吴平
Abstract:Readingisoneofthefourbasicskillswhichlearnersarerequiredtomasteriftheywanttolearnaforeignlanguage.Englishreadingcanimprovereader’sperceptionsoastogivealotofhelptoimprovelistening,speakingandwriting.Itcanincreaseknowledge,widentheirvisions,andenhancetheirinterestinEnglish.However,inChina,inprocessofforeignlanguagelearning,somelearnersseemtohavedifficultyinreadingaccuratelyandefficiently.Tohelpthelearnerbecomeamoreefficientreader,itiscrucialtoimprovetheirreadingability.Thispaperclearlystateshowweshouldimprovereadingabilitybythefollowingmethods:formingagoodhabitofreading,enlargingvocabulary,usingvariousreadingskillsandsoon.
Keywords:readingability;obstacle；improv
I.Introduction
Nowadays,asthedevelopmentofthesociety,theinfluenceoflearningEnglishlanguageisbecomingmoreandmorepopular.TodayEnglishiswidelyusedindifferentfields.Suchasinbusiness,diplomacy,art,film,Englishlearningandsoon.ForEnglishlearnersreadingisoneofthefourbasicskillswhichlearnersarerequiredtomasteriftheywanttolearnaforeignlanguage.Englishreadingcanimprovereader'sperceptionsoastogivealotofhelptoimprovelistening,speakingandwriting.Itcanincreaseknowledge,widentheirvisions,andenhancetheirinterestinEnglish.Soitisclearthatit'sveryimportanttoimproveEnglishreading.ButtheproblemisthatmanyEnglishlearnersseemtohavedifficultyinreadingaccuratelyandefficiently.Moreover,invariousinternationalanddomesticexaminations,Englishreadinghastakenlargerandlargerpart.Thescoretakesabout40%inthecollegeEnglishtestbandfourandsix.Inacertainextent,doingwellornotinthereadingcomprehensiondirectlyinfluencesthegradesofEnglishtests.Andwecannotstudyforeignlanguagewellwithoutimprovingthereadingability.What'smore,inthetraditionalmodeofteaching,teachersjustimpartbasicknowledge,andregardlessofcultivatingstudents'goodpsychologyofreading.Asaresult,studentsarepronetobringoutimpatience,anxiety,fearandsuchbadfeelings.Thereforebadpsychologyofreadinggreatlyaffectsimprovementofreadingability.Inthissituation,howtoimproveEnglishreadingdrawsmoreandmoreattention.ThispapertriestostatesomepointsabouthowtohelpEnglishlearnersimprovetheirreadingability.
Ⅱ.Reasonsforimprovingreadingability
Therearealotofreasonsforimprovingreadingability,suchasinallkindsofEnglishexaminations,readingmagazinesorbooksandmaterials.Differentpeoplehavedifferentreadingpurposes.Butthesameoneistogetmoreknowledgefromreading.Especiallyforstudents,readingcomprehensiontakesalargepartinallkindsofEnglishexaminations.Andthescoreofreadingcomprehensionmayinfluencethewholescoreinsomedegree.Soitisimportanttoimprovereadingability.
1.Helpinglearnersbecomeamoreefficientreader
Ifwewanttobeaefficientreader,wemustbeconfidentandactiveinreading.Somereadershavenoself-confidenceinreading.Beforereading,theyfearthattheycannotunderstandthepassage.Whentheymeetwithnewwords,theywillfeelsonervousastolosethecouragetogoonreadingit.Thesereadersaredefeatednotbytheirweaknessbutbytheirlackofconfidence.Weknowthatpeoplereadtogetinformationortolearnandabsorbortoenjoythemselves.So,whenyouarereading，thereisnoneedtofeelanypressure.Justtrytogettheinformationyouneedorenjoyyourself.Butthisisnotenough.Agoodreadershouldalsotrytocommunicatewiththeauthoractively.Trytoguesstheauthor’srealmeaningbetweenthelinesanddon’tforceyourownthoughtsupontheauthor’s.Eveniftherearesomenewwords,thatdoesnotmattermuch.Youdon’thavetoknowtheexactmeaningofeverynewword,justtrytoguessthemeaningofthewordfromthecontext.Tobecomeamoreefficientreader,youshouldalsoreadoftenandreadalot.Ifyoucandothese,youwillbeaefficientreadersoon.
