The Principles and Techniques in Teaching Reading Comprehension

夏元霞

Outline：

Ⅰ. Introduction

Ⅱ. Some principles in teaching reading comprehension

1. Student-centered principle

2. Teach the reading material as a whole

3. A balance principle

（1）A balance between teaching and studying

（2）A balance between reading speed and comprehension

4. Involve culture and moral education in reading teaching

Ⅲ. Some techniques in teaching reading comprehension

1. Guess the meaning of new words

2. Understand long sentences

3. Deal with Paragraphs

（1）To search for topic sentences

（2）To remember the supporting ideas

4. Analyze the articles in multi- angles

5. Read as loud as possible

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Ⅰ. Introduction

Reading is a studying method that can't be overlooked. It can help students enlarge their vocabulary， enrich their language knowledge， understand the civilization of English-speaking countries and improve their skills of listening， speaking and writing. In English teaching of high schools， we should lay special emphasis on the training of reading skill. If the students can learn about reading principles well and grasp some reading techniques， it is better to improve the students' reading ability.

Ⅱ. Some principles in teaching reading comprehension

In English reading teaching， we must obey some basic principles. These basic principles are foundations of dealing with the reading materials， choosing proper teaching methods and improving reading ability. Correct understanding and carrying out these principles to the full are the guarantee of completing teaching task.

1. Student-centered principle

John Dewey， the founder of education in the U.S， insists that class instruction is student-centered； teachers are open to different points of view； the classroom environment should be comfortable and non-threatening. So we should regard every student as an individual friend， and fully realize the importance of humanism and do everything according to his or her needs. We should also encourage them to answer questions freely and bravely， talk in groups， debate among them， and even argue with each other. At the same time， we should allow them to make mistakes， because practice makes perfect. As a general rule， the teacher should do more than one-fourth of the talking in class， and the students should be permitted to do three-fourths of the talking. Only in this way can the students' reading ability be improved.

2. Teach the reading material as a whole

A reading material is not made up of independent sentences or clauses. It is a web of related ideas that are announced， introduced and then taken up again. So we should teach the text as a whole and get the students to comprehend the reading material step by step.

A reading class is usually given in four steps.

1. Presentation stage

A new reading material can be introduced by providing some background information or by asking some questions related to it with the purpose of arousing students' interest in reading， and the students can be prepared for the formal reading.

2. Initial comprehension stage

Students are asked to read the reading material quickly， get a general idea and capture the main plots and events in story. It also helps to develop the students' ability to hunt for the key words.

3. Deep comprehension stage

Get the students to read the reading material again and answer some detailed questions according to the reading material. Get the students to discuss the answers to the questions and report their discussion. Help the students to draw an outline of the passage. Meanwhile， the teacher may collect the difficulties that students can't understand and guide/inspire the students to clear away the difficulties by analyzing， discussing and consulting dictionaries.

4. Consolidation stage （Moral education）

In this stage， students are required to consolidate what they've learned. Especially， the teacher should involve moral education in the reading teaching. This step helps the students to further understand the content of the passage and gain some moral education.

3. A balance principle

In reading teaching， the teacher must keep proper balance between teaching and studying； the students should also keep balancing their variations between reading speed and comprehension. A balance principle is a very important principle in reading. It is shown in multi-aspects.

（1）A balance between teaching and studying

In reading teaching， the teacher must insure there is a proper balance between teaching and studying， as the ultimate aim of English reading teaching is to help the students how to understand the article. Teachers should not do most of the talking， but try to stimulate students to find problems and solve problems. At last they can grasp some reading techniques and their reading abilities are greatly enhanced. A good teacher is like the conductor of the symphony orchestra， not a performer but the person who directs the performers. The teacher introduces the new material and then leads the class in lots of rehearsals. The class often responds as a group. Obviously there must be a proper balance between “ensemble” and “solo work” of the teacher.

（2）A balance between reading speed and comprehension

Speed is very important in reading， and so it is with reading comprehension. However， some students may feel when they increase their reading speed， they may drop in comprehension. If this phenomenon happens， the teacher should tell students to keep the reading speed at its new high rate， rather than return to his earlier one. The teacher should also encourage them to try to bring comprehension up to their precious normal rate. It is a very important task for the teacher to get the students to balance the variations between their reading speed and comprehension.

