Abstract

In senior high schools, the main tasks of students’ English study have been transferred from grammars to comprehensive using, especially the English reading. So this thesis presents the correlation between reading strategies and reading efficiency and guides English reading teaching in senior high schools through the comparative study of senior high students’ use of English reading strategies between advanced class and common class. The research questions are four: (1) what’s the correlation between reading strategies and reading efficiency? (2) What strategies do advanced class students use? (3) What strategies do common class students use? (4) What’s the difference in quantity of using reading strategy between advanced class and common class?

To do the comparative study, 120 students in Longquan NO.1 middle school have been observed and surveyed, with half of them from advanced classes and the other half from common classes (only from senior grade 1 and 2). The questionnaire, (also named Strategy Inventory for Reading) is adapted from Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), which has been accepted and used widely all over the world. Besides, 5 students from advanced classes and common classes respectively have been interviewed, with their answers as supplementary to the questionnaire. 

Through the analysis of findings, the conclusions are following.

There is a positive correlation between reading strategies using and reading efficiency. And for students, they use more social-effect strategies more than cognitive strategies, no matter in advanced classes or common classes. But students in common classes use fewer reading strategies than those in advanced classes and rarely adopt background information, translation and self-monitoring strategies. In the case of affect strategies, students in advance classes are usually more confident than those in common classes;

According to the findings and conclusions, senior high English teachers should pay more attention to raising students’ awareness of using reading strategies and get knowledge of students’ reading strategy use.

Moreover, poor readers should be motivated more.

Key words: English reading strategy; comparative study; cognitive strategies; metacognitive strategies; social-affective strategies.

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Research Background-1

1.2 Research content-2

1.3 significance of study-2

1.4 structure of thesis-3

Chapter two Literature Review-4

2.1 Introduction to reading strategies-4

2.1.1 The definition of reading strategy-4

2.1.2 The classification of reading strategy-5

2.2 Introduction to reading model-6

2.2.1 Bottom-up model-7

2.2.2 Top-down model-8

2.2.3 Interactive model-9

2.3 Empirical Studies on English Reading Strategies Home and Abroad-9

2.3.1 Previous Studies on English Reading Strategies in Foreign Countries-10

2.3.2 Previous Studies on English Reading Strategies in China-11

Chapter Three Methodology-13

3.1 Research Questions-13

3.2 Participants-14

3.3 Instruments-14

3.3.1 Checklist-14

3.3.2 Interview-15

3.3.3 Questionnaire-16

3.4 Method of Data Analysis-16

Chapter Four Findings and Discussion-18

4.1 Differences in Types of Reading Strategy between Advanced Class and Common Class-18

4.2 Differences in Quantity of Reading Strategy between Advanced Class and Common Class-21

Chapter Five Conclusion-23

5.1 Summary of Major Findings-23

5.2 Implications of the Research-24

5.3 Limitations of the Research-24

Bibliography-25

Appendix Ⅰ-27

Appendix Ⅱ-29

Appendix Ⅲ-30

Acknowledgements-31