A Study On Improving Senior High School Students’ English Reading Abilities By Using Reading Strategies

Since the1970s, research interest in the field of English as a ForeignLanguage (EFL) has shifted to students’ learning, and the importance oflearning strategies has been recognized. More and more scholars are payingattention to strategy training among foreign language learners. Foreignlanguage learning strategy research began in China in the early1980s. Theoriginal aim of strategy training was to teach unsuccessful language learnersthe methods of successful learners. Research on how teachers helpedstudents grasp effective learning strategies in English learning, how teacherscarried out proper strategy instruction and how teachers conducted speciallearning strategy training when necessary has been made, but it still lacksdepth to a certain extent. Therefore, learning strategy training needs furtherresearch.The present paper studies the elect of strategies-based instruction onreading comprehension. As we all know, improving students’ readingabilities is one of the objectives of senior English teaching. But the fact isthat many senior high school students’ reading abilities are far below wherethey should be, and discrepancy between students turns to be greater. Thishas drawn close attention of many linguists and researchers working in thisfield. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of reading strategy instruction and to illustrate the validity of reading strategyinstruction. The instructional framework is Integrating Strategic Reading inL2Instruction (ISRI) put forward by Joy Janzen and Fredericka L.Stoller(1998).Based on theoretical analyses, questionnaires, the pre-test and post-test,this paper analyzed the reading ability of senior high school students andtheir reading strategy use. The author demonstrated the importance andvalidity of reading strategy training. This paper consists of six chapters.Chapter One talks about the background and significance of this study.The framework of this paper is introduced in this chapter. Chapter Twointroduces related theories on which this study is based, including thedefinitions and classifications of language learning strategy, reading strategy,reading theory and strategy training. Chapter Three demonstrates how thestudy is conducted, including the research design, the selection of subjects,instruments. A pre-test, a post-test, two questionnaires were conducted in theexperimental class and the control class. The strategy training was made upof three stages, lasting12weeks. Chapter Four collects, analyses the dataobtained and show the results of the experiment. The author analyzed andinterpreted the results of the pre-test, the post-test, the questionnaires withthe help of SPSS. Chapter Five indicate the implications and limitations ofthis study. Chapter Six briefly summarizes the major findings of this study,indicates its limitations and implications and points out the direction for further research.