How-to-Teach-English-Reading-in-Middle-Schools--浅论中学英语阅读教学.docx

How to Teach English Reading in Middle Schools

Abstract
Reading is a receptive skill and readers receive information from the writers. The writers put their meanings into language and readers covert the language into meanings. So reading is a process of input. The more input the students get, the more they can output. To some extent, ESL students can command English more skillfully. So in general, English reading is a basic skill and ESL students need to learn to read for communication and improving. Therefore, reading teaching is of great importance and it is a necessity for middle school teachers. In my paper , In lay stress on : 1）The purpose and importance of reading . 2) The theories related to reading comprehension. 3) The skills for developing reading. 4) The ways to improve reading comprehension.
Key words: English reading teaching, skill, communication, theory, improve, questioning
摘 要
阅读能力是可以通过大量的阅读实践培养起来的，读者从作者的字里行间里获取文字信息。作者用语言来表达他们的思想情感，而读者却通过语言来探索世界，因此阅读是一个输入过程，学生输入的越多，就越能够运用所学知识娴熟的有目的的输出。笼统说来，阅读是一门基础课程，那些把英语作为第二语言的学习者应该学会通过阅读来进行基本日常生活交流，因此阅读教学对中学教师及其重要，也是一种不可或缺的教学手段。本文基于此原因把下列四方面作为重点来讨论: 1) 阅读的目的和重要性；2）与阅读理解相关的一些理论；3）增强学生阅读能力的技巧；4）改进学生阅读能力的方法。
关键词：英语阅读教学;技巧;交流;理论;改进;提问
Contents
Abstract …………………………………………………………………i
摘要………………………………………………………………………ⅱ
Contents…………………………………………………………………ⅲ
Introduction…………………………………………………………………1
1. The purposes and importance of reading in middle schools……………1
2. Theories related to English reading ……………………………………2
2.1 Bottom-up view and top-down view…………………………………2
2.2 Schema theory………………………………………………………3
3. The skills for developing reading………………………………………3
3.1 Jigsaw reading………………………………………………………5
3.2 Prediction……………………………………………………………5
3.3 Skimming, scanning, extensive, intensive reading and evaluating reading……………………………………………………………………6
4. The ways to improve reading comprehension…………………………6
4.1 Learning to guess important words……………………………………6
4.2 Finding out the topic sentence of a paragraph………………………8
4.3 Questioning in the classroom………………………………………9
4.3.1 The quantity of classroom questioning………………………9
4.3.2 The types and skills of classroom questioning………………10
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………12
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………13
Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………14
Introduction
It is quite important to obtain large quantity of information in the shortest period of time in the information era. The purpose of middle school English teaching is to let students be able to use the language to communicate. Then, reading, as a basic skill to keep in touch with the world, should be mastered. As a modern English teacher, although we are not able to change the exam system, we can improve our teaching method. If some basic theories or skills, such as those mentioned in the following discussion, are noticed, it will be of great help to those who are teaching English language in the improvement of their students’ reading efficiency.

1. The purpose and importance of reading in middle schools
Generally speaking, in our study and daily life, we never read with a blank mind. We need a purpose to find something out. Whether explicitly or implicitly, we always read with questions in mind. Understanding what has been reading involves finding the answers to those questions. The questions may be of many kinds, for example:
I wonder what is on tonight? Who is Osama bin Laden? What will happen is the United States? How to use the web site to get information? What does TOSET stand for?
As seen above, normal students read a passage, an article, or text for some certain purposes.
The reading goal is to read for meaning or to recreate the writers’ meaning. The ultimate reading purpose in my mind must include other factors that change problem solving into a viable skill. The purpose is to reach a level that the students have confidence in their ability to go on reading until they understand the writers’ general meaning. Students still need a reading speed that enable to use reading skills to get main information or enjoyment. Reading for meaning is a process. It is an important part of learning as second language for various reasons. Reading can be an important basic for individual learning about its people and its country of the target language. From reading students will know the present countries and past civilization. Reading is a skill that students will have most opportunities to use and they can obtain newspapers, magazines and books written in the second language.

