阅读,朝向最明亮的那方--我与儿子的阅读故事

一个人的成长史,就是一个人的阅读史。从孩子的读书故事切入,尝试回答人为什么要读书。读孩子读过的书,能知道孩子在想什么,有针对性地解决孩子面临的问题;阅读,可以发现这个世界,可以开通思想、启发智慧、解决问题、促人成长;阅读,让人生变得宽广和丰富,让心灵变得轻盈和厚重,让眼界变得深邃而寥廓,让每一个日出具有全新的意义。

Study on the relationship between the reading anxiety and the reading strategy in foreign language learning

This study is concerned with the possible relationship between language anxiety and language learning strategies in reading process among the students of English as a foreign language （EFL）. Participants consist of a volunteer pool of 120 sophomore non-English majors. Versions of previously published measurement scales, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scales （FLRAS） and the Survey of the Reading Strategies （SOR）, were administered to the subjects as measures of foreign language anxiety and foreign language learning strategy preferences. Based on the collected data, the statistics descriptions were performed to investigate the students＇ anxiety state and strategy use level. The analyses suggest that most of students have the anxiety level above the mean, and the anxiety regarding the reading confidence is mainly responsible for the students＇ reading anxiety, and meanwhile, students use more cognitive strategies in their reading and the level of their language learning strategies are relatively low. Results indicate no significant differences between males and females on their anxiety level, as well as their strategy use. Furthermore, a Pearson correlation analysis reveals that, for the most learners, the anxiety state do hinder them from choosing effective strategies in their reading. The study explores the relationship between the reading anxiety and the reading strategy, demonstrates the effects of the anxiety reduction training on the strategy use, provides the implications for foreign language teachers that in reading comprehension teaching they should focus more on students＇ anxiety, especially their reading confidence anxiety, and encourage them more.

The Use of Metaphors in Scientific Texts in English： A Proposal for Improving Reading Competence

Understanding discipline-specific texts in English is a basic requirement for science students, who must develop their content knowledge and language skills. Particularly, interesting is the fact that the language of science is characterized by the use of figurative language, which appeals to the common knowledge of the world, mainly to explain, clarify, and describe intricate concepts. Metaphors are helpful for lexicalizing new concepts and meanings or extending the meanings of pre-existing words. The analysis of tropes as a means to improve foreign language learners＇ reading competence is a rather novel teaching practice in ESP （English for Specific Purposes）, implemented at the University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explain the theoretical basis for teaching and developing metaphorical competence in ESP classes as a means of providing an intellectually stimulating alternative approach, and to present some teaching ideas and activities designed to familiarize students with the use of metaphorical language in scientific discourse in order to enhance their reading competence.

Gaming Narratives as Frameworks for Writing Self-assessments

The paper addresses the disconnected students experience between evaluating their own writing and traditional evaluation methods, despite effective discussion and analysis in the classroom, especially, wide when students＇ reading skills are limited. The paper considers the application of flipping students＇ intense interest and intimate comprehension of video gaming into a lens for evaluating their writing. The sophisticated storylines in some literacy-laden video games rivet students＇ attention in higher order applications while the intricate plots and characters mirror those literary elements taught in print media. Garner comprehension is demandingly complex; transferring literary elements from the game storyline to their writing provides the comprehension carry-over for effective self-evaluation. They can ＂see＂ as a metaphor, those parallel concepts from screen to print, from playing strengths to reading and writing, for them, literary qualities become more transparent, and thus more accessible.

Development of reading and writing abilities by teaching textual patterns

It is increasingly important for students to develop reading and writing abilities. Teachers should focus on the teaching of English textual patterns, which plays an important part in sending writers＇ messages. The patterns used in the text help readers unfold the writer＇s message positively and actively. Students can write texts following textual patterns and using appropriate discourse signaling vocabulary. The importance of teaching the lexical signals and specific vocabulary is emphasized here. And the common core patterns in English texts are also analyzed. Besides, some instructional activities are discussed to develop students＇ reading and writing abilities, including raising awareness of textual patterns, focusing on signaling factors, reformulating and making a frame or a diagram.

