| Reading is the most important method for human beings to obtain knowledge,so English reading is of great importance to English learning.However,at present,English reading teaching is mainly based on the reading texts in students’ textbooks and the majority of the teachers pay too much attention to the language points in the reading texts,which results in the severe lack of high school students’ reading quantity.At present,students mainly rely on doing a large number of reading comprehension exercises to improve their reading comprehension performance after class,which isn’t that effective most of the time and is likely to cause many of the students not to like their English study gradually.According to the General Senior High School Curriculum Standards（2017 Edition Revised for 2020）,students need to carry out out-of-class English reading of at least 1,500 words per week on average（for a minimum of 45,000 words in total for the required courses）and at least 2,500 words per week on average（for a minimum of 100,000 words in total for the required elective courses）.However,there is a heavy burden on the shoulders of senior high school students,and most of them will never do any out-of-class English reading if there is no appropriate guidance of a teacher.Most of the students do not know how to choose a suitable English book to read,so it’s important for the teacher to choose proper reading materials for them.Based on the above facts,the author aims to apply Sustained Silent Reading into students’ out-of-class reading practice,using the Cambridge Bilingual Graded Reading--Fiction Library as the reading materials.The 58 students are from an average senior two science class.The action research lasts for a whole term which focuses on the following three research questions:（1）Is it possible to improve students’ reading comprehension scores effectively by expanding their reading quantity with graded reading materials?（2）What are the differences of the changes in reading comprehension scores among students with a high reading level,students in an average reading level and students with a low reading level?（3）What are the differences of the changes in reading comprehension scores between visual learners and non-visual learners?The action research suggests that the students’ reading comprehension scores can be improved by expanding their reading quantity with graded reading materials.Expanding students’ reading quantity can improve the reading comprehension scores of both the students in an average reading level and students with a low reading level,but doesn’t improve the reading comprehension scores of the students with a high reading level.The reading comprehension scores of both the visual learners and non-visual learners can also be improved by expanding students’ reading quantity and the visual learners’ scores are improved more compared with the non-visual learners’.The action research also offers some practical suggestions for those who are willing to expand their students’ reading quantity to enhance the students’ reading comprehension scores.Firstly,the teacher is advised to choose proper reading materials which are suitable for the students’ reading levels and can stimulate their reading interest.Secondly,the teacher is encouraged to pay attention to students’ different levels and offer specific service accordingly.Thirdly,it’s a great idea for the teacher to give students different learning guidance according to students’ different learning styles.Fourthly,sufficient reading time is fundamental to the ensure students’ reading quantity.Last but not the least,the teacher is encouraged to design various interesting post-reading activities to make sure that the students can love the reading practice more and more.This action research lasts only one term and the students are only from one class,so the results may not suit every class.But it really improved the students’ reading comprehension scores and stimulated more and more students to fall in love with out-of-class English reading.Therefore,this action research is still helpful to those who are willing to expand their students’ reading quantity in senior high school. |