2. Theories related to English reading
It is generally agreed that students read to understand the meaning of the texts, passages and articles, but there are two different models proposed about how students actually arrive at the meaning, according to Nunan. [1]
2.1 Bottom-up view and top-down view
Bottom-up view: The decoding of a series or written symbols into their aural equivalents. Each letter or grapheme is matched with phonemes of language (which the reader is assumed to know), and these are blended to form words (the phonics approach). This view has come under severe criticism. The bottom up model suggests that students build up the emailing of the text word-by-word and sentence-by-sentence. Until one level processing has finished the next parts come and in this way arrive at the meaning of the whole.
Top-down view: Discusses and real-world knowledge is used to construct and interpret aural messages. This approach emphasizes the reconstruction of nearing (rather than decoding form). The reader interacts with the text and brings to the process knowledge and expectations about how language works, motivation interests and attitudes towards the content of the text. The reader hypothesizes about text elements and then samples the text to work out whether his/her hypothesis is correct. One problem is that this view sometimes does not distinguish between beginner and fluent reader. The theory suggest that the students first use their general knowledge of unfamiliar items. The students only look at how the meaning is expressed in detail. They base on interaction between his background creates the meaning.
2.2 Schema theory
Schema theory: the knowledge that we carry around in our heads is organized into interrelated patterns. These are constructed from our past experiences of the experiential world and guide us as we make sense of new experiences. They also enable us to make predictions about what we might expect to experience in a given context. These schemata are very important to EFL learners when they use linguistic cues and background to reconstruct meaning [2]. I fully agree with his idea. In my teaching practice, I found when some students read they can go beyond the word and sentence level to overall organization and discourse level because their background knowledge help them a lot. One of the reasons language students fail to comprehend a reading passage is that they lack background knowledge and culture information. It is suggested that language learners be taught to select between top-down and bottom-up processing to check and restructure their comprehension of the content as they read.

