A Study On Reading Difficulties Of Senior High School Students From The Perspective Of Schema Theory

Reading plays a very important role in English learning and teaching in senior high school,since English reading competence is not only the basic prerequisite for developing other kinds of language competence but also a key criteria to evaluate English learners' overall level in different tests such as the college entrance examination.Besides,reading ability in English is an important tool for the students' lifelong learning.However,senior students have a number of difficulties in reading.These reading difficulties prevent students from improving their English reading proficiency,lower their interest and even ruin their confidence.Thus,it is of great significance for senior high school English teachers and students to find out and solve the reading difficulties of senior high school students.By means of the experimental research,with the aid of questionnaires,test papers and interviews,this paper aims to investigate the current situation of reading difficulties of senior high school students and find out how schema-oriented reading teaching influences reading difficulties.In the meanwhile,the thesis also tries to explore corresponding measures with the guidance of Schema Theory.Based on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data,key findings are as follows: 1)Among 2 types,38 specific reading difficulties listed in the questionnaires,linguistic knowledge such as vocabulary and grammar is still the biggest reading difficulty for most students.Factors like poor knowledge of discourse and style,lack of background knowledge,poor mastery of reading skills and reading strategies often make them fail to achieve full understanding of the reading text.2)Schema-oriented reading teaching does have a favorable effect on reading difficulties.It can help reduce most reading difficulties especially intellectual difficulties,but it has limited influence on difficulties caused by students' personalities like personal preference,patience and perseverance.The corresponding pedagogical suggestions are also put forward in the thesis.English teachers should raise awareness of schema and make good use of Schema Theory.Before reading,teachers should activate students' original schemata,build up connection with old and new schemata and enable students to have better understanding of reading materials.While reading,teachers should help students establish new schemata.After reading,post-reading activities should be organized to consolidate and expand the built schemata.After class,teachers should encourage students to read widely.In the meanwhile,teachers should try to help students shape good personal qualities to remove the negative influence of their personalities.Detailed practices are also presented in the paper.Different from most researches on reading difficulties,this study adopted a comparative experimental study under the guidance of Schema Theory.Thus,it will have a great contribution to researches on reading difficulties and facility the development of Schema Theory.The study has analyzed specific reading difficulties of senior high school students and put forward some feasible teaching suggestions.Therefore,the study will be of value to senior English teachers and students.