A Study Of The Effect Of Learners' Second Language Proficiency On The Choice Of Reading Strategies

Reading, as an effective language learning skill, has been paid much attention to by the second language learners. Reading helps second language learners fully enjoy the environment of the target language, and grasp it from both words and cultures, thus their language proficiency will be improved unconsciously. Although reading plays a very important role in improving language learning, reading itself also brings lots of trouble for learners. How to effectively improve the reading ability of second language learners so as to stimulate the development of learners'language proficiency, is taken as one of the most focused topics for the second language learners and researchers.Hence research on reading strategies is of great importance in language learning as well as in language teaching. The purpose of the present study intends to investigate the present situation of reading strategy use among first-year non-English majors and the significant differences between successful and unsuccessful English learners in their employment of reading strategies. This thesis consists of five chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion. Firstly, the author reviews the relevant studies of language learning strategies. Secondly, the author states the theoretical basis of reading strategy and some related information on language proficiency. On the basis of the theories and research, an experimental study is conducted to probe the effect of learners'English proficiency on the choice of reading strategies.In this study, both quantitative research and qualitative research were adopted. The participants were 199 non-English major freshmen from China University of Petroleum, who were required to complete the questionnaire. In the quantitative research, the questionnaires of 36 high-level students and of 39 low-level students were selected for analysis. In the qualitative research, 10 students were chosen to take part in the interviews. Results of the study reveal that non-English major freshmen do use some reading strategies, and there are significant differences between high-level and low-level students in their employment of reading strategies. Based on these findings, implications on integrating reading strategy training into English reading instruction have been discussed. In the future teaching, teachers should instruct reading strategies during the teaching process, not only letting the students know some reading strategies, but also training them how to use these strategies flexibly and effectively, so as to improve their reading competence and the overall language proficiency. Lastly, limitations of this research and suggestions for further research are put forward.