| Reading is the one of very important ways of acquiring information and exchanging information for foreign language learners. Reading is a communication between the reader and the writer; and it is a very complex psychological and cognitive process. This is a very special communication, which is carried out through printed letters by the reader and the writer. Writers code the letters into meaningful words, sentences and articles with their own meaning, intention, thoughts and emotion; while readers need to understand the writer's real meaning with recognition, relevance and inference, which is hided behind the language marks. This kind of communication cannot be done through faee to face between the reader and the writer. That is the reason why the reader often cannot manage to reach the real meaning of the writer's.The improvement of reading comprehension for Chinese students of English haven been greatly concerned by English teachers for quite a long time, and they wish to haveeffective strategies for improving their reading comprehension as soon as possible. In teaching reading in English, teachers might find that many Chinese students like to read English works by using their strategies, which they use when they are reading Chinese works, which often leads to unsatisfactory results. This is because of the different potential linguistic structures, cultures, thoughts and other related problems with English native speakers. This article starts with a very brief analysis of the four famous reading modes, with emphasis on their affects in reading strategies, and points out their shortcomings. So, based on Sperber and Wilson's relevance theory, this paper examines the reading strategies in the context of Chinese learners of English.According to the relevance theory, relevance is the nature of human cognition. It occurs while man is reading. Readers with different language backgrounds will have different relevance. Readers with the same language background will have different relevance, too. Of course, the degrees of relevance will result in differences in reading. The recent research on reading strategies shows that the author's real meaning is not in the words on the page. The reader may construct meaning by making inferences and intefpretattons. For example, if we express what is with us through printed language, then we are employing words to convey color, taste, smell and touch. This means that inflection of words must correspond with the nuances of meaning in language. Any words move towards us not just the meaning, but their sound, shape, color and even taste. Relevance principles can help us to construct such awareness when we are reading. This paper makes a detailed discussion of the relevance theory, especially of the problems such as: the implicative and inferential communication, the most effective relevance principles and understanding via relevance.As we know that there are many factors involved in reading process, the production and reception of a given text depends upon the writer and reader's recourse knowledge. In reading process, everyone might meet with such problems as how to understand the real meaning of the words, how to explain the cohesion of the sentences and paragraphs and how to understand the style, etc. All of these factors are the main ones affecting the reader's reading activities. But the perspective of the relevance theory, these problemsseem to be easier for the readers, writers and teachers to deal with. No doubt that the relevance theory is the one of the effective theories that the foreign language learners and teachers can employ to solve these issues.How can we use the relevance theory effectively in English reading teaching class? This paper introduces how to use the relevance theory to choose the suitable reading material, how to find relevance while reading, how to improve learners' relevance sensibility and interest, and how to design the strategies of teaching reading class. If the teacher makes effort in using the relevant approach in teaching readin... |
