2017届福建省光泽第一中学高中英语教师论文：《How to improve students》

　　福建省光泽第一中学2017高中英语教师论文 How to improve students

　　Reading a process that readers try to reappear the information which is conveyed in sign language and get the main idea that the writer expresses in their articles, by realizing sign language.

　　In learning English, reading is an important means to improve. It is more than a skill. It can not only help us in learning English, but also is our main way to learn about the outside world. To master English, English reading ability should be had stressed on. But for our Chinese English learners, reading is a big problem. In the article, I intend to analyze the reasons that make reading a hard task and try to search for some ways to solve the problems.

　　II．Obstacles of reading

　　When we learn something, our difficulties often come from the effect from intellectual and nonintellectual factors. That is the same case in learning English.

　　2.1 Intellectual Obstacles

　　2.1.1 The obstacle from vocabulary

　　Vocabulary is to a language what bricks and tiles are to a building. It is a basic unit of language. Obviously, when we learn English, the first thing we should do is enlarge our English vocabulary as much as possible. It is unthinkable that we can learn English well without enough vocabulary. How can you imagine it that learners can get the idea of articles when they meet with a large number of new words or expressions in reading?

　　2.1.2 Obstacle from grammar

　　Sentences are formed with words under some language rule system, that is, grammar, without which those words put together are just meaningless. Grammar can helps us understand sentences more accurately. Though some experts insist on that grammar plays a weak role in learning English, in fact, one of the learners’ obstacles of reading results from their poor knowledge of grammar.

　　2.1.3 Cultural Background

　　Any language conveys and reflects its culture. When we are learning a language, we have to contact inevitably its culture. It is also the case in English. Learning about the cultural background in English countries is a must in learning English. So, due to the lack of the knowledge of the English Culture Background, it turns out reasonable that learners are still can’t get the idea writers express in their passages even though they understand thoroughly literal meanings.

　　2.2 Nonintellectual Obstacles

　　2.2.1 Mental Obstacle

　　Faced with new things, we feel a little bit nervous, which is very common in learning English. Sometimes it can inspire us to improve ourselves. However, it may also have some bad effects on us. Most learners, because of the lack of self-confidence, is always worrying their faults and afraid to make mistakes. Before reading, they fear that they can’t understand passages; while reading they worry what they should do when meeting some new words and phrases. What’s worse, they dare not guess or make predictions. Some learners say, “what if I think ahead while I am reading but my predictions are wrong?

　　2.2.2 Reading Habits

　　Of the nonintellectual obstacles, a bad reading habit is another one to restrict reading ability. From example, some learners keep pointing at word by word with a pen or so while reading; some still read aloud in their mind though there is no movement of throat; some read back from time to time to make sure they have catch meanings; and some consult a dictionary the moment they meet a new word. Those bad habits affect badly the speed of reading and comprehending.

　　2.2.3 Reading skills

　　According to different purposes, there are two main methods of reading: intensive reading and extensive reading. Intensive reading aims at catching the pith of an article, including the usages of words and phrases, the structures of sentences, the structures of the article, the thought of the writer, the purpose that the author wrote the article and so on. As Bacon said, when we do intensive reading, we should “chew” and “digest” an article.

　　If we just want to search for some useful information for ourselves, we may do extensive reading. It contains two important and useful skills: skimming and scanning.

　　When we are not very clear about the purpose of reading or reading skills, obviously, it is difficult to improve our English reading ability.

　　III. The ways to improve reading ability

　　The improvement of reading ability is a systemic job. It is involved in vocabulary, grammar, culture, reading skills and so on. And also, the job can not be achieved in a short time. So, in order to improve our reading ability, we need not only patience and perseverance but also some scientific ways. Now, let’s discuss the ways to improve reading ability.

　　3.1 Build up vocabulary

　　As is mentioned above, vocabulary is vital in learning English. Therefore, the first thing we have to do is to build up adequate vocabulary. It is easier said than done. Numerous English words are all the time the biggest problem for English learners in China. How to solve the problem?

　　3.1.1 To solve the problem of new words

　　New words prevent students from reading fast. Some students don’t know how to do when they meet new words in reading. They always look up new words in a

　　dictionary to get the exact meaning. In fact, it lowers reading speed. It is difficult for students to read widely.

　　There are two kinds of new words in reading. One is the kind of words which don’t affect learners’ comprehension. Another is those that affect their reading. If the words that don’t affect your reading, let it be. For example, “a German told me that all over China they use Gourmet powder in their food. It will give you higher blood pressure’. We may know that gourmet means a kind of thing that can be eaten though not knowing its exact meaning. But it doesn’t matter. So, in reading, we should know it is unnecessary to look up every new word met in a passage. Or it will affect reading ability.

　　As for those that affect our comprehension, there are many ways to guess their meanings. You may find some hints in the context. For example, Context, some phrases, such as “means”, “refer to”, “ in other words”, “ that is to say” are all the hints.

