1 .the importance of reading in english learning
in language learning. reading is regarded as a major source of input，and for many efllcarners it is the most important skill in an academic context (grabe 1991). in addition, readingcan help learners extend their general knowledge of the world. in the context of china, as chineseefl learners arc learning the target languagc in an acquisition-poor environment, they need all themore to depend on reading for language and culture immersion.what is more，there is anothernecessity to chinese efl learners—reading for examinations (zhou 2003). it is obvious thatreading makes up a large proportion of the total scores in important english proficiency tests atvarious levels such as test of english as a foreign l.anguage(toefl),international englishlanguage testing system (ielts), college english test band 4(cet-4), college english testband 6 (cet-6)，test for english majors band 4 (tem-4)，test for english majors band 8(tem-8) (pu 2006). therefore, reading is considered as an essential and prerequisite ability on thepart of english majors.
n豆丁
2.the reading process
2.1 the nature of reading
reading comprehension begins at the smallest and simplest language units and each singleword, scentcnce and passage carries its own mcaning independently which has no direct link withthe reader (chomsky cited in zhang & guo 2005). it is the process of acquiring information froma written or printed text. so to rcad a tcxt successfully is to know the meaning of the tcxt. (eskey2002, cited in yu 2005).
another view is that reading is al “psycholinguistic guessing game" (goodman 1967, cited inzhang 2006) during which the reader can make predictions about the content ofa passageaccording to the textual clues，his prior knowledge and experience. if his predictions areconfirmed, thc rcader continucs,otherwisc， he reviscs those predictions(goodman 1967; smith1971, cited in silberstein 2002:6).
from this perspective,reading can be taken as an interactive activity (eskey 1988;grabe1993,cited in hedge 2002:188) which can be understood to be a complex cognitive process inwhich the reader and the text interact to (re)create meaningful discourse(silberstein 2002:x). it isin at least two ways. firstly,the various processes involved in reading are carried outsimultaneously.secondly, it is interactive in the sense that linguistic information from the textinleracts with information activated by the reader from his long-tcrm memory， as backgroundknowledge (grabe & stoller 2005:18).at this point, reading can also be described as a kind ofdialogue between the reader and thc text, or even between the reader and the author (widdowson1979a, cited in hedge 2002: 188).
meanwhile, reading is a complex process. it involves processing ideas generated by othevs
that are transmitted through language and involvcs highly complcx cognitive processingoperations (nunan 1999, cited in yu 2005).and many processing skills are coordinated in veryefficient combinations (grabe & stoller 2005: 4).furthermore，reading is a purposeful process. we can divide the purpose into differentcategories: reading for pleasure or reading for information in order to find out something or dosomcthing with the information you get(grellet 2000: 4): to get information,to respond tocuriosity about a topic; to follow instructions to perform a task; for pleasure,amusement，andpersonal cnjoyment; to keep in touch with fricnds and collcagues; to know what is happcning inthe world; and to find out when and where things are (rivers and temperley1978: 187, cited inhedge 2002: 195).besides these，reading is a critical process. critical reading views reading as a socialengagement (kress 1985, cited in hedge 2002:197).form this viewpoint, texts are organized incertain ways by writers to shape thc perceptions of readers towards acceptancc of the undcrlyingideology of the text (hedge 2002: 197).so it is the process for the readers to 出现恶意脚本uate the writers‘attitudes or viewpoints.2.2 three components of reading2.2.1 language competencemany researchers have poinited out that l2 learners must reach a certann level of seconalanguage competence before they can smoothly read in the target language (see (rabe & stoller2005).an efficient reader can recognize and decode the words, grammatical structures and otherlinguistie features quickly, accurately, and automatically.obviously，somctimes sccond language rcadcrs havc dificultics in proccssing texts whichcontain unfamiliar elements of the english language such as the cohesive devices (hedge 2002:192)..lust as berman ( 1984,cited in hedge 2002: 193) suggests,deletion, another cohesive deviee,can make a text ‘opaque’to the reader. it seems to confirm the hypothesis that foreign languagereaders are partly dependent on processing syntactic structures successfully to get access tomeaning (hedge 2002:193).another major difficulty lies in vocabulary. language learners experience difficulty withvocabulary, but the degree of dilliculty varies with the demands of the texl, the prior knowledge ofthe reader,the degree of automaticity a learner has achieved in general word recognition， anyspecialist lexical knowledge a