A Study Of English Reading Teaching In Senior High School Classrooms

Reading is an essential skill for people to get information in this information explosionera, and for many, reading is the most important skill to master. Reading ability is now one ofthe most important measures in evaluating one's language proficiency. With the globalizationof business and information, L2 reading has received more interest than ever before. Incollege entrance exam in China, reading tests take 70 out of 150, which nearly accounts forhalf of the total score. Thus how to improve the efficiency of reading classes is becoming thecommon concern of both in-service teachers as well as language researchers.The study explores into real classroom practices in reading in senior high school ofChina. Views of teachers and students, obtained via interviews and questionnaires are alsoconsidered in analyzing reading classes. The study aims to present flaws of current readinginstruction, under the discussion of reading theories and reading instruction strategies, so as tooffer pedagogical implication for L2 teaching.The data analysis of the classroom observation shows that reading classes do sharecommon features, which further reveals the problems of the current English readinginstruction as follows: 1. overemphasis on activating bottom level processing skills; 2. lack ofattention to activating prior background knowledge; 3. improper ways of vocabulary teaching;4. little instruction on reading strategy; 5. simplified methods of increasing reading rate; 6. noactivities of verifying strategy ; 7. no awareness of evaluating progress. Data from interviewsand questionnaires reveal two contradictions in the reading practice, namely the contrastbetween students'needs and teachers'instruction; and the incompatibility between teachers'beliefs and instruction in reading & theoretical and pedagogical framework. Besides,interviews help better understand the classroom data, and provide an opportunity to knowmore about teachers'intention of classroom activity arrangement, their views on readingrelated issues, and to hear the challenges and problems they are facing. Questionnaires offerchances to learn more about students'feedback and suggestion to current reading instruction,as well as their difficulties in reading processes. Therefore, more practical implication onreading pedagogy will be given. Hopefully, the findings of this research can benefit Englishteachers.