A Study On The Application Of Extra-curricular Reading For The Development Of English Reading Ability Of Senior High School Students

For a long time, training students’ English reading ability is one of the important objectives in English teaching of senior high school. The New Curriculum Standards has made it clear that English reading ability will lay the foundation for other language abilities. In terms of the contents of senior high school English textbooks, each unit designs two reading articles, which are the focus of reading teaching. What’s more, these articles are involved in various topics, large information input and many language points. Although it is acknowledged that cultivating English reading ability is of vital importance, the development of students’ English reading ability continues to be unsatisfactory. A lot of problems still exist in English reading, such as low English reading ability, slow reading speed, poor English reading interests and bad reading habits, and so on. Therefore, to most of senior high school students, the scores of English reading comprehension in the College English Entrance Examination are far from their satisfaction. Undoubtedly, it is urgent to develop English reading ability of senior high school students.In the early 1980 s, Holec put forward the language teaching method for learner-centered learning that laid the importance on autonomous learning, while conducting extra-curricular reading is obviously an important way to cultivate students’ autonomous learning. Extra-curricular reading materials are chosen from various sources besides the textbooks. Under the guidance of the teacher, students conduct extra-curricular reading after school. From the perspective of in-class reading, extra-curricular reading is the extension of in-class reading. What’s more, the development of English reading ability of senior high school student depends on a large amount of language input. Therefore, the improvement of students’ English reading ability shouldn’t be only dependent on the reading materials of textbooks. In addition, the amount of passages in textbooks can’t meet the requirement for the quantities of English reading based on the New Curriculum Standards. In this sense, this thesis tries to improve English reading ability of senior high school students through extra-curriculum reading.The research participants are students from two classes in grade two of Guiyang No.2 senior high school. One class is treated as the experimental class, and the other is the controlled class. Before the experiment, the questionnaire and pre-test are designed. The questionnaire survey shows there are a lot of problems in English reading from these two classes, including the choice of extra-curricular reading materials, the time schedule of extra-curriculum reading and the application of reading strategies, and so on. The result of the pre-test shows students have a slow reading speed and can’t use reading strategies properly. To solve these problems, the author firstly sets the principles for choosing extra-curriculum reading materials based on Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, which is helpful for the experimental students to choose proper extra-curriculum reading materials. Secondly, the author requires them to make the plans for extra-curriculum reading and checks their reading reports from time to time. By doing so, it’s hoped that students can greatly improve their autonomous reading ability after school. Thirdly, the author pays more attention to the application of reading strategies in English reading, so students are often given opportunities to practice these strategies. Finally, the post-test is carried out in these two classes. The result of the post-test proves that the scores of the post-test in the experimental class are far more than the scores in the controlled class.Through this research, the author finds out that extra-curriculum reading can be beneficial for senior high school students to cultivate their reading interests, raise their awareness of using reading strategies, and then promote their English reading ability. Meantime, this research can also help English teachers in senior high school to have a better understanding of extra-curriculum reading, find a better way to combine extra-curriculum reading with the improvement of English reading ability of senior high school students, and promote the advancement of English reading teaching in the senior high school.