An Experimental Study Of English Reading Strategy Teaching

Based on the cognitive theory of reading, this study undertook an empirical study on inference reading strategy training, hoping to find out if it can improve students' ability of English reading and provide valuable data for teachers and researchers.It first reviewed past studies, and then presented the theoretical foundation of English reading strategy training and different training models. We took Pearson and Dole's model of strategies-based instruction (Cohen, 2000) as the training model in this experiment. Two parallel classes of Grade Two in a senior middle school were assigned into an experimental class (N=60) and a control class (N=60). Both classes participated in the same two semesters reading program, the only difference being that the experimental class students were introduced to the strategies of inference and required to demonstrate their use of the strategies. At the first week of the experiment, both the experimental and control classes were given a pre-test to measure their reading comprehension performance and at the end of the experiment, a post test was administrated to determine students' improvement in reading performance and strategy use. Results of the experimental group were compared with those of the control class by Excel. These results were analyzed from a quantitative perspective.The results of this study reveal that inference strategy training do improve EFL senior middle school students' reading proficiency. First, the experimental class outperform the control class on reading comprehension tasks. Second, the present study demonstrates that intermediate and high proficiency readers might benefit more from the training than those low proficiency readers.Based on this study, some pedagogical implications are also drawn: It is necessary to implement the teaching of reading comprehension strategies on senior middle school students. Direct and explicit strategy training should be included in reading classes. It is helpful to fit in with the needs of different proficiency readers in strategy training and it is important to help the students to master basic language knowledge while carrying out the strategy training.