语言学论文：What’s The Situation of Reading Strategies’ Employment by English Majors in Hohai University?

A. Introduction
Reading is universally acknowledged to be a major means of study and one of the most important skills for all the Second Language learners. However, traditional teaching attaches little importance to the cultivation of students' use of reading strategies, which leads to the poor reading efficiency. By using a questionnaire, this paper has been carrying on an empirical study on the use of five reading strategies among English majors in Hohai University, and analysis the feasible means to improve their reading skills.

B. Research Objectives & Research Means
1. Research Objectives
The research objectives are all the junior students in the Foreign Language and Cultural College of Hohai University. They are all English majors and have at least 9 years’ English study experience. Besides, they have learned extensive and intensive classes for two years in college. What’s more, they have just passed the TEM-4(2007.4) Thus, they are representative and all together there are 62 students of them.
2. Research Means
This research adopted the form of questionnaire. All together, there are 24questions which are categorized according the five reading strategies: skim, scan, conjecture, vocabulary mastery, and structure analysis. After each question, there is a bracket for them to fill the label that suits them best. Here are the meanings of the labels and the questionnaire.

Questionnaire
(This questionnaire is used for research only; everything you fill in will be kept confidential. Thanks for your cooperation!)
Part A Background information
Name _____ Sex_____
Part B Reading Strategies
Below there are some strategies that people have about reading. What are yours? Do you agree or disagree? To what extent? Please write the number which best indicates your situation in the bracket at the end of each sentence. The number stands for the following responses:
1 = this sentence doesn’t suit my situation at all
2 = this sentence doesn’t suit me generally
3 = this sentence suits my situation sometimes
4 = this sentence suits my situation generally
5 = this sentence exactly suits my situation

Chart 1
Reading Strategy Questionnaire


skim
I can always find out the subject sentence.

I ignore the difficult words.

I consider the article as a whole.

I pay attention to the beginning and the ending of the article.

I read fast.



scan
I ignore irrelevant words.

I find correlative words.

I am familiar with the context.

I presume according to the structure of the article.


presumption
I presume according to the beginning of the article.

I presume according to the title.

I presume according to the context.

I presume according to the article structure.

I presume the unexpressed opinions.

I find out the underline meaning.

I take advantage of background knowledge.


vocabulary mastery
I look up in the dictionary.

I use the knowledge of word-formation.

I ignore difficult words.

I guess the meaning of the word according to the context.


structure analysis
I pay attention to the structure of the article.

I pay attention to the relationship between sentences.

I pay attention to the conjunction words and sentences.

I pay attention to the relationship between paragraphs.


C. Research Results & Analysis
1. Research Results
In the following chart, the “F”（Frequency）is defined according to the five levels of the questionnaire.
1 = this sentence doesn’t suit my situation at all Low F
2 = this sentence doesn’t suit me generally Low F
3 = this sentence suits my situation sometimes Middle F
4 = this sentence suits my situation generally High F
5 = this sentence exactly suits my situation High F

TAS: Total Average Score
AS: average score F: frequency
Chart 2
TAS Reading Strategy Questionnaire
AS
F

Skim
(3.9)
I can always find out the subject sentence.
4.5
high
I ignore the difficult words.
3.6
high
I consider the article as a whole.
3.8
high
I pay attention to the beginning and the ending of the article.
4.3
high
I read fast.
3.5
high


Scan
(3.3)

I ignore irrelevant words.
3.1
middle
I find correlative words.
4.2
high
I am familiar with the context.
3.4
middle
I presume according to the structure of the article.
2.6
middle

Presumption
（3.6）
I presume according to the beginning of the article.
4.3
high
I presume according to the title.
3.9
high
I presume according to the context.
3.0
middle
I presume according to the article structure.
2.4
middle
I presume the unexpressed opinions.
3.7
high
I find out the underline meaning.
3.8
high
I take advantage of background knowledge.
3.4
middle

vocabulary mastery
（4.1）
I look up in the dictionary.
3.8
high
I use the knowledge of word-formation.
3.5
middle
I ignore difficult words.
4.2
high
I guess the meaning of the word according to the context.
4.8
high

structure analysis
（3.1）
I pay attention to the structure of the article.
2.6
middle
I pay attention to the relationship between sentences.
3.3
middle
I pay attention to the conjunction words and sentences.
3.2
middle
I pay attention to the relationship between paragraphs.
3.3
middle

2. Research Analysis
The Situation of English majors’ reading strategies
We can see from Chart 2 that all the items belong to middle or high level of using frequency. And half of the items belong to high level of using frequency. This shows that English majors of Chinese students do use reading strategy.
We can also find out that the five strategies in the skim item are all highly used. Thus, we can make the conclusion that the informant are anxious to know the information that conveyed by the article. They will consider the article as a whole in order to obtain the main information. Meanwhile, they often pay attention to the beginning and ending of the article. In the purpose of getting the main information of each paragraph, they will find out the subject sentence. Besides, they will read fast to save time and ignore irrelevant words to search the general ideal.
As to the scan strategy, all the others are middle frequency except find correlative words. The students not tend to care about the structure of the article because they think there is no relationship between the structures and the details. However, they are good at finding correlative details.
The total average score of Presumption is 3.6---another highly used strategy. Presuming according to the beginning of the article ranks the highest score. Beside, there are quite a number of students, who realized the importance of the title of the article. However, few of them can presume according to the article structure.
As to Vocabulary Mastery, this is the highest TAS, which shows that the students pay great importance on this. Using the knowledge of word-formation, ignoring difficult words, guessing
the meaning of the word according to the context are flexible employed by them.
And the last strategy: structure analysis. Its score is the lowest. This shows that the Chinese students are not good at using this strategy, which, however, has been proved by the authoritative as one of the most efficient strategies.

D. Conclusion
According to the analysis the situation of reading strategies’ employment by English majors in Hohai University, we can conclude that the Chinese English major students do use some reading strategies to improve reading abilities. The most obvious feather is that they pay great attention to the beginning and ending of the article. But they lack enough attention to the structure analysis.
Thus, we can do from three aspects to make up the deficiencies and improve the reading abilities of English major students.
Firstly, the students should try their efforts to improve their reading skills on the based acknowledge of their own advantages and disadvantages. They should pay more attention to the article structure when do reading comprehensives. Secondly, since the teachers have been familiar with the situation of the strategies of the students, they should guide them on their weak aspects and adjust their teaching focuses. Lastly, the form and purpose of exam should also be adjusted. Normally, the exercises of reading comprehension are focused on words, details, and center ideals, which is harmful to the improvements of reading skills. Instead, they should pay more attention to test the mastery of article structure, the presumption of contest and the ability of analysis. Only by this can the students literally improve their reading skills.