如何提高英语阅读能力
[Abstract] Reading is one of the four basic skills which learners are required to master if they want to learn a foreign language. English reading can improve reader’s perception so as to give a lot of help to improve ing, speaking and writing. It can increase knowledge, widen their visions, and enhance their interest in English. However, in China, in foreign language learning, many learners seem to have difficulty in reading accurately and efficiently. To help the learner become a more efficient reader, it is crucial to improve their reading ability. This paper clearly states how we should improve reading ability by adopting the following methods: improving language knowledge, enlarging the reader’s schema, forming a good habit of reading, applying reading skills, be confident and active in reading.
[Key words] reading ability; language knowledge; reading schema knowledge; reading skills
[摘 要] 阅读是外语学习者要求掌握的四种基本技能之一，阅读能提高读者的认识能力，从而促进了英语的听、说和写的能力的提高。阅读也能使人增长见识，拓宽视野，还能提高学习者对英语的兴趣，所以提高英语的阅读水平成了英语学习者的一个十分重要任务。 然而，在外语学习方面，的许多学习者在精确且高效地阅读方面似乎存在着困难，那是因为他们没有掌握正确的阅读方法。本篇文章将陈述如何通过以下的方法来提高英语阅读能力：增长语言知识；扩大读者的阅读背景知识；改变不良的阅读习惯，形成良好的阅读习惯； 应用阅读技巧；树立信心，积极主动地去阅读。其中在关于阅读技巧方面，作者做了较详细地论述，提及了预测、找中心句、略读和扫读、猜测词义等技巧。
[关键词] 阅读水平；语言知识；阅读图式；阅读技巧
1. Introduction
These days the influence of the English language is increasing. Today no matter you like it or not, English is the closet thing to a lingua franca around the globe; English is very widely used for business. Between different countries, most business letters around the world are written in English, and three quarters of the world’s books and newspapers are made in English. Reading is one of the four basic skills which learners are required to master if they want to learn a foreign language. English reading can improve reader’s perception so as to give a lot of help to improve listening, speaking and writing. It can increase knowledge, widen their visions, and enhance their interest in English. So it is clear that it’s very important to do a lot of English reading. But the problem is that many English learners seem to have difficulty in reading accurately and efficiently. Moreover, in various international and domestic examinations, English reading has taken larger and larger part. In this situation, how to improve English reading draws more and more attention. This paper tries to state some points as how to help English reader improve their reading ability.
2. Improve your language knowledge
The language knowledge here mainly refers to vocabulary and grammar. Your language knowledge can help you read both fast and with high comprehension.
2.1 Vocabulary
The English language has about 750, 000 words, and more new words are coming into use daily. Also, words are constantly being redefined. Each word takes additional meanings as time passes until it has many meanings. It has been proved that the readers with small store of vocabulary will find it very difficult in reading comprehension. How to solve this problem? According to the study of Hatch and Brown，learners' strategies for 1earning vocabulary fall into five essential steps: 1) having sources for encountering new words; 2) getting the forms of the new words; 3) learning the meanings of the words; 4)making a strong memory of the words; and 5) using the words. This word acquisition theory not only manifests the inner rule or vocabulary learning but also reveals the three important aspects of vocabulary learning: word form, word meaning and word use.[1] Therefore, we can build up our vocabulary from the following aspects:
Firstly, learn about word formation. You can enlarge your vocabulary by using the rules of word formation, Many words in the English language are made up of word parts called roots, prefixes, and suffixes, like“ sad ”, “sadly”, “sadness”, and so on. Therefore, this method is used to help readers get the meaning of an unknown word by analyzing the word structure, which is by dividing words into usable parts such as roots, prefixes and suffixes. If you know a number of commonly used prefixes, roots and suffixes, they will be of use in unlocking the meanings of unknown words that you find in your reading. For example, when you know the word “courage”, “ encourage，discourage，courageous” will not be new to you.[2]
Secondly, collect the new words you often meet in reading. That doesn’t mean encouraging you to consult the dictionary whenever you meet a new word in reading. The appropriate way is to try to guess the word meanings from context clues, from the words around it, and then you will gradually know the clear meaning of the word after meeting it often. And now, if you look it up in the dictionary, you will have a good memory of it.
Thirdly, learn a certain number of new words by heart every day. Young students have good memories. It is possible for you to memorize some words every day without much difficulty. You can choose some words for yourself, which is very helpfu1. When you meet these words in your reading，you will feel easy, “Aha, I’ve known their meanings. ” You will feel confident and more interested in reading.