4. Involve culture and moral education in reading teaching

Jury Lotman said， “No language can exit unless it is stepped in the context of culture.” In fact language is the symbolic representation of people， and it comprises their historical and cultural background as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. Different language has different culture foundation. In reading teaching， the teacher can give a comparison to the two languages to help students get a better understanding to the differences between them so as to avoid culture shock and reduce inter language errors.

In the current English textbooks， there are many good reading materials. In teaching， the teacher should use these materials fully to help students not only gain some language knowledge but also experience more moral education. For example： After reading “Experiment in Folk” （SBUnit5， L3）， The students can understand and master the fact that if we are to succeed， we should work hard. Genius is nothing but labor and diligence. Anyone can be successful on condition that he is diligent. After the students read “Chinese Paper Art” （SB Module2 Unit6 Lesson3）， our laboring people's wisdom and the influence of paper cuts upon the world should also be deeply understood.

Ⅲ. Some techniques in teaching reading comprehension

In English reading teaching， the teacher may teach students some proper reading techniques to help them understand the reading materials， steadily increase their reading speed and improve their reading ability.

1. Guess the meaning of new words

In reading， we often come across some words that we don't know. Don't stop to look up every new word in your dictionary. Try to guess its possible meaning from the context clues， synonym clues， grammar and punctuation clues， word formation and so on. Guessing the meaning of the unknown words has many advantages. On one hand， when students guess the meaning of the new words， they learn to direct their attention to language units rather than the individual sentences， because the context of a new word may be drawn from a group of sentences， a paragraph or even the whole text； on the other hand， it won't make your thought interrupted， and therefore make you more interested in what you're reading.

2. Understand long sentences

In reading， we often meet with some long sentences， especially， in some articles about science and technology， economy， etc. If the sentence is very long， the students should be required to divide it into smaller parts， analyze the structure of the sentence， and try to determine which part of the sentence is the main idea， and which parts of the sentence are specific details supporting the main idea. According to their analyzing， the students draw logical conclusion about the author's intention.

3. Deal with Paragraphs

（1）To search for topic sentences

As we know， an article may include some important meanings， however， there is only one main idea in general which is the most important. Similarly， one paragraph usually has one main idea. It is often expressed by a topic sentence. We should pay special attention to the first several sentences of each paragraph， for they are often the sentences that summarize the paragraph. We may pick out the headwords and find out the topic sentence. However， sometimes a topic sentence may appear in the middle or at the end of a paragraph. Trying to find the topic sentence helps us to get the main idea of this paragraph.

（2）To remember the supporting ideas

The main idea of a paragraph often has one or more supporting ideas， such as： explanation， details and examples. When we are looking for the answer to the question， we must find evidence from the reading material to support our statements. Therefore， we must learn to distinguish the main points from the supporting points， and to identify linguistic signals and to make the discourse structure clear， and at last to recognize the purpose of the author.

4. Analyze the articles in multi-angles

When we do some reading， many students read the article many times， but still fail to understand the text. Why？ As we know， a reading passage is a whole structure containing the writer's intention and it is connected closely and coherently between each sentence and paragraph. Sometimes， the writer will give you implied meanings. Besides， we should try to understand the meaning of speech， including some exaggeration， irony， etc. Therefore， we must think over and grasp the connotation of the passage and understand what the writer means to say. The teacher should lead the students to change their ordinary formula of thinking and encourage them to analyze articles in multi-angles to attain a comprehensive understanding of the article.

5. Read as loud as possible

Reading aloud is one of most important reading techniques. Reading aloud not only makes silent letters full of sound， but also makes organs， such as： eyes， mouth， brain， etc. work together and take an active part in the process of memorizing language information. Reading aloud is also helpful in listening test. Students will feel familiar to what they have read before. When students are reading， they must try to use correct， standard pronunciation， intonation and stress. Therefore， in or after class， teachers should encourage their students to speak English loudly and imitate the standard pronunciation as much as possible.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

As we know， English reading is the core of English learning. It is also no wonder that English reading makes up so much of the English teaching. Only when students know some reading principles， grasp some reading techniques and use them correctly， can they really improve their reading comprehension ability.

（作者單位：安徽省馬鞍山市和縣第一中學）