How to Improve Reading Accuracy by Strategic Leading―in and Guidance.doc

1、1How to Improve Reading Accuracy by Strategic Leadingin and Guidance【Abstract】 The present study presents a detailed report of a project implemented to solve the problem that most of my students reading comprehension accuracy is low. It is hypothesized that learners reading comprehension accuracy ca

2、n be improved by strategic leading-in and guidance. This hypothesis is verified by a three-week classroom teaching of strategic leading-in and guidance in pre-reading stage. Among the methods of scientific investigation used are analytic method， cause analysis， questionnaire and brainstorming activa

3、tion. 【Key words】 project design comprehension reading accuracy background knowledge reading strategies leading-in and guidance analytic method cause analysis questionnaire brainstorming control and target group skimming scanning read in detail inference 1. Introduction I have been teaching the stud

4、ents who are in their second year of a senior middle school. In my teaching I have found 2there are some problems. I hope I can solve the problems through the action research so that I can apply my knowledge and theory into practice. 2. Summary of the Preliminary Research 2.1 Problem The problem I h

5、ave in my teaching is that most of my students reading comprehensive accuracy is low， that is， they are not able to become efficient readers. 2.2 Problem analysis In my teaching， the problem identified was really a serious problem. My preliminary research confirmed that there were six main reasons t

6、hat accounted for students lack of reading comprehensive accuracy. Firstly， they dont have enough sufficient amount of vocabulary， which affects the comprehension of the sentences， and leads to the failure of understanding of the whole passage. Secondly， they havent got relevant background knowledge

7、. So they cant understand some special knowledge of the topic and get right conclusions. Thirdly， they are not able to employ different reading strategies properly to suit different reading purpose. Fourthly， they dont know how to use suitable reading strategies to do the reading comprehension exerc

8、ises. 3Fifthly， the teacher doesnt give them enough special training of improvement of comprehension reading accuracy. Lastly， the reading materials are too difficult for them. The problem had been troubling me for a long time and now I was determined to find a solution to the problem. In my study，

9、I used four methods of analysis. 2.2.1 Analytic method Some of students are lack of reading comprehensive accuracy. This made me think of the other side of the issue； some of my others are not lack of reading accuracy. What about some of my colleagues students？ Is it also the case that they have the

10、 same problem， too？ If， on the other hand， all of my colleagues students reading accuracy is high， then my problem is actually caused by myself， not by my students. Through the above analysis I realized that my problem is probably caused by my inefficient leading-in and guidance. 2.2.2 Cause analysi

11、s The teachers side. Maybe the teacher， himself is not enthusiastic. The teachers voice is not loud enough for the students at the back to hear. The students side： At first， the students did not know 4the importance of the background knowledge， the employment of the reading strategies. And they paid

12、 little attention to them. The class size： My class has 53 students. The class size of over 50 students may have some negative effect. The classroom is too noisy. Of all the causes， I believe that the teacher is mainly responsible for the failure. I want to know what my students think about the prob

13、lem. 2.2.3 Questionnaire survey I made a pilot investigation in this respect to know more about the situation. I designed a questionnaire to find out why it would be so. I gave one of my questionnaires to my students and gave them fifteen minutes to finish it. All of them， 53 students， returned thei

14、r questionnaires which were left anonymous. When all these data came in， I made some statistical evaluation. The results showed that 79% of the students thought their low accuracy in comprehensive reading was mainly because they didnt have enough sufficient amount of vocabulary and spent too much ti

15、me on the new words and expressions in the passage. 82% of the students thought that it was because that they had not got relevant background and couldnt understand 5some special knowledge of the topic and make right conclusions. 79% of them thought that they didnt know when and how to employ differ

16、ent strategies to suit different reading purposes. 75% of them said that they didnt have the ability of inference： that is， they couldnt look for implied meaning that is not stated openly.82% of the students thought that the teachers role in pre-reading stage is very important. And they need some sp

17、ecial training in reading comprehension to overcome the difficulties so that they could establish their confidence. 2.2.4 Brainstorm activating When I was engaged in the problem analysis， I consult my thesis supervisor Miss Wang Yanda and often talked to my colleagues about the problem I met. They g

18、ave me a lot of advice and help so that I pondered the problem more deeply and carefully. After a lengthy problem analysis， I determined to launch a project to overcome this problem. 2.3 Project objective To improve learners comprehensive accuracy in reading. 2.4 Project hypothesis It is hypothesize