　　Model 1 A middle-aged professor said that his wife was too extravagant, because no matter how much he give her for the household expenses, she always ran short. In this sentence, the meaning of the word “extravagant” can be easily guessed.

　　Model 2 Prometheus stayed chained to the lock for many years. Then at last the mighty. Hercules came forth and broke the bonds-but that is another of the wonderful stories of the Greeks. In this paragraph, the words “stayed chained” are the hint, so you can guess that “bonds” means.

　　It is easier to explain difficult words by examples. Students can guess the meaning of new words by using examples. The following words are often used in comparison. They are but, while, whatever, yet, otherwise etc. According to these words, student can guess the meaning easily.

　　Besides the ways mentioned above, word-formation is also a good one to guess meanings of new words. As we know, many English words are composed of roots with different prefixes or suffixes. For example, cover - recover – recoverable- irrecoverable –irrecoverably. Provided that students learn a little about roots, prefixes or suffixes, it is a bit easier to guess new words. Synthesis means two words become one word. If they know two words respectively, they can guess the complex word. For example, dryland is composed of dry and land. It means “drought place”. Some complex words have special meanings such as “green-house”. It refers to the house in which plants grow but not one with green color covering it. In English, there is no need to change the morphology of. Noun and verb can be transformed from each other. Adjective can be transformed into verb and noun.

　　3.1.2 To learn a certain number of new words by heart every day

　　Young students have good memory of it. It’s possible for students to memorize some words every day without much difficult. Students can write new words on a booklet after they know the meanings. Everyday they can recite them in the booklet in their spare time. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t waste time. They meet them often and remember them again and again. So vocabulary is enlarged very quickly. They can ask their teacher to choose some words for them. This is very helpful.

　　Gradually, they will know the clear meaning of word after meeting it often. When they meet these words in their reading, they will feel easy “Aha, I’ve known their meanings.” So they will feel confident and more interested in reading .Their reading ability will be improved a lot.

　　3.2 To consolidate grammar

　　Grammar is always the important part in English. If students learn enough English grammar, they understand the structure of sentences generally. So it is easier to know the meaning. There are many sentence patterns and usages in reading. Just as formulas in mathematics, similar words are made up of different sentences. It is helpful for students to remember some usages, which can help them understand the sentences easily.

　　Sometimes, it seems that some phrases are not accord with grammar when students read an article. Although there are no new words, it is difficult to understand the meaning. At this moment, students may meet a usage. If students have the above problems, they need remember every usage just as reciting the vocabulary. Then their reading ability will be improved gradually.

　　For example, “I went out into the street to discover as best I could what time it was”. Many students don’t know how to understand the sentence. The most important point is that they don’t know the meaning of “at best”. If they know its meaning, it is easy to understand the sentence.

　　There are many above examples in reading. In sum, it is very helpful for students to consolidate the grammar.

　　3.3 Read a lot

　　In the above reading skills, I talked about improving students’ reading ability after doing a lot of exercise. No matter how good the skills are, students should read a lot and exercise a lot by themselves. Then students will learn it well. Take the college students for examples; their intensive reading should be about 30,000 words. And extensive reading should be 120,000 words in CET-4 after they finish the homework. So it is necessary to use this skill.

　　Students want to make further improvement on reading ability. They’d better have large reading. Through large reading, students can cultivate the sense of language and the insight of English.

　　It is important to read original work. Students are immersed in real foreign culture. So it is useful for students to grasp the essence of English. Hence I suggest students to read original work on purpose in their spare time, especially literature and social science.

　　3.4 Use scientific ways and social science

　　Although some students recite lots of words and phrases, learn grammar well and read many articles, their reading ability isn’t improved. Maybe they suffer from a common problem in English. One reason is they always have a mechanical memorizing, but they don’t think hard. Another reason is they don’t pay more attention on scientific ways in reading. As we know, the way is usually very important in reading. They not only need scientific ways, but also they should study diligently. Otherwise they’ll get half the result with twice the effort.

　　You know, reading usually can be divided into two kinds: reading for pleasure and reading for knowledge. No matter what kind students use in reading exercise, they should have a definite purpose on improving reading ability. For example, people are concerned about the destiny of the character and the plot. By contrast, people want to find out the cause and effect of the incident.

　　Gradually speaking, reading ability contains two requirements: accuracy and fluency. Students always ignore them. In CET-4 or CET-6, some students can’t finish reading comprehension in 35 minutes in the exam. As a result, they can’t get good marks. Accuracy and fluency are indivisible. Anyway, students must improve these abilities through exercising a lot.

　　As we know, the area people can see is limited. So the information they get is limited too. Just as seeing the words. People stand in front of woods, but they only see one leave by one forest. It is very necessary to broaden their eyesight. So is reading. How can students catch more information in the limited area?

　　There are two major methods of improving reading vocabulary. One is to read widely thus experiencing many words reading in their context. The other is to learn some basic reading skills such as eye-movement, phrase reading, identifying key words, skimming and scanning techniques.

