mean

13、ing of a given text by guessing, predicting, checking and asking oneself questions.</p><p>　　On this investigation, I talked about the problem in reading that is not uncommon that sometimes when you take up

14、a text in a foreign language, you recognize every word but still fail to grasp its meaning. Why? And the mainly reading strategies, one is Skimming, another is Scanning. We look at the kind of things we usually read, and

15、 our purposes for reading them. We also aware of the fact that people tend to use different reading strategies in order to achieve different purpose. If we would like</p><p>　　Key Words; strategies; reading;

16、 ability; skimming; scanning; stage; background</p><p>　　1. Introduction</p><p>　　English is one kind of language used by the most countries and people. Learning English is very useful and helpf

17、ul. The best place where students learn English is the school. “Among the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), reading might be the familiar to our Chinese learners of English. In a way, we le

18、arn English mainly through reading.”（ELTM，100）. In order to read efficiently, the readers need to employ different reading strategies to suit different reading purpose</p><p>　　In order to know the foreign

19、countries to learn their advanced technology and co-operate with them better, to promote the economic development in China. So, in our country, in foreign language teaching, English learning holds the leading posi

20、tion. In China, the middle school teaching program raises that we must train the students’ ability of reading. The teachers usually spend time in activating the students’ existing schema, or providing it if it didn’t exi

21、st by learning new words and di</p><p>　　Problems analysis</p><p>　　I have made a survey about the problem that the students often meet when they do the reading. Most students think the grammar

22、and the words are difficult. Many students think they know the words and the sentences but they don’t understand the meaning. Some students think they aren’t interested in boring reading. Most of them hardly ever use rea

23、ding strategies while reading.</p><p>　　If students all study hard, they will know most of the words and the grammar. But they don’t understand the meaning of some sentences. It is because they need know lot

24、s of background knowledge. And background knowledge is called schema.</p><p>　　“Schema” plays a very important role in understanding a given text. Many pre-reading activities are designed with this purpose i

25、n mind. We usually spend time in activating the students’ existing schema, or providing it if it didn’t exist, before teaching a text. For example, if the students were going to read a story about the Fools’ Day I tried

26、to activate their relevant background knowledge by asking such questions as: “How much do you know about the Fools’ Day?” The students responded by sayi</p><p>　　3. Possible solutions</p><p>　　H

27、ow can I improve my way of teaching? At first, the students must be efficient reader, second is to teaching in three stages, pre-reading stage, while-reading stage and post-reading stage. Each stage has a different goal

28、and deals with different reading strategies.</p><p>　　Project objective </p><p>　　The overall aim is to train the students to be efficient readers in the foreign language. Other aspects have to

29、be considered as well though, such as the students’ interest and motivation.</p><p>　　Project hypothesis</p><p>　　In order to improve the way of teaching I will practice many times. Before the s

30、tudents read a text, I will give them several questions in order to increase their motivation or during reading they are asked something to guess the text meaning or to find the key words or find the topic sentences summ

31、arize and so on. Then, my students will like reading and can use they have learned to speak and write something. They can remember 85 percent in class.</p><p>　　Project rationale</p><p>　　Cooper

32、 (1981) said: “Teaching, in essence, is communication.” </p><p>　　Widdowson (1978) said: “The teaching of usage does not appear to guarantee a knowledge of use.”</p><p>　　Jespresen（1922）said

33、: “A child’s teachers are greatly pleased at every little advance the child makes. Every awkward attempt meets with sympathy and encouragement, and the most difficult step on the path of the language becomes the merriest

34、 game.”</p><p>　　“Reading is an active process, during which the reader tries to understanding the meaning of a given text.”(ELTM, 101)</p><p>　　“The background knowledge needs to interpret a gi

35、ven text is called ‘schema’.” (ELTM，104)</p><p>　　“Interactive way of reading means the reader uses bottom-up and top-down ways together, and the two ways interact with each other in the understanding of a t

36、ext.”(ELTM, 103)</p><p>　　Skimming enables readers to look efficiently for something that interests them, without spending too much time reading what is unnecessary or uninteresting. (ELMT, 106)</p>&

37、lt;p>　　Scanning is “invaluable” when you are reviewing a text, doing research, writing a paper, or seeking specific information for other purposes. It is also a time and energy saving activity, which should help you t

38、o increase you reading speed and efficiency. (ELTM, 131)</p><p>　　“Pre-reading means before the text is to read.” (ELTM，131)</p><p>　　“One of the reading practiced in this stage in the skill of

39、anticipation-forming predictions about what is to read. Usually predictions are made on the basis of various clues provided by the text.”(ELTM, 131)</p><p>　　“This stage mainly focuses on the exploitation on

40、 the text. It aims to help the students with understanding the content and the structure of the text, as well as the author’s purpose in writing it.”(ELTM, 137)</p><p>　　Research design</p><p>&