2.2 Grammar
Language is composed of words and grammatical structures. The accurate rate of comprehension is based on the mastering degree of the words and grammar. In case of learning a language, for instance, a child or a beginner who learns a foreign language, learns some words first, then begins to get in touch with the regulation of sentence --grammar, then he can use words to make sentences himself. Only by understanding the rules of the game, you can win the game. Sometimes, we find some learners recite a large number of words and they can say the meaning of them as they see them, but when these words are arranged into a sentence, these learners cannot make sense of them. Why? That is because they are not familiar with grammar. Grammar is the skeleton, which produces the variety of different words combinations. We know that if you thread coins with a cord, you can carry away many coins at a time easily; if the coins scatter on the floor, it is hard to pick up every one. Grammar is like the cord to give life to the combination of words and make the expression diversified. It makes us know the approval, interrogatory or surprising tone and the like. Mastering grammar is the basic step to make progress on English reading. More exercises on grammar are all too good and no harm can come of it. Sometimes, in the reading, you will find that comprehension of an entire passage depends on your ability to understand a single sentence. Sentences, which are very long, sentences, which have more than one meaning, or sentences, which contain difficult grammatical patterns often, cause comprehension problems. In this case, readers should keep the following points in mind.
(1) If the sentence is long, try to break it up into small parts:
The general then added, “The only reasonable solution to the sort of problems caused by the current unstable political situation is one of diplomacy and economic measures and not the use of military force.”
You should read the sentence like this:” The only reasonable solution to the sort of problems/caused by the current unstable political situation/is one of the diplomacy and economic measures/and not the use of military force.”
(2) Look for key words that tell you the relationship within a sentence.
“The West had sent armies to capture and hold Jerusalem; instead they themselves fell victim to new ideas and subtle influences,”
“ Instead ”indicates that something happened contrary to expectations.
3. Enlarge your schema about various topics and things
“The importance of reader’s knowledge of the world has been long emphasized in the reading processes. The role of this previously acquired knowledge in language comprehension has been formalized as schema theory.”[3] According to schema theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader’s background knowledge and the text. The more you already know, the less you need to find out.
A good reader does not read passively only for the prepositional meaning of each sentence, but more importantly, he reads for the meaning at the pragmatic level. He can understand not only its surface meaning decided by vocabulary and grammar, but also the real purpose of the writer in using a particular piece of language. He does this by creating an effective discourse between himself and the writer to negotiate meaning.
4. Form a good habit of reading
If you are reading for meaning，try to read fast. Some people read very slowly. They think that reading slowly helps them understand better. That is not right. As a mater of fact, the faster you read, the better you understand. The expression“haste makes waste” does not apply to reading. Remember, nothing hurts concentration more than reading too slowly. Your mind will keep up with your reading speed if you ask it to. By always reading at your top speed, you challenge your understanding and make it easier for your mind to concentrate on the materia1. To improve your reading speed, you must get rid of the following bad habits:
a．Point at words or hold a pen or a pencil or ruler under the line while reading;
b．Mumble the words to yourself or say the words in your mind，though other people cannot hear you reading;
c．Read back from time to time;
d．Stop reading at occurrence of the unknown words to look them up in the dictionary.[4]
A good reader should develop a correct method of reading. That is to train himself to read attentively ( not to read back) and silently (not to read aloud), sentence by sentence, not word by word. Whenever meeting a new word, try to guess the meaning from the context. Consulting the dictionary from time to time not only affects one’s reading speed and the comprehension of the reading material, but also gets the reader frustrated.
5. Apply various reading skills
5.1 Prediction
Prediction refers to thinking in advance about what to be read. It is a major factor in reading. An efficient reader usually predicts what he or she is going to read. Why is prediction so important? Predicting is very crucial in the reading process in two aspects:
Firstly, by predicting the topic, reader’s existing schemata, which is referred to as content schemata, can be activated and thereby facilitate reading comprehension in the reading phase. As Nuttall says: “Prediction is important because it activates schemata: that is, it calls into mind any experiences and associated knowledge that we already have about the topic of the test.”[5]
Secondly, Learners' predicting before reading not only serves as a purpose for reading the text, but also draws their attention in the reading process. It has been assumed in many theories that attention and purpose are absolutely bound up with reading, determine whether it happens at all, and what form it takes if it does. The incidental learning is clearly both possible and effective when the demands of a task focus attention on what is to be learned.[6]
Therefore, before reading a text, it's important for you to predict, what you expect to see in the text. Then you become more involved in reading in order to confirm your expectations about the information that you think the text will contain. You prepare yourself or the reading task and familiarize yourself with the topic.
