场依存场独立认知风格对大学英语阅读理解的影响研究

南京师范大学

硕士学位论文

场依存/场独立认知风格对大学英语阅读理解的影响研究

姓名：汪淼

申请学位级别：硕士

专业：英语语言文学

指导教师：汪少华

2009

摘 要

在语言学习过程中，阅读是一项极有价值的技能，它不仅是英语学习者必须掌握的获得信息的工具，也是语言学习的工具，因此，无论在课堂教学还是学习者的自主学习中,阅读都被摆在非常重要的位置。从认知心理学的视角来看，阅读过程实际上是一个对阅读材料进行认知解码和意义构建的信息处理过程，不同的认知风格必导致对信息的不同感知和解码，在一定程度上影响阅读的意义构建。另外，认知风格还可能影响阅读者对阅读策略的选择和使用，进而影响阅读的效果。可见，认知风格在一定程度上影响到阅读理解能力。

本论文旨在研究认知风格对大学生阅读能力以及阅读策略的使用的影响，以及与认知风格相关联的阅读策略的使用是否对阅读能力产生影响。通过镶嵌图形测试、阅读策略调查问卷、以及阅读理解测验的方式，收取了100名来自一所独立学院的会计、自动化、法学三个专业班级的二年级学生的场依存/独立倾向、阅读策略使用情况以及阅读成绩的数据，并利用SPSS统计软件对数据进行描述性统计和相关分析，试图揭示认知风格是否通过阅读策略的作用对阅读理解能力产生影响。相关分析的结果显示场认知方式与阅读理解能力有微弱正相关，且不同风格的场认知学习者在二语阅读过程中具有采用某些不同策略的微弱倾向，从而可能产生不同层次的阅读理解能力。另描述性统计也显示, 学生的认知策略使用频率较低, 这一点表明学生基础较差,且缺乏阅读积极性, 导致较弱的阅读体验。

根据以上发现，本文对阅读教学提出以下尝试性建议：（1）教师应该帮助学生辨别自己的认知风格，提醒他们不同认知风格的优缺点，从而使他们反醒自身阅读习惯和阅读策略的使用情况。（2）虽然认知风格具有一定的稳定性，但是也可以通过一定的策略训练加以弥补。应加强阅读策略的使用指导和训练，提高学生的策略意识。(3)利用各种办法调动学生的学习兴趣，并注意学生的基础知识的掌握，只有具备一定的语言基础，才有能力和信心有效地使用阅读策略来提高阅读能力。

关键词：阅读策略；阅读能力；认知风格；场依存/场独立

Abstract

Reading is a very valuable skill in language learning. It is not only a necessary tool that can be used to acquire information, but also a tool to acquire language. Therefore, whether in English classes or in the self studying of students, it is held in a very important position. Viewed from the perspective of cognitive psychology, the process of reading is in fact a process of decoding and reconstructing the meanings of the information in reading materials. Consequently this process will be influenced by cognitive style which is considered to be an individual’s consistent and habitual way of processing information. Besides, cognitive style is very likely to affect the choice and use of reading strategies, which in turn will unavoidably affect reading achievements. Therefore, cognitive style in some degree affects reading abilities. The present study attempts to take the non-English majors in an independent college as the subjects to figure out whether field-dependent/field-independent (FD/I) cognitive style will affect students’ reading abilities through their different use of reading strategies.

In the present study, Cognitive Style Figures Test, reading comprehension test,

and reading strategies questionnaire are conducted among 100 non-English-major sophomores from the Applied Science College of Jiangxi University of Science and technology. The descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, are employed to process the data collected by means of SPSS software. The results shows that FD/I cognitive style has weak correlation with reading abilities, and individuals with different FD/I cognitive style show a slight tendency to adopt different strategies in English reading process which to some extent is the reason why they possess different levels of reading abilities. Besides, descriptive statistics show that students in this college use cognitive strategies relatively in a low frequency, which may mean their lack of interest in English learning and have less experience of tackling reading materials directly due to their little efforts being put on reading practices.

In correspondence to the above findings, the pedagogical implications are given as follows:(1)Language teachers should help second language readers to identify their cognitive style and reminds them of the advantages and disadvantages of different cognitive style, therefore to prompt them to reflect on their reading habits and use of reading strategies. (2) language teachers are advised to guide and train their students in the use of reading strategies and get them to be strategy-conscious so as to make up for the negative influence caused by the characteristics of their cognitive style. (3) Teachers should also stimulate students’ interests in learning English and try to strengthen their English linguistic foundation so as to add to their confidence and improve their abilities to apply reading strategies properly.

