The Reading Of English Newspapers And The Teaching Of Reading

Reading is one of the most important aspects in English learning and teaching. It is the main channel to obtain information in foreign language. Therefore, reading plays a very important role in English teaching in secondary schools. However, actual reading teaching is far from satisfactory, in spite of the great efforts students have made. The phenomenons can be noticed as following:Students show little interest in reading and they lack background knowledge which helps them understand contexts. The fact that students can't employ reading strategies properly and their inefficient reading habits hinder their improvement of English. Thus how to enhance the reading ability of students becomes an urgent and foremost requirement for English teachers.The improvement of reading competence needs a large amount of language input. At the same time, learning motivation should be emphasized. English newspapers have the following distinctive characteristics:up-to-date content, authentic language, various materials close to the students'life etc. It's obvious that English newspapers are excellent reading materials, which enrich teaching resources and develop the students'interest in English reading.The thesis analyzes the theories of Krashen's EFL Acquisition and Schema Theory. Based on the two theories, the thesis introduces " English Coaching Paper" into the teaching of reading and carries out a one-year experimental study of cultivating the reading competence of the students. The experiment is implemented through three phases. The study began with a questionnaire and a pre-study reading test,which serve as baseline data. Then according to the analysis of the questionnaire survey, reading strategy instruction and training via reading activities based on English newspapers were mainly completed in the teaching procedures. Finally, a casual talk and post-study test were carried out. The results of the experimental data show that the reading of English newspapers can arouse reading interest of the students, broaden students'background knowledge, help students get into good reading habits and apply reading strategies, and also transform ways of teaching and learning.The research in this dissertation tried to probe into an effective approach to the teaching of reading in secondary schools via English newspapers. Despite its limitations, findings of the research can enlighten teachers in the teaching of reading. Hopefully, teachers are aware of the importance of using the newspaper as a valuable teaching resource.