Application Of Meta-cognitive Strategies To English Reading Teaching In Senior High Schools

As is known to all that reading occupies an important position in Englishlearning. It is one of the important basic foreign language skills. Only whenone has certain reading capability and understands the authentic meaning ofEnglish materials can he grasp the essence of the material. So how to improvestudents’ English reading proficiency has long been a common concern ofresearchers and English teachers. In the1960s, the focus of research shiftedfrom "how to teach" to "how to learn". For the first time, it was widelyacknowledged that training students how to read was much more important.Teachers should consider how to foster students’ ability to read independently.The aim of the Senior English New Curriculum Standards is to develop notonly the students’ language knowledge and skills but also good learning habitsand strategies. More specific demands are set in the Senior EnglishCurriculum Standards, which also throw more light on the research onEnglish reading.Drawing on the research on learning strategies at home and abroad, thispaper will focus on the training of meta-cognitive strategies and probe how tointegrate meta-cognitive strategy training into Senior High School Englishreading teaching. Its aim is to help students form learning strategies anddevelop learning abilities. The term metacognition was first proposed by theAmerican psychologist J.H. Flavell in the1970s. According to O’Malley andChamot, meta-cognitive strategies function at a higher level than cognitiveand social/affective strategies(1990),and have the most central role to play onimprovement of learning(Graham,1997).Besides, in order to test whether ornot meta-cognitive-strategy-based classroom instruction can conduce to fosterindependent English readers and improve students’ reading proficiency, the author carried out a long teaching program based on meta-cognitive strategiesin daily teaching.112students in Senior One in No.2Middle School inHuhhot were chosen and divided into two different groups. Two differenttraining groups concerning reading comprehension are taken in two groups.The experimental group is trained by a meta-cognitive strategies-basedapproach, while the control group is still taught in a traditional way. All thesubjects are required to take two tests, the pre-test and post-test, before andafter training. All the data are analyzed by software SPSS. The results indicatethat the meta-cognitive strategies can facilitate learning strategies training.The result of the study shows meta-cognitive strategy training hasn’tgained adequate attention, neither has been fully developed or utilized inmiddle school. It hasn’t been completely infiltrated into English classroomteaching. Students lack related knowledge about learning strategy. They fail tochoose valid strategy during the study process. Teachers fail to give specialtraining about meta-cognitive strategy to their students. Therefore it isnecessary to train students’ meta-cognitive strategy in English reading. Sincesuch training can contribute to the enhancement of students’ readingmotivation and helps students to plan, monitor, regulate and evaluate theirreading effectively. Furthermore, once the students master thesemeta-cognitive strategies, they may become the real masters of their Englishlearning, which will benefit them all their life.