How to Improve College Student’s Reading Ability--如何提高大学生的阅读能力

How to Improve College Student’s Reading AbilityAbstractThe most common problem college students have nowadays, including English majors, is that they have difficulty in understanding the long sentences, or sentences with complicated structures. Therefore, how to improve reading ability of college students draws more and more attention. Reading ability is very important in our daily life and studies. So the first thing we meet when we are reading is the vocabulary, that is, how to deal with the unfamiliar words will be a very important aspect in our discussion. Next, we must have a good knowledge of English grammar which will help us understand the English passages better. As the people said,practice makes perfect, so we should read a large number of English material except the textbooks. Finally, we should eradiate the bad reading habits and form good ones. The author of the paper has analyzed some common reading skills and put forward some suggestions to the further improvement of college students‟reading ability with the authors‟ own learning experience, which may help to improve the students‟ reading competence.Key words:Reading ability Vocabulary Grammar Reading habits如何提高大学生的阅读能力摘要如今大学生面临的多数问题，包括英语专业的学生，就是在理解英语长句或者复杂结构句上有困难。

因此，如何提高大学生的英语阅读能力引起了越来越多的关注。

英语阅读能力在我们的日常生活和学习中都非常重要。

然而，阅读过程中遇到的首要问题就是单词，如何处理阅读中不熟悉的单词在我们的讨论中是非常重要的一部分。

其次，我们也必须掌握好语法知识以便我们理解文章。

俗话说，熟能生巧，所以，除了我们的教材外我们还应该大量阅读英语材料。

最后，我们应该摒弃坏的阅读习惯培养良好的阅读习惯。

本文作者对常见的一些阅读技巧进行了分析，同时结合自身学习经验，为学生阅读能力的提高提供了一些建议，希望对他们有所帮助。

关键词：阅读能力单词语法阅读习惯ContentsI. Introduction (1)II. The significance of reading ability for college students (2)2.1 The definition of reading (2)2.2 The importance of reading (3)2.3 The problems that students have (5)2.3.1 Lack of vocabularies (5)2.3.2 Weak at grammar (5)2.3.3 No interests (5)2.3.4 Wrong reading habits and skills (5)2.4 Components and Solutions of English reading comprehensive ability (6)2.4.1 Enlarge vocabularies (6)2.4.2 Improve grammar ability (8)2.4.3 Change the reading habits (9)2.4.4 Skimming and Scanning (10)2.4.5 Read at a super speed (12)2.4.6 Extensive and Intensive reading (13)III. Conclusion (17)Reference (19)Acknowledgements (20)I. IntroductionClasses should be learner-centered, with meaningful, functional activities, classes begin by finding out what the students don‟t know. These classes operate on the assumption that there is a great deal of information that students lack and that the teacher and textbooks will impact that information to the students. Teachers who hold this assumption view students as plants waiting passively to be fed and watered. But I think the students should be regarded as explorers, active learners who bring a great deal to the learning process and at the same time, draw from their environment as they develop new understandings. The basic principle will be used in the teaching of reading. And the teachers should cultivate the students‟ consciousness of learning how to improve these essential English learning skills.The purpose of college English teaching is to improve the student‟s skill of learning English by themselves, take reading for example, with the base of necessary phonetics, large vocabulary and good grammar.Some people think that reading is a very simple matter. You move your eyes along the line, and the author's message appears somehow in your mind. When a person is highly skilled as a reader, it does seem that something like that takes place. However, the actual reading process is quite complicated. Try to think back when you were first learning to read, or observe a young child learning to read. It is a very difficult, complex, sometimes, painful process.Reduced to its simplest elements, we might say that comprehension is a part of the communication process of getting the thoughts that were in the author's mind into the reader's, but how does one reader can get the idea clearly? It depends on the reading ability of the reader's. How can the readers make improvements in reading? Especially for the college students. There are many skills to improve one's ability of reading comprehension, this thesis will show the main idea of how to improve college students‟ reading skills.II. The Significance of Reading Ability for College Students2.1 The definition of readingGenerally, reading is about understanding written texts. But understanding a written text is not simply looking.It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. It consists of two related processes: word recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one‟s spoken language. Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text.Birkley (1970)defines reading as “the recognition and perception of language structures as wholes in order to comprehend both the surface and deep meaning which these structures communicate.”According to National Reading Panel (2001) that reading is a set of skills that allows readers to rapidly decode text while maintaining high comprehension.For the purposes of The Partnership for Reading, the National Reading Panel, and the Reading First law, reading is defined as a complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following:1) The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds, are connected to print2) The ability to decode unfamiliar words.3) The ability to read fluently.4)Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension.5) The development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from print.6) The development and maintenance of a motivation to read.In a word, reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information.2.2 The importance of readingWith the development of society, English reading not only appears in exams but also exists in looking information, getting Info, entertaining or chatting online. English articles are getting more and more, and the range of them is getting wider and wider. English, be the world nowadays international social intercourse language the success that it obtain is an unprecedented in history of. So improving students‟ reading ability is of great urgency.The score takes about 40% in the college English test band 4. In a certain extent, doing well or not in the reading comprehension directly influences the grades of English tests. Moreover reading could maintain the interesting of learning English, strengthen knowledge and improve ability and be helpful for students to have a better understanding of the world. We can not study foreign language well without improving the reading ability.On many of the other pages of advice on this point I have emphasized how important reading is as far as learning English is concerned. However, there