On Cultivating Middle School Students’English Reading Comprehension

【Abstract】English as a global language becomes extraordinarily significant both in daily life and international cooperation of various fields.This article from the collection of a large number of teaching cases， according to the current situation of reading from two aspects to analyze the impact of the ability to improve the barrier of reading： Teachers teaching and students learning. After analyzing all kinds of obstacles， this paper puts forward the effective strategies of English reading teaching， which can cultivate the reading comprehension ability of middle school students.

【Key words】cultivate； reading comprehension ability； effective strategie

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】李夢(mèng)夢(mèng)（1994.11- ），浙江溫州人，永嘉縣橋頭鎮(zhèn)中學(xué)，研究方向：初中生閱讀教學(xué)。

I. Introduction

The New National English Curriculum Standards （Trial Edition） （2003） points out that one of the main tasks of the English curriculum for nine-year compulsory is to raise students awareness of the cultural differences， broaden their visions and further lay a good basis for their long-life learning. Undoubtedly， English reading is generally acknowledged as one of the most significant parts of foreign language learning. “For most students， by far reading is the most significant of four basic skills in a second language， particularly in English as a second or foreign language” （Carrell 19）. This curriculum not only stresses the cultivation of basic English ability， at the same time， but also pays attention to students cognitive characteristics.

Framework of Objectives in the New National English Curriculum

（Adapted from National English Curriculum， 2001）

Combined with the actual situation of the present reading， the majority of middle school students reading has not produced as many reading comprehension abilities as expected. We have been perplexed by the phenomenon of high input with low return； a long term learning which only brings low proficiency in English （Wang 2000）.

II. Present Obstacles of English Reading Comprehension Ability

1. The Aspect of Teachers Teaching

First and foremost， the teachers do not get rid of traditional concept which is influenced by senior high school entrance examination. Under normal circumstances， the concept of a teacher decides how to teach and the students how to learn the language. Wenden points that if teachers and students believe related learning knowledge， they will stress learning the grammar and vocabulary without hesitation， and the main effort will be concentrated on the intensive reading textbooks and language learning. The teachers teaching method is single， and the current reading instruction method is still regarded the traditional grammar translation method as the focus and center.

2. The Aspect of Students Learning

Reading is a process of acquiring and decoding the information from the text. First and foremost， author encodes the information in his brain to form text， and then readers decode the text and get the information. In other words， the process of reading is a process of decoding， in which readers get the information that writer passes on. There are three main reading variables： reader variables， text variables and writer variables. （Lin Yanping， 2003） .

III. Reading Strategies Used in Middle School

1. Schema Theory

The concept of schema belongs to the category of educational psychology. Dividing the two basic knowledge which is obtained by human， contemporary cognitive psychologists put forward declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. The basic representation forms of declarative knowledge are proposition， presentation and linear orderings which all involve in a single concept， presentation or relationship level， but in fact， peoples knowledge of a subject often has a comprehensive nature.

2. Discourse Analysis Theory

Discourse as a linguistic term， although in actual in the late 1960s text linguistics has become an independent subject in linguistics， but the appellation in academia did not reach a consensus： some scholars regarded the text as discourse； but there are also many scholars attempted to divide discourse. Different scholars have given their own opinions on the definition of discourse. Hallidy defines discourse： any passage， in spoken or written versions， of whatever length， which does make up a unified whole. Hu Zhuanglin believes that discourse is a language which presents a complete meaning in a certain context which is not restricted by grammar.

3. Interactive Approach

Interactive approach is a teaching model that by creating a multilateral interaction teaching environment， in the process of teaching the equality of the two sides of communication to different views of collision and integration， teachers stimulate students exploratory to improve the effect of teaching. The interactive mode is essentially a comprehensive processing model of two kinds of information in a top-down and bottom-up. The model holds that reading comprehension is the interactive process of visual information and reader knowledge.

IV. Solutions

1. Suitable Concept of Reading Teaching

The implementation of new English curriculum standard sets higher demand for teachers to reflect on their teaching action constantly and it puts forward more rigid requirement to middle school English teaching. The ideas and methods contained in the new curriculum require teachers to change the old teaching ideas， and the establishment of new teaching ideas should be used in teaching practice. English teachers must abandon their traditional concept， and regard the scientific research as an important part of promoting the development of teaching quality， then enhance the initiative and consciousness of scientific research to be a research teacher.

2. Training of Students Reading Skills

The teacher must pay more attention to the development and training of students reading skills and strategies. Only students master the reading skills and strategies， they can get more information in same time. Therefore， teachers need to systematically train students to master and utilize reading skills and strategies， such as content prediction， lexical analysis. Teachers can train students to observe the title， phrases and sentences to predict the contents of the text.

3. Reasonable Design of Reading Teaching

4.3.1 Pre-reading

The purpose of pre-reading activities is to activate the students content schema and introduce the cultural background knowledge related to the text. For those students who are unfamiliar with these subjects， teachers can require them to preview the related topics in advance.

4.3.2 While-reading

Providing schema framework， reading activities are designed to help students resume content schema through listening， speaking， reading and writing， thus help them promote the consolidation of language schema and the improvement of language skills. First and foremost， teacher ought to guide students to use different strategies to acquire information. In the process of reading， students should pay attention to find discourse genres and themes fast， to see how the author open and end and to the paragraph is how to expand， link and coordinate.

4.3.3 Post-reading

Reading activities are designed to enrich the students content schemata， to consolidate students linguistic schema. In this process， it is to check the students degree of understanding， and to guide the students to carry out a deeper analysis of the discourse. Especially foreign language reading， students must read beyond the details through different forms of practice to deepen understanding， internalized rules， improve skills.

V. Conclusion

Reading is the optimal input to acquire a second language， especially for middle school students， the teaching of reading is considered to be the most important element， because reading is the most efficient means of gaining information and linguistic input from which students can enhance their linguistic competence and cultivate their communicative competence.

This paper aims at how to cultivate students ability of reading comprehension， from two of the teachers teaching and students learning. Then， the paper studies the advantages and disadvantages of schema theory， discourse analysis theory and interactive theory. The author hopes to offer some insights in this paper. Therefore， teachers can help middle school students enhance their reading comprehension ability through effective teaching approaches.

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