A Study On The Training Of Students' English Reading Strategies In Junior High Schools

The main approach for readers to obtain information and absorb the language materials is reading,which is an important way of language input.Reading teaching has always been the key of English teaching in junior high schools.“Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standards(2011)”also stresses that teachers ought to pay more attention to the cultivation and improvement of the students' reading ability.Though a lot of time and vigor have been spent on learning,the effect of learning is not ideal.And the most fundamental reason is that students haven't grasped effective methods and learning strategies(Cheng Xiaotang and Zheng Min,2002).Therefore,the purposes of reading teaching in junior schools are not only to improve the students' reading level,but also to cultivate students' reading strategies.Basing on schema theory,reading teaching strategies,reading strategies,etc,the author conducts this quantitative and qualitative research on the training of students' English reading strategies in junior high schools by means of questionnaire,classroom observation,interview,and reading tests.The following questions are put forward:(1)What problems can arise in the training of English reading strategies?(2)What can cause these problems and what methods can be used to deal with them?109 students in class 1609 and class 1610 of Affiliated Middle School of Henan Normal University taught by the author are chosen as the research participants.Then the author conducts a four-month classroom action research on the training of students' English reading strategies in junior high schools.The following conclusions can be drawn:(1)Students with low level of English have got learned helplessness.They could not apply these reading strategies actively and consciously in the training.Especially for monitoring and prediction,students wanted to use these reading strategies,however,they usually ignored them when they are reading;(2)Some students were too eager for quick success and instant benefit.They considered English reading strategies training as a shortcut to improve reading scores.Once the results failed to satisfy their own requirements and needs,they were discourage;(3)When students had discussion with their partners,students with low level of English could not fully understand and judged whether their partners were right and they did not have equal chance to show themselves,which led to less enthusiasm to take part in activities;(4)Students' reading scores have improved,however,their progress was not so obvious.Because the time for training was not long enough,and students accepted slowly.After all,cultivating a good habit needs a long time.The author reflected actively and adjusted teaching strategies duly.Students with low level of English were given more assistance,and students were invited to write learning journals.Homogeneous groups and other methods are also used to deal with above problems.At the same time,many changes have been brought by the training of students' English reading strategies:(1)It is students' reading concept that has changed.Students have realized that the purposes of reading strategies are not only to improve reading scores,but also to strengthen their comprehension,which are helpful for their lifelong development;(2)Students have recognized their bad reading habits and gotten rid of them;(3)Students' interest in English reading has increased,they can gradually master some common reading strategies,and they think learning English is not so difficult.