student might have, and the learner ‘s first language(hedge 2002:193).2.2.2 background knowledgebackground knowledge is one‘s previously acquired comprehensive knowledge or worldknowledge and one‘s special knowledge on cecrtain subjects (zhang & guo 2005). in languagclearning, especially for reading comprehension, the function of background knowledge in readingcomprehension is formularized as schema theory(bartlett 1932;rumelhart & ortony 1977;rumelhart 1980, cited in zhang 2006).the reader begins with the perception of graphic cues, butknowledge of the world in gencral arc brought into play (parry 1987: 61, cited in qian 1997).sowords in texts function as signs within a culture-bound system, and familiar cultural schemata cansometimes be more powerful than lexical knowledge (swaffar 1988:123).if the texts are productsof an unfamiliar culture，some learners’reading problems may be caused by insufficientbackground knowledge,and a particular schema fails to exist for them because this schema isspecific to a given culture and is not part of their own background (carrcll1 1988: 245, cited inqian 1997).thereforc, comprchending a text is dcscribed as an intcractive process betwecn the reader‘sbackground knowledge and the text (qian 1997), but it depends largely on the reader rather thanon the text (carrell 1984:333;swaffar 1988: 123 , cited in qian 1997). the reason is that any text,either spoken or written,doesn‘t by itself carry meaning and what a text provides is only thedirections as to how a reader should retrieve or construct meaning from previously acquiredknowledlge which is the recader‘s background knowledgc(zhang & guo 2005).there are two basic types of schemata: formal schemata and content schemata.formalschemata, often known as textual schemata, consists of knowledge of different text types,genres,and the understanding that different types of texts use text organization,language structures,vocabulary, grammar, level of formality/register differently.if esl readers possess the appropriateformal schemata against which they process the discourse typc of the text and if they utilize thatformal schemata to organize their recall protocols,they will retrieve more information (carrell1984:460,cited in hedge 2002:192). therefore, the readers’background knowledge and priorexperience with textual organization can facilitate reading comprehension(pu 2006). contentschemata involve a reader‘s existent knowledge about certain topics and his general worldknowledge. the reader ‘s content schemata functions while he is trying to comprehendsubject-specific and culture-specific texts.2.2.3 reading strategiesreading strategies are defined as the mental operations involved when readers approach atext effectively and make sense of what they are reading (barnett 1988, cited in pani 2006). thesestrategies consist of cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies，william grabe 71991: 379,citedl in qian 1997) includes the into six categories:( 1 ) automatic recognition skills(2) vocabulary and structure knowledge(3) formal discourse structure knowledge(4) content/wor1d background knowledge(5) synthesis and 出现恶意脚本uation skills( 6) metacognitive knowledge and monitoring skills2.2.3.1 cognitive strategics in rcadingcognitive stralegics are described as mental processes directly concerned with the processingof information in order to learn，that is for obtaining，storage，retri出现恶意脚本 or use of information(williams & burden 2000: 148).they are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or transformation oflearning materials (ellis2000: 77).furthermore,these strategies enable readers to deal with theinformation presentcd in tasks and matcrials by working on it in different ways (hedge 20027了-t8).mikulecky (1990: 25-26) has listed 24 reading strategies which an efficient reader mustacquire:( 1 ) automatic decoding2 ) previcwing and predicting(3) specifying purpose(4) ldentifying gcnrc(5) questioning( ) scanning(7) recognizing topics( 8) classification of ideas into main topics and details(9) locating topic scntencc(10) stating the main idea of a sentence, paragraph or passage(11 ) recognizing patterns of relationships( 12)identifying and using words which signal the patterns of relationships(13) inferring the main idea, using patterns and other clues(14)recognizing and using pronouns,referents, and other lexical equivalents as clues to cohesion(15) guessing the meaning of unknown words from the context( 16) skimming(17)paraphrasing(1 8) sunmarizing(19) draw conclusions(20) draw inferences and using evidence(21) visualizing(22) reading critically(23) reading faster(24)adjusting reading rate according to materials and purposeamong these reading stratcegies/skills， some are more basic to intermediatc english majors,such as previewing and predicting, scanning. locating topic sentence,recognizing patterns ofrelationships，inferring the main idea.using patterns and other clues, guessing the meaning ofunknown words from the context， skimming.paraphrasing, or etc. some are more essential toadvanced english majors，such as automatic decoding,draw conclusions,draw inferences andusing evidence, rcading critically, ctc.
