reading skills for college students.docx

reading skills for college students.docx

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readingskillsforcollegestudents

[Abstract]ReadingisoneofthefourimportantskillsinEnglishasasecondorforeignlanguage.Itisalsoaskillthatthestudentsneedtopossesstosupportindependentandself-directedlearning.WiththeInformationAge’sarrival,theEnglishmaterialsgraduallychangefrompapermaterialstoelectronicones.So,itbecomesmoreandmoreimportantforEnglishmajorstospeeduptheirreadinginordertoacquireasmuchinformationaspossible.Thus,fosteringagoodEnglishreadinghabitisessentialforstudents.Andbeingabletoadoptdifferentreadingskillsfordifferentreadingmaterialsandpurposeswillalsohelpthestudentsreadmoreeffectively.ThepapermainlyconcernssomeEnglishreadingskillsanddiscusseshowtofostergoodEnglishreadinghabitsforcollegestudents.

[KeyWords]characteristics;Englishreading;makenotes;fostertheEnglishreadinghabits 

浅谈大学英语阅读技巧

【摘要】阅读是学习第二外语的必须掌握的四项基本技能之一，也是大学生用于自学须掌握的学习策略和技巧。

随着信息时代的到来，英语阅读材料渐渐由传统的纸质材料向电子读物转变，提高英语专业学生的阅读速度尽可能多的获取信息变的越来越重要。

因此学生有必要养成良好的英语阅读习惯。

学生能对不同的英语阅读材料和不同的阅读目的采用不同的阅读方法，也将有助于他们更加有效的阅读。

本文主要叙述一些与大学生相关的英语阅读技巧，并且讨论了如何养成良好的英语阅读习惯。

【关键词】特点；英语阅读；做笔记；培养英语阅读习惯

1.Introduction

   Asreadingisapartofacademicliteracy,Englishteachersusuallyhavehighexpectationsofastudent'sabilitytocopewiththedemandsofreadinginEnglish.Mostcollegestudentswishtoreadmorebooks.Readingisawayforcollegestudentstobemoreknowledgeableandsuccessful.However,itisalsoanactivitythatmanycollegestudentsdon’tenjoyverymuch.Tosucceedatschools,studentsneedtopossessarangeofstrategiesandskillsthatsupportself-directedlearning.Traditionally,manyofthesestrategiesandskills,someofwhicharehighlygeneric,arenotexplicitlytaughttostudentsintheexpectationthatstudentseitheralreadyhavetheseskills,orwillnaturallyacquireanddeveloptheseskillsintheircourseofstudy.Inordertoimprovethecollegestudents’abilityofEnglishreading,weshouldanswerthefollowingquestions:

WhataretheEnglishreadinghabitsofstudents?

Howtobecomeaneffectivereader?

HowtofostertheEnglishreadinghabits?

2.Thecharacteristicsofcollegestudents

    Withthedevelopmentofsociety,scienceandtechnologydevelopathighspeedandthecompetitioninthesocietybecomesharp.Studiesinthepasthaveshownthattheexam-orientededucationalsystempromotesrotelearning,andsothatthereneedstobeaparadigmshiftinhowthecollegestudentsvieweducationandaboutthewaytheylearn.MostcollegestudentsreadEnglishmaterialsonlytopassexamsanddonotreadforpleasure.However,thesituationchangesnow.Inordertobecomewell-learntpeoplethatthesocietyneeds,mostcollegestudentslongforextensiveEnglishreading,hopingtodopreparationforthefuturejobbythisway.Atthesametime,thepurposesofcollegestudentsaretocompletethestudiesandtoobtaingoodresults.Inordertoadapttothedemandsofsocietyandschool,collegestudentstreatseekingknowledgeasthefirstduty.Theyrelatethemselvestothesocietyclosely,hopingtoenrichthemselvesthroughreadingandbecomethelearnedpersonswhocanfacethechallengesofthesociety.Therefore,themotivationofthemajorityofcollegestudentsisdefinite.ItisalsoobviousthattheEnglishreadingmaterialsgraduallychangefromthepapermaterialstotheelectronicreadingmaterials.TheInternetthatopensanotherwindowforthecollegestudentsbecomesthemostconvenienttoolforcollegestudentstogetinformation.Nowtheseriousproblemisthatcollegestudentscanreadonsomelevel,butmanydonotreadeffectively.Inotherwords,manycollegestudentstakeitforgrantedthattheycouldunderstandconceptsorlessonsbymemorizingtheEnglishwordsandinformationratherthanunderstandingtheideasthatareexpressedbythewords.Consequently,informationisretainedmainlyforthepurposeofpassinganexam;memorizationismistakenforlearning.

3.EffectiveEnglishreadingstrategies

    Becausealargeportionoftimeatschoolsisspentonworkingwithwrittensources,andbecausetherearelotsofEnglishmaterialstobecoveredinashortamountoftime,itisessentialthatreadingbehaviorsofEnglishmajorsshouldbebothpurposefulandefficient.Readingistalkinganddiscussingwiththereaderhimself,withtheauthorandothers.Soasthereaders,thefirstthingforthereadersdoistoaccumulateinformationbeforereading.Toensurethegoodresultsofreading,thecollegestudentsalsoneedtodevelopeffectivereadingstrategies.Knowinghowtoreadeffectivelyinvolvesaccumulatingbackgroundinformationbeforereading,selectingtheEnglishmaterials,understandingthestructureoftexts,howtoreadfordifferentpurposes,andhowtoreflectonyourreading.

