English Reading Skills for College Students浅谈大学英语阅读技巧.docx

English Reading Skills for College Students浅谈大学英语阅读技巧.docx

《English Reading Skills for College Students浅谈大学英语阅读技巧.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《English Reading Skills for College Students浅谈大学英语阅读技巧.docx（15页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

EnglishReadingSkillsforCollegeStudents浅谈大学英语阅读技巧

EnglishReadingSkillsforCollegeStudents

Autho：

Supervisor：

SchoolofForeignStudeies

FuyangTeachersCollege,AnhuiProvince

May,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

EnglishReadingSkillsforCollegeStudents

Abstract

ReadingisonethefourimportantskillsinEnglishassecondorforeignlanguage.Itisalsoaskillthatthestudentsneedtopossesstosupportindependentandselt-directedlearning.WiththeInformationAge’sarrival,theEnglishmaterialsgraduallychangefrompapermaterialstoelectronicones.So,itbecomesmoreimportantforEnglishmajorstospeeduptheirreadinginordertoacquireasmuchinformationaspossible.Thus,fosteringagoodEnglishreadinghabitisessentialforstudents.Andbeingabletoadoptdifferentreadingskillsfordifferentreadingmaterialsandpurposes_willalsohelpthestudentsreadmoreeffectively.ThepapermainlyconcernssomeEnglishreadingskillsanddiscusseshowtofostergoodEnglishreadinghabitsforcollegestudents.

Kedwodes:

charcteristics;Englishreading;makenotes;fortertheEnglishreadinghabits

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.Intruduction

Asreadingisapartofacademicliteracy,Englishlteachersusuallyhavehighexpectationsofastudent’sabilitytocopewiththedemandsofreadinginEnglish.Mostcollegestudentswishtoreadmorebooks.Readingisawayforcollegestudentstobemoreknowledgeableandsuccessful.However,itisalseanactivitythatmanycollegestudentsdon'tenjoyverymuch.Tosucceedatschools,studentdneedtopossessarangestrategiesandskillsthatsupportself-directedlearning.Traditionally,manyofthesestrategiesandskills,someofwhicharehighlygeneric,arenotexplicitlytaughttostudentsintheexpectationthatstudentseitheralreadyhavetheseskills,orwillnaturallyacquireanddeveloptheseskillsintheircouseofstudy.Inordertoimprovethecollegestudents’abilityofEnglishreading,weshouldanswerthefollowingquestion:

WhataretheEnglishreadinghabitsofstudents?

Howtobebecomeaneffectivereader?

HowtofostertheEnglishreadinghabits?

2.Thecharacteristicsofcollegestudents

Withthedevelopmentofsociety,scienceandtechnologydevelopathighspeedandthecompetitioninthesocietybecomesharp.Studentsinthepasehaveshownthattheexam-orientededucationalsystempromotesrotelearning,andsothatthereneedstobeaparadigmshiftinhowthecollegestudentsvieweducationandaboutthewaytheylenrn.MostcollegestudentsreadEnglishmaterialsonlytopassexamsanddonotreadforpleasure.However,thesituationchangesnow.Inordertobecomewell-learntpeoplethatthesocietyneeds,mostcollegestudentslongforextensiveEnglishreading,hopingtodopreparationforthefuturejobbythisway.Atthesametime,thepurposesofcollegestudentsaretocompletethestudiesandtoobtaingoodresults.Inordertoadapttothedemandsofsocietyandschool,collegestudentstreatseekingknowledgeasthefirstduty.Theyrelatethemselvestothesocietyclosely,hopingtoenrichthemselvesthroughreadingandbecomethelearnedpersonswhocanfacethechallengesofthesociety.Therefore,themotivationofthemajorityofchangefromthepapermaterialstotheelectronicreadingmaterials.TheInternetthatopensanotherwindowforthecollegestudentsbecomesthemostconvenienttoolforcollegesomelevel,butmanydonotreadeffectively.Inotherwords,manycollegestudentstakeitforgranteredthattheycouldunderstandconceptsorlessonsbymemorizingtheEnglishwordsandinformationratherthanunderstandingtheideasthatareexpressedbythewords.Consequently,informationisretainedmainlyforthepurposeofpassinganexam;memorizationismistakenforlearning.

3.EffectiveEnglishreadingstrategies

Becausealargeportionoftimeatschooleisspentonworkingwithwrittensources,andbecausetherearelotsofEnglishmaterialstobecoveredinashortamountoftime,itisessentialthatreadingbehaviorsofEnglishmajorsshouldbebothpurposefulandefficient.Readingistalkinganddisussingwiththereaderhimself,withtheautherandothers.Soasthereaders,thefirstthingforthereadersdoistoaccumulateinformationbeforereading.Toensurethegoodresultsofreading,thecollegestudentsalsoneedtodevelopeffectivereadingstrategies.Knowinghowtoreadeffectivelyinvolvesaccumulatingbackgroundinformationbeforereading,selectingtheEnglishmaterials,understandingthestructureoftexts,howtoreadfordifferentpurpose,andhowtoreflectonyourreading.

