Analysis of Reading Features and Strategies

In Chinese EFL context,reading course is considered as the most important way to acquire linguistic skills compared with other skills such as listening,speaking and writing.In university,the students whose majors are non-English need to take part in CET 4(College English Test Band 4)which is closely relevant to bachelor degree or a promising prospect if they are able to pass the test with a high score.Therefore,a large amount of time is devoted to reading by English learners,while what most of the teachers tend to do is focusing on drills of grammatical rules,sentence analyzing and word memorization,neglecting the part that the students actually have to apply in the real context.It should be noted that reading plays a vital role in the daily life,such as"to get information,to respond to curiosity about a topic,to follow instructions,to perform a task,for pleasure,amusement,and personal enjoyment;to keep in touch with friends and colleagues;to know what is happening in the world;and to find out when and where things are"Rivers&Temperley(1978:187).Additionally,readers can get enjoyment through reading,which can be embodied in various aspects such as reading stories,novels,or poems and so on.However,to some extent,reading has become a way to gain knowledge or pass examination for EFL learners.The common reading problems of the students in my context will be identified in this essay.Meanwhile,it is generally believed that most of the students have no motivation at all in terms of reading.How can reading be taught efficiently and effectively?Considering the features of the students in Chinese university context,what kind of approaches should be the most suitable?