3.1Accumulatingbackgroundinformationbeforereading

‘‘Readingisareceptivelanguageprocess.Itisapsycholinguisticprocessinthatitstartswithalinguisticsurfacerepresentationencodedbyawriterandendswithmeaningsthatthereaderconstructs.Thereisthusanessentialinteractionbetweenlanguageandthoughtinreading.Thewriterencodesthoughtsaslanguageandthereaderencodesthelanguagetothought.’’Readingisnotpassivebutactive,andinfactaninteractiveprocessthathasbeenrecognizedforsometimeinfirstornativelanguagereading.[1]IntheEnglishreading,itisaprocessthatneedsnotonlythecollegestudents’activeparticipation,predicationandinformationprocessing,butalsotheirpriorexperienceandbackgroundknowledge.

“Languageisapartofcultureandalsothecarrierandthecontainerofculture.Languageandcultureiscloselyrelated,eachinfluencingandshapingtheother.Tolearnaforeignlanguageimpliestolearnthecultureinwhichitisspoken.”[2]“Readingisakindofverbalcommunication.Thereaderscommunicatewiththeauthor（s）throughthetext.Inthisway,culturefactorsareinherenttothereadingactandthereforeinfluencethereaders’controlovertheinput（Byrametal1994）”.Inthereadingprocess,wecannotunderstandorinterpretatextwithouttheinfluenceofourprevioussocialexperienceandsocialcontextinwhichthereadingtakesplace.Thetextweread,thetopicweareinterestedinaswellasthewayweapproachareculturallyconstructed（Kress,1989）.”[3]

    TheculturalfactorsplayanimportantroleintheprocessofEnglishreading.Someculturalfactorscauseproblemsinreadingdirectlysoastoconfusecollegestudentsandhindertheirunderstanding.Otherculturemisunderstandingsmaydangleintheirmindandpreventthemfromgraspingtherealmeaning.[4]Cultureandlanguagearecloselyrelatedtoeachother.Asonewayofcommunication,readingEnglishmaterialsreflectculturaldifferencesthroughthelanguageinwrittenform.Thereadersshouldawaretheculturaldifferencesandtrytheirbesttoaccumulatebackgroundknowledgeofallsorts.Sothefirstpieceofadvicethatwillbegivenhereistodoasmuchreadingasthestudentscan.

     Collegestudentsintheschoolcanmakeuseofthelibraryresourcestosupporttheirstudyandself-learning.ThekindsofresourcesincludeEnglishbooks,Englishjournalarticles,Englishmagazines,etc.,aswellasawiderangeoflibraryservices.Nowthousandsofbooks,magazines,journalarticlesandnewspapershaveelectricalversions.Itisnodoubtthatthecollegestudents’taskwillbemucheasieriftheyknowsomewebsitestheyreallywanttofindonline.

3.2ImprovingyourEnglishreadingstrategies

3.2.1Choicereading

     Choicereadingisveryimportant.ActuallyitisaprocessofselectingEnglishmaterials.ThereadershouldclearlyrecognizetheclassificationoftheEnglishbooksandshouldcertainlyknowwhichtypeofEnglishbookheisreading.Itisbestifthereaderknowhispurposeofreadingbeforereadingstarts.Itmeansthatthereadershouldturnhisattentiontopracticalgoals.Toreceivetheinformation,thereadercanreadnotonlythebooktitle,thesubtitle,thetableofcontents,butalsotheauthor'spreface,theabstractintroductionandtheindex.Thesearealltheinformationthatauthorswanttotransmittothereader.Accordingtotheseclues,thecollegestudentscanchoosedifferenttypesofEnglishreadingmaterialswiththedifferentdemands.ThecollegestudentsshouldalsobeawarethatdifferentreadingskillsshouldbeadoptedwhentheEnglishreadingmaterialaredifferent.

3.2.2HowtoselectEnglishsources

     Inordertogetusefulinformation,thecollegestudentshadbetteranswerthefollowingtwoquestions:

HowwellthoseEnglishsourcesmeetthepurposeofreading?

Howreliablytheauthorpresentsthoseideasandinformationinthebook?

Thecollegestudentshavebetterreadthingstheyareinterestedinsothatthehardworkrequiredforcomprehensionwillseemmuchmorepleasurable．Also，thecollegestudentswillbemuchmoreeagertounderstandwhattheyarereading，notonlyasameanstoimprovetheirreadingcomprehension，butalsoasameansto betterunderstandtheinterestingsubject-matter.TheprocessofselectinganEnglishsourceincludesexaminingitspublisher,itsreferenceanditsauthor（s）.Dependingonthereader’spurposeofreading,itcanalsoinvolveassessingtimeliness.SomewaysofselectingEnglishsourcesarefollows:

（i）Paymoreattentiontothetimeliness

   Whenabookispublished,italwayshasaspecialsocialbackground.Forexample,ifareaderwantstofindsomeinformationaboutcomputers,he’dbettercheckthematerialspublishedafter1940s.

（ii）EvaluatingthepublisherofanEnglishbook

   Experiencedreadersmayhavesomeinformationaboutabook’spublisher.Hemayknowth