41、lt;b>　　Subjects</b></p><p>　　For this reach, I choose the two of my students as subject, one as the Experimental Group, the other as the Control Group. The experimental and control groups were rando

42、mly selected by different ways of reading strategies. Throughout the project, the Experimental Group will receive special designed learning comprehension reading, while the control group goes on with its routine instruct

43、ion.</p><p><b>　　Procedure</b></p><p>　　This project lasted two months from March to April.</p><p>　　Principles to follow</p><p>　　Accord the students’ inte

44、rest and practicability with the new teaching way and the age of the students.</p><p>　　Create a good teacher–students relationship, motivate and encourage them without forcing.</p><p>　　Prov

45、ide a “stress-free” and “l(fā)earner–centered” environment. </p><p>　　Techniques for Data collection</p><p>　　During this research two techniques were adopted, namely questionnaire and test. T

46、o gather information for the design of the research and to test whether the research is effective, two questionnaires will be issued, one at the beginning of the research and the other at the end. Two tests will be inclu

47、ded (one as the pretest, the other as the post test for comparison) to test the co-efficiency.</p><p>　　Project implementation</p><p>　　Generally speaking, a typical English class in the Chinese

48、 middle school is traditionally conducted in the following way.</p><p>　　We learn the “new words” from the text in lists with their Chinese translations. Our teacher asks the students to read the text aloud

49、sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, interrupting them to correct their pronunciation. They explain the meaning of words and phrases in English and Chinese and draw the students’ attention to certain grammatical

50、 points. The students’ Comprehension of the text is checked by our teacher asking questions and nominating students to answer. After this, our t</p><p>　　Now, I have an English teacher for eleven years, at

51、 beginning I taught my students in this kind of method. My students were tired and bored during my lengthy explanations of the phrases and grammar points in the text. They would not remember and use what they have learne

52、d in class. They are not interested in this teaching method. They don’t take an active in class teaching. I don’t think it was clear to them what they had gained from the lesson. </p><p>　　In my class，I ask

53、my students how they read.</p><p>　　Most of them said: “We usually start reading a text by recognizing words, phrase patterns as well as sentence patterns, then we rapidly and automatically get meaning from

54、the text.” A few of them said: “I first identify the topic, purpose and structure of the text, and then I make guesses, predictions during reading. In this way, I create meaning from the text as a whole.”</p><

55、p>　　In the first situation, the students build up the meaning of the text on the basis of decoding smaller units: first words, and phrases, then sentences and paragraphs, and finally working out the topic or the type

56、of the whole text. In the second situation, the students uses his／her knowledge of the topic or the type of the text and makes predictions about what the text will contain, then these predictions are checked by reading a

57、nd trying to understand the text.</p><p>　　I think the best way is the “Interactive” way of reading. That means he might to predict the context of the text by using his knowledge of the topic, then look for

58、key words to check the prediction, or get the main gist of the text by skimming it quickly and examine the writer’s choice of vocabulary for understanding the meaning.</p><p>　　The “interactive” way of readi

59、ng has come to be accepted by more people. It makes use of background knowledge, context, and expectations. At the same time, it also incorporates recognizing letters and words rapidly and pocking out important words phr

60、ases, picking out details which give the key to the general meaning. We should be flexible as readers and employ whatever techniques and strategies that are suitable to the reading purpose and the type of text.</p>

61、<p>　　But how can we do?</p><p>　　Being an efficient reader </p><p>　　Let’s think about what we might need to have in order to become an efficient reader in English. </p><p>

62、　　First, we need clear purpose. That means why we read the text or other material, what we want to get from it. Second, we must have adequate knowledge of grammar, sufficient amount of vocabulary quick recognition of voc

63、abulary and grammar.</p><p>　　Second, we must have adequate knowledge of grammar, sufficient amount of vocabulary, quick recognition of grammar, sufficient amount of vocabulary as same as a General who had a

64、 clear goal, he had no soldiers, no bullets. How could he win a battle?</p><p>　　The third we should have background knowledge. For example, we expect to fond the details of the writer’s birth, works and so

65、on or the abstract of a text in order to know the reading material easily.</p><p>　　The fourth we need some reading strategies. We employ different strategies to suit different reading purpose. Such as, Inte

66、nsive Reading, skimming, scanning , guessing the meaning of the new words and so on.</p><p>　　I’ll introduce skimming and scanning in detail.</p><p><b>　　Skimming</b></p><

67、p>　　Skimming is not careful reading. The reader usually moves his eyes over the text very quickly just in order to get the gist of it or to decide whether it is worth reading mire deeply or not.</p><p>　　

68、In my class, I always give my students a text which is not difficult to read, and ask them to skim it and answer one or two questions.</p><p>　　For example: Text A </p><p>　　A friend of mine n

69、amed Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present．On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office，a street urchin was walking around the shining car．“Is this your car，Paul？”he asked． </p>

