Towards A Postmethod Approach To Reading In English

A reflective review of China's foreign-language teaching and learning in recent history reveals that English-language teaching in many parts of the country has featured an attention to the development of low-level cognitive skills that involve grammar and exam-oriented practice. In the field of foreign-language reading, the author's years of teaching and research have found that there are three distinct difficulties confronting foreign-language learners: namely 1) lack of attention to the application of appropriate strategies; 2) inadequate attention to the hierarchical construction of meaning; and, 3) a disregard for the reconstruction of the writer's intended message. Traditional approaches to both foreign-language learning and foreign-language reading seem inadequate in addressing such difficulties. Too much attention to discrete grammatical items also runs against the long-term goal of most (if not all) educational endeavors– the development of independent and autonomous individuals. On the part of the teachers, traditional approaches to classroom management are not contributive to the development of their autonomy, which consequently results in learners'lack of autonomy. Given the gap between the reality of teaching and learning and the expected goal of education, this research contends that the adoption of a postmethod approach to foreign-language reading pedagogy can overcome or at least reduce the above-mentioned difficulties and facilitate innovation and creativity in China's foreign-language classrooms.In a nutshell, the postmethod condition, proposed by Kumaravadivelu and depicted in this research, denotes three important features. First and foremost, it signifies a search for an alternative to method rather than an alternative method. Second, the postmethod condition suggests teacher autonomy. The last but not the least characteristic of postmethod pedagogy is principled pragmatism. These three characteristics are the foundations on which a strategic pedagogic framework can be constructed. Such a framework incorporates both macro- and microstrategies, the former of which are universal tactics derived from theoretical, empirical and experiential knowledge grounded in classroom-oriented research, and the latter of which are the situation-specific, context-sensitive, and need-based microstrategies or classroom techniques generated from the former. In short, the macrostrategies are realized by means of the microstrategies in a specific educational setting.This research is a development of the above-mentioned framework. Theoretical explorations reveal that this endeavor is innovative in its attempt to apply the postmethod approach to foreign-language reading pedagogy. This paper articulates that a pedagogic reading framework, which is developed on the basis of the aforementioned postmethod foundations but incorporates its own macro- and microstrategies, can help Chinese foreign-language learners deal with those distinct difficulties and enable them to become more strategic and autonomous learners who are able to approach reading and conduct learning in a variety of flexible manners to achieve the maximized outcomes of education. Such a framework should encourage the participants of classroom pedagogy– both the teachers and the learners– to have active and creative participations in the act of teaching and learning by using their own experience and expertise to tackle the problems encountered and achieve an optimized educational outcome that aims at upgrading all individuals. With the reinforcing interactions of macro- and microstrategies within the framework, the learner can be guided to become more autonomous and independent, thus achieving the long-term goal of education.This research was conducted in two educational contexts: the Overseas Training Center (OTC) of Shanghai International Studies University (SHISU) and some senior high schools in Shanghai. The former is one of the eleven OTCs in China, which is under the direct management of both the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China and SHISU. The subjects of the research from this context are the MOE-sponsored academics from throughout China. These learners are typical intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced L2 adult learners, who are proficient readers in their first language and have had many years of foreign-language learning experience. Their unique educational background and language learning experience make them good examples with which to illustrate the impact of various teaching approaches on learners'foreign-language performance. Furthermore, research conducted in the background of such a group of learners is also a new area of exploration.Regarding the above-mentioned context, this research, which adopted a quantitative research methodology, acquired its findings based on two questionnaires. Questionnaire 1 aimed to elucidate learners'overall attitudes and interests in terms of reading in English before they undertook training in the OTC at SHISU. The objective of Questionnaire 2 is to investigate their changes in attitudes and interests in the same area after their participation in the language training. It is found in the research that the implemented postmethod reading framework has been positively recognized by the students and the students'performance, as well as their motivation in English reading, has seen a definite growth after their short-term training. Thus, the findings justify that the adoption of the postmethod reading framework can help adult L2 learners develop effective reading and learning strategies within a short space of time, and thus overcome a distinct difficulty– that is, a failure to employ appropriate strategies to comprehend and reconstruct meaning on a multi-dimensional scale– that confronts Chinese adult L2 learners. The findings also justify that the adopted framework can provide the teachers with substantial room for further exploration and application of personal expertise so that the outcomes of teaching and learning can be maximized, thus moving a step further towards learner and teacher autonomy.The latter context of this research is placed in some senior high schools where the New Century Senior English (NCSE) is used as the course book. The NCSE is the senior high school part of"New Century English", a series of course books catering to the needs of students from the primary school year-one level to the senior high school year-three level (encompassing 12 years) in economically developed areas of China. This series is a product of Shanghai Syllabus Reform Project II, organized by the Shanghai Municipal Education Bureau. This series has been evaluated and approved by the Shanghai Municipal Curriculum and Material Evaluation Committee.The TEXT component of the NCSE follows the postmethod reading framework presented by this research. Analysis of data derived from the study that adopts both quantitative and qualitative methodologies justifies that the postmethod reading framework implemented has achieved the goal of upgrading learners'English reading and overall language performance. Also, the framework, which features the authentic process of reading and incorporates strategy building and meaning construction, leaves much room for practitioners to make further explorations and generate their own unique outlooks and theories regarding the activity of teaching of reading; thus, it helps promote teacher autonomy by equipping teaching practitioners with a new and dynamic perspective towards foreign-language reading.The findings from both studies justify that the objectives of the research– to eradicate the difficulties confronting Chinese foreign-language reading pedagogy and to enable both teachers and learners to become more autonomous and independent– have been met. With foreign-language reading placed within a situation-specific, context-sensitive, and need-based postmethod framework, this research has been proved to be helpful to participants of foreign-language education to learn how to achieve a dynamic interplay and growth of knowledge through the contribution of both teachers and learners.