An Empirical Study Of Enhancing Students’ English Reading Proficiency In Independent College By Adding More Extracurricular Reading

In this paper,Krashen’s input theory is used as the theoretical framework.Ninety freshmen of 2015 who are in Wuchang Institute of Technology are chosen as subjects to carry out this empirical research.There are experimental group and control group in this experimental study.In order to have a better comparison on influence that reading input(the reading materials are selected from English newspaper 21st Century)has had on College Students’ reading level and language ability,the author makes a pretest on subject at the beginning of the experiment.After 12 weeks of reading inputting,the experimental objects are tested again.The results of these two tests are put into the software SPSS 10.0.The results show that,after a large amount of reading input,students’reading ability and overall language proficiency have been improved significantly.In the experiment,the author also takes some measures such as observation,checking the students’ notes and other ways to ensure the experiment goes on smoothly.Therefore,in this paper,the author makes both a qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis.By comparing the results of the two tests(the scores of reading are analyzed as well),the author comes to the conclusion:1)a large amount of reading input is beneficial to improve students’ reading ability and English language proficiency 2)a lot of reading input will allow students to develop good study habits 3)by reading a lot,students’attention in classroom has been greatly improved.At the same time,the regular inspection on students’ notes and the author’s observation also let the author realize that the ability that students solve problems has been significantly improved.Therefore,in this point,this study is successful and meaningful.However,in the aspect of selecting reading material and the time used on reading,there are still many problems.As for the choice of reading materials,the author has set his own standards,that is,comprehensible,simplified,interesting and relevant input.However,this standard is just based on the author’s own teaching experience and the actual practice.It has not proved to work yet.In this experiment,it only lasts for 12 weeks,and the average daily time for reading is only 20 minutes.It doesn’t even reach the minimum input.The length of time for reading input may have influence on the result of the experiment.Even though there are many problems,this paper is still of great significance to some extent.At the end of the experiment,the author also keeps observing the ninety subjects.The author finds that the students in experimental group are more positive,and more willing to participate in classroom interaction.Therefore,this study is greatly significant to English teaching.As for the problems existing in this paper,the author hopes that more teachers who work in colleges can join this kind of research projects.The aim is to find the best reading material,to use the most appropriate amount of reading input,and finally to maximum the improvement of students’ reading ability and language proficiency,the improvement of English teaching as well.