Chapter oneLiterature Review
1.1The Study of Reading Models
Reading is a necessary cognitive activity of human beings and it’s also animportant mean to acquire information of the world. Researchers have studied readingsince last century. Carrell (1998) believes that readers who is learning English regardreading as their learning purpose. Eskey thinks that reading skill is as important asspoken language. Reading study before the 1960s is called classical period. During thisperiod, the origin of reading theory comes from word explanation. At the end of thecentury, Romanes did research on reading speed and Cattell distinguished charactersand vocabulary. After 1960s, four influential reading models were very typical: Goughproposed information processing model, Goodman and Smith’s psychological languagemodel, Rumelhart’s interactive model andAdams proposed schema theory.Gough (1972) put forward the bottom-up model, which is a kind of "Bottom-up"processing way of thinking. It was also called data-driven model that began with lettersand words to sentences and discourse. That is, it was a linear process from lower levelto higher level. This model is from text to thought, from part to overall, from form tocontent processing. Bedsides, in this model reading is from bottom to top, from visualspeech information to meaning (Han Xuebing 1998:46). The reading model generallystarts from the underlying structure of a text, from discrete form, such as font,morpheme, vocabulary and other visual units; In order to construct the meaning of thetext, readers gradually read "up" to other larger units such as phrases, sentences, writtenparagraphs, block (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009: 18). However, bottom-up reading modelwas criticized. The demerits are that Readers always translate the text information inheart , in some degree, it’s a rigid psychology mechanical model, readers seldom referto background information of the text (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009:18). Zhou Lin thoughtthat readers was simulated to passively accepted the language and made response( Zhou Lin 2001, 58). “ Readers concentrate on the text and ignore the existinginformation in the readers’ mind "(Yang Haili, 2007:49).
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1.2 Definition of Reading Strategies
Reading is a kind of basic language skill and a way to receive outside informationand knowledge. There exits different kinds of reading activities with different purposesin daily life, so there are different types of definition. In the past, reading was regardedas a passive psychology activity. However, with the development of psycho-linguistics,Goodman proposed that reading procedure was a complicated psychology activity(Goodman,1967). In 1988, he put that reading was to receive language, and it’s anactivity the reader coded the language and constructed meaning. Zhang Jianzhong (1986)thought that reading was a process to receive information actively with positive thinkingand understanding. Ben (1998: 69-74) pointed out reading comprehension was as activeprocess and had an interaction with readers’ prior knowledge. Lv lianghuan (2003:127)also put that reading was a psychological process in which readers perceived theauthors’ thoughts and emotions with the prior language knowledge, social experienceand learning strategies. All in all, reading is a process to select, classify and explaininformation. It’s also a way to process information. Reading is a complex process whichrequires readers not only grasp certain background information, but deepens theunderstanding of reading strategies. In the first 50 years of last century, researchers paidmuch attention to the study of new teaching models in order to better deliver knowledge.Reading is a special human cognizant activity and an important mean of learning. Manyresearches indicate that plenty of reading is very helpful for second language learning.
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Chapter twoResearch Methodology
2.1 Research Questions
In this chapter, the author will introduce the research questions, subjects,instruments and the whole procedure of the study.Because of the multi-national condition of China, students of differentnationalities have different learning ways, let alone a class with different students.Grade one is the transitional period for students to develop their English learning waysand expand vocabularies, it’s very necessary to train students’reading strategies.The study aims to get a comprehensive understanding of English readingstrategies used by senior school students in minority regions, taking Huili EthnicMiddle school in Liangshan Yi Autonomous region as an example. It’s also to examinewhether reading strategy use can enhance their reading proficiency. Three questions arepresented in the following:1. Can students employ reading strategies consciously during reading procedure inminority regions?2. Can students enhance reading comprehension by using reading strategies?3. What influence will reading strategies bring to students in afterwards reading?
