摘要：在平时的高中英语教学中，使外语教师最头疼的事情莫过于所带班级的部分学困生的英语成绩总是赶不上去，结果影响所带班级的整体教学效果。同时该部分学生的存在，如果缺乏有效的管理，也会给英语课堂带来很多负面影响。所谓英语学习学困生是指在一个教学群体里，总存在一部分学生无论是在英语知识和技能方面，还是在情感态度和学习策略方面，都落后于该教学群体的平均水平。班级授课制和现阶段片面追求升学率的高考制度使这部分学生的存在不可避免，高中英语新课程标准明确规定英语教学要面向全体学生，重视每个学生的发展。所以，本文从对学困生实施管理策略培训的角度，通过调查和实验来探讨如何改进学困生的英语阅读能力。
对外语学习策略的研究国外始于20世纪70年代，其中最为著名的有Flavell（1979）提出“元认知”概念并将其分为元认知知识和元认知策略，两者相互联系又自成体系。元认知知识是学习者对学习过程的认知知识，是用来控制管理认知过程的知识。元认知策略是学习者对认知过程的思考，是对认知活动的计划、监控，以及认知活动完成后的自我评估；O’Malley和Chamot（1990）根据信息处理的理论将学习策略分为元认知策略、认知策略和社会/情感策略；与此同时他们也提出了相应的策略培训模式。国内学者文秋芳(2002)将学习策略分为管理策略和学习策略两大类。其中管理策略又分为管理观念和具体的管理策略，学习策略又分为学习观念和具体的学习策略。文秋芳针对中国学生学习外语的实际情况也提出了具体如何实施学习策略培训的模式。基于国内外对外语学习策略的研究和与之相应的策略培训模式，对学生进行外语学习策略培训实验研究的文章频频可见，也取得了很大的成就。但针对班级授课制环境下特别是针对高中阶段英语教学中的学困生的学习策略培训的实验研究还很少见。鉴于阅读能力是高中英语阅读教学中最重要的方面，也是改进学困生英语学习的一个突破口，本文以以上提到的几种理论和培训模式为基础，特别是以Flavell的元认知理论，文秋芳的学习策略分类系统和O’Malley和Chamot策略分类系统为基础，探讨在阅读策略方面学困生和优等生有何不同，从而从阅读策略方面回答是哪些原因阻碍了学困生阅读能力的提高。在此基础上从阅读方面对高中英语教学中的学困生实施管理策略培训，以验证对高中阶段学困生进行阅读管理策略的培训能否在提高这部分学生的阅读能力方面有显著成效。
本论文的整个实验设计分两部分。首先，以本人所在学校高二年级的两个班为研究对象，一个为全年级英语成绩最好的优等生班，一个为英语成绩最差的学困生班。先采用调查研究方法通过定量分析找出该年级优等生班学生和学困生班学生在阅读策略方面的差别，从而从阅读策略的角度找出可能阻碍学困生阅读能力提高的原因。再以此为基础，把该学困生班做为实验班对其实施阅读管理策略培训，培训模式以Flavell的学习策略理论为依据。最后使用定量和定性的方法分析学困生班阅读管理策略培训实验的效果和学困生使用阅读管理策略的具体情况，以解释阅读管理策略培训的结果。
从对优等生班和学困生班在使用阅读策略的调查结果进行定量分析发现, 学困生班使用元认知策略和认知策略的整体平均水平远低于优等生班，突出表现在计划安排、自我评价、选择注意、自我管理、预先组织等元认知策略方面和重复、推测、演绎、拓展、迁移、利用上下文资源等认知策略方面。同时，学困生在每周英语学习的时间投入方面也远远少于优等生。这基本上从阅读策略方面解释了学困生的阅读能力为什么弱于优等生，从而证明对学困生进行阅读管理策略培训的必要性。
从对实验结果的定量分析发现，在阅读策略方面对学困生进行阅读管理策略的培训以提高他们阅读能力的实验有一定效果，但不是非常显著；从对学生的周记进行定性分析发现，影响学困生阅读能力提高的原因有英语学习的有效时间投入、词汇量小，学习动机、学习兴趣、毅力和信心以及学困生班级学生本身的层次性等诸多制约因素。因此，要对学困生进行英语学习策略培训必须要考虑这些无关变量的干扰，才能使培训取得比较理想的效果。
关键词： 学困生 阅读管理策略 语言学习策略 语言策略培训
Applying Managing Reading Strategies to Improve the Reading Ability of Low-proficiency Students
Abstract: In our daily English teaching, the most difficult problem faced by our teachers is none other than the one that some of the low-proficiency students in our class are always so poor in their English achievements that our teaching result is often badly affected. In the meanwhile, the existence of these low-proficiency-students will have a negative effect on the English class if they are not effectively administrated. The so-called low-proficiency students in English learning refers to the students who exist in a learning group and are always far behind the average level of the group not only in the knowledge of English and the skills, but also in affection, learning attitude as well as learning strategies etc. The existence of these students is unavoidable due to the current class-teaching system and the present examinational system, which seek a higher rate of enrollment in higher schools one-sided way. It is required in the Current Criteria for Senior School English Teaching that English teaching must face each student and pay much attention to their further development. Therefore, this thesis is trying to explore a way to improve the low-proficiency students’ reading ability by applying managing reading strategies to their reading practice through an investigation and a training experiment.
