An Investigation Pre-Reading Activities In English Reading Classes In Senior High Schools

In our country,reading is the main part or even the core of English learning and teaching in senior high schools.However,pre-reading activity,as the first step of reading teaching is always inclined to be ignored by such a number of teachers.As is known,the effective pre-reading activity not only can motivate students and activate their prior knowledge but is a guidance and training to students.Furthermore,pre-reading activity and the cultivation of students' reading ability are increasingly noticed and attached more importance with the implementation of the New Curriculum Standard and the deepening of the curriculum reform.By now,numerous researchers both abroad and at home have studied on pre-reading activities focusing on the theoretical study on designing and application of pre-reading activities and the empirical study on the influence of pre-reading activities on students' reading comprehension.Few studies were conducted to investigate the practical situation of pre-reading activities in senior high schools.In the light of such reasons,this thesis aims to investigate the practical situation of pre-reading activities in senior high schools,with schema theory and scaffolding theory as theoretical foundations,with questionnaires and interviews as research instruments,and with 198 students and 38 teachers in a senior high school as research subjects,trying to study the following questions:(1)What pre-reading activities are most commonly used in English reading classes in senior high schools?(2)What problems exist in pre-reading activities in the practical reading teaching in senior high schools?(3)What causes the problems in pre-reading activities in the practical reading teaching in senior high schools?Through this investigation,the author finds:(1)The most commonly used pre-reading activities are questioning and topic discussing which are based on content schema.(2)The problems in pre-reading activities are the followings: From the teacher aspect,teachers in senior high schools do not often conduct pre-reading activities;teachers in senior high schools do not think pre-reading activities they conduct are of good effectiveness,but they still apply them in the practical reading teaching;teachers have a wrong understanding of the purpose of pre-reading activities to activate students' interest and motivate them.From the student aspect,students in senior high schools think it is of no necessity to conduct pre-reading activities;students in senior high schools do not like pre-reading activities the teacher conducts;students do not often use methods under the influence of pre-reading activities before reading.From the pre-reading activity itself,pre-reading activities often conducted are mainly content-schema-based,ignoring language and formal schema.(3)Reasons causing the problems are multifarious,for example,teachers in senior high schools think that they do not often conduct pre-reading activities is because too much time are spent on the explanation of language points;students think the reason why it is of no necessity to conduct pre-reading activities is that language points are key to the examination,etc.It is certain that reasons causing the problems are various.Thus to improve the practical situation of pre-reading activities in senior high schools,both students and teachers should make efforts.Based on the previous researches,this thesis investigates the practical situation of pre-reading activities in senior high schools,makes out several problems and also some reasons causing the problems,then puts forward some suggestions.At last,the author hopes this thesis can give some warnings and reference to the teachers in senior high schools as well as the future researchers.