Correlations between reading mechanisms and reading comprehension A case study of English reading education in Shanghai
MA Thesis in Linguistics
Language and Education (English track)
Graduate School of Humanities University of Amsterdam
Student: Jiajun Wang
Student Number: 12150037
Main Supervisor: Dr. Alla Peeters-Podgaevskaja
Second Supervisor: Dr. Wim Honselaar
Acknowledgements
This study would not have been completed without the encouragement and guidance of many people. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my MA thesis supervisor Dr. Alla Peeters-Podgaevskaja for her unfailing guidance and insightful feedback through the process of writing this thesis. I would also like to sincerely thank my family for providing me with an immense support throughout my education. I foremost must thank the respondents who agreed to participate in my research as their contribution is indispensable to the purpose of this thesis.
ABSTRACT
English reading is considered extremely important in English language education.
However, the studies on reading focus heavily on either reading mechanisms or
reading comprehension, and no studies could prove whether there is a positive
correlation between them. In Shanghai, most students in junior high schools follow a
government-approved curriculum, and their English reading ability varies greatly.
Teachers’ and students’ negligence with respect to reading mechanisms and too much
emphasis on reading comprehension lead to the unbalanced and inefficient teaching of
English reading. This study incorporated a series of surveys, interviews, reading tests
and a class observation in order to elaborate upon effective and balanced teaching
approaches for the reading classes in Shanghai.
Keywords: reading mechanisms, reading comprehension, English reading education,
Table of Contents
Introduction ... 1
1. Theoretical views and approaches ... 3
1.1 Definitions of reading ... 3
1.1.1 What is reading? ... 3
1.1.2 How do we teach reading? ... 5
1.2 Components of the reading process ... 8
1.2.1 Basic reading skills ... 8
1.2.2 Technical reading strategies (general reading technicalities) ... 13
1.2.3 Comprehension reading strategies (specific reading strategies) ... 14
1.3 Differences in readers ... 16
2. Foreign language education in the Chinese education system ... 22
2.1 English education in Mainland China ... 22
2.1.1 Current English language education in Shanghai ... 23
2.1.2 English teaching curriculum in junior high schools in Shanghai ... 24
2.1.3 Problems and obstacles in English learning and teaching in Shanghai ... 29
2.2 Research questions ... 30
3. The current study ... 33
3.1 Participants ... 33
3.2 The time span and localisation of the research ... 36
3.3 Surveys and interviews ... 37
3.3.1 Results of the online surveys (previous study) ... 37
3.3.2 Revised interviews ... 41
3.3.2.1 Teachers’ interviews ... 42
3.3.2.2 Students’ interviews ... 45
3.4 Reading tests ... 49
3.4.1 Previous reading test ... 49
3.4.2 Revised reading test ... 53
3.4.2.3 Results ... 56
3.4.3 Overall analysis of the reading tests ... 61
3.5 Class observation ... 63
3.5.1 Model reading lessons (recommended by local education board) ... 63
3.5.2 Lesson plan ... 65
3.5.3 Lesson observation ... 67
3.5.4 Findings and analysis ... 68
4. Discussion and conclusions ... 70
Bibliography ... 76
Introduction
Reading is a combination of intellectual activities to perceive the information
around us. From an educator’s perspective, reading, in most cases, refers to unvoiced
reading for information or voiced reading for pronunciation. From the early stages of
language teaching, parents and teachers start the learning process by reading aloud or
reading along for pronunciation training. Later, reading is used to teach new words,
new phrases, new sentences or even sciences. Reading informative texts is embedded
into other learning activities as a resource for problem-solving; there are no reading
activities that do not have a question or a purpose (Van Rijk, 2017). In most exams,
reading is the major realm for testing. The examinees need to read with skills and
strategies to comprehend a text, to understand the questions and then give correct
answers. In most countries, reading ability is a fundamental quality for assessing
literacy and learnability. Indeed, reading is a core skill in modern everyday life, and it
is a life-long learning process for everyone.
Nowadays, English, one of the main subjects in the national curriculum, is
regarded as an indispensable skill for higher education and professional activities. In
contrast to the popular demands of English language skills, English education in
Chinese public schools is extremely exam-oriented and inefficient. Teachers focus
heavily on reading comprehension without paying enough attention to reading
mechanisms. This imbalance between reading skills, strategies and reading
With many years of teaching experience in Shanghai, I found that the
ineffective and routine teaching process, especially for English reading lessons, failed
to make the students good “comprehenders”, even though reading comprehension was
the pivot of English education. In order to find better approaches for local teachers in
Shanghai to improve the students’ general reading skills, and provide solutions to
avoiding the confusions in reading education, this study took shape.
The thesis is structured as follows. Before digging into the teaching of English to students in institutional situations in China, we should get an all-round
understanding of the nature of reading. This will be done in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2,
the history of English education in Shanghai, China, and problems and obstacles in
English reading classes will be discussed. Chapter 3 will incorporate a series of
surveys, interviews, reading tests and a class observation in order to elaborate upon
effective and balanced teaching approaches for the reading classes in Shanghai. In
Chapter 4, a discussion based on the results and findings of previous studies and
current research will be provided, and answers to the research questions will be
1. Theoretical views and approaches 1.1 Definitions of reading
1.1.1 What is reading?
Reading is a complex undertaking and an impressive achievement, as
demonstrated by a century of research (Afflerbach & Cho, in press; Huey, 1908;
RAND Reading Study Group, 2002). It is a combination of intellectual activities to
perceive the information from the printed text on paper or on the screen around us. It
is a selective process, which involves partial use of available minimal language cues
selected from perceptual input on the basis of the reader’s expectation. As this partial
information is processed, tentative decisions are made to be confirmed, rejected, or
refined as reading progresses (Goodman, 1967, p. 128). The process of reading is
quite complex that it is a cognitive process of decryption of signs in order to create or
originate meaning. It is a way of language acquisition, communication, and
exchanging information and ideas (Sangia, 2014, pp. 2-3). In reading, the
interpretation of textual hints creativity and critical analysis co-form the meaning of
the text, which is negotiated in discourse (Widdowson, 1979, p. 168).
