Font Size: a A A

The Effects Of Reading Strategy Training On Non-English Majors' Reading Proficiency

Posted on:2010-02-26Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L Y TangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360278970497Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Reading strategies refer to strategies used by language learners aiming to improve their reading comprehension. It not only contains some reading skills such as reading for main ideas, making inference, skimming and scanning and so forth, but also includes selective and restraining actions taken by readers for certain purposes. Reading strategies can be gained through training. However, most of the studies on reading strategy abroad are conducted in L1 and L2 settings, few are done in EFL setting; studies in China mainly focus on different applications of reading strategies between successful and unsuccessful learners and correlation between strategy use and reading achievement, little research has been done on reading strategy training, especially in an ongoing EFL classroom.This experimental study aims to find the effects of reading strategy training on non-English majors' reading proficiency, thus, we put forward two research questions: (1) Is reading strategy training effective in improving students' reading ability? (2) Does reading strategy training have the same effect on different levels of students? The instruments of the present study are one questionnaire and two reading tests. 170 students answered the pre-training questionnaire, but 5 students didn't hand in their questionnaires and 8 students neglected one page of question items, so finally the valid questionnaires we collected were 157. After that we got a clear idea of students' usage of the four categories of reading strategies, by which we decided 10 reading strategies to be instructed in training. After the pretest, two groups were selected, one as the experimental group, the other as the control group. Under the same condition, students in experimental group received a reading strategy training, while students in control group were taught in the traditional way of reading. Three months later, after the training was completed, a posttest was conducted between these two groups. With the help of SPSS 13.0, the results showed that strategies-based instruction is effective in improving students' overall reading ability; the effect on the three proficiency groups are different, the low proficiency group improved most while the intermediate and high level groups ranked the second and third. Thus, a conclusion could be made that reading strategies can be taught to students and it is effective in improving students' reading ability, and the less able readers may benefit most from strategy training.Apart from providing enough information for the feasibility and effect of reading strategy training, this thesis also provides wider implications for EFL students and recommendations for future research.
Keywords/Search Tags:reading strategies, EFL teaching, strategy training, reading ability
PDF Full Text Request
Related items