3. The skills for developing reading
I have talked about the theories related to reading. What can a teacher do with the theory to develop the reading skills in ESL class in China? Generally speaking, I regard reading as a communicative process rather than as a language learning process. When students do reading between the sentences and paragraphs they need not only willpowers but also skills. First, students don’t need to know all through word formation and context. They should learn to pick out important word from the sentences and should be aware of the relationship between the sentences and paragraphs. Second, the ESL students should do a lot of reading to improve reading speed. Third, students should learn some techniques and skills to select the reading materials and to get what they need.
In China the class is usually very big and there are at least more than 45 students in each class. Though they all work very hard, they still need teachers’ help in ESL learning in class. Teachers’ role is that of a facilitator. As a result, teaching strategies are very important in developing students’ reading skills. In fact, it is impossible for an ESL student to read everything. In China, we teach students according to the textbooks provided by the Department of Education in high school. Usually we spend 6 periods on a unit, which insides speaking (dialogue), reading (a passage), grammar, writing and feed back exercises. It is far from enough if students in China only do reading for 40 minutes in class. Therefore, teachers must choose some authentic materials both related to the text and to the real life. The materials should fit students’ level. Though individual student may be interested in their individual materials, teachers should find varieties of the course objectives to help their teaching plan and organize their teaching. They provide opportunities for comprehended input both in the classroom and in the real world. They are able to formulate what the lesson is intended to accomplish and how goals will be achieved.
Reading sometimes is a tedious job. If teachers can get students to read more, there is better chance to read with concentration. So teachers must use the strategies to create students’ interest. Task or content-based methodology will be used in class. We can first give students task before reading that is to give students some introduction of the passage, designing some questions for students to answer. These questions must be designed from easy ones to difficult ones according to students’ level. This is input activity. As Krashen(1982) said if the input contains forms and structures just beyond learners’ current level of the competence in language, i.e. (i+1), comprehension and acquisition will occur. Input is comprehensible if it is interesting , relevant and at a level, which is i+1 for learners, and it is supplied in sufficient quantity. Crasher’s input hypothesis in developing reading skills is meaningful.
3.1 Jigsaw reading
Jigsaw reading is a good method to develop reading skill in China since we have a large class to teach. It is better to do this kind of reading in small group. Students can fill and exchange the information and can carry out a cooperative work and much time will be saved in class. When students see their progress every day, they can always finishes their tasks. Therefore teachers are organizers to give students clear instructions about how to achieve success.
3.2 Predictions
Prediction is a very important process in teaching. ESL students need to realize that they do predict in the native language learning and can predict in second language. Teachers can give them both pre-reading and while reading to practice and develop the prediction skill. There are possible ways of doing it. 1) Prediction before reading on the basis of titles or topics. 2) Giving students the first sentence of the text and asking them to predict what will come next. 3) Giving student a number of jumbled sentences from a paragraph or paragraphs from a text and asking them to put them in original order, etc. In all these tasks students should be asked to explain how they have reached their conclusions and what parts of their information are most helpful to them in the final decision. By doing this, they will in time developed the habit of using their information to help predict when doing reading in ESL lesson.
3.3 Skimming, scanning, extensive reading, intensive reading and evacuating reading
Strategies such as skimming, scanning, extensive, intensive and evaluating reading are very important too. Skimming means reading rapidly for main idea. Scanning means reading rapidly to get a specific piece of information. Extensive reading means reading a longer text emphasis on overall meaning. Intensive reading means reading a text for dovetailed information. Evaluating reading means reading to analyze and comment the subjective ideas, basis argument and information conveyed by the writer.
These different types of skills are used very commonly when students read in mother tongue, but for ESL students in China, it may be difficult. It appears to me that students in China like intensive reading skills most. They often insist on understanding every word or only looking for required information. But students need extensive reading to get more information from the real world. We can use all integrated reading skills to enlarge their usability, to get information from the real world, to widen their knowledge and to develop their ability in study. These different reading methods are very helpful to students in China to develop their skills in learning.

4. The ways to improve reading comprehension
How to improve reading comprehension? This question can be analyzed from many aspects. I’ll give some references in term of three aspects.
4.1 Learning to guess important words
At first, students should learn to grasp the keywords. For example, would you come on Friday to spend the weekend together with us? If it is possible, please bring Granny with you, too. The above sentences have 21 words together, but there are only 8 keywords, that is “come, Friday, spend, weekend, if, passable, granny.” If all the commas are omitted between them, it is a standard telegram. Because a telegram is just to convey the briefest meaning.
Secondly, students should learn to guess new words by context. Since “context narrows a words a word’s field of reference and helps specify its meaning, as well as building connections between known and new information”, so “instructing students in the use of context strategies can increase their independent acquisition of context strategies can increase their independent acquisition of reading comprehension.” [3] For example, the airhostess was in the small kitchen at the back of the airplane preparing the trays for lunch. In this sentence, it is not difficult to guess the word “airhostess”. According to these three words “airplane,kitchen and lunch”. While “tray” should have something to do with the word “food ”.
Thirdly, students should learn to judge the suitable explanation of new words according to the protagonist’s career or vocation. For example, Bill Fuller, the postman, whistled cheerfully as be pushed his bicycle up the hill toward old Mrs. Dunley’s house, his work for the day was almost finished; his bag, usually quite heavy when he sets out on his round, was empty now except for the letter he had to deliver to Mrs. Donkey. The underlined phrase is difficult to understand. But according to the protagonist’s vocation, it is not difficult to judge out the meaning of it. It means the postman deliver letters along the fixed road. <沿着固定路线发送信件>. Then we can infer that “the doctor is on his round ” means “医生查房” and “The police