There are two types of reading: 1) reading silently, such as reading newspapers,
books, magazines, manuals, and instructions, or 2) reading aloud, like reading
bedtime stories to kids, reading along with the tapes of recording or reporting news as
a news anchor on Television. There are some differences between silent reading and
reading aloud (also known as oral reading). Silent readers interpret the materials
reading aloud is a complex process which involves mental interpretations based on
eye sweeps of the text accompanied by its vocalisation. Usually, we read silently for
recreational or academic/professional purposes, and it is done individually, while
reading aloud focuses more on the pronunciation and intonation of a text, which slows
down the speed of reading (Billah, 2015, p.1). In real teaching environment, reading
aloud is also used for word memorisation.
From the academic point of view, two aspects of reading are defined: 1) the
mechanics, the superficial (not by any means unnecessary) phases of reading, which
is “translating symbols into sounds, saying words, getting meaning from the printed
page”, and 2) cognitive aspects of reading, which are “bringing personal meaning to
the printed page, reacting to the ideas, evaluating the author’s recorded thoughts,
gaining increased understanding through experiencing the recorded understandings of
another” (Lee, 1969, pp. 403-404). Meaning construction is considered the core of
reading (van Rijk, de Mey, de Haan, van Oers, & Volman, 2016, p. 334), and reading
is considered “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning
through interaction and involvement with the text” (Snow, 2002, p. 11).
In most researches, scholars study the mechanism of reading comprehension,
which requires simultaneous coordination across many tasks, which involves the
choice and use of reading strategies and the execution of reading skills (Fuchs, Fuchs,
Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001). Reading comprehension has been differently understood in
different historical periods. It has been defined by referring to specific skills such as
(Afflerbach et al., 2008, p. 364). An early and simple view of reading specifies that
reading comprehension is the product of decoding (i.e., word reading) and listening
comprehension (i.e., spoken language comprehension) (Aarnoutse, van Leeuwe,
Voeten, & Oud, 2001, p. 62). It is seen as the process of extracting text with the
purpose of constructing meaning (Snow, 2002, p. 11), which reliably predicts
academic and life outcomes (Spencer, Wagner, & Petscher, 2019, p. 1).
To summarise, reading involves decoding (the ability to transform printed letter
strings into a phonetic code), reading comprehension (giving personal meaning to the
sounds), knowledge of vocabulary (the knowledge of lexical meanings of words and
the concepts connected to these meanings), and spelling (the ability to convert the
spoken language into graphic symbols) (Aarnoutse et al., 2001, p. 62).
1.1.2 How do we teach reading?
Reading is taught in L1 lessons or as a part of foreign language education, since
reading activities have direct impact on gathering the information and different
intellectual activities and their practical application (Snow, 2002, p. 16). Educators
acknowledge the importance of reading in learning a language or engaging in
intellectual activities. As we can see from Lee’s definition of reading, skills and
comprehension are the two cornerstones of successful reading activities. Educators do
pay much attention to the comprehension part of reading, while ignoring or paying
less attention to the technical side, which might lead to a less satisfying result when it
Among the wide varieties of researches on reading, especially reading
comprehension from the language teaching point of view, reading skills and reading
strategies are mostly discussed. However, there are major confusions and misuses of
the terminology and definitions of skills and strategies. In most teaching scenarios,
these two notions are interchangeably used and mixed with each other. In an
important article on clarifying differences between reading skills and reading
strategies, reading strategies are described as deliberate, goal-directed attempts to
control and modify the reader’s efforts to decode a text, understand words, and
construct meanings of the text, while reading skills are defined as automatic actions
that result in decoding and comprehension with speed, efficiency, and fluency, which
usually occur without awareness of the components or control involved (Afflerbach et
al., 2008, p. 368). In table 1, the reading components are presented (according to
Afflerbach et al., 2008).
Reading comprehension
Reading strategies Reading skills
Deliberate, goal-directed attempts Automatic actions
Control & modify the reader’s efforts Speed Efficiency Fluency
Decoding text, understanding words, constructing meanings of text
Decoding comprehension
Must be negotiated in every situation Well-practiced and executed in the same manner across situations
In order to elaborate upon the detailed classification of reading strategies, we
look into Barnett’s definition, which is widely applied in institutional settings. In her
article, she suggests that L2 teachers should focus on the following strategies (Barnett,
1988, p. 3):
• using titles and illustrations to understand a passage, • skimming,
• scanning, • summarising,
• guessing word meanings,
• becoming aware of the reading process, and • taking risks.
Of course, reading strategies may differ to different educators and learners.
Afflerbach states that reading strategies are associated with a conscious and
systematic plan, which can be adapted and monitored to improve one’s performance
in learning (Afflerbach, et al., p. 365).
When it comes to reading skills, multiple versions of definitions can be found
throughout the history. In The Twenty-Fourth Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education, skills were equated with habits, such as recognising units of thought (sentence), words and typographic devices; reading hygiene (proper light,
distance from eyes, seating); or oral and meaning interpretation (Whipple, 1925).
Later, reading skills were used to describe what had heretofore been labelled as
research, and interpretation; and specialised skills, such as understanding technical
word meanings and solving math problems. One of the most referred descriptions of
reading skills is Davis’s nine potential component skills of comprehension, which
include word meanings, word meanings in context, following passage organisation,
understanding the main thought, answering specific text-based questions, text-based
questions with paraphrase, drawing inferences about the content, literary devices, and
the author’s purpose (Afflerbach et al., 2008, p. 367).
In the classroom teaching of English as a second/foreign/additional language,
six essential skills for reading comprehension are focused on, i.e. decoding, fluency,
vocabulary, sentence construction and cohesion, reasoning and background
knowledge, working memory and attention (Lee, n.d., pp. 1–5).