Human beings can cope with most situations better if they know what to expect. Predicting helps us to know what to expect in the texts we read, and it also helps us to remember words relevant to the topic we will meet. The burden of understanding is therefore lessened, and we can read more effectively.
5.2. Finding out the topic sentences
This skill is a basic one to grasp the main idea of an article. The two basic parts of a paragraph are the main idea and the supporting details. The author’s point or purpose, the main idea is usually stated in a single sentence. The sentence that states the main idea in a paragraph is called the topic sentence.[7] According to the topic sentences, we can learn not only what or whom the article describes but also what the author wants the readers to know. The topic sentence always appears at the beginning or at the end of a paragraph. Sometimes we can read the first and last sentences in each paragraph only, omit the rest of them. By doing this, we can get the meaning of each paragraph easily. This reading skill will reduce time of reading the unimportant message, make our reading speed quickly and make us find the relevant messages quickly. Especially when the article is an exposition, this skill is helpful. Finding out the topic sentences of an article can make us understand completely what you are reading and grasp the theme quickly. When you can use this skill freely, your ability in reading is improved.
5.3 Skimming and scanning
Skimming and scanning are skills for making fast search for information.
5.3.1 Skimming
Skimming is a way of reading materials quickly, in order to look for a general idea, especially when we try to decide whether careful reading would be desirable or when there is not enough time to read carefully. This skill-type reading can be used when reading newspapers, magazines, novels and the like, which can not only enlarge horizon but also bring enjoyment of language.[8] But how can we skim? Force your eyes to move fast. Sweep across each and every line. Pick up only a few key words in each line. You and I may not pick up exactly the same words when we skim the same piece, but we’11 both get a pretty similar idea of what it’s all about. As we begin to skim a passage, we should read the first paragraph at normal speed all the way through. Because the opening paragraph contains an introduction or overview of what will be talked about. Then, from the second paragraph on, we can only read as much of each paragraph as we have to in order to discover whether it contains a main idea or any important details. We skip over the parts, which are nonessential to us until we reach the ending paragraphs, which we should read more carefully because they often contain a summary. This skill of reading is widely used when one read an exposition or an essay. When one begins to practice skimming, one may find that it is not faster than normal reading. However, with a little practice one should be able to cover materials at two or four times the rate of normal reading, with comprehension that will be enough for one’s purposes.
5.3.2 Scanning
Like skimming, scanning is also quick reading. However, in this case, the search is more focused. To scan is to read quickly in order to find a particular point of information. Scanning skill is particularly helpful when we want to consult a dictionary, look for a certain advertisement (hunting for a job, renting a house, etc.). For example, when we look for the amount or the number of something, we simply look at the Arabic numerals; when we want to find the name of a person or an organization, we just scan for the words beginning with a capital letter.[9] Sometimes before we read articles of this kind, we can read the questions first. When reading, you need to keep the questions in your mind all the time, read it with some aims，then read the article as quickly as you can．The parts that are not relevant with the questions are swallowed at a high speed, and the other relevant messages are tasted at a little slow speed. The answers of scanning must be accurate. It’s warned that you should not pay attention to the reading speed, if so, you can’t locate the right answers and scanning is of no use at a11.
Scanning and skimming are important skills; they do not remove the need for careful reading, but they enable the reader to select texts, or parts of texts, that are worth spending time on.[10]
5.4 Guessing the meanings of the new words or expressions
Everyone knows that new words and expressions are always easily found when reading an article. Some of them can be ignored because they are not so necessary for you to grasp the main idea of an article or answer the questions. However, there are also a lot of new words, which are key words to the article. Not knowing the meanings of these words will greatly affect the understanding of the article. So the ability of guessing the meanings of the new words is very important in reading comprehension. For this reason, you must try to improve their ability of conjecturing the meanings of the new words or expressions.
5.4.1 Guessing the meanings from the contexts
The meanings of the words can be guessed from the given information in the contexts, for example:
Mr. Joes got on the motorbike, I sat behind him on the pillion, and we roared off into the night.
Suppose you don’t know the meaning of the word “pillion”, you can guess it in the following way. Since the above sentence tells that “Mark got on the motorbike”and “I sat behind him”. The meaning of the word “pillion ” probably means: saddle for a passenger behind the driver of a motorbike.[11]
5.4.2 Guessing the meanings from the definitions
When writing an article，sometimes the writer will give a suitable definition to a word. We can guess the meanings of the new words by these given definitions easily, for example,
He is a resolute man, that is to say, once he sets up a goal, he won’t give it up half way.