2.2.3.2 metacognitive strategies in reading
a large body of literature on fsl/efl. reading has proved that the ability to usemetacognitive strategies is a critical component of skilled reading(grabe 1991:382, cited in qian1997). as the indispensable strategies，metacognitive strategies consist of planning for learning,thinking about lcarning and how to make it cffective，self-monitoring during lcarning, and出现恶意脚本uation of how successful learning has been after working on language in some way (hledge2002:78). when it comes to reading, metacognitive strategies involve awareness,monitoring andregulating (qian 2005).
awareness includes readers’consciousness of their own reading strengths and weaknesses
(mikulecky 1990: 28, citcd in qian 2005), thcir purpose of rcading, their recognition of implicit aswell as explicit information in the text (haller et al. 1988,cited in qian 2005), and their awarenessof strategies to be employed by them in the process of reading (qian 2005).monitoring can be used to adjust reading rate, check comprehension during reading,integrateprior knowledge with current information，compare main ideas，generate self-questioning andsummarize the written text (grabe 1991; haller ct al.1988, cited in qian 2005).regulating is used to redirect self-comprehension,check effectiveness of the strategies used(grabe 199 1, cited in qian 2005), and operate repair stratcgies if comprchension fails.the relationship among these is that monitoring and regulating of cognitive processingfinction on the basis of awareness (qian 2005).3. the importance of strategic processing in efl reading3.1 modes of information processing in efl readingtext comprchension requires the simultancous intcraction of two modes of informationprocessing, that is, bottom-up processing (text-based or dada driven) and top-down processingknowledge-based or conceptually driven)(silberstein 2002: 7).bottom-up processing refers to the decoding of the letters,words, and other language featuresin the text(hedge 2002:189). the processing occurs when linguistic input from the text ismapped against the reader ‘s cxistent linguistic knowledge, and it is also evoked by the incomingdata (silberstein 2002:7). this processing ensures the reader to be sensitive to information that isnovel or thal docs nol lit their ongoing hypothescs about the contenl or structure of the text (zhang2006). for fluent reading, the most fundamental requirement is rapid and automatic wordrecognition(grabe & stoller 2005: 20).and a fluent reader can take in and store words togetherso that basic grammatical information can be extracted to support clause-level meaning (ibid:22).so improving reading speed is an important strategy for this processing(grellet 2000:16). butthis is the basic processing mode dependent on linguistic competence and leading tocomprehension mainly on the sentence level.on the other hand,top-down processing refers to the application /of prior knowledge toworking on the meaning of a text (hedge 2002: 189). the processing occurs when readers useprior knowldgc to make predictions about thc data thcey will find in a text (silbcrstcin 2002:8). itassumes that reading is primarily directed by reader goals and expectations (grabe & stoller 2005:32). it helns the readers to resolve ambiguities or to select between alternative possibleinterpretations of the incoming data (zhang 2006).some strategies involved are: makinginferences through the context and word formation，skimming and scanning or etc (grellet2000:14-18).however, there is a qucstion about what a rcadcr could lcarn from a text if thc rcadermust first have expectations about all the information in the text (grabe & stoller 2005:32).therefore, to some extent, these views concerning processing in reading comprehension arenot entirely adequate. a more effective way is to use these two modes of processing interactively,during which one can take useful ideas from a bottom-up perspective and combine them with keyideas from a top-down view (grabe & stoller 2005: 33). it is claimed that prior knowledge andprediction facilitate the processing of input from the text. meanwhile, the integrated mode requireslinguistic pcrccption.rcaders can use bottom-up proccssing as a base for sampling data and thcnswitch to top-down process to