A Comparative Study Of English Reading Strategies Used By Higher Grade Pupils In Urban And Rural Primary Schools

In recent years,efforts to promote the “balanced development” of compulsory education has been made across the country,which aims to narrow the inter-regional,rural-urban or inter-school gaps in terms of education and quality.As the enlightening stage of reading for English learners,English education in primary school has a profound influence on their reading habits and reading level in the future.Based on Schema Theory and Reading Models Theory,this study was conducted in two schools in Guilin.A total of 186 students in Grade Six separately in Dahe Primary School and Ludi Primary School has been chosen as the study subjects in this study.The questionnaire has been specially designed to investigate the usage of English reading strategies by high-grade pupils in the two schools.Furthermore,twenty students and four teachers teaching in Grade Six are asked to participate in an interview survey.Using the methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis,the author tries to answer the following three questions by counting,analyzing and comparing of data from the English reading strategies questionnaire and interview.1)What is the situation of the English reading strategies used by senior students in urban and rural primary schools? 2)What are the similarities and differences in urban and rural primary senior students’ usage of English reading strategies? 3)What problems exist in urban and rural senior students’ usage of English reading strategies?This study indicates: There are differences in the frequency of using strategies in urban and rural primary schools in terms of the overall situation of reading strategies.The ability of urban pupils to use reading strategies in English reading is better than that of rural pupils.In terms of the specific usage of English reading strategies,there is no significant difference between two schools.There are significant differences in the usage of metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and social strategies,and there are some similarities as well.There are some problems exist in urban and rural senior students’ usage of English reading strategies.According to the problems,the suggestions are put forward for schools,teachers,families and students in the aspects of the four dimensions of reading strategies.It is hoped that this study will be helpful to shorten the gap between the two schools and provide reference for the related research in the stage of elementary education.This study has carried out an in-depth investigation and specific analysis,but there are still some deficiencies due to subjective and objective factors.Therefore,further improvement is needed in future studies.