Fast reading ability.docx

Fast reading ability.docx

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Fastreadingability

1.Introduction

1.1ResearchBackground

Foreffectivelanguagelearningandteachingdueattentionshouldbepaidtothereadingabilityofthestudents.Insomecountry,thestudents’readingabilityisfarbehindandthathasbecomeoneofthemainfactorsthatpreventthemfromlearningEnglishwell.Thisisbeacousethestudentshavenotenoughvocabulary,notenoughbasicgrammarknowledge,especiallysentencestructureknowledge.Theyknowlittleaboutthebackgroundknowledgeforeffectivereadingandtheyknowlittleaboutthereadingstrategies.Thisthesisisaninvestigationintoreadingabilitywithtesting,questionnaires,surveyingandanalyzing.Therelatedcauseshavebeenanalyzed.

1.2ThePurposeofthisStudy

Thisthesisistryingtoinvestigateandstudythereadingabilityoftheseniorhighschoolstudentswiththetheoryofschema,readingpsychology,learningpsychologyetc,tolearnthereallevelofthereadingability,analyzethecausewhichleadstothepresentsituation.Thereforeweholdthatitishightimethatdueattentionwerepaidtostudents’readingability.Thepresentstudyfocusesupontheinvestigationofthereadingabilityforthefollowingaims：

1.TohelptheteachersandstudentstounderstandtheimportanceofEnglishreading.Itishopedthatthisstudywill,tosomeextent,contributetothefurtherstudiesofEnglishreadingandbringtheacademicattentiontotheresearchofreadingability.

2.TohelptheeducatorsaswellasadministratorstohavesomeknowledgeofEnglishreadingability.Onlywhentheinstructorsandeducationaladministratorsworktogethertohighlighttheimportanceofreadingability,canwesaythatsuccessfulEnglishlearningwillbemoredown-to-earth.

1.3SignificanceofthisStudy

AspresentHuChundong,WangCairenclaimintheirbook-0nreading,thatinourcountrymostoftheseniorhighschoolstudentsstudyenglishinthehopeofgettinggoodmarksintheNMETandlayingasolidfoundationfortheirfurtherstudyincollege.Whilethemostdifficultpartinvariouskindsoftestsisreadingcomprehension.ItcoversthemostpartofthepapersinChina,soitisinthetestsabroad.ToourseniorhighschoolstudentsEnglishreadingisnotonlyoneofthepurposeofEnglishstudybutalsothemeansandchannals.Englishreadingskillsarenotonlythemostimportantlanguageskillsbutalsooneofthelearningskillsthatleanersshouldmaster.ThisisbecauseEnglishreadingabilityisthefoundationoftheotherliguisticabilitydevelopmentofthelearners’.ThroughreadingthelearnersdeveloptheirEnglishreadingabilityupontheconvictionthatEnglishreadingabilityresearchissignificantintheEnglishlearningandteachinginfollowingways:

1.Itcanhelpanindividualtounderstandhisorherownlikelyapproachtoreadandhowtousethebasicskillsandstrategiesbetter.

2.Itcertainlyshouldhelpteachers,trainers,oreducationadministratorstopaymoreattentiontothedevelopmentofthereadingabilityofthestudents.

3.Thisstudyisespeciallysignificantinthatitisoneofthemulti-dimensionalprobesintoreadingabilityinourcountry.Foralongtimetheissueofreadingabilityhasbeenneglected.Itishopedthatthestudywillcontributetothefutureinvestigationinthisregard.ThisthesismayoffersomeusefullsuggestionstoourEnglishteachersintheirteachingjobs.Muchattentionsshouldbepaidtotheirenglishteaching.

2.ReviewofRelatedLiterature

Forliteraturereview,westartfirstwithanintroductiontotheinvestigationintoreadingability,followedbypreviousresearchesontheissueabroadaswellasathome.

2.1AGeneralIntroductiontoResearchintoReadingAbility

Traditionallyreadingisregardedasabottom-upmodel.FrankSmithcalleditasanout-side-inmodel—thatistheprocessfromtexttobrain.Inthismodel,thereadersareseenasdecoders.Theprocessofdecodingistodecodefromonelinetoline,fromletterstoletters,fromwordstophrases,fromphrasestosentencesandthenfromsentencestoparagraph,totextandfinallyfromthetexttotheintentionoftheauthor.Inmoderntimes,theprocessofreadingisthoughtofasatop-downmodel,Mr.Smithcalleditaninside-outmodel.Inthismodelthereadersdecidesthewaysinwhichatextisunderstoodanddealtwith.Sometimespeoplecallitatop-downrevolution.

Peoplewiththetop-downmodelregardthereadingprocessasapsycholinguisticguessinggame.Theysaythewayinwhichthereadersdecodeisnotaccurate.Thereadersunderstandthewholetextwithdecode,whiletakinginwholetrunksoftext,readerswouldconfirmhisexpectation.Duringthisprocessofpredicting,samplingandconfirming,readerswillbuildtheframeoftheentiremeaningofthewholetext.

