The Application Of Cognitive Strategies To Reading Comprehension In CET-4

College English Syllabus prioritizes the development of reading skills as the most important aspect in teaching, which has profound practical significance. Concurrent with the requirement of high competence in reading comprehension, studies concerning this area have been accelerating at high speed. These studies have certainly helped us gain some insights into reading skills and strategies, but most studies were confined to summary of researchers' teaching experiences. Empirical studies concerning reading skills and strategies are still insufficient.The present study aims to explore the relationship between the errors students make and the strategies they use in reading comprehension. Data collection was based on 67 subjects' reading comprehension performance and a survey of reading strategies used by higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency subjects. The reading comprehension questions were classified into five types, and a correlation between the subjects" correct answer to each type of the questions and their total score was established. Then, according to a questionnaire survey, a comparison was made between the higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency subjects in their strategy use.It was found through statistical analysis that (1) inference type question could most significantly distinguish the higher-proficiency students from the lower-proficiency ones, and (2) students' employment of cognitive strategies is the first important means to get the correct answer to the inference questions. Finally, factors affecting the students' answers to inference type question were analyzed and implications for ESL teachers were presented.