Study on improving teaching methods of English reading course in higher vocational college

【Abstract】Reading is important way for English learners to input knowledge and enhance cross cultural awareness， especially in vocational college. Due to the traditional teaching methods and the preconceived ideas about vocational education， the performance of English reading course is not optimistic. In this thesis， the author plans to put forward several suggestions on improving teaching methods.

【Key words】reading course; teaching methods; vocational education

【作者簡介】閆素，武漢軟件工程職業學院。

1. Introduction

As the State Council released“National plan for the implementation of vocational education reform”， it signals vocational education plays an important role in talents cultivation. it is urgent for teachers to adjust teaching methods and find the exact way to have students participate in reading course fully.

2. Problems existed in reading course

2.1 “Cramming”teaching limits students’subjective initiative

In traditional reading class， teacher plays the leading role while students wait for knowledge. Teaching activities for students include reading in a certain time， completing questions. Teacher focuses on passage translation， grammar and new words explanation. This exam-based， teacher-centered teaching method outputs a lot of information but cannot mobilize students’ enthusiasm.

2.2 Reading materials beyond interests and ability of students

During teaching practice， the author finds that some reading materials selected in the textbooks are outdated and monotonous. Some of the topics in the textbooks are in no correlation with students’ daily life， thus students are forced to read only for completing questions attached to the passage. Some of the materials are too professional and beyond the ability of them.

2.3 lack of background culture weakening faithful reading

Chinese and English are two different languages， behind the languages are the huge cultural diversifies. Culture has a large range including history， customs and so on. Because of such differences， English learners feel confused to understand non-native language， these also become the obstacles in reading comprehension.

3. Strategies on improving teaching methods

3.1 designing versatile activities

Students-centered means to motivate students’ subjective initiative. Firstly， teacher should focus more on the provoking contents which enable students think and find answers by themselves. The sense of accomplishment can stimulate interests and initiatives mostly. Secondly， teacher can bring situational teaching to class. Students can immerse in the passage， learn from the first-person perspective. This makes them understand the passage deeper and actively.

3.2 Choosing comprehensive reading materials

The comprehensible input that language learners are exposed to enjoys the primary importance. An ideal reading material should be comprehensive， interesting relevance， slight hard beyond the students’ abilities. Teacher can introduce interesting and meaningful readings from newspaper， classic literature or popular novels. As long as students read， the purposes of this course are achieved.

3.3 Raising cultural sensibility

At the beginning of a class， teacher can introduce related background and lists several provoking questions for students to discuss. Once students start to think， they have an outline of and are curious about what they are about to read. During paragraphing the passage， teacher leads students to analysis the relationship between words and contexts which can help them remember new words and appreciate different meanings under different contexts. Such appreciation can break the limitation of native language thoughts and cultivate the cross-cultural awareness subconsciously.

4. Conclusion

As students from vocational college receive more recognition from the society， teachers face more challenges and should keep sharp mind to analyze the interests of students and take effective methods to motivate them. Teacher should not only teach students test-taking skills but also broad their horizon， enrich their knowledge through reading. Only under the active leading of teacher， can students participate in reading and improve English proficiency.

References：

[1]秦娟. 大學英語閱讀教學現狀淺析[J].中國科技信息，2010（01）.