1.2 Components of the reading process
After reviewing the long history of confusing naming of reading, a clearer
and more organised classification of reading is needed. In this study, reading and the
teaching of reading in an institutional environment is studied under the following
classification: basic reading skills and technical reading strategies (general reading
technicalities), and comprehension reading strategies (specific reading strategies).
1.2.1 Basic reading skills
According to a National Reading Panel research (National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, 2000), the basic skills for proficient reading are
comprehension. For some languages, such as Latin-derived languages, whole word
Chinese characters, and syllabic Japanese kanas, phonemic awareness is not
necessarily required. For some languages, a general understanding of the orthography
of the language and practice are necessary1.
Phonemic awareness
Phonemes are the smallest units composing a spoken language. The instruction
of phonemes is considered essential for the early years of English learning at school2.
Phonemic awareness can be defined as the ability to recognise and manipulate with
the sound constituents of oral language and to apply this insight to alphabetic
knowledge and knowledge of written sublexical units of words (Ehri, 2005; De Groot
et al., 2016). Phonemic awareness is important in the prediction of word reading
proficiency, especially in the early stages of primary education. Multiple researches
show that most children who have difficulty in learning to read have deficient
phoneme awareness and alphabetic coding skills, and that such deficiencies are
casually related to deficiencies in word recognition, spelling, and writing (Snow, 2002,
p. 82). In the teaching of first language, the practice of phonemic awareness is
common. However, in the second language or foreign language learning setting, most
educators assume that this particular skill is applicable and transferrable from L1,
which is not necessarily true in most cases, due to differences in general principles of
orthographies (De Groot, Van den Bos, Van der Meulen, & Minnaert, 2016, p. 169).
1 See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading#Reading_skills
2 As the thesis is about English education in L2 Chinese environment, we will concentrate on the English language
General understanding of the orthography of the language
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, which includes
norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and
punctuation (‘Orthography’, 2019)3. In most language education scenarios, a general
understanding of the orthography of a language refers to the mapping of letters or
letter combinations to sounds. Languages with transparent or relatively shallow
orthography, which means a one-to-one relationship between its graphemes and
phonemes, where the spelling of words is very consistent, such as Finnish or German,
are quite different from languages with deep (or deeper) orthography. That means no
one-to-one correspondence between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes), such
as English or Hungarian. The processing of different orthographies is difficult to
adapt to. According to Seymour’s study (2005), children learn to read more easily in
alphabetic orthographies (writing systems) with highly consistent spelling-to-sound
(mapping) correspondences than in less consistent orthographies. For example, a
student whose first language is German may find it difficult to master the
orthographic knowledge of English (from shallow orthography to deep orthography),
or a Chinese L1 student may have no clue how English words should be pronounced
without proper training (from a logographic-phonetic system to an orthographic
system). For this reason, substantial knowledge of orthography is crucial to reading
acquisition process.
Naming/Rapid automatised naming (RAN)
The ability to quickly and correctly say the names of letters, objects, digits,
colours, etc. is regarded as a basic skill of reading. The rapid automatised naming
predicts an individual’s ability to read (Hulme & Snowling, 2012, pp. 1–2). Even
though this reading skill is rarely tested directly in L2 examinations, it is one of the
first steps in the early stages of learning how to read for young kids.
Fluency
Reading involves decoding of the text. Decoding here refers to the process of
translating printed texts into spoken words or units. Fluency is seen as a part of the
decoding process and refers to the degree of automatisation of the decoding
(Melby-Lervåg & Lervåg, 2014, p. 410). We need to distinguish between the fluency
of reading mechanisms and the fluency in reading comprehension. Fluency here is
understood as the ability to comprehend the text with an acceptable speed without
difficulty on the word, phrase and sentence levels, which is one of the several critical
factors necessary for reading comprehension. The level of fluency reflects the
reader’s ability to memorise the content just read, and relate it to the background
knowledge for deeper understanding. Moreover, fluency is often evaluated in
examinations and tests for reading comprehension for determining the English
mastery level.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary development is considered as one of the most important segments
the reader’s ability to understand the meanings of words, collocations or idioms in the
reading content. When a word is a part of the reader’s mental lexicon, the reader is
able to understand the word from its acoustic or printed image. When the word is not
in the reader’s mental lexicon, the reader needs to use other strategies to try to figure
out the meaning from the context or consult the dictionaries.
In most L2 testing systems for English, vocabulary counts for a considerable
portion of the final score. In the International English Language Testing System
(often known as IELTS), vocabulary is 25% of the marks for IELTS writing and
speaking and also play a key role in listening and reading4. As for the Test of English
as a Foreign Language, it is suggested by the official examination authority that “developing solid TOEFL vocabulary skills can be one of the most challenging parts
of studying for the exam, but it is also one of the most important. Many TOEFL
questions either ask you the definition of a word outright or require you to have the
knowledge of certain words in order to answer a question correctly”5.
In addition, for Chinese students, memorising words and phrases from
vocabulary lists for different types and levels of English examinations is a widely
accepted method for learning to read and learning English in general, and many local
education boards set specific vocabulary lists and requirements for the teachers to
apply in daily classroom teaching.
4 See: https://ieltsliz.com/vocabulary/
Practice (in the framework of usage-based skills)
Reading is a skill which needs to be practised. Practice here means that the
reader has constant and repeated access to the practical use of the language, and to
reading materials, such as a printed text, media and so on. Comprehension of a
reading text can be improved when proper reading strategies and skills are used or
involved. On the other hand, the reading strategies and skills can be improved with an
increasing level of reading comprehension (Muijselaar et al., 2017).
1.2.2 Technical reading strategies (general reading technicalities)
In this study, technical reading strategies, otherwise known as general reading
technicalities, mean reading with speed and efficiency, i.e. fluently on the article
level.
