| 标题 | Problems and Solutions of Present English Reading Teaching in High Schools |
| 范文 | 周里理 【Abstract】 The cultivation of English reading capability is a primary goal in high-school English teaching. Due to many factors， however， the present high-school English reading teaching is not satisfactory and students reading techniques are weak. This paper probes into the problems in high-school and proposes some suggestions for improvements， with the hope to help promote high-school English reading teaching. 【Key Words】 English Reading Teaching High Schools 1. As a primary input way of language learning， reading plays a crucial role in the four capabilities： listening， speaking， reading and writing. For high-school students who have some self-learning ability， reading has become an important way to grasp vast knowledge. “To some extent， the capabilities of self-learning and reading are highly related， for nowadays sixty to seventy percent of knowledge is acquired through reading.”[Hu 2006] “In school teaching， language can be divided into language-learning reading and language-using reading.”[Li 2001]The reading test in college entrance examination belongs to extensive reading， rather than intensive reading. Nevertheless， the present high-school English reading teaching could barely get rid of “putting enormous effort into intensive reading while little effort into extensive reading”. Consequently， students are used to do reading test by intensive reading approach which leads to errors and low speed in reading and accordingly the low rate of accuracy. 2. Problems of High-school English Reading Teaching 2.1 Have misconception. Intensive reading is given too much weight， while extensive reading is undervalued. A lot of teachers， influenced by traditional ideas， deem that reading is based on grammar and vocabulary， and without the barriers of which， one can fully grasp the passage meaning. Therefore， they focus on vocabulary and grammar in teaching and analyze reading passages as fragments. This is the status quo of high-school English teaching， which is dominated by intensive reading. Thus many students cannot distinguish between intensive and extensive reading. They adopt intensive reading methods to do extensive reading， chewing texts down to every single word， for fear of misunderstanding the passage. However， following this way， not only their reading speed but their reading capability cannot be promoted. 2.2 Insufficiently Comprehend Theories A few teachers think that theories are much too abstract， thus barely go deeper to study. Worse still， some teachers are totally blank in this aspect， not knowing which theories are for reading. For example， if we have a good knowledge of reading principles， we will know that reading is a communicative process between author and reader. （Pan 2007） In the meantime， reader is not supposed to accept written information， but to actively process and comprehend it. Knowing this， teacher will let students think at the same time of reading and induce and analyze or judge and deduce the text， so as to cultivate good thinking habit and critical thinking. Criticism， according to many， is pure negation， while here refers to understanding and absorbing information to grasp the key and difficult points of text through proposing questions， and then after solving questions， process and apply the information by making judgments and deducing. “Stripped to its essence， critical thinking means asking and answering questions.” 2.3 Inadequately Teach and Train Effective Reading Techniques Long-time influenced by traditional test-oriented teaching， training mode in China has continuously attached little importance to students learning techniques， while paid much importance to imparting knowledge. In high-school English reading teaching， reading techniques are only touched upon when reviewing reading exercises and there is hardly systematic teaching and special training. As a result， students do not know how to adapt reading techniques to different reading aims or reading materials. 2.4 Neglect After-class Reading After-class reading is not only a fundamental way to broaden students horizon and enrich their background knowledge， but a necessary step in enhancing reading capability. It is， however， neglected for various reasons. For instance， in rural areas， learning resources are in bad need and English journals and magazines are rare to see there. Another reason may be that students feel like having no time to read or want to read but feel too hard， so they give up. In other cases， teachers do not pay much attention and seldom bring after-class reading into teaching task. If teachers could treat it as an important task， being a patient guider， the students difficulties are easy to be dealt with. 3. Some Suggestions for Promoting High school English Reading Teaching 3.1 Change Conception and Pay Attention to Extensive Reading Teaching. To promote high-school reading teaching， first and foremost， we should change intensive reading-dominated situation and enhance extensive teaching. As least， we should teaching intensive reading with extensive reading as a supplement. Vocabulary and grammar are indeed the foundation of reading. Cultivation of reading skills depends primarily on extensive reading teaching. We can arrange one or two sessions per week for extensive reading and it is better to have extensive and intensive lessons alternately with the aim not to bore students； we can also request students to read after class with a set time and do the review in class， which can be called “reading separately”. The choice between the two lies in practical situations and we should deal with the relation between comprehension and speed appropriately. “The right way is that： maintain the comprehension capability between sixty to seventy percent. When approach sixty percent， slow down； when reaches seventy percent， speed up.” （Hu 2007） 3.2 Enhance Theory Learning To efficiently teach students reading techniques， teachers should first learn reading principles by studying reading theories. For instance， after we have some knowledge of Schema Theory， we will learn to activate the set schema in students mind in reading teaching so as to motivate students to extract the set schema to comprehend new materials. Besides， we will also know the significance of enriching students background knowledge； after we introduce Redundant Information Theory， students will have the courage to read quickly to find useful information； when we learn Block Theory， we can tell students how to avoid bad reading habits to promote reading speed. 3.3 Make Full Use of Modern Educational Technology Theory and Put it into Practice to Efficiently Teach and Train Students Reading Techniques. When theoretical problems are done， we should divert our attention to practice to effectively teach and train students reading techniques. It hardly brings about fruitful results by simply assigning some homework casually and checking the answers. Real efficient guidance and training of reading techniques needs meticulous arrangements. For example， the material should both be abundant and topic-diversified and neither too difficult nor too easy， so that it can arouse students interests and thus be treated seriously； when explaining reading techniques， we are supposed to avoid abstraction. Instead， we should find a right way to make dull explanation vivid so as to be digested and applied. For example， when teaching association and making a guess， we can switch different text boxed to let students know the foregoing paragraphs and then the following ones， etc... 3.4 Attach Great Importance to After-class Reading After-class reading is an indispensable part in reading teaching and should be paid much attention to. “Getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills” （Nuttall 2000） In the intensive courses in high school， it is very important for teachers to guide students to reading with aims. They are supposed to introduce some English journals， magazines or internets suitable for high-school students to let them read after-class by themselves. Or they can also assign after-class reading as homework and discuss it in class in order to enhance students enthusiasm in independent reading. In addition， it is also vital to guide students to communicate with each other in the way of cooperation. “The basic method of cooperative study is to divide the whole class into several heterogeneous groups. Then following certain cooperative procedures， with group as a nucleus， integrating ways like cross-group communication， class teaching and guiding， we should make every student relies both on themselves as well as common resources， cooperatively finish study program. On this basis， according to the group study achievements， we give students encouragement and evaluation to promote further cooperation.”[Lin 2005] Through discussion， students can not only deepen the impression and understanding of knowledge， but can be fully activated and voice their opinions to get improved. At the same time of gaining knowledge， they also enhance their reading capability. 4. Conclusion To sum up， to revolutionize high-school English reading teaching， we still have a long way to go. It requires us all teachers and students to work cooperatively. “To change students learning strategies， we should take the first step from the perspective of changing students concept.” [Wen 2004]As for teachers， their teaching concepts are the direction of students learning concept. According to Tao Xingzhi， a famous educator in China， “Effective talent education is not imparting knowledge but to exhaust all we know to give students the key to knowledge treasury.” Therefore， teachers should pay attention to techniques when teaching students knowledge. We have to change concept to give much importance to students reading techniques cultivation. In addition， we also have to continuously upgrade our own theoretical level so as to optimize teaching mode and teach effectively. To be sure， teaching is science as well as arts， which requires us to constantly innovate and optimize in practice. |
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