呂梁學(xué)院學(xué)士學(xué)位論文 淺析如何提升高中生英語(yǔ)閱讀理解能力系 別外語(yǔ)系專(zhuān) 業(yè)英語(yǔ)姓 名指導(dǎo)教師職 稱(chēng)日 期On Improving the Ability of English Reading Comprehension in Senior High School A Graduation Thesis Submitted byZhang XiaIn Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsForThe Degree of Bachelor of ArtsIn the Subject of English LinguisticsToDepartment of Foreign LanguagesOfLuliang UniversitySupervisor: Wang JingyuanMay, 25, 2013Outline1. Introduction2. Advantages of Improving Reading Ability2.1 Cultivation of the sense of language2.2 Extension of vocabulary2.3 Improvement of writing ability 2.4 Awareness of western culture 3. The Present Situation and Problems of English Reading in Senior High Schools3.1 The analysis of reasons for present situation of English reading 3.2 The problems in reading 3.2.1 Lack of vocabulary 3.2.2 Barriers of complex sentences 3.2.3 Problems of discourse comprehension 3.2.4 Obstacles of western culture 4. Methods 4.1 Cultivation of the basic reading ability4.1.1 Sensation of materials4.1.2 Comprehension of materials4.1.3 Consolidation and application of information4.2 Guidance of reading strategies4.3 Development of extra-curricular reading 5. ConclusionOn Improving the Ability of English Reading Comprehensionin Senior High School (Department of Foreign Languages, Luliang University, Luliang City, Shanxi, 033000)Abstract:The aim of reading is to get information. Whether one can effectively get the useful information depends on the level of his reading ability. Reading ability is a foundational ability as well as an approach to improve students self-taught ability. In addition, reading ability can promote listening, speaking and writing. This paper analyses the reading problems in current high schools and proposes the corresponding solution strategy. It can offer great help for the reading teaching in senior high schools.Key words: reading ability culture obstacles strategies and methods淺析如何提升高中生英語(yǔ)閱讀理解能力摘要：閱讀的目的是為了獲取信息。一個(gè)人閱讀能力的高低決定了他能否快速高效的吸收有用信息，閱讀能力是英語(yǔ)自學(xué)能力的基礎(chǔ)，又是培養(yǎng)學(xué)生自學(xué)能力的手段。同時(shí)，閱讀能力的提高可促進(jìn)英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)、說(shuō)、寫(xiě)能力的提高。因此，在學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的過(guò)程中提高學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)閱讀能力具有重大意義。本文較為深入的分析了當(dāng)前高中生存在的閱讀問(wèn)題，并提出了相應(yīng)的解決策略,為高中閱讀教學(xué)提供了有益幫助。關(guān)鍵字： 閱讀能力 文化 閱讀障礙 策略與方法On Improving the Ability of English Reading Comprehensionin Senior High School 1. IntroductionReading is a cognitive and complicated mental process of comprehension and application, which is the most important means in learning. As an important activity in human society, reading is one of the basic ways to learn knowledge and explore the world for human being. In the process of reading, students base on a certain purpose and use the knowledge already have to select the useful information and infer the deep meanings of words. Reading can stimulate students interest in learning English, help to expand their vocabulary, enrich their knowledge and improve the ability of using language. The ultimate target of English course is to develop students comprehensive ability of language usage. All this requests that the teachers should pay attention to the development of students reading habit and reading ability in the teaching so as to improve the students comprehensive reading ability.How to improve students reading ability has drawn a majority of educational experts attention all the time. Lv Fengfang (1994) discussed the importance of reading strategies in English reading in her book, English Reading Strategy. Its helpful for students to improve their reading speed and comprehension. In the paper, Reading Habit Research in Middle School, Li Yueqiu (2004) analyzed and explored students reading habits in middle schools, and put forward a series of effective ways to cope with the existing problems. But they didnt focus on the students in senior high schools to study how to improve their reading ability. Now this paper mainly discusses the methods to improve students reading ability in senior high schools, analyzes students reading problems and proposes the corresponding solutions as well as some effective teaching methods. These will be helpful to improve students reading ability in senior high schools.2. Advantages of Improving Reading Ability 2.1 Cultivation of the sense of language Learning English, the language sense is very important, because it determines whether your spoken language is authentic or not. The sense of language, namely, is language sensibility. It involves rich feelings and proficient ability in the long-term practice of the language. At the same time, the language sense is the direct and rapid overall perception to the specific environment of discourse without logical reasoning. It is formed naturally in the long-term language practice. An old saying goes practice makes perfect, which is a method of learning Chinese. Its the same to learn English as well. Reading is the most direct way to recite the basic training of students language sense. The more students read, the more sensible they will be in the language. Having a good sense of language, they can eliminate the differences between English and Chinese in the sentences, and they can express idiomatic English. In addition, a good sense of language is helpful for students to get good grades in all kinds of examinations. As a kind of invisible English language ability, the sense of language can make the students to overcome the grammatical difficulties and make the correct judgment. Thats the reason why some students who know little about grammar can choose the correct answer in examinations. 2.2 Extension of vocabularyVocabulary is the basic unit of language. Words are like the bases of buildings in English learning. So vocabulary learning is the foundation of English learning. Only basing on certain vocabulary, can students cultivate and develop English listening, speaking, reading and writing. And how to remember words to enlarge your vocabulary is a headache to many students. Many students recite the booklets of vocabulary and dictionary to remember the words. This approach has some effect, but its so boring and easy to forget. In fact, in addition to rote learning, there are many methods to expand vocabulary. Reading is the best means to understand and memorize English words. Memorizing words in the reading is to put the words in a certain language environment to learn, to know the word context, and avoid remembering words in isolation, so that the word is more convenient to be memorizing, understanding and mastering. Not only the meaning of words can be remembered accurately and clearly, the usage of the words also can be mastered. In addition, a lot of reading can increase students chances of learning words. In a word, students may not understand a word at the first sight, but they can find its pronunciation by dictionary and meaning according to the context, and they also can infer the gist of it; when they see this word second or three times, they can not remember clearly, but there will be a general impression in their mind; when they meet it ten times, they will treat it as familiar as their own names, and no longer need to memorize it deliberately. 