Reading with speed
Reading with speed does not mean speed reading. However, speed reading will
be mentioned later as a part of comprehension reading strategies (also known as
specific reading strategies). The speed of reading (or the reading rate) is commonly
used to show how many words a reader can read per minute. It is a general and
descriptive measurement of the reading process. It varies across different levels of
reading ability. As for the general reading technicalities, reading with speed indicates
the fact that a reader can read the text at a fixed or changing speed, according to
different types of texts or with different purposes of reading. This speed should allow
learning process, a certain speed of reading or reading rate is advised for a certain
stage of the learning process (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2008, p. 368).
Reading with efficiency
Reading efficiently means that the reader is able to utilise different reading
skills to comprehend the text and fulfill the purposes of reading successfully and
timely. It is a general reading strategy based on reading speed. When the reader
achieves a certain speed of reading which allows for a correct interpretation and
comprehension of the text, some other specific reading strategies, known as
comprehension reading strategies, should be used to improve the efficiency of
reading.
When the reader is capable of understanding a text in time and at ease, the speed
and efficiency co-form the reading fluency. Fluency here is not the same notion as the
one mentioned in the basic reading skills section (1.2.1). Reading with fluency refers
to the constant and successful flow of comprehension of the reading material as a
whole (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2008, p. 368).
1.2.3 Comprehension reading strategies (specific reading strategies)
Comprehension reading strategies here indicate the specific reading strategies a
reader uses for different types of reading materials or for various reading purposes. It
is quite hard to name them all, since the strategies change with different reading
materials and with different types of readers. Readers of various backgrounds (taking
location, time and so on) may reach the goal of successful reading by forming their
own systems of comprehension reading strategies.
In most cases, the comprehension reading strategies include, but are not limited
to the following strategies (Tierney, 1982):
• using previous knowledge/previewing, • predicting,
• identifying the main idea, • summarisation,
• questioning, • making inference, • visualising.
The strategies above can be applied to any type of reading materials. Moreover,
there are more specific strategies for a certain type of text. For example, when a
reader is reading a narrative text, the following strategies can be used (Tierney, 1982):
• forming story maps (setting, characters, plot, and theme), • retelling,
• prediction,
• answering comprehension questions.
For an expository text, knowing the structure of the text, the main idea, and
details (previous knowledge, potential knowledge), using a graphic organiser, and
In classroom instructions for reading strategies, most teachers focus on the
following reading comprehension strategies (Tierney, 1982):
• prediction, • reference, • skimming, • scanning, • skipping,
• reading for details,
• comparing and contrasting.
1.3 Differences in readers Good and poor readers
When it comes to the study of reading, we focus on the materials being read, the
skills, technicalities, strategies involved in the process of reading and the innate
difference in readers. First of all, what is a good reader? For young readers and adult
readers, the criteria for being a good reader differ. In general, we agree that a reader
who has good reading skills and a good command of reading strategies is a good
reader.
In institutional scenarios, educators have developed various testing systems for
language learning. As English is in the scope of our study, we will take English as an
example. Most internationally accredited testing systems regard reading as a core of
speaking and writing, belongs to the four aspects for language level testing. Most
exam takers admit that they spend most of the time preparing reading tests. For other
types or levels of tests or exams, such as SAT, Chinese College Entrance Examination,
etc., reading is a decisive factor for selection.
According to China’s Standards of English Language Ability (The CSE)
released by the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China in November
20186, L2 English learners’ reading ability can be defined by the following standards:
CSE 9 l Can understand linguistically complex materials from a variety of fields, analysing them synthetically from multiple perspectives. l Can synthetically appraise complex and abstruse specialised materials
from relevant fields of study.
CSE 8 l Can discriminate and appreciate aesthetic language use and social significance of linguistically complex materials from a wide range of topics.
l Can appraise, by means of text analysis, the language and content of linguistically complex academic materials from familiar fields of study.
CSE 7 l Can synthesise the content of specialised linguistically complex materials (e.g. original literary works, science and technology literature, social commentaries), and analyse the author’s viewpoint and stance.
l Can make critical comments on a variety of cultural phenomena from different cultures, as presented in linguistically complex works. l Can comprehend the implicit meaning of specialised linguistically
complex materials by relating the materials to similar topics.
CSE 6 l Can grasp significant relevant information and briefly comment on the
language and content of subject-related materials of medium linguistic difficulty (e.g. literary works, news reports, business documents). l Can infer the writer’s mood and attitude while reading materials of
medium linguistic difficulty (e.g. literary works, news reports). l Can locate target information by scanning the indices of academic
literature.
CSE 5 l Can grasp essential meaning, analyse linguistic features, and
understand cultural implications whilst reading materials of medium linguistic difficulty on a variety of topics likely to be encountered in the domains of education, technology, and culture.
Can distinguish different positions in materials of medium linguistic difficulty containing opposing argumentation (e.g. editorials, book reviews).
CSE 4 l Can locate detailed information and summarise the main idea whilst reading different kinds of linguistically simple materials (e.g. simple short stories, essays, letters).
l Can differentiate facts and opinions and make simple inferences in linguistically simple narratives and argumentative texts on a variety of topics.
l Can understand the relationship between ideas by analysing the structures of sentences and discourse whilst reading materials of medium linguistic difficulty.
CSE 3 l Can locate key information in linguistically simple practical forms of writing (e.g. letters, notices, signs).
l Can understand the implicit meaning and summarise the main points of short, linguistically simple materials on familiar topics.
l Can understand the relationship between points of information with the help of connectors in linguistically simple argumentative texts on familiar topics.
CSE 2 l Can acquire specific information and understand the main idea of short, linguistically simple essays on familiar topics.
help of pictures or other methods.
CSE 1 l Can understand very short, simple texts and locate basic information (e.g. characters, time, place).
l Can understand simple materials (e.g. children’s songs and nursery rhymes) and identify common words.
Language teachers often judge a student by his/her testing scores. It is
undeniable that exams can reflect the competence of a reader in some way, but it is
not totally correct or fair to determine, whether a reader is good or poor, just by his or
her reading test scores.
