How to Improve the Ability of English Reading英语专业毕业论文.docx

How to Improve the Ability of English ReadingAcknowledgementsI would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me during the writing of this thesis. I gratefully acknowledge the help of my supervisor Professor Wang who has helped to work out the outline, giving me enlightening advice throughout the whole process of the present thesis. Without his patient instruction, insightful criticism and expert guidance, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible. Also I feel grateful to my friends especially my lovely four study partners who gave me a lot of valuable suggestions, supervision and critiques which are of help and importance in making the thesis a reality, Last but not the least, my gratitude also extends to my family who have been assisting, supporting and caring for me all of my life.AbstractIn English studying, the learners will confront with different kinds of obstacles. This paper explores the factors of hindering English reading, the solutions to getting rid of those obstacles in English reading and ways to improve the English reading ability. The paper falls into three main parts. In the first part, several factors of hindering English reading ability will be listed such as lack of enough vocabulary, lack of the knowledge of grammar, lack of background knowledge and lack of reading skills and strategies. I will analysis these problems through example and statistics. After finding out obstacles in English reading, in the second part, corresponding solutions will be put forward. It consists of the following five aspects: Enriching and enlarging the background knowledge; Mastering the correct methods of thinking; Studying well grammar and vocabulary; Reinforcing of learning motivation and cultivating the good reading habit. The last part is about the ways to improve English reading ability and skill. In this part, there are many reading skills will be given. As we all know, the reading material is consisted of words, sentences and paragraph. So the skills are mainly around them.Key words：factor; solution; obstacle; English reading ability ; hindering English reading ability; reading skills 摘要在英语学习中，学习者会碰到各种各样的障碍。这篇论文主要是探讨英语阅读中的障碍，克服这些障碍的措施以及提高英语阅读能力的方法。本文主要分为三个部分。第一部分，将分析英语阅读中的一些障碍，如词汇量的缺少, 语法知识的缺乏，背景知识的不足以及缺少阅读技巧, 我将通过举例和数据等方法分析这些问题。第二部分将根据阅读障碍提出一些相应的补救措施，包括扩大背景知识量，掌握思考的方式，学好语法和扩大词汇，加强学习能动性和培养良好的阅读习。最后一个部分是关于阅读技巧的，在这一部分内容，很多阅读的技巧会被提到。众所周知的，英语阅读由单词，句子和段落组成。因此那些技巧都是围绕这些方面的。关键词：因素；方法；障碍；英语阅读能力；妨碍英语阅读能力；阅读技巧 ContentsAcknowledgements .iAbstract . ii摘要.iii1. Introduction.12.The importance of improving reading ability13. Factors of hindering English reading ability.23.1 Lack of enough vocabulary.23.2 Lack of the knowledge of grammar.33.3 Lack of background knowledge.33.4 Lack of reading skills and strategies.44. Solutions to getting rid of obstacles in English reading.54.1 Enriching and enlarging the background knowledge. .54.2 Mastering the correct methods of thinking.64.3 Studying well grammar and vocabulary .64.4 Reinforcing of learning motivation.74.5 Cultivating the good reading habit85. Ways to improve English reading ability and skills.9 5.1 Vocabulary Reading9 5.1.1 Using context clues forward meanings9 5.1.2 Using words clues forward meanings10 5.2 Sentence Reading10 5.2.1 Reading beyond the lines 5.2.2 Reading for implied meanings 5.3 Paragraph Reading 5.3.1 Looking for the topic sentence 5.3.2 Recognizing importance facts or details 5.4 Mastering scanning and skimming in reading 5.4.1 Discovering the authors purpose6. Conclusion.Bibliography .171. IntroductionWith the development of the society, English becomes more useful and important in our daily life. As a carrier of information, it is used worldwide in numerous domains of human life. We talk with others and read something everyday. And sometimes we have to read some English passages, say something in English, so improving our English ability is very necessary. Whats more, of the five technical abilities which contain listening, speaking, reading, writing, reading and translation, English reading will be used most frequently by the students in the future. As an important skill we should command, English reading also plays a vital role in school exam. Almost all the English learners know the importance of the English reading. In English reading, the reading result depends on reading efficiency and reading speed. However many students have big obstacles in English reading. They get a low mark in this part. So in this paper I will explore the factors of the obstacles, then some solutions will be worked out to solve those problems and at the same time some ways to improve English reading ability will be put forward. These three ideas consist of this paper.2. The importance of improving the reading abilityCentury 21 is a multiple developing century. With the rapid development of the technique such as computer, biotechnology, each country communicate with each other in economics, culture, science, education and politics more and more. In the age of knowledge explosion, if you want to not be wiped off by the society, you should continuously get the latest new or scientific development. Reading as a way of acquiring information is also the convenient way to communicate with others. In sum, English reading ability is vital to ones life, so commanding some reading skills is very necessary.Nowadays, English as a universal language is valued in Chinese education. Reading as a basic skill is an important item to be test in school. In tem4 and tem6 test, the ratio of English reading is about 40%. But many students have some problems on reading which will influence their marks. For example most students will be annoyed by the new words in the reading material, or they know most words, but they even dont choose the right point. Actually, reading doesnt simply depended on vocabulary, and it also needs some reading skills. However, both teachers and students usually ignore the importance of these skills. But reading is the main part of test. So it is necessary to teach students the reading ability which will help them improve the reading ability.3. Factors of hindering English reading abilityChristine Nuttall says reading is a process in which readers select, classify and interpret information according to experience, information and knowledge they have in their minds. Reading is a communicative activity between writer and reader in written form. But in English reading, there are many factors influence English reading ability such as vocabulary, grammar, background knowledge problems. So some factors will be list in the following passages.3.1 Lack of enough vocabularyAs we all know, vocabulary problem is the most basic problem in English studying, and the vocabulary is the basic of English listening, reading, writing, translating and other language skills. (韩满玲; 邓保中 2006:8)With this basic element, then you can improve English reading ability. If the reader even cant know the meaning of the word, let alone the meaning of the passage. According to a survey, many students will be annoyed when they meet the new words, and they cant do with the new words properly, then they will lose interest to read the latter material. In addition, many students will skip the new words, which will influence their reading effects. Furthermore, they think that noting down new words is very boring which brings down the lack of enough vocabulary. Moreover, some students just learn one meaning of the word, but as we all know, the meaning of the word in different context has different definition and many words has more than one meaning. Ordinarily, if the new words in the passage beyond 4%, the reader will feel it difficult to understand the meaning (陈昭雪2008:9). As an ordinary reader, we should have a command of 4000-5000, and with the development of society, the new words spring up constantly. The requirement of the vocabulary is higher and higher.In a word, if one hasnt enough vocabulary, it is difficult for him to do the English reading well, also it maybe affect his work and communication. 