The Correlation Between Students' English Reading Needs And Their Reading Proficiency

Reading is an important channel for people to obtain information. Reading emerges from reading needs and reading motivation. But the studies on reading needs are quite limited. Most of them were carried out in college by librarians intending to provide good service for their readers. There are few studies on middle school students' reading needs. Especially there is nearly no research on senior high school students' English reading needs. Therefore, it is necessary to study the correlation between senior high school students' English reading needs and their reading proficiency.This thesis investigated senior high school students' English reading needs according to the theories of needs and reading needs. The investigation includes two variables: reading needs and reading proficiency. The correlation between two variables was investigated through the questionnaire and reading comprehension tests. The study was carried in Longwen Middle School, Zhangzhou, Fujian Provience and 120 students of Senior Grade Two participated in it. The results show that high school students' English reading needs influence their reading proficiency; their reading needs are various; reading for intrinsic needs is extremely significantly and positively correlated with reading proficiency and its influence is greater than any other needs; reading for social needs is extremely significantly but negatively correlated with reading proficiency; recognition of the importance of reading is also significantly and negatively correlated with reading proficiency; other needs such as reading for pleasure, reading for requirement and reading for future will influence reading proficiency though they are not significantly correlated with reading proficiency.Implications for classroom reading teaching in senior high schools: 1.Teachers should teach their students according to their needs; 2. Teachers should try to arouse students' intrinsic reading needs; 3. Teachers should foster students' reading motivation; 4. Teachers can also train students' reading skills.