19、d that learners comprehensive accuracy in reading can be improved by strategic leading-in and guidance. 62.5 Project rationale 1） The role of the teachers leading-in and guidance in comprehension reading class It is very important to read different purposes， for example， sometimes you need to employ

20、 skimming and scanning， sometimes you need to infer from the stated facts. Most of the students dont know when and how to employ these reading strategies and it is the teachers duty to lead them to do it well. It is the students duty to memorize words and expressions， but the life experience of the

21、teacher is rich than they， and the teachers English knowledge is more and better than they， so they need to be guided by the teacher for some specific information and relevant background knowledge about the reading materials. It can make them understand the passage better and more effectively. So we

22、 can say the teachers leading-in and guidance in pre-reading stage are necessary and important. 2） The role of teacher in pre-reading stage （Gu Yueguo 1999 English Teaching Methodology） The aims of the pre-reading stage are three fold： （a） arousing the students interest in the topic or type of text；

23、 （b） motivating students to read the text by providing a 7purpose for reading； （c） preparing the students for the content of the text. It should be pointed out that not all three aims are relevant to all text types. One thing that is always necessary is the purpose for reading skill they need to emp

24、loy. 3） Being an Efficient Reader （Gu UGu 1999 English Teaching Methodology） In order to read efficiently in a foreign language， the reader needs to have suitable language skills： adequate knowledge of grammar， sufficient amount of vocabulary and automatic decoding skill （i.e. quick recognition of v

25、ocabulary and grammar） ； relevant background knowledge； clear purposes and can employ different reading strategies to suit different reading purpose. They are all important in effective reading. In a word， improving reading efficiency and the teaching of reading all focus on these major factors. It

26、is the students duty to have adequate knowledge of grammar， sufficient amount of vocabulary and automatic decoding skill （i.e. quick recognition of vocabulary and grammar） ， and what the teacher can do to improve their reading accuracy is to give them relevant background knowledge and tell them whic

27、h reading strategies they should employ. So what I 8should do is to design strategic leading-in and guidance. 3. Reading Comprehension Exercise design I designed an adequate amount of activities （Cover three weeks of teaching） to test the hypothesis. If the leading-in and guidance are better designe

28、d， then the learners reading comprehensive accuracy will be improved accordingly. 4. Control and target group I set up control and target groups. The implementation of the project takes three weeks. In each week both groups are required to do the same comprehensive exercises. However， for the target

29、 group， the above suggested ways of leading-in and guide will be employed in turns to assess accuracy of reading comprehensive exercises， while everything remains the same as before with the control group. After that， both groups are asked to the same reading exercise and then I compare the result.

30、The results obtained from the comparison should show whether the students in the target group have higher accuracy in comprehension reading than the control group. This will show whether the s students accuracy in reading can be improved by strategic leading-in and guidance. 5. Project implementatio

31、n My students are second-year vocational students. It took 9three weeks for me to implement my project. Look at the students reading exercises between the control and the target group. The target group is much better than the control group. Their reading accuracy is higher than the control group. Th

32、eir accuracy is higher than before. From the above analysis， I draw a conclusion that learners accuracy in reading can be improved by strategic leading ?in and guidance. 5.1 Data Analysis 5.1.1 Students general impression of the project： After the three weeks action research， I designed Post-trial q

33、uestionnaire. In designing this new questionnaire， I also used feedback information from my solution to the problems discussed so that their effectiveness could be reflected by the results. I especially hoped to know what my students had gained and which methods they preferred. Students general impr

34、ession of the project；the total number of the students is 27. 5.1.2 Comparison of reading accuracy of the target group control group Look at Graph 1， it shows that the reading accuracy of the target group is much better than that of the control group. 10Their reading accuracy is higher than the cont

35、rol group， especially in Passage2， the most difficult one. Their accuracy is higher than before. 6. Project evaluation 6.1 The project objective Is the objective realistic？ Yes. Since it is researchable. It is realistic. It can be achieved. My project objective- to improve learners reading accuracy-

36、is realistic. 6.2 The project hypothesis Is the project hypothesis provable？ Yes. My hypothesislearners reading accuracy can be improved by strategic leading-in and guidanceis provable. I have found that my students reading accuracy has indeed improved after I used strategic leading-in and guidance

37、in the pre-reading stage. 6.3 The project rationale： Does the project have a sound basis？ Yes. My project was based on the theoretical assumptions which are valid and sound. 6.4 The project design： I have defined my projective and hypothesis. I have stated my project rationale. I have worked out the details for project implementing. I have also planned the stages and time-table for the