A Study On Developing High School Students' Extra-curriculum English Reading Habit And Strategies

During the process of English teaching, we put much emphasis on in-classroom teaching. Seldom do we concern about out-class language teaching. However, language learning is not limited to classes only and learning from the outside of the classes, particularly developing extracurricular reading habits is an effective and necessary means as well.This study is based on the Second Language Acquisition theory, cognitive psychology theory and learner autonomy. After the analysis of the current situation of the students' extracurricular reading investigated, the experiment was carried out trying to find out an effective way of developing students'reading habits out of the class. It consists of five parts.Chapter One is the introduction, discussing the reasons to choose this subject, the purpose of the study, the ways to carry out the study and the structure of the study.Chapter Two is the theoretical framework of the study and the general review of the relevant studies.Chapter Three is the survey about the extra-curricular reading status of the students and the using of reading strategies in English learning among a group of Senior One students in an ordinary senior high school in Shanghai. The survey is made by means of questionnaire and interview. The results show that students are severely lacking English reading outside classrooms and they need assistance in choosing appropriate material and developing their reading strategies.Chapter Four introduces the process of developing their habits of extra-curricular reading and reports the results of the training.Chapter Five summarizes the main findings of the study and gives some suggestions for teaching and learning. At the end, some limitations of this study are listed.