3.1Accumulatingbackgroundinformationbeforereading

“Readingisareceptivelanguageprocess.Itisapsycholinguisticprocessinthatitstartswithalinguisticsurfacerepresentationencodedbyawriterandwithmeaningsthatthereaderconstructs.Thereisthusanessentialinteractionbetweenlanguageandthoughtinreading.Thewriterencodesthoughtsaslanguageandthereaderencodesthelanguagethought.”Readingisnotpassivebutactive,andinfaceaninteractiveprocessthathasbeenrecognizedforsometimeinfirstornativelanguagereading.[1]IntheEnglishreading,itisaprocessthatneedsnotonlythecollegestudents’activeparticipation,predicationandinformationprocessing,butalsotheirpriorexperienceandbackgroundknowledge.”Languageisapartofcultureandalsothecarrierandthecontainerofculture.Lauguageandcultureiscloselyrelated,enchinfluencingandshapingtheother.Tolearnaforeignlanguageimpliestolearnthecultureinwhichitisspoken.”[2]”Readingisakindofverbalcommunication.Thereaderscommunicatewiththeauthor（s）throughthetext.Inthisway,culturefactorsareinherenttothereadingactandthereforeinfluencethereaders’controlovertheinput（Byrametal1994）”.Inthereadingprocess,wecannotunderstandorinterperatextwithouttheinfluenceofourprevioussocialexperienceandsocialcontextinwhichthereadingtakesplace.Thetextweread,thetopicweareinterestedinaswellasthewayweapproachareculturallyconstructed（Kress,1989）.”[3]

TheculturalfactorsplayanimportantroleintheprocessofEnglishreading.Someculturalfactorscauseproblemsinreadingdirectlysoastoconfusecollegestudentsandhindertheirunderstanding.Otherculturemisunderstandingsmaydangleintheirmindandpreverntthemfromgraspingtherealmeaning.[4]Cultureandlanguagearecloselyrelatedtoeachother.Asonewayofcommunication,readingEnglishmaterialsreflectculturaldifferencesthroughthelanguageinwrittenform.Thereadersshouldawaretheculturaldifferencesandtrytheirbesttoaccumulatebackgroundknowledgeofallsorts.Sothefirstpieceofadvicethatwillbegivenhereistodoasmuchreadingasthestudentscan.

Collegestudentsintheschoolcanmakeuseoftheresourcestosupporttheirstudyandself-leaning.ThekindsofresourcesincludeEnglishbooks,Englishjournalarticles,Englishmagazines,etc…,aswellasawiderangeoflibraryservices.Nowthousandsofbooks,magazines,journalarticlesandnewspapershaveelectricalversions.Itisnodoubtthatthecollegestudents’taskwillbemucheasieriftheyknowsomewebsitestheyreallywanttofindonline.

3.2ImprovingyourEnglishreadingstrategies

3.2.1Choicereading

Choicereadingisveryimportant.ActuallyitisaprocessofselectingEnglishmaterials.ThereadershouldclearlyrecognizetheclassificationoftheEnglishbooksandshouldcertainlyknorwhichtypeofEnglishbookheisreading.Itisbestiftheknowhispurposeofreadingbeforestarts.Itmeansthatthereadershouldturnhisattentiontopracticalgoals.Toreceivetheinformation,thereadercanreadnotonlythebooktitle,thesubtitle,thetableofcontents,butalsotheauthor’spreface,theabstractintroductionandtheindex.Thesearealltheinformationthatauthorswanttotransmittothereader.Accordingtothesecluse,thecollegestudentscanchoosedifferenttypesofEnglishreadingmaterialswiththedifferentdemands.ThecollegestudentsshouldalsobeawarethatdifferentreadingskillsshouldbeadoptedwhentheEnglishreadingmaterialaredifferent.

3.2.2HowtoselectEnglishsources

Inordertogetusefulinformation,thecollegestudentshadbetteranswerthefollowingtwoquestion:

HowwellthoseEnglishsourcesmeetthepurposeofreading?

Howreliablytheauthorpresentsthoseideasandinformationinthebook?

Thecollegestudentshavebetterreadthingstheyareinterestedinsothatthehardworkrequiredforcomprehensionwillseemmuchmorepleasurable.Also,thecollegestudentswillbemuchmoreeagertounderstandwhattheyarereading,notonlyasameanstoimprovetheirreadingcomprehension,butalsoasameanstobetterunderstandtheinterestingsubject-matter.TheprocessofselectinganEnglishsourceincludesexaminingitspublisher,itsreferenceanditsauthor（s）.Dependingonthereader’spurposeofreading,itcanalsoinvolveassessingtimeliness.SomewaysofselectingEnglishsourcesarefollows:

（i）Paymoreattentiontothetimelinesswhenabookispublished,italwayshasaspecialsocialbackground.Forexample,ifareaderwantstofindsomeinformationaboutcomputers,he’dbettercheckthematerialspublishedafter1940.（ii）EvaluatingthepublisherofanEnglishbookExperiencedreadermayhavesomeinformationaboutabook’spublisher.Hemayknowthebookthatispublishedbyanindividual,anorganizationorgovernmentagency.Generallyspeaking,authorsandpublishersusuallyhaveabiasab