is a further, very important reason why college students should try to develop their reading skills: Educational researchers have found that there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success. In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader.Good readers can understand the individual sentences and the organizational structure of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments, and detect implications. They know most of the words in the text already, but they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the context ------ failing this, they can use their dictionary effectively to do so. In summary, good readers can extract from the writing what is important for the particular task they are employed in. And they can do it quickly!Educational researchers have also found a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge. In other words, students who have a large vocabulary are usually good readers. This is not very surprising, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read extensively, and if you read extensively you are likely to be or become a good reader!So if you want yourself to be successful at college or at work, encourage yourself to read. Reading non-fiction in English is probably the most important, but English fiction and any reading in the mother tongue - if done extensively - will help your college students develop the reading competence that is essential for academic achievement.Even though reading is so indispensable and useful, the consciousness of reading has been deteriorating rapidly. One of the prominent causes for this is the technology boom, wherein you can get whatever information you need with just a click! Reading, however, doesn't mean making it through your school texts to clear the approaching tests. Neither is it restricted to educational purposes only. Youcan read almost anything including encyclopedias, novels, dailies, magazines...the list is pretty long, but that hardly matters, as long as you like doing it. Whether you like fiction or non-fiction is not important, but whether you like reading or not is! Sadly, however, people nowadays seem to have totally lost interest in this activity. College students are too busy with their computer games and chatting on Internet to make friends, they are glued on to their computer screen, amassing the wealth of knowledge through Internet search engines. Reading does have its loyal fan following, but the fan base is rapidly decreasing.It is a well-known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity. People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away-in their minds. The only tragedy is that, with time, students have lost their skill and passion to read. There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, aside from books. And that is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary.Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics. It helps us to stay in-touch withcontemporary writers as well as those from the days of yore and makes us sensitive to global issues.To make a conclusion, reading is essential especially for college students. It is useful to have a strong consciousness of reading and own a good knowledge of reading skills.2.3 The problems that students have2.3.1 Lack of vocabulariesThe English vocabulary, is the most basic part of English study and it‟s dispensable. However, most college students‟reading ability is not hopeful cause of the lacking vocabularies. The quantity of English words decides the quality of English study, so, we should know this and enlarge our English words day by day with certain plan and goal.2.3.2 Weak at grammarThe grammar, is also the essential and difficult part of English study, it‟s the students‟weak segment of English study, let alone the reading part, so, we can‟t neglect the grammar.2.3.3 No interestsThe vocabulary and the grammar are all the basic segment of English reading, if you don‟t master them well, they will effect your reading quality, and then, the students‟confidence of English study must be influenced, at the same time, the students may lose the interest of English study. Therefore, you should read the passages which you are interested in, and find more opportunity to practice your spoken English, communicate with foreign friends, so that you can improve your desire for English study. As the people say, interest is the best teacher of study, so , we should own the strong desire and interest for English reading.2.3.4 Wrong reading habits and skillsWhen we have the good grammar and certain vocabularies, we should own the correct reading habits and skills. Good learning habits are the necessary premise of successful study. Lots of college students complain that reading is a difficult task. It can‟t give them anybenefits and useful information. After an examination in reading, they often say that their reading speed is too slow; they can‟t understand what the meaning of the materials is; their reading abilities are poor. If they have good reading habits, they can flexibly use various reading skills in a test to get high marks, and they can improve their reading abilities.Some conclusions can be drawn that there are several reading habits which hinder students‟ reading comprehension: (1).sub vocalizing (forming the sounds of the words you are reading, and even murmuring them aloud); (2).finger-pointing; (3).head movements;(4).regressions and so on. All of these are bad for them in reading. College students should aware that efficient readers do not have these habits. These habits are harmful.The improvement of college students‟ abilities in reading comprehension can‟t be isolated from the cultivation and training of reading skills and comprehension skills. In order to help college students to improve their reading abilities and master some reading skills, teachers should pay attention to the training of the following reading skills in reading teaching.2.4 Components and Solutions of English reading comprehensive ability2.4.1 Enlarge vocabulariesMany students probably consider that their main problem in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary. Ithas been suggested that a vocabulary of about five thousand words is needed to start independent reading.Students who meet a word they cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means, which is fine as long as aninformant is available, but not practical as the basis for interdependent study. After that, most of the students turnto dictionaries. This is very natural and in some circumstances advisable. But in fact, one of the first things to besaid about a dictionary is “Don‟t use it too much”. Students who keep looking up