1、1 Introduction1. 1 Definition of ReadingAccording to the first definition, learning to read means learning to pronounce words. According to the second definition, leaning to reading means learning to identify words and get their meaning. According to the third definition, learning to read means lear
2、ning to bring meanings to a text in order to get meaning from it（赵，2003：56-78 ）Although these definitions reflect long-standing views of reading, current literature research supports a more comprehensive definition of reading. “The new definition includes the confects of the above three definitions
3、and places learning skills in the context of authentic reading and writing activities. It recognizes the importance of skill instructions as one piece of the reading process.”（Nunan,2000:102-107） Reading is a procedure for readers and the author to exchange their ideas(Nuttal,2002:1-20). Reading abi
4、lity means the ability to read in an appropriate speed using language, language ability and reading skills.1. 2 Reading SkillsReading comprehension is a complicated psychological process(Nunan,2001:211-228). As early as in the nineteenth century, many Western psychologists and linguists began to stu
5、dy the reading comprehension process systematically. Researches on reading in foreign language and efforts to improve reading ability grew remarkably in the past decades. Reading skills include skimming, scanning, close reading and so on.Skimming means reading for main idea. Students can gain the ba
6、sic information of the passage in a few minutes, without reading the material specifically. There are two types of skimming. The first one is to get the main idea of each paragraph. Since each passage is made up of many paragraphs, and each one has a main point, when getting the main point of each p
7、aragraph, students gain the information of the whole passage. This is a more efficient way to gain information. The second one is to find the topic sentence. Each paragraph has one topic sentence which generalizes the information in the paragraph. The topic sentence is always located at the beginnin
8、g of the paragraph, sometimes in the end, or in the middle of the paragraph.Scanning is also a reading skill. Students search the special information in the material after they simply know about it. The teacher gives students some questions, which are prepared before and ask them to answer in a few
9、minutes. Scanning is usually used in doing exercises after reading. While using this reading skill, firstly, students need to remember the special information, which they are looking for. Secondly, students need to move their eyes quickly from the beginning to the end to search the special informati
10、on. Thirdly, students need to check the information to see whether it is true when they find them out.“Close reading means students read the passage again for more detailed information after knowing about the general idea of the passage. Students are required to understand the passage thoroughly, an
11、d to pose new questions and give out their own opinions to develop their thinking ability”.(Hedge,2002:170-188)1. 3 Present Situation of English Reading TeachingThe National Standards for Senior English Course has been carried out for many years and most teachers have studied it. However, some both
12、new and old problems still occur during their English reading teaching. As a result, teachers teach the course without the guidance of reading theory.In traditional English reading teaching classes, teachers main task is to analyze passages, to explain new words, sentence structures and grammar, and
13、 finally to translate passages. Teachers do not give reading skill training to students, so students do not know how to use reading skills to find useful information and then make correct inferences. Teachers give knowledge to students too directly, which makes students have no chance to think indep
14、endently. As a result, they always lose interest in classes. When asked to solve problems by themselves, they always feel difficult because they always use others opinions as their own. As time goes by, they gradually lose ability to think independently. 2 Problems of English Reading in Senion High
15、SchoolIn the past decades, most people, including experts, teachers, students and others, have all held the opinion that the situation about English reading teaching in senior middle schools need to be changed. Facing this issue, the Ministry of Education issued the New National Standards for Senior English Course in 2003. Most teachers cannot teach their students as well as they requested because there are still a lot of problems existing in senior English reading teaching. The following will illustrate some such problems.