Key Words: Reading Strategy; Reading Abilities; Cognitive Style;

Field-dependence/Field-independence

前 言

在语言学习过程中，阅读是一项极有价值的技能，众所周知，语言学习中,输入是输出的基础，只有通过听力或阅读的学习，掌握一定的词汇量和表达法，才有可能进行书面和口头的语言输出。因为中国的英语学习者缺乏真实的语言环境，很少有机会在真实的交际环境下听到英语或用英语进行交流，从而潜移默化地习得英语，只能通过有意识地通过听力和阅读练习来增加语言输入。听力和阅读相比较，阅读显然是一项更方便且有效的学习手段，不受时间地点的限制，且能让学习者反复的练习。所以阅读技能不仅是英语学习者必须掌握的获得信息的工具，也是语言学习的工具，因此，无论在课堂教学还是学习者的自主学习中,阅读都被摆在非常重要的位置。然而，有的英语学习者虽花了大量的时间来进行英语阅读，阅读能力却提高较慢，因此研究影响阅读的各种因素，为学习者提供有效的适合自己的阅读方法和阅读策略是十分有意义的。

纵观以前的阅读研究，研究者们的研究视角不尽相同，有的着重于语言知识和文化背景，也有的专注在阅读策略角度，但是鲜有研究者从认知风格的角度来讨论阅读。与学习策略一样，认知风格同属于学习者个体差异的范畴。从认知心理学的视角来看，阅读过程实际上是一个对阅读材料进行认知解码和意义构建的信息处理过程。首先读者对信息进行感知，并把感知到的文本的信息与自已的已有知识进行比较和联系，从而变成自己所理解的有意义的文本信息。而认知风格是指个体在认知过程中经常采用的习惯化的方式，具体地说，是指在感知、记忆、思维和问题解决过程中个体所偏爱的、习惯化了的态度和方式。因此，学习者的阅读方式与其认知风格有必然的联系，另外认知风格还可能影响阅读者对阅读策略的选择和使用，进而影响阅读的效果。因此本篇论文旨在研究认知风格对大学生阅读能力以及阅读策略的使用的影响，以及与认知风格相关联的阅读策略的使用对阅读能力的影响。

如前所述，阅读是一个动态的认知过程，也是一个读者利用文本的信息与作者互相交流进行意义构建的过程。阅读有三种模式，有学者认为阅读是读者通过激活大脑中已有的背景知识，并根据读物的部分材料对所要阅读的内容进行预测，并在阅读过程中加以证实和修正，以验证自己的预测是否正确的过程。由此

可见，这种模式认为，读者掌握的背景知识比单词句法知识更重要。这种阅读模式是一种“自上而下”的模式。但也有一些学者更强调一种“自下而上”的阅读模式，认为阅读是读者从字母和单词的辨认来处理信息，不断进行信息组合完成阅读的过程。这种模式把阅读看作是单向的从文本中提取信息的语言加工的线性过程。然而，许多研究证明，阅读是一种多种因素交互作用的复杂的信息处理过程。因此，有学者又提出了“相互作用模式”。任何单一的语言知识不能促成对阅读材料的真正理解(束定芳、庄智象，1996)。在阅读过程中，一种知识源的不足会导致读者转而依耐于另一种知识源。在阅读的过程中，阅读者会采取各种阅读策略来帮助自己更好地构建文章的意义。O’Malley and Chamot (1990)按照他们自己对学习策略的划分把阅读策略分为三大类:元认知策略、认知策略和社交情感策略。元认知策略通过计划，监控、自我评价而对阅读过程进行调节。认知策略帮助对文本本身的理解，而社交情感策略是与他人进行合作及情感调控来帮助阅读过程的策略。

认知风格有很多种类，这里所采用的认知风格为Witkin (1962)所提出的场

独立/依存认知风格，它是目前为止研究最广泛、最深入与教学联系最紧密的认知风格类型，它把个体的个性和认知结合起来，能够代表个体的特征。场独立性者倾向于以内在参照而不是外在参照知觉事物，即能以自己独立的标准觉察、判断事物，并不受周围环境的干扰，他们有较强的分析推理能力及结构重组能力；而场依存性者倾向于依赖外在参照知觉事物，或者难以摆脱环境因素的影响，不能从复杂情境中区分事物的若干要素或组成部分，总是整体地感知事物。场独立