If a reader failed to meet the above-mentioned standards, (s)he is regarded as a
poor reader or a reader with difficulties. The most widely recognised form of reading
disorders and reading with difficulties is dyslexia. Children and adults with dyslexia
find it very difficult to decode printed words, and this aspect of reading impairment is
nowadays broadly recognised and studied (Hulme & Snowling, 2011). Dyslexia is
more related to reading and decoding. For other readers with difficulties in reading,
text comprehension might be the most problematic (Hulme & Snowling, 2011, p. 139).
Poor comprehenders usually have no problem with reading aloud accurately and
fluently with a certain speed, but they are not capable of understanding what they are
reading. As we know, reading comprehension is equal to decoding, multiplied by
linguistic comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). Dyslexia and
reading-comprehension impairment obstruct the two deciding factors in the reading
educators and parents are well aware of the existence of dyslexia and its impact, while
they may neglect the fact that reading comprehension-impaired readers do exist, and it
is quite usual that their problem is not spotted before it is too hard or too late to be
corrected or treated.
L1 and L2 readers
As we can see from previous studies, reading is the basis for language teaching.
In the process of first language acquisition, children usually start from the basics, and
basic reading skills are taught and practised at a very early stage. Different
orthographies demand different ways of learning to read. For example, in German and
Dutch, children learn to combine graphemes in syllables and syllables in words, due
to the relatively transparent orthographic system. However, the majority of reading
instruction methods is word-based, which means that the words serve as a concrete
example for letter-sound correspondences (Reitsma, 2004, p. 55). As for English,
children learn to read by practising with sight words lists7, which they have to
memorise.
In contrast to this, in second language acquisition or learning English as a foreign
language, students do not start with basic reading mechanisms. Instead, in most cases,
they start right away with reading. Most teachers assume that the basic reading skills
and technical reading skills can be applied without specific training, so they seldom
pay attention to helping their students to acquire this complicated skill. As the result,
some students fail to reach a high level of reading comprehension due to a lack of the
reading technique. In our specific case, for junior high school students in Shanghai,
lipped reading, slow word-by-word reading, and a weak sense of contextual cues are
2. Foreign language education in the Chinese education system 2.1 English education in Mainland China
With the rapid development of China and the acceleration process of
globalisation, English has become one of the three “main subjects (主课)” in the
primary and secondary education system, and is a compulsory subject in senior high
school and college entrance examination systems (高中入学考试, 大学入学考试).
However, the status and importance of English education have been changing over the
years.
After the civil war from 1949 to 1965, due to the isolation from the western
world dominated by the U.S.A. and the close tie to the former USSR, Russian
replaced English as the major foreign language in mainland China. In 1952, only eight
institutions taught English according to the orders from the Ministry of Education.
Until 1956, there were only 545 English teachers in the whole country and most of the
English departments in universities were closed. However, after the mid-1950s, the
political suppression of English education was gradually removed, and English was
considered an irreplaceable tool for modernisation and cultural development. From
1956 on, English education returned to the national education curriculum.
During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, except for
very few English training courses, English education was put on hiatus, since people
who were fluent in English were considered as “traitors” or “spies”. Anything related
educational institutions such as junior, senior high schools, and universities8) were
cancelled. After the visit of the US president Nixon to China, English education was
gradually revived for diplomatic purposes only.
After the ten-year unrest, English education met the second revival as a
powerful tool for modernisation and economic development. In 1982, English became
the main foreign language for the junior high school education, and from 2001 on, the
Ministry of Education passed a bill, according to which English lessons are provided
for the students from the third grade on the national level. From the early 2000s, in
the developed areas like Shanghai, Beijing, or Guangzhou, English lessons start from
the very beginning of elementary schools (the first grade).
2.1.1 Current English language education in Shanghai
In Shanghai, English is widely considered as an essential language for academic
and professional development. As there is an increasing number of expats9 living
there, people are more exposed to English speaking scenarios, which reinforces
people’s motivation to gain better English education. Since Shanghai is one of a few
provinces and municipalities which are allowed to use their own textbooks10, the
English education curriculum in Shanghai is relatively more advanced and
practice-oriented than in the rest of mainland China.
Table 2.1 shows the primary and secondary educational timeframe in China.
English is taught as a major subject from the first grade on in elementary schools and
8 English was taught only from grade 6 in junior high schools (at the age of 12). 9 About 209,000 foreign nationals are living in Shanghai in 2019, see:
https://sampi.co/china-expat-population-statistics/
there is no written examination on the English subject until grade three. At the end of
each stage of education, i.e. grade 5/6 in an elementary school, grade 9 in a junior
high school and grade 12 in a senior high school, a comprehensive examination of the
entire education content takes place for evaluation or selection purposes.
Stage Grade Year Compulsory
education
Preschool N/A Before 6 or 7 years old No
Elementary school 1 to 6 (Shanghai excluded); 1 to 5 (Shanghai) 6/7 to 12/13 years old; 6/7 to 11/12 years old Yes Junior high school 7 to 9 (Shanghai excluded); 6 to 9 (Shanghai) 12/13 to 15/16 years old; 11/12 to 15/16 years old Yes Senior high school 10 to 12 15/16 to 18/19 years old No
Table 2.1 Primary and secondary education framework in China (information in this table is acquired from related Wikipedia webpage11)
2.1.2 English teaching curriculum in junior high schools in Shanghai
This study only focuses on the secondary education period in terms of English
education in junior high schools in Shanghai.
Teaching objectives
The latest edition of Basic Teaching Requirements for English Education in
Junior High Schools (2019)12 includes a detailed description of “Core abilities of the
11 See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_China 12《2019 上海市初中英语学科教学基本要求》in Chinese
English language as a school subject”. Table 2.2 below presents an overview of core
abilities for the grades 6 to 9. (The full overview can be found in Appendix A13.)
