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1、English Reading Skills for College StudentsAutho： Supervisor： School of Foreign Studeies Fuyang Teachers College,Anhui ProvinceMay,2008学位论文浅谈大学英语阅读技巧 （学号）指导老师姓名_ 职称_单 位_专业名称_申请学级别_学位授予单位 _2009年 5月English Reading Skills for College StudentsAbstract Reading is one the four important skills in English
2、as second or foreign language . It is also a skill that the students need to possess to support independent and selt-directed learning.With the Information Ages arrival,the English materials gradually change from paper materials to electronic ones. So,it becomes more important for English majors to
3、speed up their reading in order to acquire as much information as possible. Thus, fostering a good English reading habit is essential for students. And being able to adopt different reading skills for different reading materials and purposes_will also help the students read more effectively.The pape
4、r mainly concerns some English reading skills and discusses how to foster good English reading habits for college students.Ked wodes:charcteristics;English reading;make notes;forter the English reading habits浅谈大学英语阅读技巧摘要阅读是学习第二外语的必须掌握的四项基本技能之一，又是大学生用于自学须掌握的学习策略和技巧。随着信息时代的到来，英语阅读材料渐渐由传统的纸质材料向电子读物转变，提
5、高英语专业学生的阅读速度尽可能多的获取信息变得越来越重要。因此学生有必要养成良好的英语阅读习惯。学生能对不同的英语阅读材料和不同的阅读，目的采用不同的阅读方法，也将有助于他们更加有效的阅读。本文要叙述一些与大学生相关的英语阅读技巧，并且讨论了如何养成良好的英语阅读习惯。关键词 特点：英语阅读；培养英语阅读习惯1. IntruductionAs reading is a part of academic literacy,Englishl teachers usually have high expectations of a students ability to cope with the
6、demands of reading in English.Most college students wish to read more books.Reading is a way for college students to be more knowledgeable and successful. However,it is alse an activity that many college students dont enjoy very much.To succeed at schools,studentd need to possess a range strategies
7、and skills that support self-directed learning.Traditionally,many of these strategies and skills,some of which are highly generic, are not explicitly taught to students in the expectation that students either already have these skills,or will naturally acquire and develop these skills in their couse
8、 of study.In order to improve the college studentsability of English reading,we should answer the following question:What are the English reading habits of students?How to be become an effective reader?How to foster the English reading habits?2. The characteristics of college studentsWith the develo
9、pment of society,science and technology develop at high speed and the competition in the society become sharp.Students in the pase have shown that the exam-oriented educational system promotes rote learning,and so that there needs to be a paradigm shift in how the college students view education and
10、 about the way they lenrn.Most college students read English materials only to pass exams and do not read for pleasure.However,the situation changes now.In order to become well-learntpeople that the society needs,most college students long for extensive English reading,hoping to do preparation for t
11、he future job by this way.At the same time,the purposes of college students are to complete the studies and to obtain good results.In order to adapt to the demands of society and school,college students treat seeking knowledge as the first duty.They relate themselves to the society closely,hoping to
12、 enrich themselves through reading and become the learned persons who can face the challenges of the society.Therefore,the motivation of the majority of change from the paper materials to the electronic reading materials.The Internet that opens another window for the college students becomes the mos
13、t convenient tool for college some level,but many do not read effectively.In other words,many college students take it for grantered that they could understand concepts or lessons by memorizing the English words and information rather than understanding the ideas that are expressed by the words.Cons
14、equently,information is retained mainly for the purpose of passing an exam;memorization is mistaken for learning.3. Effective English reading strategiesBecause a large portion of time at schoole is spent on working with written sources,and because there are lots of English materials to be covered in
15、 a short amount of time,it is essential that reading behaviors of English majors should be both purposeful and efficient.Reading is talking and disussing with the reader himself,with the auther and others.So as the readers,the first thing for the readers do is to accumulate information before readin
16、g.To ensure the good results of reading,the college students also need to develop effective reading strategies.Knowing how to read effectively involves accumulating background information before reading,selecting the English materials,understanding the structure of texts,how to read for different pu
17、rpose,and how to reflect on your reading.3.1Accumulating background information before reading“Reading is a receptive language process.It is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and with meanings that the reader constructs.There is
18、 thus an essential interaction between language and thought in reading.The writer encodes thoughts as language and the reader encodes the language thought.”Reading is not passive but active,and in face an interactive process that has been recognized for some time in first or native language reading.
