Discussion As An Effective Way In Self-Regulated English Reading Course

Twenty first Century is an information era of knowledge economy. Profound knowledge has come to the fore at the unprecedentedly high speed. In the times characterized by change, the only way not to be eliminated from the society is to learn more by self study. Besides since the UNESCO claimed that in the future illiteracy would mean inability to learn to learn instead of no knowledge of words, it has been realized that only by improving their Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) ability can students know how to learn, In order to achieve this goal, the traditional teaching methods should be transformed from teacher-centered to learn-centered so that life-long learning and sustainable development can be realized.SRL is a modern learning theory and learning method based on constructivism which views learning as a constructive, active, cognitive, significant and self-regulating process. Knowledge is constructed but not transferred from teachers in this process. Learners build an internal illustration of knowledge, a personal interpretation of experience with the help of teachers and peers under certain social and cultural background. As construction of knowledge depends on interpersonal cooperative activities, constructivism emphasizes student-centered learning, which requires students to be transformed from the passive receivers to the information processing agents and active knowledge constructors. Teachers play the roles as coordinators, facilitators, resource advisors, tutors or coaches providing learners with a learner-centered environment in which many learning opportunities and possibilities are available to bring their initiative into full play. Evaluative methods under constructivism are based on real task solving, knowledge constructing and emphasize on the process evaluation which effectively integrate learning and evaluating.SRL can be defined as a self-directed, self-motivated and self-monitored learning method where learners accomplish learning tasks under macro-goal direction, teachers' supervision, and their own needs and conditions. The content of SRL includes learners decide study aims, devise detailed learning plan, choose proper learning contents, necessary references, learning ways, places and time, regulate learning process, evaluation and take on remedial measures to achieve the best learning effect.In SRL English reading course, students check reference books, preview reading materials, participate in in-class activities, and finish after-class assignments. They employ non-cognitive factors such as interest and attitude to regulate and monitor their study. Students use reading skills to seek, acquire, process and convey information, analyze and solve problems, think and express in English, and build knowledge system. Both teachers and students evaluate the learning behavior, process, and achievement.School of Foreign Languages (SFL) in Southwest University (SWU) has been implementing SRL in reading courses for English majors for 4 years. All the freshmen and sophomores in SFL where there are up to 1440 students are required to participate in this program.The author joined the program in September 2005, focusing on how to apply discussion effectively to Self-Regulated English reading course. As a brand new program it was fiercely challenged by students and teachers at the first beginning and unfriendly criticism flooded in on the New Horizon (a public website for SRL where students communicate with all English majors and teachers). Fortunately as more efforts have been put in, this program has been gradually accepted and acknowledged by more and more students.The primary process of discussion in English reading course is divided into three stages: pre-discussion, i.e., getting discussion ready; while-discussion, which means getting discussion started and keeping it going; and post-discussion, also called evaluating discussion.Teachers lecture to demonstrate how discussion works, how to get access to the specific books in library, how to employ online information and how to do academic study to freshmen at their first term. Students are given a list of books, some of which are compulsory reading materials and the others are optional. These books are chosen by their teachers according to students' linguistic ability, so they differ from grade to grade. As for freshmen, simplified versions are recommended and original versions are added in the list as students move on to a higher level. Before discussion teachers make pre-discussion assignment in the form of reading direction which could be aims, basics, questions, notes, and allusion and so on before discussion. Every four or five students make up one group. Each time before discussion students are required to cover three or four books, finish some assignments distributed by teachers by surfing the internet, looking for relevant information in the library and thinking individually, and probably meet once to choose a group leader whom everybody has a turn to be to facilitate the discussion. The group leader, also called facilitator, is responsible for getting from members both questions and understandings about the books and the authors and making a detailed record of members' work so that no one can play lazy. Leaders also organize members to work collaboratively on the tasks assigned by the teachers.When getting the early stages for discussion ready, the whole class fix a time with the teacher to gather together. Then they begin to discuss while sitting in a circle. The facilitator leads the discussion, tries to record everyone's speech as much as possible, and writes discussion report. It is also a must for each member to finish book reports which include pre-discussion assignment, quoting the well-written passages, discussion review and unsolved problems. During the discussion teachers do fishbowl watching without any comments, provide help and give advice when necessary.After that each team chooses a representative to present what they have done during the discussion and is confronted with questions from the class, "like a press conference" {Huang Yu, through talking). The group defends themselves as a whole. Students are required to post their questions unsolved, their comments and suggestions on the homepage New Horizon anonymously as partial homework so that teachers may get prompt feedback. Teachers try to answer questions on the website, participate in students talking which involves learning strategy, problems in life and even social problems in order to better help students in both intellectual and emotional development.This paper justifies that discussion is feasible, necessary and significant in SRL in reading course. Through one year's fishbowl observation, watching students' and teachers' reflection, interviews and questionnaires analysis, the author has found the existing pitfalls and weaknesses: most groups do not establish ground rules, or even do not realize the importance of the ground rules, which makes discussion a chaos; pre-discussion preparation is inadequate; students lack conversational skills; and evaluation is not effective enough. Aiming at the main problems the author reads plenty of references, devises a series of countermeasures and solutions and has been conducting several lectures, online consultation and private talk to help them. Then paper displays some materials to justify its effectiveness. At last some shortcomings and the future research are mentioned.