Abilities Grades The use of language Learning strategies Language and culture 6 to 9 Abilities to use English correctly: Ability to understand the general life-related conversation and give correct responses; Ability to understand the general idea of suitable language materials and extract the important details; Ability to describe familiar topics, express thoughts and ideas with acquired vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Abilities to use learning strategies preliminarily: Ability to work with other students with different tasks in language
learning activities; Ability to use solve vocabulary problems with the help of
dictionaries; Ability to accomplish
learning tasks with resources from libraries, the internet, etc. Initial awareness of intercultural communication: Ability to understand the cultural differences between English-speaking countries and China, and talk about Chinese culture in English.
Table 2.2 Core abilities of English subject for grade 6 to 9 students in Shanghai (from Basic Teaching Requirements for English Education in Junior High Schools, 2019, p. 110)
Students who are being taught in the Chinese education system (excluding
international schools, programmes in Shanghai) strictly follow the syllabus, approved
by the local government. Before entering a junior high school, students must have
finished the five years of the elementary English education which includes basic
knowledge of syllabic pronunciation and sentence intonation, basic vocabulary, and
basic grammar rules. No official documents indicate explicitly how many words an
elementary school graduate should learn. However, some teachers who were
interviewed for this study assumed that in order to be able to follow the English
lessons in junior high schools successfully, a student should at least have learnt about
3000 words, 600 core structures and four tenses (Simple Present Tense, Simple Past
Tense, Present Continuous Tense, and Simple Future Tense).
In junior high schools, the focus of teaching objectives shifts from vocabulary
and pronunciation to reading and writing. The students should be able to understand
different reading materials with their own vocabulary, grammar knowledge and
comprehend them with proper reading skills and strategies. In the meanwhile, the
students are required to increase the language knowledge and appreciate different
cultures through reading in order to become critical readers. They also need to be
skilled in the following learning categories: extracting the main ideas, analysing the
different types of articles, etc. As we can see, no specific requirement for what kind of
reading skills or reading strategies should be learnt is articulated. The focus of the
syllabus is on reading comprehension.
In addition, in order to make it clearer for educators, four levels of learning
objectives (Know, Understand, Use, and Apply) are used to describe the specific
ability that a student should develop in during the junior high school education. (The
details of such expressions and requirements can be found in Appendix B.)
Teaching materials
In public and private schools in Shanghai, only textbooks approved by the
Shanghai Education Committee (city education board) can be used for English
teaching. For now, Oxford English (Shanghai Version) Books are used in schools
which follows the Chinese education syllabus.
For junior high schools, eight Oxford English textbooks (6A to 9B) are being
used. For each semester, two books from the series are being used for the specific
grade. Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening are the four segments covered in the
series. Different articles, exercises, activities and resources are included in the
textbooks for classroom teaching. For English reading education, narratives,
argumentative, expository and application texts are used to train the student’s reading
skills and strategies. Audio-visual resources are used for speaking and listening
comprehension. Different types of writing assignments are also included in the
use multiple unofficial reference and exercise books which are more advanced in
difficulty to compensate the “simplified” English curriculum.
Teaching methodologies
In junior high schools in Shanghai, a growing number of the young English
teachers graduate from teacher’s colleges, such as East China Normal University and
Shanghai Normal University, where they are trained professionally for English
education. When preparing for English lessons in school, teachers working in the
same grade are required to teach at the same pace with similar methods. As Chinese
schools are organised according to the strict hierarchy in school, young teachers
follow the teaching examples set by senior teachers.
There is a growing trend according to which more teachers are trying to apply
the student-focused teaching approaches rather than teacher-focused lectures.
However, "grammar-translation" is still a prevailing teaching method in schools with
less advanced students. Some teachers prefer to explain the grammar rules in
exercises rather than actually teach. As a result, the quality of English teaching is
unbalanced between different schools.
For English reading education, most teachers in junior high schools use in
classroom teaching the teaching framework called “question chains for
comprehension” (Johnson, 1992). The local educators believe that questioning can
boost reading comprehension, and it is useful to create a framework for developing a
coherent set of questions focusing on a specific content. The concept question chain
263). The teachers use a set of questions of different difficulties to help the students to
develop, learn and apply a text-based concept. This type of teaching methodology
focuses heavily on the comprehension of the text and the use of reading skills and
strategies. However, it does not provide instructions or training of such reading skills
and strategies.
2.1.3 Problems and obstacles in English learning and teaching in Shanghai
The English curriculum in Shanghai has been simplified compared to several
years ago, as a result of the “Academic Burden Alleviation” policy issued in 2013.
However, most of the local students have to go to language tutors or institutions for
extra English training, because the knowledge, they received in school, is too basic to
make them competitive for selection exams. This imbalance in the difficulty degree in
teaching and examination causes quite a lot of criticism on the curriculum. English L2
learners in Shanghai think that teaching grammar and vocabulary is effective and
useful, while there is a lack in sufficient and effective training on English reading and
writing skills. English L2 learners criticise the teaching materials and teaching
methods.
The entire English education system in China revolves around examinations,
since it is the easiest way to evaluate, even though the local education board argues
that the local education system is “quality and ability oriented”. In reality, students
still work hard for graduation and high school/college entrance examinations. Thus,
teachers in Shanghai focus on testable knowledge rather than real-life English use,
English. They score high in different exams, while in real life, it is hard for them to
communicate in English.
The English education in junior high schools is unable to activate the students
learning interest, since most of the teachers make use of a repetitive exercise-focused
teaching method to make the students score higher in different exams. The students
are not motivated to learn English beyond classrooms. The conformity and fixation on
repetitive and outdated teaching methods and materials lead to a lack of motivation
and interest.
English as a foreign language requires specific methods and forms of teaching
which might not be the same as that of L1 (Chinese), but some teachers assume that
the skills from L1 can be transferred to L2. In this case, students do not receive
enough training on some reading and writing skills or strategies, which results in poor
reading comprehension and writing.
2.2 Research questions
For a quite long period of time, there has been confusions on a clarifying
difference between reading skills and reading strategies. As a result, the instructions
in L2 classrooms are unbalanced as well as the number of researches on them. Most
studies on reading comprehension focus on the teaching of reading strategies in L1
and/or L2 classroom (Davis, 1944; Barnett, 1988; Johnson, 1992; Muñiz-Swicegood,
1994; Lau, 2006; Kim, 2015) with emic or etic approaches. Not to mention, most of
such as dyslexia (Gough, 1986; Spencer, 2019), attention problem (Davidson, 2018),
or ASD (Åsberg, 2010).
