Thoughts on Teaching Chinese Reading

1. Thoughts on Teaching Chinese Reading

2. Content: 1.The purpose of reading course 2.The main factors that influence learners’ reading 3.The Requirements of Vocabulary for Reading 4.The main point for Vocabulary Learning in Reading 5.The methods for teaching reading

3. 1. The Purpose of Reading Course (1) To train and improve the ability of reading (2) To accumulate the knowledge of the language and culture (3) To review and consolidate the words and grammar that are learned before, and learn more new knowledge

4. 2. The Main Factors that Influence Learners ’ Reading (1) Nation and Coady(1988)：One major composition of reading ability is one’s vocabulary knowledge. (2) Xieshiya and Suqizhen(1992): 57 percent of students’ reading ability is attributed to the ability of identifying the words, expressions and idioms. (3) Barnett (1989): The main problem in reading for second language learners is the lack of vocabulary. (4) Gaoyande (1993):"Lack of professional vocabulary" was listed as the first major difficulty in reading.

5. Conclusion： Vocabulary should be in a important position in terms of teaching reading.

6. 3. The Requirements of Vocabulary for Reading • Passive vocabulary vs active vocabulary (1) Passive vocabulary is greater than active vocabulary. (2) The conversion of passive vocabulary into active vocabulary requires a process. (3) Not all of the passive vocabulary can be converted into active vocabulary. (Litingxiang1983)

7. In the second language learning, the acquisition of one word must meet the two conditions: (1) With or without context, the word meaning can be identified and understood (and not based on speculation). (2) Learners can use the words correctly in the natural context. (Channell 1988)

8. In reading class, usually the first condition can be met,and the vocabulary that is learned usually belong to passive words. Conclusion: we can settle teaching for partial acquisition of the vocabulary in reading class.

9. 4. The Main point for Vocabulary Learning in Reading (1) As for the use, Empty Words are "the most difficult to master”（Zhangzhigong1988） (2) As for the understanding and memory ,Empty Words are easy to remember, because of their small number and their high rate of recurring. (Nattinger1988)。 (3) Nouns, verbs and adjectives that are abstract, not figurative, as well as adverbs are more difficult to learn. (Nattinger1988). (4) The words learners look up in the dictionary are not low-frequency words or jargons, but high-frequency words, in particular, the abstract words (Longman companies1980)

10. Conclusion: Vocabulary teaching in Reading Course should focus on the substantive words that represent abstract ideas.

11. 5. The Methods for Teaching Reading (1) Identifying the words and phrases (2) Reading aloud exercises (3) Classifying the vocabulary for recognizing and understanding (classify and categorize) (4) Training the comprehension of combination’s rules for the sentence, paragraph, and chapter (5) Teaching cultural knowledge (6) Training the capacity of guessing and inferring (7) Training the skills of "grasping the key points, skipping the obstacles"