2.Learnersreadindifferentwaysfordifferentpurposes
First,learnersreadindifferentwaysfordifferentpurposes.ChristineNuttallhaspointedoutthatcollegestudentscouldnotjustreadtextbooksintheirdailylife.Theywillreadvariousmaterials,suchasnovel,fiction,poetry,telephonedirectory,statistics,labelonmedicineleaflet,notice,andapplicationform.Theyshouldknowwhytheyreadeachone,whattheywanttogetfromit,andhowtheyreadit.Whentheyreadeachitem,theyneedtousedifferentkindsofreadingskills.Dotheyreadatelephonedirectorythesamewayasapoem?Howaboutatimetableoranotice?Readingtheseisverydifferentfromreadingabook.Thewaytheydealwitheachtextisstronglyinfluencedbythepurposeinreading.Quicklyscanningastreetmaptofindaplacewheretheywanttogoisverydifferentfromreadingalegaldocument.Theywillsoonrealizebigdifferencesinthereadingspeedtheyuse.
Second,learnersreadformeanings.Whatevertheirreasonsforreading(excludinganyreadingforlanguagelearning),itisnotverylikelythattheyreadjustforpronunciations,grammaticalstructures,syntax,words.Theyreadbecausetheywanttogetsomethingfromthewriting.Theywanttounderstandwhatthewriterwantstotellthem.Anarticlecannotonlygiveussomefacts,butalsobeenjoyment,ideasandfeelings.Nomatterwhatitis,whiletheyread,theywanttogetmessagesthatthewriterintended.Theyareinterestedinwhatthewritingmeant.
Itisobviousthatimprovingreadingabilityisveryimportantiftheywanttobeproficientreaders.
III.Someobstaclesinreading
Therearesomeobstaclestohinderlearnersfromimprovingtheirabilitiesinreadingcomprehensionintheprocessofreading.Inthispaper,wewilltalkaboutthreeobstacles,therearewordtowordreading,overrelyondictionary,slowreadingspeedandlackofculturebackground.
1.Wordtowordreading
Agoodreadershoulddevelopacorrectmethodofreading.Thatis,totrainhimselftoreadattentively(nottoreadback)andsilently(nottoreadaloud),sentencebysentence,notwordbyword.Whenevermeetinganewword,trytoguessthemeaningfromthecontext.Consultingthedictionaryfromtimetotimenotonlyaffectsone’sreadingspeedandthecomprehensionofthereadingmaterial,butalsowillgetthereaderfrustrated.
Whatevertheyread,mostofthemreadinasameway,wordbyword,whichisawasteoftimeandenergy.Weshouldreadingroupsratherthanasingleword.Readingclusterscanmakeitpossibletoimprovestudents’readingspeedandreadingcomprehension.Clusteringtrainsstudentstolookatgroupwordsinsteadofonewordatatime.
2.Overrelyondictionary
Itisnodoubtthatdictionarycanhelpusknownewwordseasily.Butitwilleffectourthinkingifweusedictionaryfrequently.Wecannotfollowtheauthor'sthinking,sowehavetoreadthecontentagainandagain.Itnotonlywastetime,butalsoeffectourunderstandingofthewholecontent.Sowe'dbetterlookupthenewwordsafterwereadthewholecontent.Andwecanalsoguessingthemeaningsfromtheword-formation.Formostofthenewwordswecanguessthemeaningofthembytheirwordformation.Compounding,prefixation,suffixationandconversionarethemaintypesofwordformation.Knowingthewaysoftheformationofthewords,youcanguessthemeaningsofthenewwordswithoutmuchdifficulty.