If the meaning of the word “resolute” in this sentence is unknown, you can conjecture it by the meaning of the latter sentence“Once he sets up a goal, he won’t give it up half way”. So it must mean：fixed in determination or purpose, firm.[12]
5.4.3 Guessing the meanings from the examples
In an article，the writer always uses some examples to explain his／her opinion, method or stand. At his time, we can conjecture the meanings of the new words by these examples, for example:
The boy like different kinds of vehicles: Bill likes a car. Fred likes a bicycle; Jim says that he really would rather take a bus.
Suppose you don’t know the meaning of the word“vehicle”, but you can judge that vehicle is a noun. A car, a bicycle and a bus are all ways of going to places or carrying things on the land. So we can conclude that its meaning is: forms of land transportation.[13]
5.4.4 Guessing the meanings from the contrasts
During the course of reading an article，sometimes the students can infer an opposite or similar meaning by the meanings of the given words. For example:
George was cautious, not careless, with the gun.
Suppose the word “cautious ” is new to the us, however, in the sentence we can judge that cautious is an adjective at first, and then the meaning of the word ‘‘careless” is familiar to us, and it means failing to take care, George was not careless, he did take care, he was careful, so cautious must mean careful.[14]
5.4.5 Guessing the meanings from the word-formation
For most of the new words，we can guess the meaning of them by their word—formation. Compounding, prefixation, suffixation and conversion are the main types of word—formation.[15] Knowing the ways of the formation of the words, you can guess the meanings of the new words without much difficulty. Take the word “uneventful”for example，we can divide the word into three parts: un-, event and -fu1. Un- is a prefix, which means：“not”，event is the root．And -ful is a suffix with the meaning “full of, having the quality of”. Then we know the word “eventful” means:“full of notable events”and so“uneventful”means：without any notable events’’.
While I did practice teaching at a middle school, I tried to make the students use this skill in reading freely. Every day, before the class was over, I wrote one or two sentences with at least one new word on the blackboard. I required the students to conjecture the meanings of them using the ways mentioned above. Besides, they had also to tell me which way they used to guess the meanings of the words or expressions, e.g. In the sentence “Unlike her gregarious sister; Mary is a shy person who does not like to go to parties or to make new friends…” The word “gregarious”was a new one to the students. The students had to not only guess its meaning was“not shy ”but also understand that the meaning of it was conjectured by the contrast. After one and a half months’ practice, almost all the students could conjecture the meanings of the new words and expressions in an article.
6 .Be confident and active in reading
During my time of doing practice teaching, I found the fact that some students had no self-confidence in reading. Before reading, they feared that they could not understand the passage. When they met with new words，they would feel so nervous as to lose the courage to go on reading it. These students were defeated not by their weakness in English but by their lack of confidence.
We know that people read to get information or to learn and absorb or to enjoy themselves. So, when you are reading，there is no need to feel any pressure. Just try to get the information you need or enjoy yourself. But this is not enough. A good reader should also try to communicate with the author actively. Try to guess the author’s real meaning between the lines and don’t force your own thoughts upon the author’s. Even if there are some new words, that doesn’t matter much. You don’t have to know the exact meaning of every new word, just try to guess the meaning of the word from the context.
To become a good reader, you should also read often and read a lot. And to learn about English culture will be of great help, too.
7. Conclusion
As stated above, it is very necessary and important to develop the students’ ability of reading through improving language knowledge, enlarging the readers’ schema, forming a good habit of reading, applying reading skills, be confident and active in reading. However, reading is an art never completely mastered. Rome was not built in a day. In other words, you will not become great overnight. It is necessary for us to keep on applying these methods to our daily reading in order to consolidate and improve our reading ability. Here another thing should be made clear. Each person has his own advantages and disadvantages. One should keep on accumulating experience and seek out the drawbacks. The discussion above on reading is just an attempt to find out the methods in English reading. Only in the process of reading, can you discover the right way for yourself.
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[8] 陈梅. 谈阅读理解能力的培养[J]．齐齐哈尔大学学报, 2005，3 P110
[9] Iv Wenling. Improving Reading Skills[J]．Journal of Mudanjiang College of Education, 2004,1 P67
[10] 同[5] P49
[11] 同[4] P154
[12] 同[4] P154
[13] 同[4] P154
[14] 同[4] P154
[15] 林承璋．英语词汇学 [M]．武汉大学出版社, 1997 P162-163
