A Comparative Study Of English Major Freshmen’s First-time English Reading Between Reading-Aloud Group And Silent-Reading Group

Reading is the most important skill in the second language learning. Broadly speaking, there are two types of reading:one is reading aloud and the other is silent reading. Reading aloud and silent reading receive considerable emphasis in English teaching and learning abroad and at home. Many researchers have conducted studies on the functions of reading aloud and silent reading in the second language acquisition (Conrad,1971; Davies,1973; Santos,1987; Griffin,1992; Rounds,1992; Pinnel et al,1995), and some other researchers focus on the pros and cons of reading aloud and silent reading in English teaching (Amer,1997; Kosslyn and Matt,1977; Wang Zongyan,2002; Gao Xia,2006; Chen Pingwen&Li Rongjie,2006). However, few researches have been conducted on the difference between reading aloud and silent reading in first-time English reading. Therefore, this paper conducts a comparative study of English major freshmen’s first-time English reading between Reading-Aloud Group (RAG) and Silent-Reading Group (RSG).The present paper reports a comparative study on different effects of reading aloud and silent reading on reading comprehension, differences of reading strategies between Reading-Aloud Group and Silent-Reading Group as well as differences of reading strategies between high-scored and low-scored students in both reading-aloud and silent-reading process in first-time English reading. The research questions addressed in the thesis are:(1) What is the difference between Reading-Aloud Group and Silent-Reading Group on the effectiveness of reading comprehension?(2) Are there any differences of reading strategies between Reading-Aloud Group and Silent-Reading Group in first-time English reading? If yes, what are the differences?(3) Are there any differences of reading strategies between high-scored and low-scored students during reading-aloud process in first-time English reading? If yes, what are the differences?(4) Are there any differences of reading strategies between high-scored and low-scored students during silent-reading process in first-time English reading? If yes, what are the differences?The study consists of two parts:quantitative and qualitative research. The quantitative research includes a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire. Altogether40freshmen of four different classes from Foreign Language School in Yangzhou University take part in the research. They form the Reading-Aloud Group (RAG) and the Silent-Reading Group (RSG). Based on the scores students get in the reading comprehension test (full-score=100points), they are divided into high-scored and low-scored students. The reading comprehension test is composed of two kinds of questions:meaning questions; form and structure questions. The questionnaire consists of22specific reading strategy items, which are divided into two categories,6metacognitive strategies and16cognitive strategies. The questionnaire is administered after the reading comprehension test. All the data are analyzed with SPSS13.0.The qualitative research is an interview with12students, half of whom coming from Reading-Aloud Group (RAG) and the other half from Silent-Reading Group (RSG). The interviews are tape-recorded and transcribed later. The transcriptions of the interviews are synthesized and categorized.Detailed analysis of quantitative and qualitative research yields the final findings as follows:1. There exists no significant difference between Reading-Aloud Group and Silent-Reading Group on the overall effectiveness of reading comprehension. Significant differences exist between the two groups in terms of form and structure questions with Reading-Aloud Group getting higher mean scores in form and structure questions. Meanwhile, a significant difference is also found between the two groups in meaning question, with Silent-Reading Group getting higher mean scores in meaning questions.2. Significant differences exist between RAG and RSG in the three metacognitive strategies-Advance Organization, Selective Attention and Self-monitoring strategies, as well as three cognitive strategies-Deduction, Grouping and Summarizing. Students of Silent-Reading Group prefer to use more of the following strategies:Advance Organization, Selective Attention, Self-monitoring strategies, and Deduction, Grouping and Summarizing strategies. 3. There exist no significant differences between high-scored students and low-scored students in the reading-aloud process in terms of reading strategies, except for Selective Attention and Contextualization strategies. High-scored students tend to use more Selective Attention and Contextualization strategies than low-scored students. And high-scored students get higher mean scores in almost all metacognitive and cognitive strategies, while low-scored students get higher mean scores in Elaboration and Translating strategies.4. No significant difference is found between high-scored and low-scored students in the silent-reading process in terms of reading strategies, except for Deduction strategies. However, high-scored students get higher mean scores than low-scored students in almost all of metacognitive and cognitive strategies except for Translating, Inferencing and Grouping strategies.The implications from the findings of the study are as follows:(1) It is practical and important to encourage students to employ silent reading in first-time reading.(2) It is better to read the text aloud repeatedly after silent-reading.(3) Timely and suitable guidance about the appropriate choice of English reading strategies should be provided to the students through any possible means so as to improve their reading capacity.