3.Slowreadingspeed
Ifyouarereadingformeaning，trytoreadfast.Somepeoplereadveryslowly.Theythinkthatreadingslowlyhelpsthemunderstandbetter.Thatisnotright.Asamateroffact,thefasteryouread,thebetteryouunderstand.Theexpression"hastemakeswaste"doesnotapplytoreading.Remember,nothinghurtsconcentrationmorethanreadingtooslowly.Yourmindwillkeepupwithyourreadingspeedifyouaskitto.Byalwaysreadingatyourtopspeed,youchallengeyourunderstandingandmakeiteasierforyourmindtoconcentrateonthematerial.Toimproveyourreadingspeed,youmustgetridofthefollowingbadhabits:(1)Pointatwordsorholdapenorapencilorrulerunderthelinewhilereading;(2)Mumblethewordstoyourselforsaythewordsinyourmind，thoughotherpeoplecannothearyoureading;(3)Readbackfromtimetotime;(4)Stopreadingatoccurrenceoftheunknownwordstolookthemupinthedictionary.
4.Lackofculturebackground
Foralongtime,peoplehavebeenworkingonhowtheculturalelementaffectslearningofEnglish.Anthropologistsandlinguistsregardknowledgeofculturalbackgroundandlanguagestructureasthekeyitems.PeopleoftenignoreEnglishcultureandlackbackgroundknowledge.TheyhaveverylittleorevennoknowledgeaboutEnglishspeakingcountries`culture."Therefore,theycouldnotunderstandortheycouldmisunderstandsomeidioms.Atlastitwillhinderthemfromimprovingreadingcomprehensionandreadingabilities.""Thebackgroundknowledgeisavitalfactortoaffectlearners'abilitiesinreadingcomprehension."
IV.Somewaystoimprovereadingability
DaiLinhaspointedoutclearlythatgoodlearninghabitsarethenecessarypremiseofsuccessfulstudy.LotsofEnglishlearnerscomplainthatreadingisadifficulttask.Itcan`tgivethemanybenefitsandusefulinformation.Afteranexaminationinreading,theyoftensaythattheirreadingspeedistooslow;theycan`tunderstandwhatthemeaningofthematerialsis;theirreadingabilitiesarepoor.Iftheyhavegoodreadinghabits,theycanflexiblyusevariousreadingskillsinatesttogethighmarks,andtheycanimprovetheirreadingabilities.
1.Enlargingvocabulary
TheEnglishlanguagehasabout750,000words,andmorenewwordsarecomingintousedaily.Also,wordsareconstantlybeingredefined.Eachwordtakesadditionalmeaningsastimepassesuntilithasmanymeanings.Ithasbeenprovedthatthereaderswithsmallstoreofvocabularywillfinditverydifficultinreadingcomprehension.Howtosolvethisproblem?Wecanbuildupourvocabularyfromthefollowingtwoaspects:
(1)Learningaboutwordformation
Firstly,learnaboutwordformation.Youcanenlargeyourvocabularybyusingtherulesofwordformation,ManywordsintheEnglishlanguagearemadeupofwordpartscalledroots,prefixes,andsuffixes,like“sad”,“sadly”,“sadness”,andsoon.Therefore,thismethodisusedtohelpreadersgetthemeaningofanunknownwordbyanalyzingthewordstructure,whichisbypidingwordsintousablepartssuchasroots,prefixesandsuffixes.Ifyouknowanumberofcommonlyusedprefixes,rootsandsuffixes,theywillbeofuseinunlockingthemeaningsofunknownwordsthatyoufindinyourreading.Forexample,whenyouknowtheword“courage”,“encourage，discourage，courageous”willnotbenewtoyou.
(2)Collectingthewordsyouoftenmeetinreading
Secondly,collectthenewwordsyouoftenmeetinreading.Thatdoesnotmeanencouragingyoutoconsultthedictionarywheneveryoumeetanewwordinreading.Theappropriatewayistotrytoguessthewordmeaningsfromcontextclues,fromthewordsaroundit,andthenyouwillgraduallyknowtheclearmeaningofthewordaftermeetingitoften.Andnow,ifyoulookitupinthedictionary,youwillhaveagoodmemoryofit.
