Strategy-based Instruction Of Reading

This paper considers the impact of strategy-based instruction on reading a foreign Language. Its theoretical framework is Anderson's cognitive approach to second language learning, which believes that learning second/foreign language and learning strategies are just like the acquisition of complex cognitive skills, which go through three stages—the cognitive, associative and autonomous stages. Also in this framework, written language comprehension is viewed as consisting of active and complex processes in which individuals construct meaning from written information by three interrelated processes: perceptual processing, parsing and utilization. Learning strategies appear in each of these stages and play an important role in efficient reading.Two types of learning strategies, namely, cognitive and metacognitive strategies are involved in this thesis. A pretest-posttest nonequivalent-group quasi-experimental design is adopted to fulfill five purposes for the present study: (1) to identify the range of learning strategies used by technical secondary school students on reading tasks in an English as a foreign language classroom; (2) to determine if the strategies vary depending on the level of English reading proficiency of the students; (3) to explore whether the strategy-based instruction can improve students'reading comprehension; (4) to probe which group (successful readers, intermediate successful readers and unsuccessful readers) benefits most from this instruction; and (5) to examine the retention of this instruction.In the study, 85 foreign language learners in two intact classes at Changsha Nursing School were either participants in a strategy-based instructional treatment or comparison students receiving the regular three-month reading course. Both classes performed three reading comprehension tests on a pre-post-follow basis, along with filling out the reading strategy questionnaire after performing each of the three tests. Fifteen of the experimental class students also provided verbal report data after they filled out each test─indicating their rationale for their responses to certain items. The data are analyzed by SPSS (Version 11.5).According to our data analysis and interviews, we draw the following conclusions. (1) Before treatment, the subjects sometimes use reading strategies such as repetition, resourcing, note-taking, selective attention and self-monitoring. They know strategies like deduction, elaboration, previewing, inferring, advance organization and self-management and part of them sometimes use these strategies. They seldom use strategies like grouping, summarizing,...