19、1In the English reading,it is a process that needs not only the college studentsactive participation,predication and information processing,but also their prior experience and background knowledge.”Language is a part of culture and also the carrier and the container of culture.Lauguage and culture i
20、s closely related,ench influencing and shaping the other.To learn a foreign language implies to learn the culture in which it is spoken.”2”Reading is a kind of verbal communication.The readers communicate with the author(s)through the text.In this way,culture factors are inherent to the reading act
21、and therefore influence the readerscontrol over the input(Byra met al1994)”.In the reading process,we cannot understand or interper a text without the influence of our previous social experience and social context in which the reading takes place.The text we read,the topic we are interested in as we
22、ll as the way we approach are culturally constructed(Kress,1989).”3The cultural factors play an important role in the process of English reading.Some cultural factors cause problems in reading directly so as to confuse college students and hinder their understanding.Other culture misunderstandings m
23、ay dangle in their mind and prevernt them from grasping the real meaning.4Culture and language are closely related to each other.As one way of communication,reading English materials reflect cultural differences through the language in written form.The readers should aware the cultural differences a
24、nd try their best to accumulate background knowledge of all sorts.So the first piece of advice that will be given here is to do as much reading as the students can.College students in the school can make use of the resources to support their study and self-leaning.The kinds of resources include Engl
25、ish books,English journal articles,English magazines,etc,as well as a wide range of library services.Now thousands of books,magazines,journal articles and newspapers have electrical versions.It is no doubt that the college studentstask will be much easier if they know some websites they really want
26、to find online.3.2 Improving your English reading strategies3.2.1 Choice readingChoice reading is very important.Actually it is a process of selecting English materials.The reader should clearly recognize the classification of the English books and should certainly knor which type of English book he
27、 is reading.It is best if the know his purpose of reading before starts.It means that the reader should turn his attention to practical goals.To receive the information,the reader can read not only the book title,the subtitle,the table of contents,but also the authors preface,the abstract introducti
28、on and the index.These are all the information that authors want to transmit to the reader.According to these cluse,the college students can choose different types of English reading materials with the different demands.The college students should also be aware that different reading skills should b
29、e adopted when the English reading material are different.3.2.2 How to select English sourcesIn order to get useful information,the college students had better answer the following two question:How well those English sources meet the purpose of reading?How reliably the author presents those ideas an
30、d information in the book?The college students have better read things they are interested in so that the hard work required for comprehension will seem much more pleasurable.Also,the college students will be much more eager to understand what they are reading,not only as a means to improve their re
31、ading comprehension,but also as a means to better understand the interesting subject-matter.The process of selecting an English source includes examining its publisher,its reference and its author(s).Depending on the readers purpose of reading,it can also involve assessing timeliness.Some ways of se
32、lecting English sources are follows:(i)Pay more attention to the timeliness when a book is published,it always has a special social background.For example,if a reader wants to find some information about computers,hed better check the materials published after 1940.(ii)Evaluating the publisher of an
33、 English book Experienced reader may have some information about a books publisher.He may know the book that is published by an individual,an organization or government agency.Generally speaking,authors and publishers usually have a bias about a particular topic or issue.When the publisher is a scho
34、larly or professional journal,the reader can often gain an understanding of what kinds of articles it publishes by looking over the contents of several issues of the journal or by reading a few of the articles found within it.It is very important for the English majors to know some famous publishers
35、 of the English-speaking countries.(iii)Evaluating the relevance of an English book If a reader reads with a definite purpose,such as for a research project,he should have a look at the relevance firstly.Relevance is the extent to which a source provides information that person can use in evaluating
36、 the materials.There are several ways to determine whether the information presented in a scholarly or professional journal article is likely to be relevant to the readers reading purpose.There are two main stratefies to help the reader to determine whether the article is relevant to readers needs a
37、nd interests to help the reader to determine whether the article is relevant to readersneeds and interests.An abstracta brief description of the artice and its resultsoften appears at the beginning of the article. When aan abstract is not used, an articles introduction often provides similar informa
38、tion.(iv)Evaluating the authoe(s)of an English book In order to get a better understanding of a book,the reader had better know the author(s)as mush as possible.No matter what kinds of book,the reader chooses to read,its important to know its author or authors.”Most scholarly or professional journal
39、 articles contain a short biographical note about the author of an article.If these biographical notes have not been included and the reader would like to learn more about them,he might consider searching for each author on the net.An increasing number of authors have created home pages on which the
40、y list information about themselves,such as their educational background,professional experience,and interests.”53.3The process of English readingIf the readers face with a difficult and complex English text,or if they do not read effectively under normal circumstances,the reades can improve the way
41、 of reading by being more purposeful in the approach to reading.Think of reading as a three-stage process that consists of:(1)Plan for English reading(2)English reading(3)Reflection3.3.1Planning for English readingPlanning for English reading will help the reader to give the reading a focus.The read
42、er can do preparation of reading by asking the following question:What does the reader wants to get out of reading this English text?Are there any ideas that should be taken into English reading?Why has this particular English text been selected?Can the English text be subdivided into sections to re
43、ad?What has skim reading told the reader about the English text?3.3.2English reading When a reader reads,the reader is looking at the communication of some kind of meaning in a structure .Since writers choose to organize material in a particular way,the reader needs to be able to see this structure
44、in the text.”In text ideas are built up from sentence to paragraph to whole text;ideas and concepts tend to be developed from parts or segments to a whole.The uses of reading focusattention on authors as readers,on the use of sources,and on the art of reading as a writer.”6Understanding the structur
45、e of an English text will help the college students to know how to read it. There are two main aspects of structure.(1)The development of ideas in sentences and paragraphs;(eg,some authors show their main viewpoints in the first or last sentence)(2)The development of the argument.Once a facus has be
46、en developed for reading,how the college students read a particular English text depending on the nature and structure of the English text.The following are some useful guiding principles that the students had better keep in mind.(1)Identify the starting point of the writers argument-ussally this wi
47、ll be found in the first or second paragraph.(2)Remember that English follow rules of grammar.By understanding the rules that governspeech,the reader can eliminate some false conclusions and gain a better understanding of what is being said.(3)See if the reader can detect any assumptions the writer
48、has made,or the start of a particular method of argument.(4)Identify important,or central,ideas(or any stated principles)in paragraphs as the reader reads them.(If there is more than one,try to work out which is the most important or central);(5)Evaluate the evidence that has been presented in suppo
49、rt of ideas or principles,and decide whether the evidence is relevant,persuasive,and convincing ;(6)Assess whether the conclusions are justified on the basis of the evidence that has been presented.After the reader has read carefully through the English text in full,as suggested above,make some brief notes on
