A Study On The Reading Strategies And The Improvement Of Senior High School Students' English Reading Abilities

Improving students' reading abilities is one of the objectives of senior English teaching. But the fact is that many senior students' reading abilities are far below where they should be, and discrepancy turns to be greater. This has drawn close attention of many linguists and researchers working in this field. Based on a questionnaire investigation and theory study, this paper has made a brief study on senior high students' English reading. It focuses largely on reading strategies, illustrating the necessity of reading strategies so that the concrete approaches can be determined. Five sections are included:In Chapter One, a brief introduction is given. Studies and researches on senior high students' reading abilities improvement are analyzed.In Chapter Two, a theory study is made. Based on Cognitive Learning Theory and Schema Reading Theory, the paper illustrates the significant role that the learning strategy plays in second language acquisition. Reading strategies employments results in efficient reading comprehension. From cognitive perspective, reading strategies may begin as declarative knowledge, and then turn into procedural knowledge with repeated practice. Once turned to be procedural, reading strategies benefit students in improving reading abilities. It comes to light that students should learn and use them in order to improve their reading abilities.In Chapter Three, fifty-two effective readers and another forty-eight ineffective readers from Yuyuantan Middle School were chosen as the subjects for questionnaireinvestigation, which was developed on the basis of reading strategies. Based on the questionnaire investigation results and the theoretical study, a strategy-based instruction and training plan has been made. It was put to practice and then to test.In Chapter Four, the questionnaire results show that a low percentage of senior high students use reading strategies in reading activities; a lower percentage of ineffective readers use reading strategies, compared with effective readers; the results also show that reading strategy learning is almost neglected. Statistic results of the qualitative research show the strategy-based instruction and training plan is practical and valuable. These results also support the idea that reading strategies aid students to improve reading ability and reduce discrepancy.Chapter Five is the conclusion. It is found out that majority of senior students fail to use reading strategies in reading activities. Views are held that lack of reading strategies is one of the main factors that affect the improvement of reading ability. The results of the experiment made by the author support the idea. Results also show that strategy-based instruction and training are practical and valid.