An Observation And Analysis Of Teaching English Reading In Senior High Schools In Beijing

Reading is an essential skill to learn a language. It is the foundation of mastering a language as well as a main tool to obtain information. The English Curriculum Standard for Senior Middle School states that the purpose of reading instruction should be able to foster students' reading strategy, cultivate their sense of language and focus on developing students' ability to obtain and handle information in the reading process. Although the English teachers in senior high school have spent a lot of time and energy on it, the result is still far from satisfactory. This thesis aims to investigate whether there are some problems in English reading classes after the implementation of New Curriculum Standard. And if there are, how such problems should be dealt with so as to help students foster the reading skills and improve their reading comprehension ability.In light of reading activities and teaching strategies mentioned by Neil J. Anderson (2003) and Lu ziwen (2005), the author observed the reading classes of 28 English teachers in 6 schools in Beijing (No.2 Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal University, High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, High School Affiliated to Capital Normal University, High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, High School Affiliated to Capital Normal University, Beijing No. 44 Middle School and Beijing No. 10 Middle School). It is found that some teachers prefer to lecture on the language points and focus on skills for testing, but ignore the discourse analysis and seldom pay attention to fostering students' reading skills or improving their reading ability. At the same time, with the questionnaire of the students, it is also found that most high school students are not satisfied with their reading ability. They can not read quickly and do not know how to utilize reading skills and reading strategies to improve their reading comprehension.Based on the reading theories and teaching strategies, some practical teaching strategies are presented for English teachers in senior high school to improve students' reading ability: (1) With prediction based on titles, vocabulary and text structures, teachers can help students effectively activate their prior knowledge, which can lead to a better understanding of the text. (2) With word diagrams, matching and analysis of word structures, teachers can help students memorize vocabulary and improve the ability of guessing the meanings of unfamiliar words. (3) With questioning, identifying text structures and summarizing, teachers can help students comprehend the text efficiently. (4) With rate buildup reading and class-paced reading, teachers can help students speed up their reading and improve their reading ability. Hopefully, the thesis may shed some light on how to teach reading skills to increase students' reading speed and improve their reading comprehension.