2.Improveyourgrammar
Languageiscomposedofwordsandgrammaticalstructures.Theaccuraterateofcomprehensionisbasedonthemasteringdegreeofthewordsandgrammar.Incaseoflearningalanguage,forinstance,achildorabeginnerwholearnsaforeignlanguage,learnssomewordsfirst,thenbeginstogetintouchwiththeregulationofsentence-grammar,thenhecanusewordstomakesentenceshimself.Onlybyunderstandingtherulesofthegame,youcanwinthegame.Sometimes,wefindsomelearnersrecitealargenumberofwordsandtheycansaythemeaningofthemastheyseethem,butwhenthesewordsarearrangedintoasentence,theselearnerscannotmakesenseofthem.Why?Thatisbecausetheyarenotfamiliarwithgrammar.Grammaristheskeleton,whichproducesthevarietyofdifferentwordscombinations.Weknowthatifyouthreadcoinswithacord,youcancarryawaymanycoinsatatimeeasily;ifthecoinsscatteronthefloor,itishardtopickupeveryone.Grammarislikethecordtogivelifetothecombinationofwordsandmaketheexpressionpersified.Itmakesusknowtheapproval,interrogatoryorsurprisingtoneandthelike.MasteringgrammaristhebasicsteptomakeprogressonEnglishreading.
3.Usingvariousreadingskills
(1)Findingoutthetopicsentence
Thisskillisabasiconetograspthemainideaofanarticle.Thetwobasicpartsofaparagrapharethemainideaandthesupportingdetails.Theauthor'spointorpurpose,themainideaisusuallystatedinasinglesentence.Thesentencethatstatesthemainideainaparagraphiscalledthetopicsentence.Accordingtothetopicsentences,wecanlearnnotonlywhatorwhomthearticledescribesbutalsowhattheauthorwantsthereaderstoknow.Thetopicsentencealwaysappearsatthebeginningorattheendofaparagraph.Sometimeswecanreadthefirstandlastsentencesineachparagraphonly,omittherestofthem.Bydoingthis,wecangetthemeaningofeachparagrapheasily.Thisreadingskillwillreducetimeofreadingtheunimportantmessage,makeourreadingspeedquicklyandmakeusfindtherelevantmessagesquickly.
(2)SkimmingandScanning
Skimmingandscanningareskillsformakingfastsearchforinformation.Skimmingisawayofreadingmaterialsquickly,inordertolookforageneralidea,especiallywhenwetrytodecidewhethercarefulreadingwouldbedesirableorwhenthereisnotenoughtimetoreadcarefully.Likeskimming,scanningisalsoquickreading.However,inthiscase,thesearchismorefocused.Scanningandskimmingareimportantskills.Theydonotremovetheneedforcarefulreading,buttheyenablethereadertoselecttexts,orpartsoftexts,thatareworthspendingtimeon.
①Skimming
Skimmingisawayofreadingmaterialsquickly,inordertolookforageneralidea,especiallywhenwetrytodecidewhethercarefulreadingwouldbedesirableorwhenthereisnotenoughtimetoreadcarefully.Thisskill-typereadingcanbeusedwhenreadingnewspapers,magazines,novelsandsoforth,whichcannotonlyenlargehorizonbutalsobringenjoymentoflanguage.Buthowcanweskim?Forceyoureyestomovefast.Sweepacrosseachandeveryline.Pickuponlyafewkeywordsineachline.YouandImaynotpickupexactlythesamewordswhenweskimthesamepiece,butwewillbothgetaprettysimilarideaofwhatitisallabout.Aswebegintoskimapassage,weshouldreadthefirstparagraphatnormalspeedallthewaythrough.Becausetheopeningparagraphcontainsanintroductionoroverviewofwhatwillbetalkedabout.Then,fromthesecondparagraphon,wecanonlyreadasmuchofeachparagraphaswehavetoinordertodiscoverwhetheritcontainsamainideaoranyimportantdetails.Weskipovertheparts,whicharenonessentialtousuntilwereachtheendingparagraphs,whichweshouldreadmorecarefullybecausetheyoftencontainasummary.Thisskillofreadingiswidelyusedwhenonereadanexpositionoranessay.Whenonebeginstopracticeskimming,onemayfindthatitisnotfasterthannormalreading.However,withalittlepracticeoneshouldbeabletocovermaterialsattwoorfourtimestherateofnormalreading,withcomprehensionthatwillbeenoughforone'spurposes.
