在外语教学中对提高英语阅读速度和理解的研究.doc

【标题】在外语教学中对提高英语阅读速度和理解的研究 【作者】张 标 【关键词】外语教学；阅读速度;阅读理解;阅读技巧 【指导老师】白 敏 【专业】英语 【正文】IIntroductionReading is one of the four essential skills in English language learning. Especially in TEFL, reading is seen as a tool that must be integrated into every subject in the curriculum, a tool for learning in school and on the job and a tool for extracting information. As the most important receptive skill in foreign language acquisition, reading is placed at the key position in English. This picks up the topic-how learners should deal with reading based on this requirement and how learning strategies should be scientifically utilized to realize the aims.However, English reading comprehension has been a“headache” for the learners. Numerous facts have proved that most of the learners dont really know how to read. They have many problems in reading. Thus how to improve reading widely and effectively has become a problem of utmost importance. Of course, there are many articles and books of reading. The thesis seeks to answer some central questions: What are the most likely strategies and skills that learners can smooth away the obstacles preventing them from reading fast and effectively? How can a learner realize his/her problems in reading and manage to solve them? How can become a good reader by using reading skills as an effective tool for learning and for enjoyment? As is known to all, reading is a process of psychological activity. It is beyond anyone to see, to feel or to tell. Only when the process and its result are presented by concrete statistics can people be aware of it, analyze it and then see its patterns, and then an ideal effect in learning can be obtained. With the questionnaires to fill out, learners can get an objective idea of themselves. And they are usually very earnest over and responsible to their“self-analysis”. They know that some of the reading skills are only to be learned rather than taught. They will be much more motivated than before and work even harder and then they can fulfill the tasks more smoothly.II. Purposes of Reading and Factors Affecting Reading Speed and ComprehensionA. Purposes of ReadingThe purposes that direct a readers activity are significant for the act of reading. Purpose arranges the perception, association, and organization of the readers mind, so it plays a central role in determining the specific meaning extracted and the kinds of associations, analyses and judgments made. Most learners learning English expect to be able to read and understand the language sooner or later. Their personal desires and expectations vary as their English improves. To be able to read in English in the sense of extracting meaning from a graphic script is not an aim in itself. Each learners aim is to be able to extract something specific-something of interest and of some use to him or her-and this must be kept in mind from the beginning.1 So, when reading, learners should have a clear purpose, so that they can pay special attention to the information they want. That is, they can read more selectively and accurately. Some learners may wish to read merely to extract certain kinds of information from an article; others may expect to remember something or achieve something else. They may wish only to decipher, to break the code sufficiently for their purposes. Learners can be taught to guess audaciously at the content. They then discuss the reasons for their guesses and reasons for the inaccuracy of some of their guesses.There are eight types of reading according to all these different purposes:1. Searching reading-reading for some certain information. Its only necessary for the reader to pay special attention to the title or the subtitle of the reading material, the beginning and the end and some key words and sentences.2. Appraise reading-reading to give appraisal and judgment. The reader should read carefully and try to grasp the main idea of the reading material and the writers view of what is written about. Thus, the reader should get a through and deep understanding what is stated as well as what is implied, the reader should stand to the writer as close as possible.3. Amusing reading- reading for amusement, enjoyment or killing time. The reader usually reads what he is most interested in his spare time or when he doesnt feel like doing anything. Through reading, he can find pleasure and feel relaxed. So, he will usually read bits here and there very fast so as to find what is suitable for him at that moment.4. Comprehension reading-reading for comprehensive information. The reader is supposed to get some relevant information as much as possible. He also should find out the intrinsic relations between paragraphs and between sentences and among each unit of sentences. After reading, the reader can retell the material or give a summary in his own words on the right understanding of the writers intension.5. Memorizing reading-reading to memorize something. The reader can have a deep impression of what is mentioned in the material, such as, the persons, things, times, places, reasons, results, the logical order, the context and so on.6. Comparative reading-reading to distinguish different styles of articles. The reader should first read from one article to two, to three and to many of the same style and then plenty of articles of different styles. While reading, the reader should find out the differences and the similarities of different styles of articles through comparing. And also the reader should learn how to write articles in this or that style and the sentence patterns usually used in this or that style.7. Creative reading-reading for creative ideas. The reader should be taught to have his own ideas as he reads. The reader should not fix his attention on the author but on himself. That is to say, the reader doesnt pay much attention to