2.3 Improvement of writing ability English writing is an important skill that can reflect a persons level of comprehensive English learning. In English learning, writing is a key but also a difficulty. How to write English well is a headache for students. In addition to establishing a solid foundation of the language, including vocabulary and grammar, extensive reading is essential. If students read it more broadly, they will write good works. Through extensive reading and great exposure to language materials, on the one hand, students can accumulate a lot of beautiful words, English proverbs, epigrams, fixed expressions, idioms and rhetoric knowledge, absorb these into their own minds, and then express them in their articles; on the other hand, they can try to figure out and grasp the intention of the author according to the analysis of the frameworks of articles.2.4 Awareness of western culture There is a close relationship between language and culture. Language is the carrier of culture, and culture influences language. If a person does not grasp a cultural background of the language very well, he (she) will not be a good language learner. Thus, if you want to learn English well, you should understand the customs and culture of English-speaking countries. Reading is the best way to understand western culture. Knowing by reading the history of different countries and their geographical, political and economic situations as well as their philosophy, literature, religion, science and technology can not only promotes the learning of language, but also increase the knowledge, enrich the experience of life, help one broaden the vision and develop a positive and optimistic attitude towards life.3. The present situation and problems of English reading in senior high schools 3.1 The analysis of reasons for present situation of English reading For a long time, due to the limitation of teaching conditions, our country carries out the class teaching mode. Teaching content mainly focuses on explaining the vocabulary and analyzing sentence structures because of the limitations of the English classroom teaching. Although the students vocabulary has been improved, students only learn some grammar rules, and do not learn various methods of reading. Consequently, there will hardly any improvement in students reading ability. With the opening and reform, English teaching has made great reform. Teachers no longer emphasize the traditional grammar and pay more attention to cultivating the students oral English expression ability and communicative ability. But how to cultivate and improve the students reading ability still was not taken seriously. Due to the lack of correct understanding of reading ability, when it comes to improving the ability of English reading comprehension, people think that doing a lot of reading exercises is the only feasible way to get ideal achievement in National College Entrance Examination. In fact, reading in exams is just a kind of quantitative standards and testing methods. At the same time, due to the multiple constraints of factors, some of the questions in exams are not scientific and accurate. So when students come into contact with the reading comprehension questions, students are misled by such problems. The students thinking is limited by small range topic and they often make mistakes. Gradually, the reading activities get more and more boring to them. Moreover, not like grammar that has rules to follow, each article has its different meanings, so students make mistakes frequently and become blind to the reading comprehension. They have no confidence to do reading comprehension questions, even are less likely to be interested in reading. Improving reading ability has become empty words. Specifically, there are still some problems in students English reading in senior high schools.3.2 The problems in reading 3.2.1 Lack of vocabulary The lack of vocabulary and the inadequate understanding of new meaning of familiar words are the main existing problems. The word is the most basic unit in language. The lack of vocabulary not only influences the understanding of the sentence and the article, but also affects the reading speed degree and the development of oral communication in extent and depth. Sometimes, students will stop reading, when they encounter a new word. They nearly look up every word in dictionary without distinction. They spend much time on turning to dictionary or others for help to figure out the meaning, which wastes much time and lowers the reading speed. Gradually, students will try to avoid doing much reading further. Reading will be deglamorized to them. 3.2.2 Barriers of complex sentencesIn the process of reading, the long complex sentences are often vague for us; it is difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence. In order to make the expression more accurate and strict , some English articles often use parentheses, separated structure, inversion structure, appositive structure, ellipsis and phrase structure to make the sentences long and complex. These phenomena affect the understanding of the sentence structure and the meaning of the sentence. Take the sentence, people who sleep less than 7 hours a night tend to have a higher body mass index than people who sleep more, as an example. In this sentence, students can almost know the meaning of every word. But they may not understand the meaning of the whole sentence, if they have little knowledge about the structure of sentences. They are incapable of analyzing the rule of the sentence by simplifying it and transferring it to a brief sentence that people tend to have a higher body mass index than people. Thus, this sentence will become difficult to understand. So complex sentences are big barriers in students reading.3.2.3 Problems of discourse comprehension When reading an article, we only can know the literal meaning, often