An Investigation Of English Reading Strategies Used By Senior Two Students

Language input is vital to foreign language teaching. However, English teaching in middle schools in China lacks natural environment for language acquisition. As language input through listening is not extensive, language input depends more on classroom teaching and students' wide and effective reading. A serious problem of middle school English teaching is its low efficiency. Some statistical analysis of the NMET English test shows that the scores of Reading Comprehension is among the lowest. Problems may exist in the English reading of middle school students. This thesis attempts to investigate the English reading strategies used by Senior middle school students.Cognitive theory emphasizes conscious learning, viewing second language acquisition as a cognitive skill. Language comprehension is generally viewed in cognitive theory as consisting of active and complex processes in which individuals construct meaning from written information. The process of comprehension is differentiated into three interrelated processes: perceptual processing, parsing, and utilization. Individuals make use of both real world knowledge and linguistic knowledge to identify the meaning of propositions. Cognitive theory suggests that effective processing of text requires the use of both top-down and bottom-up processing. At each of the stages, complex processing and strategic analysis takes place that assists the individual in detecting or inferring meanings and in relating the information to existing knowledge."Bottom-up model", "top-down model", "interactive model", "schema theory" and others explain thoroughly the process of reading and the many factors that have effects on reading comprehension. Foreign language (or second language) reading theories are greatly influenced by researches on native readers. However, on this thesis, researches on reading strategies should be done in the light of learning strategies. As for English learning in China, English reading is both a method of learning and the purpose, so English reading is closely related with English learning.But we can never draw an equal sign between reading and learning. Reading strategies have their own characteristics. With the review of literatures on learning strategies in second language acquisition, O'Malley & Chamot's (2001) system of learning strategy definitions and classifications stands out with a clear arrangement and a powerful framework for considering development issues in second language acquisition. The thesis also demonstrates reasons for centering on English reading strategies with senior high school students as participants.There is no final conclusion as to the difference between "strategy" and "skill". Researchers have mentioned many kinds of reading strategies or techniques. Reading is both a psychological and linguistic process of the individuals, a two-way written communication as well. Reading proficiency includes mainly reading speed and the degree of comprehension. So the definition of reading strategies is: measures readers employ for effective reading comprehension, including reader's conscious control of the reading process, and a flexible use of a variety of reading skills and methods. The thesis holds that reading strategies include skills, with the former being actions that readers select and control, emphasizing readers' active participation.The classification of reading strategies is based on O'Malley & Chamot's (2001) strategy framework, with reference to other related researches and consideration of the reading practice of senior students. The thesis mentions 8 metacognitive strategies: arranging and planning, advance organization, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement; 10 cognitive strategies: contextualization, resourcing, deduction, inferencing, elaboration, transfer, translating, note-taking, applying images and sound, summarizing.The investigation consists of two parts: a questionnaire and a reading comprehension test. The partici...