Reading And Its Teaching In Senior Middle School

The Syllabus of middle school English requires the senior students to lay a good foundation for further improvement in English. In the light of the teaching objective, we know that the main task in middle school English teaching is to train students' reading ability. However, it is this goal that has frustrated both the teachers and the students. We know that good readers are active readers. They constantly evaluate whether the text, and their reading of it, is meeting their goals. Good readers typically look over the text before they read, noting such things as the structure of the text and text sections that might be most relevant to their reading goals. They read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading-what to read carefully, what to read quickly, what not to read, what to re-read, and so on. Good readers construct, revise, and question the meanings they make as they read. They draw upon, compare, and integrate their prior knowledge with material in the text. They think about the authors of the text, their style, beliefs, intentions, historical milieu, and so on. They monitor their understanding of the text, making adjustments in their reading as necessary. Good readers try to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and concepts in the text, and deal with inconsistencies or gaps as needed. They evaluate the text's quality and value, and react to the text in a range of ways, both intellectual and emotional. Good readers read different kinds of text differently. Comprehension is a consuming and complex activity, but one that, for good readers, is typically both satisfying and productive. Now can we teach our students to engage in these productive behaviors? A large volume of work indicates that we can help students acquire the strategies and processes by cognitive model. In this paper, we will describe some proven instructional techniques for helping students acquire productive comprehension skills and strategies. And teaching what we call collections or packages of comprehension strategies can help students become truly solidly comprehensive of many kinds of text.