A Study On The Relationship And Intervention Between English Reading Strategies,Cognitive Load And Reading Achievement Of Junior High School Students

As an advanced cognitive skill,the effective mastery of English reading strategies has an important influence on junior high school students’ English reading learning.A number of studies on the correlation between English reading strategies and English reading achievement also shown that the use of English reading strategies can significantly promote the improvement of students’ English reading achievement.The frequency of English reading strategies is influenced by both cognitive and non-cognitive factors,among which,cognitive load is a cognitive factor affects the effective use of English reading strategies by junior high school students.In fact,if students have a high level of cognitive load in English reading for a long time,it will seriously affects students’ English reading efficiency and the effect of using English reading strategies.Now,there are few researches on the relevance between English reading strategies and English reading achievement as well as its mechanism based on theoretical framework of cognitive load.This study will start from the perspective of cognitive load to discuss the influence of junior high school students’ cognitive load on the relationship between English reading strategies and English reading performance.This study takes junior high school students as the research object,focusing on two issues: one is to investigate the current situation of junior high school students’ English reading strategies,cognitive load and reading achievement,and the moderating effect of cognitive load on junior high school students’ English reading strategies and reading achievement;Second,whether the intervention training of middle school students’ English reading strategies will improve their reading strategies and English reading achievement.Based on the above research questions,this paper is divided into two sub-studies,one of which is the investigation of the present situation and its correlation,and the other is the experimental study.In the study I,the random sampling method was used to select the junior high school students from 4 schools of different levels in Anhui province and Hubei Province as the research objects.A total of 1049 Cognitive Load Subjective Rating Scale,Questionnaire on the Use of English Reading Strategies for Junior High School Students and English reading comprehension test papers suitable for different grades were distributed.Among the 1013 valid questionnaires,536 boys and 477 girls;there were 208 students in Grade 7,523 students in Grade 8 and 282 students in Grade 9.The validity rate of the questionnaire was 96.57%.In the study II,the convenience sampling was used to to select eighth grade students from a rural middle school in Wuhan as the research objects to conduct a quasi-experimental design of English reading strategy intervention-the experimental group was given six weeks of English reading strategy intervention,while the control group was left untreated.124 valid questionnaires were collected before and after the experiment,including 60 questionnaires and 60 examination papers for the experimental group as well as 64 questionnaires and 64 examination papers for the control group.The research results shown that:1.The overall frequency of English reading strategies used by junior high school students is below average level,and their overall cognitive load level in English reading is high.2.There is a significant correlation between the three variables of English reading strategies,cognitive load and English reading achievement of junior high school students.3.The positive relationship between junior high school students’ English reading achievement and their reading strategies is negatively regulated by cognitive load,that is,junior high school students have higher level of cognitive load in English reading,the weaker the positive influence of their English reading strategies on reading achievement.4.The English reading strategy intervention experiment effectively improved the junior high school students’ awareness and frequency of using English reading strategies,and indirectly improved the junior high school students’ English reading achievement.The research results of this paper support the hypothesis of study I,that is,cognitive load plays a moderating role in the relationship between junior high school students’ English reading strategies and reading performance;It also verifies the hypothesis of study II,that is,it verifies the effectiveness of English reading strategy intervention training for junior high school students.Based on the above research results,the author puts forward educational suggestions from two aspects: school and teachers.First of all,at the school level,the school should not only construct a reasonable and effective reading evaluation system to promote learning by evaluation and teaching by evaluation.We should also establish a mechanism to integrate reading resources inside and outside the school to meet the diverse reading needs of students and cultivate students’ interest in English reading.Secondly,at the teacher level,teachers should pay attention to the following aspects in the future teaching of English reading: first,reasonably control students’ cognitive load in English reading teaching;Second,pay attention to the guidance and training of students’ English reading strategies;Third,build an English reading class for group cooperative learning.