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