A Study Of The Reading Instruction To Chinese Non-English Major Students From A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Reading ability is one of the most important competencies required by the syllabus. Nevertheless, many students have not achieved the required reading competence. This study looks into the problems with students' reading ability.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the relevant literature review. The thesis poses the problems in the methods and contents of the reading instruction to Chinese non-English major students at present. As for the methods, for one thing, the language points are taught discretely in many classrooms. For another, students' learning levels are diverse in a natural class. As for the contents, teachers do not teach vocabulary, grammar, reading skills systematically which are the vital factors in reading. It is suggested that the solutions to them should be the centralized teaching method and the graded teaching method and a systematic instruction on the linguistic knowledge. These arguments will be tested by an experiment. The thesis includes the discussion of the objective, procedure, subjects, instruments and methodology of the experiment. Finally, the significance is also discussed.Chapter Two first defines the importance, definition and nature of reading. It distinguishes the difference between FL learning and SL acquisition. This makes teachers aware that we should choose those methods and contents that fit in with our students. The thesis states that vocabulary, grammar, reading skills and cultural knowledge are the keys to reading comprehension. Chapter Three further supports these arguments from a psycholinguistic perspective. Aphasia indicates that language is related to one's brain. It analyzes the comprehension of words, sentences and texts and the reading processing models in detail. This exhibits the basic and vital position of lexicon and syntactic rules in reading instruction and learning. It also demonstrates how human brains process language with regard to phonology, lexicon, syntax and sentence context in reading. It then discusses the importance of background knowledge and regular revision to reading improvement from the angles of eye-movement and memory regularity. Chapter Four illuminates the ways of instructing vocabulary, grammar and reading skills in a centralized teaching method. In the graded teaching method the distinct teaching targets, contents and methods are demonstrated for sub-band, intermediate and advanced students respectively. In Chapter Five an experiment is illustrated to verify the truth of the methods and contents mentioned above. The thesis analyzes and discusses the data which were collected from the pre-test and the post-test and a questionnaire in the light of mean scores, deviation standards and items difficulty. The questionnaire reflects the students' reading motivations and obstacles and their attitudes towards cultural teaching and the centralized teaching method and the graded teaching method. Chapter Six focuses on a discussion of the implications of the experiment. The thesis sums up the methods and contents of reading instruction on the basis of the relevant reading and psycholinguistic theories. It generalizes the systematic teaching of vocabulary, grammar and reading skills, and also the gradual teaching of cultural knowledge. These points are consequently proven by the experiment.