-依存的偏好不断地影响人们在认知、心理及人际关系等方面的行为表现。 Witkin Goodenough（1997）曾经指出:习惯场依存性的人发展了一种与他人接触的倾向,这不仅使他们集中注意从别人那儿获取信息,而且使他们具有理解别人和与别人打交道的能力。与此相反,习惯场独立的人对于接受外部信息有很大的自主性，这使他们发展了一种不善于与人接触的倾向。

对于场独立/依存是如何影响外语学习的，国内外的学者（如：Naiman 1978；Hansen and Stansfield 1981；Roberts and Chapelle 1986；Abraham 1985；徐伟成 1999 等）作了不少的实证研究，大多都发现场独立学习者在正式的课堂学习中表现更好。但是较少有研究针对场独立/依存认知风格与阅读的相关性。

本论文以江西理工大学应用科学学院非英语专业二年级学生为研究对象，利

用镶嵌图形测试、阅读策略调查问卷、以及阅读理解测验的方式，收取了100名来自会计、自动化、法学三个专业班级的学生的场独立/依存倾向、阅读策略使用情况以及阅读成绩的数据，并利用SPSS统计软件对数据进行描述性统计和相关分析。描述性统计分析发现学生使用认知策略的频度最低，这也许与学生的学习较低的自觉性，积极性有关，由于相对缺少阅读的尝试，所以在对阅读材料的直接理解在策略上缺少体验。另外，阅读策略使用的频率与阅读能力没有必然联系。相关分析发现场独立/依存认知风格与阅读能力有正弱相关，说明场独立特点在一定程度上有利于阅读成绩的提高。在对场独立/依存认知风格与阅读策略的使用的进行相关分析后，作者发现在全体对象中，除了场依存倾向者与“常用图表形式来归纳文章内容与结构”有弱相关外，认知风格与阅读策略的使用几乎没有统计意义上的相关性，他们似乎都在使用同一些策略或是同一类型的策略。与Oxford(1990) 所认为的不同，场依存倾向者也较积极的使用“计划安排”，“自我监控”，“自我评价”等元认知策略，且并没有发现与场独立/依存的人格特点相对应的策略有明显的使用差别，如场依存倾向者也同样使用“分析”及”归纳” 策略。不过，场依存倾向者较注重查打与阅读目的及中心思想相关的信息, 且根据阅读的目的性采用不同的阅读技巧。而场独立倾向者喜欢“情景化阅读材料中的内容”，有较强的想象力。

在对典型的场独立/依存者的相关分析表明，场依存倾向者注重查找与阅读的

目的相关的信息，此外他们阅读时的首要任务是获得文章的中心意思，且注意通过段落主题句等明显的线索来得到文章的中心意思，他们注意文章用词的呼应性，试图通过文章的逻辑关系来推测整篇文章, 并能对阅读技巧进行总结。而场独立倾向者更会对英语学习作出安排，创造阅读机会，利用字典等查清生词的用法，推测生词的意义，分析长句，利用上、下文推测意义，对文章内容进行预测, 并总结文章的大意、结构和作者观点。因此场独立倾向者有意识对学习作出安排，更善于进行预测, 分析、推测和归纳总结。在对阅读策略的使用与阅读能力的相关分析中，作者发现推测词义，分析长难句，对文章内容进行预测，注意文章的用词的响应性，有明确的阅读目的，推断句子的隐含意思，运用阅读技巧与阅读成绩有正弱相关性，有助于阅读成绩的提高。而这7个策略中有4个与场独立或

典型的场独立倾向有超过+1.0以上的相关，而与场依存倾向者只有1个相关。这可能一定程度上解释了场独立倾向者阅读成绩更好的原因。

因此，通过对文献的回顾，以及作者的调查发现，场独立者的一些认知方

式的特点对阅读成绩有一定的积极作用，他们善于通过归纳主动地建构文章的意义，并利用分析、预测、推测等手段来了解文章的意思。

通过对场独立/依存认知风格对大学英语阅读的影响研究，可以给教学提供

一定的启示，根据场独立/依存的特点给予学生一定的阅读指导，使他们意识到自己的风格特点的优、缺点，并利用一些阅读策略的训练，使他们能够练习使用与自己风格不一致的方法，而弥补风格的不足之处。

在写作论文论文的过程中，作者虽然付出了很多的努力，但由于缺少研究

经验，研究人力、物力上的不足，因此有很多的不足之处。例如：研究的对象规模有限，因此影响到数据的信度，阅读能力以一次考试为定显得不够客观, 另外使用阅读策略问卷方式调查学生的策略使用情况可能涉及学生的主观感觉，不能很好地反映真实的情况等。

