An Investigation Of The Instructional Practice Of English Majors’ Intensive Reading And Extensive Reading

Reading, as both the target ability to develop and a means to learn, is veryimportant for the English learners in China. There is no exception even for theEnglish majors in universities. Traditionally, two courses concerning reading aredesigned and implemented: Intensive Reading and Extensive Reading, which arerelated with each other and supposed to have their own ways of instruction. But theproblem is that not all the instructors of both courses clearly know the differencesbetween the two courses or theoretically they can differentiate the differences but inpractice they inappropriately apply the way of instruction one course in the other one.If this is the case, the teaching and learning effect will be unavoidably reduced.Therefore, study is needed to have an investigation of the case so that moreappropriate ways of teaching can be achieved.This study takes Shenyang Normal University as an example to investigate thecurrent situation of the instruction of these two courses basing on curriculum theoryand reading theory, which intends to see how teachers and students view these twocourses and whether these two courses are taught and learned appropriately andadequately. The research methods employed are classroom observation andquestionnaire.The study finds that most teachers and students have clear concepts of the twocourses, in terms of the teaching objectives, functions, and the supposed patterns of the instruction of the two courses. And in most cases the instruction of these twocourses is in accordance with their respective characteristics. However, there are stillsome misunderstanding and inappropriate instruction of these two courses. Andcorresponding pedagogical implications are discussed.