How Should We Construct Mind-Readers？

Structured models of kinds of mind-readers are explanatory tools in philosophy and psychology. Structure means that a structure like a theory with certain properties organizes the model of a kind of a reader. Structured models serve to explain mind-reading capabilities in opposition to pure behavior-reading capabilities by explicating properties of the structure that bring on specific capabilities of mind-reading. Typically, grades of fulfilling reading-capabilities are related to grades of rationality. But it is unclear： （1） when we are legitimated to title a reader a mind-reader or behavior-reader, and （2） how the kinds of readers are related with each other （if they can be related by a measure）. I argue that we know a reader if we can construct it and this gives legitimation. But it is unclear how to construct border-cases of readers, for example, minimal mind-readers. Should minimal mind-readers be constructed on the base of ＂reduced＂ mind-readers, or should they be constructed as ＂enriched＂ behavior-readers？ This is the specific question concerning the relations between readers the essay deals with by trying to reduce a maximal mind-reader by Craig-reduction. Because this kind of reduction-method fails, constructing specific kinds of mind-readers needs further research.

Graphic Organizers and Reading Comprehension Ability： Evidence From Iranian EFL University Students

The present study investigated the impact from GOs （Graphic Organizers） upon reading comprehension ability. To this end, an OPT （Oxford Placement Test） was administered to a research population （N = 354） in order to homogenize it. On the basis of the test results, the population was sorted into three groups of reading-low, reading-mid, and reading-high students. Sixty participants with the lowest level of reading comprehension proficiency were randomly selected and assigned to an EG （Experimental Group） （N = 30） and a CG （Control Group） （N = 30）. Afterwards, a TOEFL （Test of English as a Foreign Language） reading comprehension pretest was administered to both groups in order to determine their current level of reading proficiency. Then, the EG received 10 successive 90-minute sessions on GOs as post-reading strategies for expository text comprehension, while the CG received the same amount of treatment on other post-reading strategies. In the end, another TOEFL reading comprehension posttest was administered to the research groups to measure their reading comprehension performance level after the treatment. The results revealed that GOs were statistically more significant and effective for the low-skilled readers than other post-reading strategies.

How to Teach Academic Reading More Effectively： Reading-Aloud Approach

In furtherance of their most recent research on the textbook of the course LC （language and communication） 4001 Reading Skills Development in English for Graduate Studies （2012）, the co-authors carried out a follow-up work on read-aloud approach as some students voiced a sense of dissatisfaction with regard to such means which was primarily used in the LC 4001 class taking place from August 8 to November 27, 2012. In the current study, the data were garnered from 37 students enrolling in LC 4001 from January 8 to May 7, 2013. Based on the questionnaire, the findings revealed that a large number of the English reading learners acknowledged the mounting importance of English as a linguafranca in the region of 84% and 16% at the ＂most＂ and ＂much＂ levels, respectively. Likewise, around 90% of the participants had a positive attitude toward such pedagogical method, while only 10% disliked it. Concerning the academic reading curriculum for higher English reading competence, students＇ different language learning backgrounds and personal excitement caused by reading-aloud activities should be taken on board. Any activity introduced into the classroom should be explicitly stated to the students at the beginning of the course. Using any instructional approach without clear explanations or precautions may seriously upset learners partially or even completely obstruct their effective learning

Production-Oriented Approach to Reading： Writing-Oriented Reading Instruction

WORI is the Production-Oriented Approach to reading in the TEFL context of China. It is intended to enhance English learners＇ proficiency in writing and reading. By asking questions to draw learners＇ attention to the professional writers＇ choices concerning organization, development, style, and diction, teachers explicitly guide learners to observe, analyze, study, apperceive, so as to learn about their writing thinking and strategies. By designing a variety of reading-to-write tasks, teachers endeavour to activate learners＇ writing thinking developed in writing-oriented reading activities to have such writing thinking fixed in mind and internalized. The WORI also fosters English learners＇ autonomy of sustaining development in reading, writing, as well as their English learning.