70、;<p>　　Paul answered，“Yes，my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised．“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing？Boy，I wish…” He hesitated． </p><p>　　O

71、f course Paul knew what he was going to wish for．He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly. </p><p>　　“I wish,” the boy went on，“that I could be a brother

72、like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car？” </p><p>　　“Oh yes，I'd love that．” </p><p>　　After a short ride，the boy turned a

73、nd with his eyes shining，said，“Paul，would you mind driving in front of my house？” </p><p>　　Paul smiled a little．He thought he knew what the boy wanted．He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride hom

74、e in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are？” the boy asked． </p><p>　　He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming f

75、ast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car. </p><p>　　“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas a

76、nd it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about.” </p>

77、;<p>　　Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride. </p><p>　　注：urchin

78、頑童 hesitate 猶豫 neighbour 鄰居 crippled 殘疾 cent 美分</p><p>　　They need to read it within 2-3 minutes for meaning not for detail and then find out its main idea. After practicing, the students can get the answers

79、 according to the requirements quickly.</p><p><b>　　Scanning</b></p><p>　　Scanning means locating specific information you, the reader, want from the text. You do not necessarily fol

80、low the order of information in passage, but can go back and forth to read the part of the text relevant to your purpose. According to the stage, I give my students a task to do, it is not difficult. Before their reading

81、, they give several blanks and they need to read them, within 5 minutes then fill in the blanks. For example, to the Text A</p><p>　　I ask students to scan the text for information to complete the task below

82、:</p><p>　　1．The street urchin was very surprised when ________． </p><p>　　A．Paul received an expensive car </p><p>　　B．Paul told him about the car </p><p>　　C．he saw t

83、he shining car </p><p>　　D．he was walking around the car </p><p>　　2．From the story we can see the urchin ________． </p><p>　　A．wished to give his brother a car </p><p>

84、;　　B．wanted Paul’s brother to give him a car </p><p>　　C．wished he could have a brother like Paul's </p><p>　　D．wished Paul could be a brother like that </p><p>　　3．The urchin a

85、sked Paul to stop his car in front of his house ________． </p><p>　　A．to show his neighbours the big car </p><p>　　B．to show he had a rich friend </p><p>　　C．to let his brother ride

86、 in the car </p><p>　　D．to tell his brother about his wish </p><p>　　4．We can infer（推斷）from the story that ________． </p><p>　　A．Paul couldn't understand the urchin </p>

87、<p>　　B．the urchin had a deep love for his brother </p><p>　　C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother </p><p>　　D．the urchin's wish came true in the end </p><p>　　5．The b

88、est name of the name story is _________． </p><p>　　A．A Christmas Present </p><p>　　B．A Street Urchin </p><p>　　C．A Brother Like That </p><p>　　D．An Unforgettable Holida

89、y Ride </p><p>　　KEY: 1．B 2．A 3．D 4．B 5．C </p><p>　　They need to read the masterfully carefully, for effective scanning only read what is necessary.</p><p>　　Pre-reading Stage</p

90、><p>　　An interesting text can arouse the students’ will to read, but teachers often have no choice in the texts they have to teach. In that case, the activities must stimulate the students’ interest by challen

91、ging them, providing them with a chance to use their imagination and creative ability, and encourage them to use the language and information gained from the text. So the pre-reading stage is very important.</p>&

92、lt;p>　　The aims of the pre-reading stage are three-fold:</p><p>　　Arousing the students’ interest in the topic or type of text.</p><p>　　Motivating students to read the text by providing a pu

93、rpose for reading.</p><p>　　Preparing the students for the content of the text. </p><p>　　It should be pointed out that not all three aims are relevant to all text types. Sometimes the topic of

94、the text itself is very interesting, in which case the students may be eager to read it. So, I do not have to spend too long on motivating them to read. In some texts, the language maybe will within the students’ profici

95、ency with few or no unknown elements. It would be pointless in that case to deal with the language elements beforehand, but it may be worthwhile to draw students’ attention to </p><p>　　What can I do to get

96、the students to predict the contents of the text?</p><p>　　My students could be asked to state what they already knew about the topic and what they would like to know about the topic, write their own questio

97、ns that they want the text to answer, answer my general questions about the text type or topic (oral or write), brainstorm the topic in groups or whole class, these are the usual type of activities done in pre-reading st

98、age.</p><p>　　Next, I’ll give a text to design pre-reading activities.</p><p><b>　　Text B</b></p><p>　　“Cool” is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to exp

99、ress a temperature that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meaning． </p><p>　　“Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything． </p><

100、;p>　　When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It's cool．”You may think，“He's so cool，”when you see your favorite footballer． </p><p>　　We all maximize（擴(kuò)大） the meaning of “cool”．

101、You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here's an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited

102、．On one student's paper was Just the one sentence，“It's so cool．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt． </p><p>　　But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “c

103、ool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they