②Scanning
Likeskimming,scanningisalsoquickreading.However,inthiscase,thesearchismorefocused.Toscanistoreadquicklyinordertofindaparticularpointofinformation.Scanningskillisparticularlyhelpfulwhenwewanttoconsultadictionary,lookforacertainadvertisement(huntingforajob,rentingahouse,etc.).Forexample,whenwelookfortheamountorthenumberofsomething,wesimplylookattheArabicnumerals;whenwewanttofindthenameofapersonoranorganization,wejustscanforthewordsbeginningwithacapitalletter.Sometimesbeforewereadarticlesofthiskind,wecanreadthequestionsfirst.Whenreading,youneedtokeepthequestionsinyourmindallthetime,readitwithsomeaims，thenreadthearticleasquicklyasyoucan．Thepartsthatarenotrelevantwiththequestionsareswallowedatahighspeed,andtheotherrelevantmessagesaretastedatalittleslowspeed.Theanswersofscanningmustbeaccurate.It'swarnedthatyoushouldnotpayattentiontothereadingspeed,ifso,youcan'tlocatetherightanswersandscanningisofnouseatall.
(3)Guessingthemeaningofnewwords
Everyoneknowsthatnewwordsandexpressionsarealwayseasilyfoundwhenreadinganarticle.Someofthemcanbeignoredbecausetheyarenotsonecessaryforyoutograspthemainideaofanarticleoranswerthequestions.However,therearealsoalotofnewwords,whicharekeywordstothearticle.Ifyoudonotunderstandthemeaningsofthesewordswillgreatlyaffecttheunderstandingofthearticle.Sotheabilityofguessingthemeaningsofthenewwordsisveryimportantinreading.Forthisreason,youmusttrytoimprovetheabilityofguessingthemeaningsofthenewwordsorexpressions.
①Guessingthemeaningsfromthecontexts.Themeaningsofthewordscanbeguessedfromthegiveninformationinthecontexts.②Guessingthemeaningsfromthecontrasts.Duringthecourseofreadinganarticle，sometimesthelearnerscaninferanoppositeorsimilarmeaningbythemeaningsofthegivenwords.③Guessingthemeaningsfromthedefinitions.Whenwritinganarticle，sometimesthewriterwillgiveasuitabledefinitiontoaword.Wecanguessthemeaningsofthenewwordsbythesegivendefinitionseasily.
V.Conclusion
Asstatedabove,itisverynecessaryandimportanttodevelopthestudents'abilityofreading.However,readingisanartnevercompletelymastered.Romewasnotbuiltinaday.Inotherwords,youwillnotbecomegreatovernight.Itisnecessaryforustokeeponapplyingthesemethodstoourdailyreadinginordertoconsolidateandimproveourreadingability.Hereanotherthingshouldbemadeclear.Eachpersonhashisownadvantagesanddisadvantages.Oneshouldkeeponaccumulatingexperienceandseekoutthedrawbacks.ThediscussionaboveonreadingisjustanattempttofindoutthemethodsinEnglishreading.Onlyintheprocessofreading,canyoudiscovertherightwayforyourself.
Reference:
[1]迟志娟,丁庆安.浅谈如何提高学生英语阅读能力[J].山东省农业管理干部学院学报,2004(6).
[2]BenE.Johnson.Readingedge:ThirteenWaystoBuildReadingComprehension[M].Boston:HoughtonMifflinCompany,1998.
[3]ChristineNuttall.TeachingReadingSkillsinaForeignLanguage[M].Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress,2003.
作者单位：安徽省无为县十里墩中心校
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