Thereforethepsycholinguisticguessinggameisatnomeansthereaders’randomguessbuttheguesswithframeandproof.Thisproofisthereaders’pre-structureknowledgeandwordsinformationofthetext.

Astheknowledgeandexperiencetheredersalreadyhavehadplayanimportantroleinreading.Theexpertsofreadingthereforepayspecialattentiontothestudyoftheschematheory.Schematarefertotheexperiencegainedinthepast.Thiskindsofexperienceformsasetorfixedschema,affectingthefuturewaysinwhichknowledgeandexperienceareobtainedanddealtwith.

Inthelate1980sthetop-downmodelwaschallengedbyaninteractivemodel.Peoplewiththeinteractivemodelpointoutthatstrictlythetop-downmodelcannotexplainmanyresultsofreadingresearchandexperientthoroughly.Theysaythatthesuccessfulreadingisthecombinationofthetop-downmodelandthebottom-upmodel.Thatistheinteractivemodel.

2.2RelationshipbetweenReadingStrategiesandReadingAbilityImprovement

Manypeoplemaythrowdoubtonwhetherreadingstrategycanbelearnedthroughpractice.Butthetruefactisthatitcan.“Teacherswhounderstandthatreadingisastrategicprocessestablishenvironmentsthatprovideopportunitiesforchildrentolearnlanguageandlearnaboutlanguagewhiletheyareusinglanguageforrealpurposes.”（Halliday,1976）

2.2.1DeclarativeandProceduralKnowledge

Incognitiveperspective,mostinformationisstoredinlong-termmemoryaseitherdeclarativeorproceduralknowledge.Declarativeknowledgeconsistsoffactsandconcepts,orwhatweknow,whereasproceduralknowledgeconsistsofskillsperformingvariousmentalprocessessuchasreceptiveskills,productiveskills,conversationalprocedures,communicativestrategies,andlearningstrategies,orthethingsweknowhowtodo.Forexample,declarativeknowledgeiswhatyouhavewhenyoureadandunderstandtheinstructionsforprogrammingtheDVDplayer.ProceduralknowledgeiswhatyoudemonstratewhenyouprogramtheDVDplayer.

Declarativeknowledgeorfactualinformationmaybeacquiredquicklyandcanusuallybeexpressedverbally,ordeclared.So,weareabletodescribethecontentsofdeclarativeknowledge.Proceduralknowledgeisacquiredgraduallyandonlywithextensivepractice.Moststudentscanhavedeclarativeknowledgeaboutreadingstrategiesbutmaynotbeabletoapplythesestrategieseffectivelywithoutconsciouseffectanddeliberation.Inotherwords,theirdeclarativeknowledgehasnotbeenturnedintoproceduralknowledge.Ifteachershelpstudentsinstrategiesapplicationandprovidethemwithavarietyofopportunitiesforpractice,studentswilllearntousethestrategiesautomaticallyandeffectivelyinspecifictasks.

2.2.2StagesofSkillAcquisition

Proceduralskillsareacquiredinaprogressionthroughthreestagesoflearning:

thecognitive,associative,andautonomousstages.

1）CognitiveStage:

Atthebeginningoftheprocessofskillacquisition,newinformationentersindeclarativeform.Inthisstage,learnerslearnaboutasetoffactsrelevanttotheskills,suchasdescriptionsoftheprocedure.Theknowledgeofhowtocarryoutaprocedureisdeclarative,asstep-by-stepperformancestatements.Atthispointthelearnersgenerateactionsthroughinterpretationsoftheverbalstatements,andcarefullymonitortheresultsoftheactionswhentheycarryouteachstepoftheprocedures.Theprocessinginthisstageisconscious,deliberate,slowandrequiresfullattention.

2）AssociativeStage:

Themajordevelopmentofthisstageisknowledgecompilation.Thecompilationprocessisaimedtoproducesuccessfulproceduresinordertospeeduptheexecutionofprocedures,droptheverbalrehearsalandeliminatepiecemealapplication.Duringtheassociativestage,wehaveintheprocessofcompositionandproceduralizationameansofconvertingdeclarativefactsintoproductionform.Compositionistheprocessoforganizingaseriesofactionstogetherintoaunifiedproduction.Thisproducesconsiderablespeedupbycomposingsequencesofstepsintoonesingleaction.Also,oncetheskillisproceduralized,thenewintegratedproductionnolongerrequiresthedomainspecificdeclarativeinformationtoberetrievedintoworkingmemory.Animportantconsequenceofproceduralizationisthatitreducestheloadonworkingmemory,andthusachievesagreatdealofefficiency.

3）AutonomousStage:

Afteraskillhasbeencompiledintoatask-specificprocedure,thelearningprocessinvolvesanimprovementinthesearchfortherightproduction.Inthisstage,theprocedurebecomesmoreandmoreautomatedandrapid.Theprocessunderlyingthisstageistuning.Threelearningmechanismsserveasthebasisoftuning:

generalization,discrimination,andstrengthening.

Inthecognitivestage,studentsdevoteintensiveattentiontorulesandperformtheskilldeliberatelyand,mostlikely,withmanyerrors.Theyobserveandimitatetheexpertperfo