new words read not thateffectively. Every time you break off to consult a dictionary, you slow down your reading and interrupt yourthinking, which should be following the development of thought in the text. It would be idiotic to ban the use ofdictionaries, but like many useful tools, they can be dangerous.We must free ourselves from dependence on a dictionary or an informant. It is essential to realize that we cancope without one, and that it is wasteful to look up every new word, butany students reading for a serious studypurpose need to be able to look up new words. For them, they must learn to use a dictionary effectively and withdiscretion. The first step towards using the dictionary as a tool instead of a crutch is to decide which words to lookup---and to accept that they should be as few as possible. Having decided to look up a word, we want to do itquickly and to make the best use of the information in the dictionary. Both skills need training.In order to make reading more efficient and attracting, as the students say, one of the most important skills in reading is the knowledge of word .The number of the words you know determines the difficulty and complexity of the material you can read and understand. If you have an extremely limited reading vocabulary, you will be able to read only very simple material. Obviously, vocabulary forms a stumbling block for the poor reader. The more words you memorize, the faster you read the article. So, it is necessary to memorize words as much as you can. By the way, it should be realized that approximately half of all written English material is composed of the 300 commonest words. Certain words then have a very high occurrence and are used over and over again. Since the English vocabulary is so vast, you cannot hope to master vocabulary only by learning your lessons in the classroom. Reading of course involves much more than simply knowing the dictionary meaning of individual words. When coping with unknown vocabulary. You have to develop strategies, which will allow you either to discover the meaning of the words or at least to proceed further with the text in spite of not knowing the meanings of some new words. One of the efficient ways is guessing the unknown vocabulary. Guessing the meaning of words is a shortcut in reading. While reading in our own language, we usually have an unconscious habit of making logical inference as to the meaning of words based on the context. You can use the context to get the meaning and to help you develop the comprehension skills. To be a good reader, deducing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items through contextual lines is necessary.2.4.2 Improve grammar abilityEnglish grammar is an important and useful tool in reading. It is a combination of the phonics and holistic argument. In order to see the whole we must see the parts. Grammar is an important tool especially for weak readers to help them see through the fog. It is an important tool for good readers to help them see how they see. Grammar is the mathematics of literature and composition. Grammar is also the skeleton upon which we hang the muscles and flesh of lit and comp.So, knowing how to study English grammar and have a good knowledge of English grammar is essential.You may speak English comfortably, but still have some problems with English grammar? Maybe you "picked up" English from movies and songs or while living abroad and never had time to focus on correct grammar. The good news is that if you want to learn English grammar, there's a lot you can do to teach yourselfFirst, make a plan. Try to get an overview of English grammar from a text book or online resource. Note the grammar points you need to work on and plan to work on each for at least a few days.Second, identify common mistakes. People who speak the same language often make the same mistakes in English grammar. For example, many Russian speakers have trouble using "a" and "the" in English.Find out what grammar points are often difficult for speakers of your native language. Pay extra attention to learning those grammar points.Third, Find some grammar exercises. To learn English grammar well, you'll need to practice each grammar point until you can use it easily. Look for a book of grammar exercises that also has answers. Online activities and quizzes can also help. Focus on just one grammar point each time you study.Forth, pay close attention to grammar when you read English. When you're trying to learn correct English grammar, it's not enough to understand general idea of what you read. You'll need to understand exactly why each sentence is written that way. When you read asentence, ask yourself if can make similar sentences. If you can't or you're not sure, find text book exercises for those grammar points and practice.Fifth,translatefrom your native language into English. When you write or speak your own thoughts, it's easy to avoid complicated grammar. When you translate, you have to work with whatever is on the page, even if the grammar is difficult. Start translating simple things like advertisements and then move to newspapers and magazine articles. Translating dialog in plays is another good way to practice.Sixth, Ask native speakers for advice. If you know any native English speakers, ask if they could check some of your now and then. If there are no native English speakers near you, look online for language learning forums or language exchange sites. Just remember if the native speaker is not a teacher, he or she may not be able to explain grammar rules.Learn English grammar in small steps and give yourself time to practice. Learn the basics of one grammar point, then move on to another. When you're comfortable with the basics, you can go back and study the details. If you have done these, you may improve your English grammar ability and improve your English ability. So, college students have to aware the importance of English grammar and know how to study it by themselves.2.4.3 Change the reading habitsWe have known clearly that good learning habits are the necessary premise of successful study. Lots of college students complain that reading is a difficult task. It can‟t give them any benefits and useful information. After an examination in reading, they often say that their reading speed is too slow; they can‟t understand what the meaning of the materials is; their reading abilities are poor. If they have good reading habits, they can flexibly use various reading skills in a test to get high marks, and they can improve their reading abilities.From Christine‟ideas in Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, some conclusions can be drawn that there are several reading habits which hinder students` reading comprehension: (1).sub vocalizing (forming the sounds of the words you are reading, and even murmuring them aloud); (2).finger-pointing; (3).head movements; (4).regressions andso on. All of these are bad for them in reading. College students should aware that efficient readers do not have these habits. These habits are harmful.Therefore, it is necessary for students to cultivate their good reading habits, such as skimming, scanning, silent reading. From these they can do English reading word better .2.4.4 Skimming and ScanningAs a senior, I want to give some suggestions of English reading to the college students, in order to let them do reading more efficiently. The first one is skimming and scanning.Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word,instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. Students often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research.There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some students read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summarizes and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations. Consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This technique is useful when you're seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension. Skimming works well to find dates, names, and places. It might be used to review graphs, tables, and charts.Scanning is a technique you often use when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. You search for key words or ideas. In most cases, you know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it.When scanning, look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters, steps, or the words, first, second, or next. Look for words that are bold faced, italics, or in a different font size, style, or color. Sometimes the author will put key ideas in the margin.Reading off a computer screen has become a growing concern. Research shows that people have more difficulty reading off a computer screen than off paper. Although they can read and comprehend at the same rate as paper, skimming on the computer is much slower than on paper.Concerning the subject of Academic Reading, the most important thing is for you to be aware of different strategies that are available to you and to use the correct one in the correct situation. This article is about skimming and scanning. It is a bad habit to start to read an academic text just by going right to the beginning and then continuing to read every sentence one after the other, looking up every word you don‟t know in a dictionary.Imagine you want to move to a new house, or you want to buy a new car and you go to see this new house/car to see if you want it. What is the first thing you do? Well, I think the first thing you do is look at it from the outside to see if it is what you want. Don‟t you stand back and look at it from different anglesto see if it meets your needs? If it looks OK, then you go inside and start to investigate it carefully. Similarly with an academic text you have to make sure that it is what you want before you go inside it – that is, before you start reading it carefully. The …stand back and look at it from differ ent angles‟ is essential. This is when you look at the title, the author, when it was written (what we sometimes calling ‟surveying‟ the text) and you skim and scan it. When you scan a text you are looking through it quickly to find key words or information. After scanning a text you should know if it has references to things you want to know about. Skimming is looking quickly through a text to gain a general impression of what it is about. You can often do this by reading only the title and sub-titles of a text, and the first sentence of each paragraph. You can do all this type of reading without using a dictionary! Remember the house –you haven‟t stepped inside it yet, you are still looking at it from the outside. Surveying the text (title, author, date, etc) and skimming and scanning are essential academic reading skills for you and for native English speakers too who also need to develop these skills. The trick is to have the confidence to jump through a text ignoring whole bits of it. It may seem strange to you to do this. It may even feel like you are cheating! But it is an essential element to being an active reader.So, if you want to improve your reading ability, learning skimming and scanning is indispensible when you going through a text.2.4.5 Read at a super speedRapid reading is good, but not good enough. Of necessity, you should also know and use three super speeds---surveying, skimming, and scanning. Too many people become poor readers precisely because they set up speed as their sole objective and race through materials without knowing what to look for and without any real purpose. They always read with the same speed or the same procedure because they know no other way. So you can see that it would be very important to train yourself to adopt one set of procedures for regular reading and simultaneously practice another set of speed reading techniques.Surveying is specialized technique for getting a mountaintop view of an article, chapter, or entire book. With surveying, you catch a broad, overall picture of basic essentials. It will make you reading easy. When you know in general where the writer is going, you can follow more easily. It will increase your subsequent reading speed. It should also improve comprehension because you catch the essentials and writer‟s plan. A quick surveying provides an ideal basis for deciding intelligently where to taste, swallow, or chew and digest the material. Then how can we survey? Written communication has certain characteristics that make surveying possible. Usually, the title of an article provides a concise indication of article content. The first paragraph normally suggests more exactly what is to follow. From that point on, major divisions are often marked with sub-titles. Other especially important points are apt to appear in italics, graphs, or tables. Finally, more often than not, the last paragraph will summarize or suggest key implications or applications. So read the title, the first paragraph, all sub-headings, italicized words, graphs, tables and the last paragraph.Skimming is not the kind of reading you have been told to do to achieve full comprehension, you just past over the text lightly and hastily. Skimming generate your reading speed. It helps you review and keeps you informed. But how can we skim? When you are skimming, you eyes begin to slide down a column of words, names, or figures; you don‟t actually read each entry. As your glance moves down a page, you are vaguely aware of。