execute higher-level interpretation of the text. furthermore, throughfurther sampling of data, readers will confirm, revise or reject predictions about the content of thetext. so these two modes of information processing are complementary to each other (qian &ding 2004).to be strategic readers,efl learners should possess the ability of between bottom-upprocessing and top-down processing flcxibly to monitor and regulate the rcading process.3.2 strategy trainingmany sludies have provided suflicient evidence for the efficacy of strategy training. oneexample was a study undertaken by carrell, pharis, and liberto(1989, cited in hedge 2002:80-81)with twenty-six esl students of mixed first language backgrounds. this investigated the valuc oftwo training techniques: semantic mapping and experience-text-relationship(etr) in pre-reading.ln the experiment, onc group of students underwent training in the semantic mapping techniqueand another underwent training in the etr technique. a third group received no training. thegroups were pre-tested and post-tested on their ability to answer multiple choice comprehensionquestions, to complete partially constructed maps of the topics of threc texts， and to create theirown semantic maps. the general results suggested that the use of both techniques enhanced thesccond-language rcading of the students involved as compared with thc group that reccive notraining.another example of such studies was undertaken with fifty-six freshmen in two classes ofchina university of geosciences (liu & zuo 2006). the students took the cet-4 reading testwhich contained five passages of different style and registers were chosen from the cet-4 test ofthe ycars 1991,1993,1995 and 1996.finally they finished a rcading-stratcgy questionnaire. thisquestionnaire was a self-assessment inventory including 19 statements on a five-point scaleranging from “*strongly disagree”to"strongly agree" for ussessing the reading stralegics usedduring the three stages of reading comprehension: pre-reading stage, during-reading stage andpost-reading stage. the results indicated that reading strategies contributed a lot to the readingperformance. the students who used more reading strategies that promoted their reading scoresperformed better than those who used less reading strategies. therefore,students shouild and canbe trained to acquire and develop reading strategies to improve their reading proliciency.the above two examples show that strategy training has a significant positive effect onreading comprehension and different techniques can be employed for strategy training which aimsto help learners apply strategies to upgrade their reading ability. the use of cognitive strategiesand metacognitive strategies enhance the second-language reading (hedge 2002:8) and facilitatescomprehension ( ibid. 79).furthermore, these strategies make the readers become more self-reliant,responsible,confident,motivated and autonomous when they begin to understand the relationshipbetween the use of strategies and success in reading conprchension(chamol & kupper 1989;chamot & o‘malley 1994; cited in rasekh & ranjbary 2003).4.summarymany researchers have done lots of elaborated studies on strategic reading. although manystudics have provided us with much enlightcnmcnt, they cither 出现恶意脚本 on thc stratcgic training foresl learners as is shown in the study of carrell, pharis, and liberto, or for non-english majors asis shown in the research of liu and 7.uo.ujp to now, there have been not many studies on strategictraining in the efl reading classroom for english majors in china.under these circumstances,there is still some room for further probe in this field.so on the basis of others’studies，myrcscarch is to discuss the following questions:(1)what are the major problems in reading among english majors in china?(2)what kind of rcading stratcgics english majors frcqucntly cmploy?(3)what kind of reading strategies get much more correlation with the efficiency of reading?(4) what are the major differences between successful and less successful readers in the use ofreading strategies?the purpose of my research is to identify the reading problems of english majors, analyze theundcrlying causcs,and suggcst cffectivc ways for stratcgy training in the rcading classroom..