Levels Of Processing And Information Gains In Reading By College English Learners In China

In foreign language teaching and learning, reading is a very important factor, for it is the important approach for students to acquire foreign language knowledge and skills. For many learners of English, reading is by far the most important of the four basic language skills (Carrel, 1989). College English Syllabus prioritizes the development of reading skills as the most important aspect in teaching, which has profound practical significance. At present, the reform of CET-4 on reading comprehension also gives a higher requirement for learners in reading.On the basis of cognitive theories, Craik and Lockhart (1972a) constructed the information-processing model. Reacting to the mechanistic nature of computer models of human memory, Craik and Lockhart argued that memory depends on what learners do as they encode new information. That is to say, the depth of processing makes a difference to how well we remember it. In particular, the way we rehearse information influences the quality of our memory. Materials involving deep processing are more memorable than those involving shallow processing.