Assessing and Improving General English University Students＇ Main Sub-skills of Reading Compression： A Case of University of Bojnord

General English course at Iranian universities has always been a controversial issue since the students taking this course are rather weak in English proficiency and need more authentic instructions based on accurate need analysis. The materials applied in this course are mainly focused on reading comprehension. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to improve General English university students＇ main sub-skills of reading comprehension and see the effect of the possible changes in terms of time and the fields of study of the students. To do this, 168 university students taking General English course at university of Bojnord, including humanities, engineering, physical education, and sciences, received instruction on the main sub-skills of reading comprehension after taking a pre-test sample TOELF section of reading comprehension. After 16 sessions of 90 minute instruction, they took the post-test section of TOEFL sample of reading comprehension. Mixed between within subject analysis of variance was used to assess the impact of instruction for the four groups of students from pre-test to post-test. The findings of the study indicated that the effect of instruction in terms of time, from pre-test to post-test, and the interaction of time and fields of study were significant. Besides, changes for 10 sub-skills were the same among the four fields of study.

Interactive English Reading Community Based on Social Network Sites

One of the major trends in the reform of English language teaching is the application of network technologies. This paper discusses the application of social network sites in building an interactive English reading community under the guidance of the constructivist learning theory and its influence on the learners＇ English reading. This SNS-aided reading community puts the students as the center and the teacher the guide, embodying students＇ subjectivity, equality, and interactivity. The study shows that the interactive English reading community can motivate students to read, improve their reading skills, and thus develop a new SNS-aided English reading model for English learners.

Chinese English Learners＇ Text Reading Strategy Research

Reading strategies are different from identifying the words, but a kind of metacognitive activity based on the monitoring mode. This paper will explore Chinese English learners＇ text reading strategies according to the cognitive process of the reading, hoping for providing some suggestions and references for Chinese college students to learn English well and improve the text reading ability.

The Application of Schema Theory to English Reading Teaching in Junior High School

Reading is an effective means to cultivate junior high school students＇ comprehensive ability of using English and plays an important role in English study. Schema theory is a scientific reading theory advocated by modern teaching, and it regards the reading comprehension as a process that readers＇ knowledge and skills interact with the information in the reading material. In this paper, a questionnaire is conducted to reveal the fact that students lack schemata in reading and then a proposal that language schema, content schema, and form schema be integrated to activate students＇ existing schemata in the process of reading is put forward

Reading with Strategies： A Study of Young EFL Learners＇ Use of Online Reading Strategies

To assist young learners to cultivate efficient learning strategies in the early ages, students in the current study were guided to read three authentic online storybooks and then write their own digital stories with tablet PCs. The study aims to investigate Taiwan Residents elementary school students＇ use of online reading strategies, and their relationship with students＇ performance on reading proficiency tests. The target population consisted of upper-grade learners （n = 83）. The instruments were a M-SORS （modified survey of reading strategy） questionnaire and a reading proficiency test. Major findings were as follows： （l） Students used online reading strategies at medium level; （2） problem solving strategies were proven to significantly correlate with students＇ performance on reading comprehension test; and （3） there was a significant difference between higher and lower reading proficiency learners＇ use of online reading strategies. Pedagogical implications of the findings and suggestion for future research are discussed.

Reading Developmental Trends in Early Years： The Influence of Word Identification Skills and Target Langauge Oral Ability to Comprehension

Language, reading, and reading-related tasks were administered to 148 children from lower primary （Standard 1, 2, and 3） in Kenyan schools. The aim was to investigate the literacy developmental trends across the years and establish which of the two variables, word identification skills or target language oral proficiency influenced reading comprehension performance. The results indicated that word identification skills independently influenced reading comprehension performance in both standard 2 and standard 3 classes, but target language oral skills did not. Further, the analysis of invented spelling task performance revealed evidence of transfer of alphabetic coding skills of first language to English orthography. The spelling errors reflected letter-sound patterns not found in English orthography. Analysis of the miscues in the spelling task revealed that children rely on first language phonological processes to spell target language unfamiliar words as long the languages have a common alphabetic system.