3.2 Lack of knowledge of grammarEnglish is a logic language. There are many sentence structures and tense in English, such as inversion sentence, elliptical sentence, subjunctive mood and so on. So grammar and reading efficiency are closely related. If one wants to know the meaning of the passage correctly, he must have strong grammar analysis ability. Whats more, sometimes the reader can guess new words by using grammar which will be help to improve reading efficiency. For example: The purpose of the game is to catch “ringers”, students who take tests for other students. It is an appositive clause, so the meaning of “ringers” is explained in the latter. Sometimes the students know the meaning of every word, but the structure of the sentence is so sophisticated that they almost cant understand the meaning or misunderstanding the meaning. For example, the sentence: “I would have finished the homework before 10:00 tonight.” If the student doesnt know the meaning of “would have done something”, perhaps he will translate it to “我在今天10点前完成了回家作业”，but the true meaning is “我本可以在今晚10点前完成回家作业（实际是没有完成）”. Whats more, a research with 202 students showed that 22.28% of them skipped the difficult sentences which will influence the reading efficient. < Therefore, grammar is one of the factors of hindering the English reading.3.3 Lack of background knowledgeLa Berg and Samuels think that reading is both decoding and understanding. To the second language learner, commanding vocabulary, grammar is helpful to decoding. But in the course of reading, many readers are still at sea though they have command a large vocabulary. Consequently, reading is not simply the words accumulation. When people contact the new thing, they will relate it to their past records or past experience. So background knowledge cant be underestimated. 洪流，吴桂霞. 评Goodman的心理语言阅读模式J. 外语教学,1998,(1).For example, a relative survey has been held. There are 200 students of computer and law subject took part in the survey. The organizer assigned two reading materials of reading and law to them. The result showed that computer students read computer passage faster than law students, and the law students read law passage faster the computer students. In addition, the computer students get higher mark than the law students when both of them read the computer material. At the same time, the law students get higher mark in law than the computer students. So it is obviously that the background knowledge has a big influence on the reading speed.王翠翠, 祖林. 背景知识对英语阅读理解影响的实证性研究 J. 衡水学院学报, 2008, (127).3.4 Lack of reading skills and strategiesReading skills and strategies is the aspect which students maybe ignore. According to the investigation, students reading skills ability should be improved and many teachers also havent put enough attention on the reading skills training. In addition, the more reading skills are used, the higher mark the students get.(李君健 2008: 115).Actually, the correct reading skills and strategies will improve the reading efficient. To different reading target, different reading skill will be adopted. Some students often read passages one line after the other, one word after another which it is sometimes unnecessary. If you just want to find the topic sentence, you just need scanning. Except it, many students will look after the word at once when they meet the new word, which will lead to create a diversion and decrease the sense of wholeness. But maybe there is no need to do so, for example, you can use grammar or the context to guess the meaning of the new word. On the other hand, like Chinese article, there are also many types of the English articles such as argumentative essay, description and so on. According to different type, different methods can be used. 4. Solutions to getting rid of obstacles in English readingIf one wants to improve his reading ability, he must get rid of those obstacles. According to the points discussed above, some homologous solutions have been listed. If you want to solve those problems, you should act at one. There is a saying:” Actions speak louder than words.”4.1 Enriching and enlarging the background knowledgeFirst, some games like brainstorming can be carried out. At first, someone put forward a topic, then, about 4 or 5 people from different professional field chat with each other to extend this topic, as a result of different personal experience, someone can learn or get information from others which can enrich ones background knowledge.Second, multimedia method can be used. With the development of the technique, video-audio technique has developed rapidly. Through watching the vivid video, it can stimulate ones learning interest to research the relational knowledge. In the course of watching TV, self-question is a very useful method to arouse ones zeal for knowledge. Third point is going out if you have time. It is not essential that you must go abroad. Traveling to some nearby place is also right, or you may just go to the park. Doing so enlarges ones view. When you see more, then you can think deeper. The personal experience is very useful.The last but the most important is reading different type of reading material that covers a wide range of subject filed. It can enlarge ones eye view and learn different knowledge. There are different kinds of reading materials such as books, newspaper, magazines, E-books and so on. Network resource is very rich and convenient, so it is a quite good way of gaining knowledge. From time to time, we need to learn something which we are not interested in, though it sounds a little strange, but maybe we will confront with that knowledge one day.4.2 Mastering the correct methods of thinkingCorrect methods of thinking can lend a helping hand to the reading speed. Commanding right way can effectively enhance reading speed.Learn to vary your reading speed whenever you can. You will not finish your reading assignment if you read everything in the same way and at the same speed. There is no one speed appropriate for every kind of rea