A Study On Gender Differences In Using Englihs Reading Strategies Of Senior High School Students

English reading,as an important part of English teaching in senior high school,plays the largest part in the College Entrance Examination.The English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools(2013)require that reading teaching should not only improve students' reading ability,but also cultivate students' ability to use English reading strategies effectively.However,during the internship in Shiquan Middle School,a school in southern Shaanxi province,the author found that there are great differences in English achievements between female students and male students,and there are many problems in the use of reading strategies between them.In view of these,the author makes an investigation on the current status of students' English reading strategies in Shiquan Middle School.As a school-based research,this study takes Shiquan Middle School as an example.Based on schema theory,discourse analysis theory and gender schema theory,the research employs the methods of questionnaire and interview to investigate the current status of students' English reading strategy and the differences between male and female students.By investigating 181 students and 4 English teachers in Shiquan Middle School,the author tries to answer the following questions:(1)What is the current status of English reading strategies applied by senior high school students?(2)Are there any gender differences in applying English reading strategies in the investigated school? If so,what are the differences?Through the analysis of the data,the author finds that the frequency of application of reading strategies in Shiquan Middle School is below the average.The frequency of each kind of reading strategy used by students ranging from high to low is communication strategy,affective strategy,cognitive strategy and metacognitive strategy.On the one hand,students only know some simple cognitive strategies,but do not know much about other strategies,especially metacognitive strategies.On the other hand,students cannot effectively apply reading strategies to daily English reading.In addition,the author finds that there are significant differences between female students and male students on the application of English reading strategies.Female students use reading strategies more frequently than the gender opposite.In view of the problems revealed in the above results,the author puts forward some teaching and learning suggestions for teachers and students,aiming at providing some effective teaching methods for English teachers,and more importantly,improving students' reading competence.In addition,as a school-based research,the author also hopes that this study can provide some effective suggestions for the improvement of English reading quality in rural and remote areas.