Reading the Visual Design of Job Advertisements in Taiwan Residents Newspapers

This content analysis of print advertisements for jobs focuses on changes in choices of visual semiotic resources over time. Recruitment advertisements as a genre of persuasion discourse require careful design, not only in terms of writing but also in the selection of visual images, which can help attract candidates＇ attention and therefore enhance the effectiveness of the messages conveyed. It has also been argued that changes in visual-communication styles of recruitment advertisements could, to some extent, reflect how such advertisements were perceived as functioning from the employers＇ perspectives. In this paper, content analysis of job advertisements as printed in weekend newspapers in three different years （1993, 2003, and 2013） revealed that： （1） the presence of visual content in job advertisements fluctuated over the past two decades; and （2） to make recruitment advertisements more eye-catching, visual images were more likely to be placed in areas identified as salient in theoretical terms. The results shed new light on the roles played by the visual semiotic resources of job advertisements for the purpose of attracting human resources effectively.

A Study on the Effects of Cooperative Learning in English Reading Class in Vocational Colleges

Since the late 1990s, the study on cooperative learning has been an educational fad in linguistic circle. The previous studies have shown that cooperative learning is a good method of learning. However, very few Chinese English teachers have really or commonly tried to apply the theory of cooperative learning in English reading class. On the basis of reading some related literatures, the author combine his teaching experience and the reality of the teaching subjects to put forward the following questions：l） Whether cooperative learning helps improve students＇ reading achievements？ 2） Whether cooperative learning can inspire students＇ motivation in learning English？ 3） Whether cooperative learning can improve students＇ English reading ability？ The results of the study show that cooperative learning used in the English reading class can not only stimulate students＇ learning interests, boost the students＇ motivation, but also raise their English language proficiency and reading ability.

Extensive Reading and Writing Reader＇s Response Journal： The Very Way to Improve Students＇ English Proficiency

This paper figures out the problems the Chinese students often meet with when they try to obtain the English language ability. In order to assist my students crack down on such problems, I take up the approach of giving them opportunities to play the active roles in English reading activity and requiring them to write reading response journals and to have frequent discussions in the reading class. The approach aims at improving the students＇ ability and getting them to be trained and improved effectively in the language skills concerned. The approach has come out with remarkable achievements. My understanding is that the process of learning a foreign language is a process indeed of accumulation, including both the language and culture knowledge. The accumulation can be gained by means of reading a lot, thus improving the students＇ language competence, enlarging their cultural and language field of vision on the western world. We teachers play the function of bridge leading the students to succeed in mastering and applying English as a practical tool in their life and work to come. This paper introduces what I have been trying to assist my students in solving their problems through my teaching practice during the past years.

The Practice of ＂Flipped classroom＂ in the Reading and Writing Course of College English

The reform of college English should focus on the ways to improve the practicing ability. This ability should be based on the improvement of students, which is the fundamental aim of reform on the college English. In order to cope with this problem, ＂flipped classroom＂has many advantages. By Giving definitions to the ＂flipped classroom＂, this dissertation analyzed the differences between the regular class and the ＂flipped classroom＂ and carried out a new way to improve the reading and writing course： we can take advantage of multimedia and new internet technology.

The Effect of Background Knowledge on EFL Learners＇ Reading Comprehension

Schema is known to play an important role in reading comprehension. The schema embodying the learners background knowledge of cultural familiar materials facilitates the understanding of the text （Pritchard, 1990）. Also Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson （1979） and Nelson （1987） proposed that the schemata embodying background knowledge influenced how well the text would be comprehended. However, Hudson （1982） and Carrell （1984） found there was no significant background effect in advanced level learners. From those studies, it seems that background effect is different at different language proficiency levels. Thus, the present study examines the interaction between background knowledge and language proficiency in reading comprehension. The participants were freshmen of National Chiayi University. They were divided into three language proficiency levels based on the General English Proficiency Test. Four reading comprehension tests were constructed to assess their reading comprehension： cultural familiar/unfamiliar text and topic familiar/unfamiliar text. The results of this study showed that participants had better performance on the culture/topic familiar text than the culture/topic unfamiliar text. Thus the findings suggest that the teacher can use teaching activities, such as pre-reading activities or vocabulary teaching to increase the background knowledge when teaching readings to EFL （English as a foreign language） learners