An Action Research On Reading Strategies Training For Students With Learning Difficulty In Rural Middle Schools

The ministry of education published the new English Curriculum in 2011,in which it requires that the students' reading strategy ability should be cultivated in teaching suggestion part,and proposes higher requirements for the English teachers,especially the ones in rural areas as well the students with English learning difficulty there.For those who have difficulty in learning English,they lack of systematic guidance and reading training,basic English knowledge,learning autonomy,which makes reading hard to progress.In resent years,it is proved that reading strategy training is teachable and can improve students' reading competence(Meng Yue 2003,2004;Chen Jin 2004;Liu Qiong,2012).Therefore,this study conducts 12-week English reading strategy training based on the previous study by applying action research.And in the process of reading strategy training,the author tries to answer the following three questions below: 1.What are the present situation of reading strategies applied by those who have difficulty in learning English? 2.Can their reading competence be improved through reading strategy training? 3.What are the students' attitudes toward reading strategy training?The subjects in this study are the students from the researchers' own students,adding up to 93 students altogether.And researcher instructs the students respectively in every self-learning lesson.The training material is chosen from the exercises in entrance examination for junior students in Huhhot and designed carefully after consulting related reading strategy references.The content of the training covers the conception,ways of questioning,usage,examples and exercises.The whole process is divided into two stages: the first one is mainly to instruct the strategies lasting six weeks,the second one is supposed to exercise the integrated strategies lasting six weeks.And the training model of the first stage is followed as below: 1.instruction 2.practice 3.evaluation 4.consolidation.The second major model of training is closely modeled after the fourth step in model one.The instructor compares the scores between pre-test and post-test,and data from SPSS reveal that their reading scores are significantly different.Further more the third interview indicates that their interest is improved.It is proved that reading strategy training was effective in improving reading competence for the students with learning difficulty.This study is conducted trying to offer suggestions towards other teachers with the same background.And it has many limitations,hoping to improve them in the later research.