The Influence Of Senior English Texts(PEP) On Students’ Reading Abilities

Senior English textbooks published by People’s Education Press (PEP), which are revised on the basisof Ordinary Senior Middle School English Curriculum Standard (Trial), reflect new teaching concepts andmethods. The updated contents are closely related to students’ daily lives and attach great importance todeveloping student’s integrative language abilities. Meanwhile, the materials chosen in the textbooks arerepresentative, authentic and humanistic.For a long time, there exist some misunderstandings during the course of using the texts in the seniorhigh school English teaching: the texts are undervalued or overvalued. On the one hand, many teacherschoose reading materials from supplementary resources or on the Internet rather than from text books, andthey try to improve students’ reading abilities by doing large quantities of exercises. These repetitiveexercises with low quality not only lower students’ reading interests but also waste their limited energy. Onthe other hand, although teachers value texts reading in some schools where students’ abilities are not veryhigh, they pay much attention to vocabulary and grammar in teaching, instead of replenishing culturalbackground knowledge and analyzing literary styles. As a result, teachers’ use of textbooks fails to cultivatestudents’ reading abilities especially critical reading and humanistic thinking.According to a survey based on students of one senior high school, students’ reading abilities areaffected by various factors, among which vocabulary has a great influence on students’ reading speed andunderstanding of the main idea. As students don’t accumulate enough cultural background knowledge andaren’t familiar with literary styles, it’s impossible for them to really improve their reading abilities.Therefore, this paper will be developed on the influence of senior English texts (PEP) on topic vocabulary,cultural background knowledge and literary styles.The experimental research shows senior English texts (PEP) have a positive effect on students’ abilitiesin topic vocabulary, cultural background knowledge and literary styles. Vocabulary in the texts can often beseen in students’ reading materials. Centering on a certain topic, they form a concept map or topicknowledge in students’ minds, leading to the improvement of their reading abilities. Besides, students aremore impressed with the cultural background knowledge conveyed in the texts, which can help themunderstand some details or find the meaning hidden in the text, including the writer’s opinion or writingintention. Texts in the textbook cover some common literary styles like narration, description, exposition,argumentation, poetry, drama or applied writings. After mastering the characteristics of different styles oressay structures, students can adopt different reading strategies and finally improve their reading abilities.This research paper is written with the hope of inspiring teachers how to make use of topic vocabulary,cultural background knowledge and literary styles to improve teaching efficiency and eventually improvestudents reading abilities.