From the previous studies, we can see that reading skills and reading strategies
are hot topics for researchers. There are so many independent and individual
researches on how to improve students’ reading skills or what kind of reading
strategies should be used. After the review on different studies on reading
comprehension, very few of them confirm that comprehensive evidence can and must
be found for the relation between the successful instruction of basic reading skills,
reading technicalities and comprehension reading strategies, and good reading
comprehension. Until now, there is an imbalance in reading components (skills and
strategies) and reading comprehension, which widens the gap between skilful English
readers and poor English readers. Teachers (also in Shanghai) should pay more
attention to cultivating the reading skills and strategies in order to obtain better results
in teaching.
In this study, the following research questions are formulated:
1) Is there a correlation among the basic reading skills, technical reading strategies,
comprehension reading strategies and reading comprehension process?
2) If there is a correlation among these skills, strategies and reading
comprehension, how is it possible to incorporate them in classroom teaching in
order to improve the students’ reading comprehension?
3) What is the current situation of English reading education in junior high schools
A few reading tests, interviews, and surveys were carried out to provide
answers to these questions and point out a new way for the teacher to teach L2
English in the classroom and to find a more balanced teaching approach for English
3. The current study
This study was initiated to find out the effective ways to improve students’
reading comprehension levels through the training and application of effective
reading skills and reading strategies. In this study, several interviews, surveys, tests
and discussions have been held in person, over the internet, or via telephone calls in
the past 6 months. Participants from Shanghai, China, including students and teachers
from local (public and private) junior high schools, were invited to participate in the
study. The study consists of different components: a series of surveys and interviews
from the emic perspective, some standardised reading tests, and a class observation
analysis from the etic perspective, which will be separately presented in this chapter.
3.1 Participants
In total, 20 students from two junior high schools took part in the reading tests;
135 students took the online survey; 6 teachers were interviewed, and 80 teachers
were surveyed online. These participants gave their permission to the thesis writer to
cite from them directly, or using the data collected from their participation.
Teachers
The teachers’ participation in this study is divided into two stages. At the first
stage, a survey on the teaching of English reading skills and strategies for local
teachers was posted online, and distributed to the teaching chatting board (WeChat14)
on December 29th, 2018. 80 teachers completed the survey and submitted their
responses online anonymously. The results were finalised three months later after the
starting date. At the second stage, in order to specify and acquire more details from
the previous teachers’ survey, another six teachers were invited to join an
online/phone interview. The original answers were in Chinese or English.
Most teachers who took the online survey worked at different types of schools
in the Yangpu District, Shanghai, which is ranked as one of the best school districts in
the city (Sohu Education, 2018). These participants work either at private schools that
are considered “better schools” as to their academic achievements, or at public
schools which are considered less successful with respect to examination results. Six
other teachers who were interviewed in person or online, worked at that moment at
two top schools, private and public, in the Yangpu District15, or pursued a master’s
degree in TESOL16 at the University of Hong Kong.
The teachers who participated in the online survey at the first stage had varied
teaching experience ranging from newly-graduated to experienced17. Teachers who
were interviewed at the second stage, were experienced teachers, and most of them
had good reputation for their work in the district or on the city level.
According to the interviewee’s request, the online survey has been done in
English, while the interviews were in either English or Chinese. The translation of
interview findings is provided in this study.
15 Lansheng Fudan Middle School (Top private school in the Yangpu District), and The Second Middle School
Attached to Fudan University.
16 Teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Students
Overall, at the first stage, 135 students aged 12 to 15 years old took the online
survey anonymously within the required survey period18 of the study, and 20 students
participated in the first reading test. For the second stage, another group of 20
students aged 12 to 13 years old from two local schools in the Yangpu District,
Shanghai, were tested on their reading comprehension skills and vocabulary levels,
and reading speed. Four students19 were interviewed individually on their ideas and
experiences of English reading classes they took, and their knowledge of reading
skills and strategies.
The students who were surveyed, tested or interviewed, were in their first or
second year of study in the junior high school, which indicates that they have been
undergoing systematic English language education in an institutional context for at
least five to six years. Some of them also took English classes as extracurricular
activities before they attended the secondary school. The students have learnt over
3000 words and 500 collocations of phrases. As for reading in English, reading
comprehension was tested during the examination, which was included as one of the
core modules20 in the official syllabus. They have been instructed and taught how to
read narratives, simple letters, notes and other real-life writings in English.
18 The survey was visible to the participants for 3 months.
19 These four interviewed students did not take any of two reading tests. 20 Four core modules: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
3.2 The time span and localisation of the research
The first stage of the study was conducted from December 2018 to February
2019, and the findings and results were elaborated in the previous paper21. After the
completion of the first research, which included two online surveys about local
students’ and teachers’ opinions of reading education in Shanghai, and a reading test
to examine students’ reading proficiency (skills and level of comprehension), a lack
of focus on basic reading skills in local reading lessons was found, and its negative
impact preventing the students from better reading comprehension level was spotted.
However, the reading test failed to show a direct correlation between the students’
reading skills and their level of comprehension due to the “ceiling effect”22. In order
to get more effective research data, detailed teacher/student interviews, along with the
updated reading tests, and a class observation, were compiled to be integrated in the
second stage of the research, which lasted from March to June 2019.
The interviews and the tests were performed in the Yangpu District, Shanghai,
the design of the study and the analysis of data were completed in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. The surveys were distributed over the internet.
21 Wang, J. (2019). A case study on English reading lessons in Shanghai
- the correlation between the reading technicalities and reading comprehension, UvA. 22 Eighty percent of the individual test-takers scored 100 percent in the reading tests.
