A Study Of Senior High Students’ Autonomous English Reading Ability Under National English Curriculum

English reading is one of the important skills in learning English and it occupies animportant position in exams. The traditional teaching mode emphasizes the role of teachers tocontrol and conduct the reading class. The students have depended on teachers in Englishreading learning for a long time and they lack enthusiasm of autonomous learning. Thetraditional reading teaching no longer adapts to modern English education.Autonomous reading is derived from autonomous learning, which means students readEnglish with positive attitude. It is a reading mode that students apply effective readingstrategies. Considering the new requirements of English reading ability in National EnglishCurriculum for senior high students (NEC), autonomous reading is an effective way toimprove reading teaching and cultivate students’ English reading ability.This study uses questionnaire to investigate52students and employs interview to6English teachers, both of whom are in Senior One from the Middle School Attached toSichuan University. It aims to probe the present situation of students’ autonomous reading,and tries to offer some suggestions to improve students’ autonomous reading ability.The major findings of this study can be concluded as follows: First, majority of thestudents lack integrative motivation of English reading. Second, students’ ability of applyingreading strategies is low, such as neglecting to set reading goals and make reading plans,lacking various reading techniques, having bad reading habits, being poor at self-evaluation.Third, traditional role of teachers and teaching mode exist in reading class and teachers donot provide various reading materials for students to improve their autonomous reading ability. All in all, students’ autonomous reading ability is still at a low level and is far awayfrom the requirements of NEC.In light of these findings, some suggestions are provided. Teachers are advised tochange their roles and cultivate students’ autonomous reading ability in ways such asstimulating students’ reading motivation, training reading techniques, developing students’ability of self-evaluation.It is hoped that this study can make contributions to English reading teaching in seniorhigh and the future research in autonomous English reading.