what questions the author raises in the article, how the author raises them and how the author adduces evidences to prove his ideas. Instead, he draws more attention to putting forward questions and how to answer them himself.8. Words-guessing reading-reading to guess the meaning of the unfamiliar words and phrases through the context. The readers should be taught how to guess words with the help of the context and word-formation(prefixes, suffixes and roots).B. Factors Affecting Reading Speed and Comprehension1. Pointing at Words While reading, learners often point at the words with a finger, a pen or something else. It may be helpful for beginners, but for most of the English learners, it is nothing but to slow down their reading speed and cause them to focus their attention on individual words or unimportant information rather than the idea the author is trying to communicate with the reader.2. RegressionA regression is a back ward movement along a line of print, that is, learners re-read a word or phrase that has been read, student with this habit are uncertain about comprehension or cant concentrate on reading. These learners often move their eyes back and forth and sometimes they even go back over several words or a phrase several times before going on to the next part of the line. When new words are come across, regression is made more frequently. Generally speaking this is a sign of poor reading.In fact, all readers make some slight regressions, but good readers make very few, while the poor ones make many. Of course, difficult material is the main cause of regression, so learners should be given reading materials with average difficulty so that they can clear away this obstacle.3. Over-dependence on the DictionaryMost learners have the habit of looking up the dictionary or turning to the word list at the back of the textbook whenever they meet a new word or an unfamiliar phrase. Actually, readers can get on well with the article without knowing the exact meaning of every word. Some unfamiliar words are not obstacle at all. Whats more, dependence on dictionary will decrease reading speed and interrupt the overall understanding. To get rid of this bad habit, readers should be convinced to fix their attention on a larger unit of a sentence and try to guess the meaning from the context, to concentrate on the important elements conveying the useful message or to skip the new words or phrases which dont hinder getting the overall picture of the passage.4. VocalizationVocalization is the worst obstacle that prevents readers from reading fast. Learners with this habit usually move their mouth, pronouncing quite softly or whispering the words while reading. Sometimes, they may just move their lips soundlessly; at other times, they may merely make tongue or throat movements without lip movement or within their minds, they are saying each word to themselves, This is because most readers learn to read either after learning to speak or at the same time, so there is a natural tendency to relate the printed words to its speech sound. But, actually, it is quite possible to look at the printed form and get the meaning or idea directly. For efficient readers, there is no sound effect in their brains. This bad habit can slow down reading speed and lower comprehension. For the main purpose of reading is to grasp quickly the ideas presented on a printed page, To get rid of this habit, learners should realize the problem and the serious results and disadvantages.5. Try to Get Everything UnderstandBeside new words there may be some other obstacles in the passage, such as background, historical events, academic terms, names of people and places, even some difficult language points,“Some readers are afraid to try reading faster, they are convinced that they will misread or not understand what they are reading. Consequently, they continue to read at the old Comfortable, safe speed.Not to sacrifice some comprehension in practice sessions.”2 Grasp all, lose all. We can only sacrifice something so that we can gain something. Getting everything understood not only takes much of your time but also is unnecessary. We should get to know what is necessary.IIISeveral Approaches to Improve English Reading Speed and ComprehensionADealing with WordsIn this section, ways of dealing with familiar words and unfamiliar ones are mainly discussed according to the following types of context clues.1. Familiar WordsWhen coming to essays containing abstract ideas and unfamiliar subjects, learners are often at a loss to reach what the writer is trying to show, even if they have all the meanings of the new words at their finger tips, Because the meaning of a given word not only depends on the other words with which it forms a sentence but also on its position within the sentence. A word does not simply exist independently within a sentence. But instead it joins and interacts with other words. This interaction determines the exact meaning of the word. A word sometimes has two contradictory meanings.So, a word may have the usual meaning in one sentence, but in another sentence it may have a very different meaning. The wordfast takes the meaning ofbeing in rapid motion(he can run very fast), but it also suggestsbeing motionless when we saya ship is tied fast to a dock. The range of possible meanings for a single word is reflected in the definitions given in a dictionary. Take feel for example, which meansperceive through touch but can also meanaffect ones sense of beingFor instance, we say: The cloth feels smooth and soft, she hadnt laughed like that for a long time, and it felt good. Therefore, if the word is heard in isolation, it is not possible to know which meaning to apply. Ascribing the appropriate meaning to the word is possible only when it is used in a larger unit such as a phrase or a sentence. This concept is illustrated