The study for language learning strategy abroad dated from the 1970s, among which the most famous is the conception of meta-cognition mentioned by Flavell(1979). He classified the meta-cognition into meta-cognitive knowledge and meta-cognitive strategy, the former of which is the learner’s cognitive knowledge for learning process used to manage cognitive process, and the latter of which is the learner’s thinking for cognitive process used to plan and regulate cognitive activities as well as self-evaluate them after finishing it. O’Malley and Chamot（1990）classified language learning strategies into meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies based on the theory of information processing. Corresponding models of strategy training to the theory above were brought up simultaneously. Wen Qiufang at home classified learning strategy into managing strategy and learning strategy. She further classified managing strategy into managing beliefs and specific managing strategies, and learning strategy into learning beliefs and specific learning strategies. Corresponding models of how to train learning strategies were brought up, based on the specific circumstances of Chinese English learners. On the basis of the studies of learning strategy and corresponding models of strategy training at home and broad have arisen many articles on training students to master foreign language learning strategies and great achievements have been made，but few studies focus on those low-proficiency students in high schools. As reading ability is the most important aspect in high school English teaching and a breakthrough to the low-proficiency students’ English learning, the entire experiment in the thesis, based on the several theories and the corresponding models of training mentioned above, esp. Flavell’s theory of meta-cognition, is trying to explore what differences in reading strategies exist between low-proficiency students and high-proficiency students in high schools. The purpose is to answer the first question of this thesis from the perspective of reading strategies in English: what reading strategies are the low-proficiency students in high schools using, which lead to the failure of their English learning? On the basis of these differences, a training experiment of applying managing strategies in reading is carried out on those low-proficiency students in a high school to test whether applying managing strategies to the low-proficiency students’ reading practice in high school has a positive effect on improving their reading ability. The purpose is to answer the second question of this thesis: Can these low-proficiency students’ reading ability be improved through training their managing reading strategies or not?
There are two steps in the design of the entire experiment of this thesis. The first step is to employ a separate survey of the students in the two classes—a high-proficiency class and a low-proficiency class of Grade Two in a high school in Shangluo, Shannxi, where I work, by using a questionnaire based on O’Malley and Chamot’ theory of language learning strategies. The purpose is to examine the differences in the use of reading strategies between the high-proficiency students and the low-proficiency students. In the second step, the students in the low-proficiency class will be regarded as the experimental subjects to have a training of applying managing reading strategies in English, the model of which is based on Flavell’ meta-cognitive learning theory. Lectures, questionnaires, self-test and discussion etc. are used as the experimental instruments. In order to test the effect of the experiment of training low-proficiency students in applying managing reading strategies to improve their reading abilities, the scores of both classes in the Mid-term English Examination and the Final-term English Examination of the entire second term of Senior Two are compared in the total mean and the mean of reading alone. Considering the objective and concrete difficulties in practice, the problems of cloze and reading comprehension parts in both exams are used as the instruments of judging the students’ reading ability. The purpose of the training experiment is to test the effect of applying managing reading strategies to the students’ reading practice in English reading.
It has been found from the quantitative analysis of the result of the survey conducted between the students in high-proficiency class and the students in low-proficiency class that the average frequency of the low-proficiency students using meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies is far lower than that of high-proficiency students. The most outstanding for the former are Arranging & planning, Self-evaluation, Selective attention, Self-management and Advance organization, and the most outstanding for the latter are Repetition, Inferencing, Deduction, Elaboration, Transfer and Contextualization. In addition, low-proficiency students devote much less time to learning English per week than high-proficiency students do on average, which is another key factor to account for why low-proficiency students have failed in learning English. All the factors mentioned above can basically explain from an angle of applying reading strategies why low-proficiency students’ reading ability are not so good as high-proficiency students’, thus proving a necessity of applying managing reading strategies to low-proficiency students’ reading practice in high school.
It has also been discovered from the quantitative analysis of the results of the training experiment that there has been a definite effect in the experiment of applying managing strategies to low-proficiency students’ reading practice in English to improve their reading ability, though it is not that striking. However, judging from these low-proficiency students’ journals through a qualitative analysis, many factors have been found to have a great influence on the improvement of the low-proficiency students’ reading ability inevitably, such as the students’ learning motivation, effective time devotion, learning interest, perseverance and self-confidence, the factor of a small amount of vocabulary as well as the characteristics of different levels in the same group in applying managing reading strategies etc. Therefore, in order to achieve an ideal training effect, these factors will have to be taken into consideration if training low-proficiency students in applying managing reading strategies is launched in high school next time.
Key words： Low-proficiency students managing reading strategy Language learning strategy language strategy training
Chapter 1 Introduction
The introduction sets out the context for the study, first discussing the necessities for doing the research of applying managing strategies to low-proficiency students’ reading practice in English, then talking about the history, the development and the current situation in the study of language learning strategy and training, and finally giving a general outline of the entire thesis.
