The Instruction Of Chinese Deep Reading: Focusing On Meaning Construction

There are six classic models in the practice of Chinese reading instruction,which are humanistic versus tool-oriented teaching models,teacher-led versus student self-learning teaching models,and efficiency style versus artistic style teaching models.However,there also exists a long-term problem of lack of depth,which is reflected in “utilitarian orientation”,“malnutrition”,“process deficiency”,and“competencies deficiency”.The underlying causes are mainly due to value obscuring,instructional habits,and lack of ability.The shallow reading that stops on the surface of the text is widespread in Chinese instruction.Given the current situation of Chinese reading instruction lacking depth,the instruction of deep reading should attract great attention from the academic community.What is deep reading instruction? Through the analysis of the essence of students’ lives,reading learning,and Chinese curriculum,this study found that the essence and value of deep reading instruction lie in “meaning”.Deep reading instruction is the construction of meaningful lives reading instruction,whose essence and core is the “meaning construction”.By reflecting on the comparison between deep reading instruction and shallow reading instruction in terms of teaching purposes,teaching contents,teaching processes and methods,and teaching results and functions,this paper reveals the basic patterns and practical qualities of deep reading instruction.This means that deep reading instruction is a profound instruction that touches the depth of the souls,deep reading instruction is an integrated instruction that integrates text,knowledge,and meaning,and deep reading instruction is a creative instruction that reaches the real world.Based on this,from the basic viewpoint that “the essence and core of deep reading instruction lie in the construction of deeper meaning”,deep reading instruction is defined as compared to shallow reading instruction,deep reading instruction refers to reading instruction in which teachers guide students to deep understanding and continue to construct deeper meaning beyond the surface of the text.Its fundamental attribute is meaningfulness,and its basic features are profundity,integration,and creativity.How can Chinese Deep Reading instruction be implemented in practice?Combining the literature review on “meaning”,“meaning construction”,and “deep reading instruction”,it is clarified that “meaning construction” is an important perspective and innovative breakthrough of deep reading instruction,and deep reading instruction should focus on “meaning construction”.Thus,the main goal of the study is to uncover how to teach Chinese Deep Reading by focusing on the constructs of meaning.The central question is how to realize Chinese Deep Reading learning by focusing on meaning construction.Accordingly,the following three sets of research questions and components were developed.First,what kind of constructs are “meaning construction”? What exactly are the meanings that students are led to construct? How is “meaning” constructed? The research mainly uses logical analysis to theoretically clarify the connotation of the concepts of “meaning” and “meaning construction”,decompose and describe the basic components of “meaning”,and reveal the mechanism of “meaning construction”.First of all,research indicates that meaning is a conceptual system in the two-way construction between humans and the external world,which is opened and presented to humans by things and selves,and its fundamental characteristic is conceptual.The meaning to be constructed by students in reading has three dimensions: factual,value,and spiritual in the horizontal direction;and two levels: knowledge and life in the vertical direction.Second,meaning construction is defined as the process in which students discover,interpret,and create meaning in a two-way interaction with the text and continuously construct their own meaning world.Finally,the occurrence,process,and results of meaning construction are explained by the psychological mechanism of meaning construction – comprehension,with the help of “vision integration –continuous generation – self-interpretation”.Second,the mechanism of achieving deep reading instruction focuses on meaningful constructs.How to empirically prove and measure deep reading through data? A deep reading learning theoretical model focusing on meaning construction,consisting of six dimensions: autonomous motivation,empathic experience,multi-directional dialogues,deep comprehension,higher-order thinking,and creative expression,is established in advance.Among them,“autonomous motivation – empathy experience” is the driving force and prerequisite of non-cognitive,“deep understanding– high-order thinking” is the operation process and maintenance state of cognitive,and“multiple dialogues – creative expression” is the perfect guarantee and final destination of applicability.Then,through the investigation of the six-dimensional questionnaire,the data analysis methods such as exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to empirically validate the six-dimensional structure and develop“the Deep Reading Learning Scale for Secondary School Students”,which features good reliability and validity.Third,how should the practice of teaching Chinese Deep Reading with a focus on meaning construction be developed? The study promotes Chinese Deep Reading instruction from practice and explores the deep reading instruction model and strategies that focus on meaning construction.The first step was to design a framework for practice based on lesson observation.Three templates were developed: the objectives design of deep reading instruction,the foci and difficulties design in deep reading instruction,the process design of deep reading instruction.The second step is to combine the practice framework and condense a basic model,namely the deep reading instruction model,with the big ideas as the core.The five key aspects of the practice are:defining the big ideas – structuring the big ideas – externalizing the big ideas –activating the big ideas – evaluating the big ideas.The third step is to build a system of strategies from the three basic units of students,texts,and tasks,and the three steps of elicitation,assurance,and refinement.There are nine strategies listed as the focus of deep reading instruction: endogenous stimulation,cross-media,situation creation,metacognition,concept map,scaffolding,the community of practice,creative reading,and brainstorming.