3.3 Surveys and interviews
3.3.1 Results of the online surveys (previous study)
Two online surveys for both students and teachers were posted online, and the
results were collected two weeks later. The students’ survey was designed to evaluate
the students’ current experience and opinions of English reading classes/education in
the Yangpu District, Shanghai; while the teachers’ survey was used to evaluate the
local teachers’ knowledge on teaching methodologies and theories of English reading
education. (Detailed results of the surveys are listed in Appendix C.)
Both online surveys were presented in English. However, some students replied
in Chinese for open questions. From the students’ survey, over a half of the
participants replied that they had specific reading classes at their school, and a
majority of them gave a positive feedback to the current reading classes for the fact
that they helped improve students’ general reading scores, extended the vocabulary
and broadened their lexical horizon. In reading classes, common learning activities
included but were not limited to reading articles, reading aloud, roleplay, answering
questions, games, discussions, speeches, and translation. Among them, the students
preferred reading aloud, group work, games, discussion, roleplay and making speech
the most. Over a half of the students said that their vocabulary level as “average”,
approximately 39% of the interviewees said that it was “above average”, and very few
said that it was “below average”. According to the students, these estimations were
When it came to the reading skills, such as speed of reading, orthographic
knowledge, pronunciation and intonation, over 50% of the students replied that they
had a clear idea of what these skills were and how they were trained in reading classes.
The survey also showed that the teachers came up with various assignments, such as
newspaper reading, cloze tests23, word exercises, blank filling, multiple choices, and
answering comprehension questions, in order to improve the level of reading
comprehension. The students survey indicated that they had been purposefully trained
on some reading skills and reading strategies, such as scanning, skipping and
prediction. In addition, the students received instructions on pronunciation and
intonation for better fluency in reading, to which they paid attention, so that they
could understand the reading materials better. However, some problems about the
reading classes in the Yangpu District could be found in the survey. The interviewed
students suggested that the number of reading classes should increase as well as more
diversified and intriguing games, and more suitable and authentic materials. From
time to time, they felt bored by some routine teaching and out-of-date teaching
materials and learning activities.
In the teachers’ survey, most teachers gave a positive answer to the question
about their knowledge of differences between reading technicalities and reading
comprehension. They replied that they incorporated various activities in reading
classes to make sure that the students were involved and attentive. Usual teaching
23 A procedure in which a subject is asked to supply words that have been removed from a passage as a test of
activities included but were not limited to Q&A, plot/content prediction, simultaneous
reading aloud, picture talk24, scanning/skimming exercises, summarising, group/pair
work, intensive/extensive reading, and roleplay. Even though 86% of the teachers
claimed that they clearly knew the relationship and differences between reading
technicalities and reading comprehension, a few teachers did express the confusion
about the way to balance these two aspects in classroom teaching, which subsequently
led to negligence of sufficient training of either basic reading skill and strategic
reading skills, or comprehension reading strategies. Teachers’ responses about the
time arrangement for reading technicalities and reading comprehension re-affirmed
the unbalanced focus on reading technicalities and reading comprehension, that is,
more time for reading comprehension and very few trainings on reading technicalities.
Furthermore, the interviewed teachers showed a lack of organised and efficient
system for evaluating students’ improvement of reading technicalities and the reading
comprehension level. Most of the methods or indicators of improvement, they
provided in the survey, were merely subjective descriptions rather than measurable or
generally applicable scoring/grading criteria. As for materials chosen for testing
English reading abilities, the most popular types among the teachers were texts,
exercise questions, video clips, audio clips and online materials. In order to make the
reading lessons more effective, the teachers also assigned the student reading
comprehension exercises, reading articles, newspapers, memorising articles, and
reading aloud as a supplement practice.
From the teachers’ online survey, most of the teachers agreed that even though
the current teaching syllabus and teaching methods were generally effective, the
system was overly exam-oriented, outdated, and unbalanced in difficulty, and there
was an insufficient focus on reading technicalities. They called for more current
contents, task-based activities, better reference books for teaching, and other
interesting materials that could be included to improve the students’ reading skills and
comprehension level.
Shortcomings
These two online surveys on students and teachers in the Yangpu District
provided some important information for the researchers to have a general view of the
current English reading education in local schools in Shanghai. However, owing to
the short period of time and a lack of a bigger sampling base, the findings could only
show a limited view on the reality. The survey questions consisted of three types:
Yes/No questions, multiple choices and descriptions. The form of the survey in some
way restricted and narrowed the participant’s thoughts and might lead to a less
accurate and objective result. Descriptive and subjective answers from the participants
showed the need for further investigation.
Furthermore, during the first stage of this study, in order to simplify the
questions for teachers (since the reading skills and strategies are considered to have
vague boarders and are interchangeable in their meaning in Mandarin Chinese), all
questions concerning basic reading skills, strategic reading skills and comprehension
even though the simplification made the survey more readable, it obscured the clear
answers and feedback the researcher was looking for, which lowered the credibility
and reliability of the survey.
3.3.2 Revised interviews
Since the online survey at the first stage of the study did not meet the
expectation of finding clear results, some improvements and other questions were
introduced into the revised interview of the participants. Two new interviews were
compiled and delivered to teachers and students in Shanghai. The participants were
not pre-selected or screened. Six teachers from Shanghai City (not just from the
Yangpu District) volunteered to do the interview and provided more details for the
study. In addition, four student volunteers from the Yangpu District, Hongkou District
and Pudong New District25 were interviewed and shared their opinions on reading
skills, reading comprehension and reading lessons they had taken.
In the revised interviews, the number of questions was limited, and the way of
questioning varied according to the interviewees. For the teachers’ interview, the
questions focused more on the teaching of English reading in the classroom and their
own perception of the reading components26. For the students’ interview, more
questions were asked to find out their opinion and thoughts on English learning
experience, especially the experience on English reading classes.
25 These districts are located in different areas in Shanghai, and the average testing scores of English vary. 26 Basic reading skills, strategic reading skills, comprehension reading strategies and the ability to comprehend