　　3.4.1 Training eye-movement

　　Developing eye-hand co-ordination. Apart from being necessary for holding the book and turning the pages, the hands perform the unique function of leading the eyes down page after page with the smoothness and rhythm that characterize all successful rapid reading. Developing word and phrase recognition. Place your hand on the page, move your pacing hand from page to page smoothly. Have the eyes alert, try to see as many words as possible. Don’t slow down for any reason and don’t skim or skip words. Drive yourself to recognize all words as you pass over them. But I hear some students say, “What of I miss something?” In fact, students should practice increasing the rate their eyes more across the page. Do not let yourself “say” the words in your mind. Just know that you have seen the words and pass on many words at a time smoothly.

　　3.4.2 Avoid pronouncing words to yourself (no vocalization)

　　3.4.3 Minimizing regressions

　　3.4.4 Cultivate the habit of phrase reading (not word-for-word reading)

　　The great value of investigation in eye movements is the picture they furnish of the different ways the mind works in perceiving reading symbols: They tell us that the mind of the poor reader loafs along, picking up very small units at a time, while the eyes of the excellent reader race over the lines, gathering an entire meaningful idea at each glance.

　　Scanning is a type of reading. Students can get a good about the material by taking a few moments off to read the title, chapter headings, section titles and headlines. The purpose of scanning is to get a quick understanding of what you expect from the reading, so that they will know what they are reading as they go along.

　　3.4.6 Read fast

　　If you are reading for meaning, try to read fast. Some students read very slowly. They think that reading slowly helps them understand better. That is not right. As a matter of fact, the faster you read, the better you understand. The expression “Haste makes waste” does not apply to reading. Remember nothing hurts concentrate on the material.

　　3.4.7 To Look for transitions

　　When a runner in a relay race passes his relay baton to another team member, his team keeps moving ahead when a reader see transitions, he knows that the writer keeps his ideas moving ahead.

　　Transitions are words or phrases that join one idea to another or draw a clearer relation between two ideas. Transitions can more closely link with both sentences and paragraphs. Knowing different transitions helps us expect what kind of information will be given in the sentence, within the paragraph and between paragraphs.

　　3.5 Enlarge the knowledge and familiar with different culture

　　Students always pay more attention to remember cultural difference in read. If students are abundant in cultural background, it is helpful for them to read fluently. And students can compare with different cultures in reading, which gives them a deep impression.

　　Besides different cultures, students can enlarge the knowledge in daily life. For example, they can read various of books, newspapers and magazines. Or students can read some English description in pickings. As we know, the style of articles in CET-4 or CET-6 is wide such as science, history or political. So if students are familiar with this information, I’m sure it’s helpful to finish the tasks.

　　3.6 Be confident and active in reading

　　Some students have no self-confidence in reading. Before reading, they fear that they can’t understand the passage. When they meet with new words, they will feel so nervous as to lose the courage to go on reading it. These students are defeated by their lack of confidence.

　　We know that students read to get information or to learn and absorb or to enjoy themselves. So when students are reading, there is no need to feel any pressure. Just try to get the information you need or enjoy themselves. But this is not enough. A good reader should also try to communicate with the author activity. Try to guess the author’s real meaning between the lines and don’t force your own thoughts upon the author’s. Even if there are some new words, that doesn’t matter much. Students don’t have to know the exact meaning of every new word, just try to guess the word’s meaning from the context.

　　Of course, students should choose the reasonable reading material at first. If the reading material is too difficult, students will lose heart. For example, students go through the passage. There are many new words in the passage. They can’t understand the context. Gradually, they will have no self-confidence in reading.

　　In a word, to become a good reader, they should read often and read a lot and read the reasonable material. And to learn about English culture will be of great help too.

　　There are a lot of reading exercises in an examination today. But all these readings must be done in limited time. So students are asked to read them correctly and with a certain speed. How can students improve reading ability quickly in an examination? I talk about some skills. In an examination, students want to gain the information, which the question asks, they can’t read the material in a usual way, they can’t read the whole material word by word. They gad have to omit some sentences, sometimes even a whole paragraph, which have nothing to do with the questions. I think they might read the given question fast as well than the material. There is an advantage to do this. When they read the material with the questions, they can save their time.

　　VI. Conclusion

　　In conclusion, owing to the limited scope of questionnaires, this thesis can only reflect very roughly that how to improve students’ reading ability and the importance of reading. There is a proverb saying: “Rome is not built in a day”. To improve students reading ability, it is not an easy work. Provided that students use exact reading skills, cultivate their interests, read widely, accumulate the vocabulary and have good reading habit. At last, I’m sure that students’ reading ability can be improves gradually.

　　It is obvious that this paper has a tremendous limitation, due to the less enough number of questionnaires, which is indeed too small to achieve any generalizations or provide any suggestions.