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2.2 Subjects
The subjects are chosen from grade-one students in Huili National Middle schoolin Liangshan Yi Autonomous region. They were in second semester of grade-one. Theywere required to attend the pre-test firstly, whose scores are compared with the ones inthe post-test. To begin with, they were required to finish a copy of questionnaire aboutthe using of reading strategies according to their own condition, and the author did aninterview to investigate students’ changes after they employ reading strategies. The basic information about students is listed below:35 subjects took part in the experiment, among whom 15 were male and 20 werefemale. Besides, there were four nationalities. Yi nationality was the most.The students in Huili Ethnic Middle school were mainly Han and Yi nationality,while Yi students from the whole county were more than other senior schools, whichwas a typical example to reflect the situation of the county. Besides, all participantswere in grade one because they just entered senior school, who were able to discard badreading habits more easily than higher grade students. Meanwhile, it left teachers moretime to train students to master reading strategies. Therefore, grade one was the besttime to enhance students’awareness of employing reading strategies.
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Chapter three Findings and discussion..........31
3.1 Results and Discussion....31
3.2 Results of the Pre-test and Post-test.....39
3.3 Results of the interview..........40
3.4 Discussion....41
Chapter four Conclusion.....44
4.1 Major Findings..........44
4.2 Limitations of the research.....45
4.3Implications of the research ......... 46
Chapter threeFindings and discussion
3.1 Results and Discussion
In this chapter, the author mainly discuss the results of questionnaires, pre-test ,post-test and interview.All data was collected and computerized.The evaluation standard of strategy use frequency is based on Oxford’sclassification scale (1990:291), in which the mean of each strategy use shows thefrequency of the strategy the subjects use (Xuzhening, 24). There were twoquestionnaires. Both of them were used to investigate students’ strategy use awareness.The author did the analysis from three strategies: cognitive strategy, metacognitivestrategy and social/affective strategy. Among three strategies, cognitive strategyincludes items 1 to 7 and metacognitive strategy is from items 8 to 18, social/affectivestrategy exists in items 19 to 23. The mean score shows strategy use frequency. Thefollowing is about the mean scores of cognitive strategy. The results can be comparedfrom the table. Before the test, the mean scores of the first questionnaire was lower thanthan the second one. It shows that most students are lack of strategy awareness.Theauthor analyzed the second questionnaire and compared the results with the first oneafter strategy training. The mean score of item 2 was 2.91 before, after strategy trainingthe mean score was 3.22, which has added 0.31. Compared item 3, after strategytraining, the mean score has increased 0.34. Item four has increased 0.32. Item 5,6 and 7was 0.14,0.23 and 0.27 respectively. That’s to say, the mean score of each item hasincreased. From the following figure, the amplification can be seen easily.
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Conclusion
The study focuses on reading strategy training and strategy use frequency toexplore suitable reading strategy for senior school students in minority areas. It aims toimprove students’ reading proficiency. It proves that most students apply readingstrategy to develop their reading proficiency via the data analysis of the twoquestionnaires, interview, two standard tests and a four-month experiment. Moststudents use reading strategies to deal with reading problems from the main strategygroups. The major finding can be concluded as follows:First, reading strategy training on rural senior school students in minority regionscan enhance their strategy use awareness and ability. During reading process, studentsemployed reading strategies moderately in terms of the three major strategy groups. Thefrequency of cognitive strategy is higher than metacognitive and social/affectivestrategy, but they can help students use cognitive strategy better. With the function ofplanning, monitoring and evaluating, metacognitive strategy help students to make selfplan before, during and after reading, with the help of it, students can control theirreading speed and time. Since they have learned reading strategies, they can controltheir whole reading process and adjust strategies to face new reading problems. Studentsgain more confidence than before as a results of social/affective strategy.Self-evaluation can guide students to learn more about themselves and know theshortcomings. According to new course standard, learning to cooperate with other is annecessary requirements for students of new century which strengthens the relationshipof teachers and students. It’s beneficial for both teaching and learning.
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The reference (omitted)