A Study On The Effect Of Sustained Silent Reading With Different Learning Tasks On Senior High School Students’ Reading Comprehension Ability

Reading,which has a vital position in the process of second language acquisition,is one of the four language skills that students must master and is also an important way for students to obtain information and language input.Sustained Silent Reading,based on Krashen’s input hypothesis,allows students to carry out quiet and autonomous reading at a fixed time.It can help students form good reading habits,arouse reading interest and obtain a pleasant reading experience through sustained,free and sufficient reading.This paper mainly focuses on the effect of sustained silent reading with different learning tasks on the English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students,and compares the differences between sustained silent reading with multiple-choice questions and sustained silent reading with short answer questions in promoting students’reading comprehension ability.The main research questions are as follows:1.How does Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks affect the English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students?1)What is the overall effect of Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks on senior high school students’English reading comprehension ability?2)What is the effect of Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks on the four specific English reading comprehension abilities of senior high school students（Ability to Understand the Main Idea,Ability to Understand Details,Ability to Guess Unfamiliar Words and Phrases through the Context,Ability to Make Judgment and Inference）?2.What are the different effects of Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks on English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students at different English proficiency levels?1)What is the general difference in the overall effect of Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks on English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students at different English proficiency levels?2)What are the specific differences in the effect of Sustained Silent Reading with different learning tasks on the four specific English reading comprehension abilities of senior high school students at different English proficiency levels?Ninety students of senior one from two classes in Hai’an Qutang Middle School participated in this study.A pre-test was conducted at the beginning of the experiment which showed there was no significant difference in the English reading level between the two classes.In the experiment,students in the control class employed sustained silent reading with multiple-choice questions,which means that students conducted sustained silent reading for 30 minutes and then completed the task of multiple-choice questions.Students in the experimental class employed sustained silent reading with short answer questions,which means that students carried out a 30-minute sustained silent reading and then complete the task of short answer questions.Sustained silent reading with two different tasks was conducted in English self-study class in the evening,three times a week,which lasted three months.After the experiment,a post-test was held between the two classes.The results of the students’ pre-test and post-test were statistically analyzed by SPSS25.0.Five students from each of the two classes were randomly selected for a face-to-face interview.The whole process was recorded and transcribed later.Based on the analysis of the data collected in the study,the major findings are summarized as follows:Firstly,sustained silent reading with two different learning tasks can improve students’English reading comprehension ability.And the task of short answer questions exerts a more positive effect on students’ reading comprehension ability.As for the four specific reading comprehension abilities,sustained silent reading with two different learning tasks can have an effect on them.To be specific,the task of short answer questions can greatly improve the students’ Ability to Understand the Main Idea and Ability to Make Judgment and Inference while the task of multiple-choice questions is more helpful to improve the students’ Ability to Guess Unfamiliar Words and Phrases through the Context.What’s more,neither task has a great effect on the students’ Ability to Understand Details.Secondly,sustained silent reading with two different tasks has different effects on high achievers’ and low achievers’ English reading comprehension ability.Compared with the task of multiple-choice questions,the task of short answer questions is more helpful for high achievers to improve their reading comprehension ability.However,there is no significant difference in the impact of the two tasks on low achievers’ reading comprehension ability.As for the four specific reading comprehension abilities,the task of multiple-choice questions can greatly improve high achievers’ Ability to Guess Unfamiliar Words and Phrases through the Context and the task of short answer questions can greatly improve high achievers’Ability to Make Judgment and Inference.However,the two tasks have no different effects on high achievers’ Ability to Understand the Main Idea and Ability to Understand Details.On the contrary,for low achievers,their four specific reading comprehension abilities cannot be differently influenced by the two different tasks.Based on the above findings,some pedagogical implications for the application of sustained silent reading with different learning tasks can be inferred.Firstly,sustained silent reading with different learning tasks is supposed to be widely applied in senior high schools to improve students’ English reading comprehension ability.Secondly,students should choose sustained reading training with appropriate task according to their own needs.Finally,in the process of sustained silent reading,teachers should consider the individual differences of students.Teachers should pay more attention to low achievers and give more specific guidance to make low achievers really benefit from sustained silent reading.