cannot grasp main idea of every paragraph or the thesis of the whole passage and cannot understand the deep connotation. We do not have the ability to judge and reason. We can see the text basically, but cant find support sentence in reading comprehension. Its a common problem in students reading. They read a sentence word by word and try their best to figure out the meaning of every word. They can know the literal meanings of the sentences, but they cant master the deep connotations that the writers want to express. Discourse comprehension refers to the main ideas of passages, the intention and attitude of the authors. But its a little difficult for students in senior high schools3.2.4 Obstacles of western culture The authors expression habits, their social environment and their experience of life are important factors in reading comprehension. They all belong to culture. The lack of understanding of the different culture between Chinese and Western is also a very big problem. Due to the difference between Chinese culture and Western culture and the conflict between the cultural concept, students often have the illusion that they treat their own ideas as the authors ideas in articles. For example, Chinese emphasize the corporate interest, while Americans value the individual freedom. In eating, Chinese pay more attention to the tastes, but westerners attach importance to the nutrition. There are so many differences between Chinese and westerners. If students know nothing about the cultural distinction, they will feel confused in comprehension of articles. 4. Methods 4.1 Cultivation of the basic reading ability Reading ability depends on the language general training. Solid knowledge of written language structure and strong sense of basic vocabulary are prerequisites for improving the reading comprehension. Usually, in the process of learning, the students base on books by remembering the words and texts, doing a lot of grammar exercises and translating Chinese into English. They just have reading practice in tests and comprehensive training only. At the same time, because of the lack of language environment, for the vast majority of students, the knowledge of English was primarily derived from the textbook. Through textbooks, students can enrich their vocabulary, can also get all kinds of information, understand the development of Chinese and foreign political economy, science and technology culture. Therefore, the solid and effective teaching of reading about the English textbook materials has important practical significance. Using the language is the ultimate target of English. The courses aim at developing students comprehensive ability of language usage. So the teaching of English reading is a very important part of English teaching in senior high schools. At the same time, teachers should be in accordance with the form of paper, give students the necessary guidance, to help students understand the content accurately. The kind of dismembered text- sentence translation - explanation in-depth - comprehensive practice language points approach which is time-consuming, laborious and difficult to improve students reading ability truly, is not up to the purpose of learning. New teaching materials get rid of the traditional teaching mode which analyzes text word for word and sentence for sentence, emphasize the grammar. By continuous exploration and research in the teaching practice we have applied the whole teaching theory to reading teaching, and gradually formed a Guide (Presentation) - (Reading) - reading practice (Practice) teaching mode.4.1.1 Sensation of materialsThis is the stage of knowledge-input. Students mainly learn knowledge in textbooks. This is another practical experience for students. To understand and master the knowledge, students must have a basis for perceptual knowledge. If the students perceptual knowledge representation is rich, clear and vivid, it is easy to understand textbooks. Conversely, if students do not have the necessary perceptual knowledge, they wont understand textbooks entirely. In order to make students acquire perceptual knowledge, the teachers should guide the students to read the introduction before work, namely activation. The work includes:Firstly, teachers set the scene and ask questions, so that students have the need and purpose to read. Reading is the internalization process of written information, is subject to certain purpose or need to dominate the. In the third grade junior middle school first and Module 4 Unit 1 as an example, the teacher can first show the student magazine pictures. And then put forward the following problems:Question 1. Is an online magazine the same as an ordinary magazine? Question 2.What is the advantage of an online magazine? Question 3.Will someone lend you a digital camera?Secondly, teachers talk about the topic concerned or show the relevant picture to arouse the students interest in reading, to deepen their understanding of the reading object background knowledge, most importantly to relax the nervous psychology of reading in advance. In the third grade of junior high school, for example, the teacher can arrange in advance for some reflection of sports competitions and sports stars of the material, and then presented them to the students, let the students feel the importance of actively participation in sports activities, learn the spirit of training and fearlessness from athletes. Take displaying and introducing Liu Xiangs pictures in match for example: Liu Xiang will be chosen to represent China at the Olympic Games. He is a symbol of China because of his international sporting success He isnt an overnight success. He has trained for many years and will continue to win medals. In 2004, Liu won the first Olympic gold medal in 110m hurdles event for China in Athens, Greece. He will go for more medals for China. We should be proud of him.Thirdly, teachers help to remove the obstacles of new words that may affect students understanding. New words can be learned by relating it with old words or phrases. Such as teaching the phrase look through, which leads to some old phrase: look at, look after, look for, look over, look up, look down, look forward to and so on. We can use this method to learn new phrases.Fourthly, use inspiration and discussion method to elicit the topic of this lesson, and then let students understand the topic using moderate questioning such as 1. What do you think the film is about? 2. What type of film is Pirates of the Caribbean? 3. Who do Dieppe and Bloom meet during the sailing?4.1.2 Comprehension of materi