in the following sentences: That physics problem was a hard nut to crack They bought some nuts and bolts at the hardware store. Stop acting like a nut, you clown! Were going to the woods to gather nuts. The violin strings were not properly fitted across the nut.Aside from vocabulary, what equally problematic is pronoun references. Used appropriately, pronouns save unnecessary repetition and help to achieve coherence. Well appreciated, they bridge a kind of tacit understanding between reader and writer. But when mistaken, they are trouble-makers. And when slighted, they are like imperceptible tips of icebergs, which will totally upset our comprehension.2. Unfamiliar WordsAs is mentioned above, English words usually have many different meanings in different context. And English vocabulary is very large. Then what should we do to understand such an endless vocabulary. Guessing the meaning of words from the context is a shortcut. We should help learners guess the meanings with the help of context clues. Here context clues mean what can conduct or explain the words in the context. Using context to aid in word recognition is a necessary and valuable technique that learners should master. In order to use context clues, learners must think while reading. The following ways are of great help for learners to improve their ability to guess words.a. Guessing the Unknown Words through Synonyms and Antonyms.The meaning of some unknown words can be obtained from the context with the help of some related words and phrases. In the article, the writer usually uses some words or phrases similar to or the same as the unfamiliar words. Then, we can know the meanings of the words through these familiar words or phrases. E.g. He learned that his house was burned to the ground, which made him miserable, He was so unhappy that he cried himself to sleep that evening.However, in a text about a given subject, there will usually be a number of related words that may not be synonyms but they can help to create an atmosphere or convey an idea. Similar examples as the following can often be found in theirs exercises. “I will cure you”, said the doctor,“I certainly will make you well before the end of this month” Mike was angry about my delay. In fact, I was only a few minutes late. His mother often told him not to waste money by buying things he didnt need, but he still squandered his moneyIn the examples above, if readers know how to guess these unknown words with the help of related words, they can easily find that“cure” here means“make somebody well”, delay” is similar to“late” and that“squander” means“waste money”. So when we train learners skill of guessing words, this kind of exercises is very useful and helpful. Learners should be given more practice of this kind consciously.While reading, we can also find the antonyms, opposites and transitions, such as, in contrast, on the other hand, rather than, yet, however, although, but, while, unlike, whereas and so on, are very useful. They usually say that some words or phrases appearing in the sentences before are different from what they are in the following. For example: Most of the problems we met were simple.However, we all felt that we were intricate and hard to solve. Today the majority of people live in urban communities. However, some people still live on farms and in small rural agricultural communities. Here,however, suggest thatintricate andsimple are just opposite to each other and the same withurban andrural.b. Deducing the Meaning and Uses through Word FormationBeing aware of how words are formed and of the value of prefixes and suffixes will help readers discover the meaning of a great number of unfamiliar words. Knowledge of word formation will help them to recognize the functions and nuances of meaning of words derived from the same radical. Learners should know prefix, suffix, compounding and conversion. They should be able to separate prefixes and suffixes from the root and recognize the part of speech.Prefix is a word or a syllable placed in front of a word to add to or to change the meaning of that word. Prefixes can hardly change the part of speech of the word, If readers know, un-, dis-, non-, in-, im-, mis-, ir-, and il-, show“no or not”, then its easy for them to guess the meanings ofunimportant, dislike, non-smoker, informal, impolite, misunderstand, irregular and illogical:On the contrary, suffix is a letter or a group of letters added at the end of a word to make a new word. Suffixes usually follow nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, which often change the part of speech of the word. We know suffixes likeable,-al,-ful,-ment,- on,-ly and so on. So, it is not difficult at all to guess the words such as, servant, painter, actor, musician, and so on. We also have suffixes like-able,-al,-ful,-ment,-tion,-ly and so on. So long as we train our learners to observe all these suffixes and the groups of words formed with the same suffixes, it will be easy for them to make conclusions about how to use these suffixes, and then they can easily find the way to guess words with this tool.3Thirdly, compounds are usually nouns, adjectives or verbs, which are composed of two or more words or parts of words and written as one or more words, or joined by a hyphen. Compound words can usually be guessed trough the parts that compound the word. E.g.,doorbell has two partsdoor andbell. When learners learn this, they will be able to extract the meaning from the compound form like the following: tablecloth, landowner, tape deck, shootout, take-woven, overflow, etc. Its especially important for learners to learn that compound meanings in English are frequently expressed by placing separate nouns side by side, e.g., bank account, hour hand, employment opportunities.cUnderstanding Relations within Sentence or Between SentencesIn order to read