学位论文独创性声明

本人郑重声明：

1、坚持以“求实、创新”的科学精神从事研究工作。

2、本论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作和取得的研究成果。

3、本论文中除引文外，所有实验、数据和有关材料均是真实的。

4、本论文中除引文和致谢的内容外，不包含其他人或其它机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。

5、其他同志对本研究所做的贡献均已在论文中作了声明并表示了谢意。 作者签名：

日 期：

学位论文使用授权声明

本人完全了解南京师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，学校有权保留学位论文并向国家主管部门或其指定机构送交论文的电子版和纸质版；有权将学位论文用于非赢利目的的少量复制并允许论文进入学校图书馆被查阅；有权将学位论文的内容编入有关数据库进行检索；有权将学位论文的标题和摘要汇编出版。保密的学位论文在解密后适用本规定。 作者签名：

日 期：

Acknowledgements

At the completion of my graduation thesis, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and great appreciation to all those who have ever contributed to this thesis directly or indirectly. Without their help, I could not have finished this project.

Firstly, I am greatly indebted to my M.A. supervisor, Professor Wang Shaohua, for his scholarly support, invaluable advice, strict instruction and insightful comments on how this thesis should be constructed. His intelligence and rigor have been a driving force for this thesis, and have led me through stages of the thesis writing from the formation of the ideas to the completion of this thesis.

I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues: Miss Xie Liping who made the statistic analysis with SPSS software for me and offered me much valuable advice on the writing of the thesis and Miss Guo Changhong who shared much of my working duty during my writing of the thesis. I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the students who have participated in the study for their enthusiastic cooperation.

My special thanks and loves should go to my parents and my husband for their great support and encouragement during my writing of this thesis.

Finally，I’d like to show my appreciation to all those who have devoted much time to reading this thesis and give me much advice for improvement. Thank you all!

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

It is well known that reading is an important aspect for the acquisition of a

foreign language, especially in an environment that lacks natural language input and communication. First, language input is the basis of language output, before knowing how to speak and how to write we should read and listen so as to accumulate adequate materials for us to use in speaking and writing. Still we find reading is a more convenient and usually adopted way of input than listening in foreign language learning, although listening is also essential for the learning of a language. Because we can read a book at any places and at any time and we can read it according to our own pace and review it whenever necessary, but as to listening, few chances are provided to us except to listen to records, which are not conveniently available for it needs some listening equipments such as a cassette recorder or a disc player. So reading plays a very important part in English learning in China, and through reading, we can learn new words and grammar and get to know the culture of western countries, which can in turn lay a solid foundation for our learning of English, thus, improve our listening, speaking and writing abilities. Moreover, in this age of knowledge explosion，reading is considered to be the most efficient means to obtain the latest information on science，technology，academic research and so on. As a consequence, reading teaching occupies a great deal of time in English classes and the study of reading also attracts the attention of many researchers.

So far, a great many researches on reading are carried out from the perspective

of linguistic knowledge, cultural background, and the use of reading strategies. Nevertheless, few studies have been dedicated to investigating the influence of cognitive styles on reading proficiency. Theoretically speaking, reading comprehension is supposed to relate to cognitive style in that cognitive styles, which are referred to as personal ways of processing information, will lead to individual readers’ differences in the way they perceive and decode material one is exposed to, which in turn brings out different reading achievements. In addition, cognitive styles may influence the acquisition and application of efficient reading strategies in the reading processes, which are believed to be closely correlated to reading proficiency. Therefore, the present study attempts to find out whether cognitive styles have an

effect on students’ reading proficiency and whether cognitive styles will influence the choices and application of reading strategies which in turn lead to different reading proficiency.

Here, a person’s cognitive style is a relatively fixed aspect of learning performance and influences a person’s general attainment or achievement in learning situations (Riding and Rayner, 1998: 7); namely, cognitive style is different in nature and different cognitive styles will affect individual learners’ learning behaviors and learning achievements. The study of cognitive style has undergone not a long history , the beginning of which can be dated back to 1940s；however, because of different researching focus, such as some researches aiming at problem-solving, some at learning and some at different perceptual characteristics, in the few decades , many types of cognitive style are raised. Riding and Cheema (1991: 196) classifies “cognitive styles” into two principal groups: “wholistic-analytic” and “verbal-imagery” dimensions. The type of cognitive style adopted in present study is field-dependent/ field-independent (FD/I) cognitive Style. FD/I cognitive style belongs to the “wholistic-analytic” style family. Witkin, Moore, Goodenough and Cox (1977) provide a description of “FD/I” that individual independence or dependence on a perceptual field when analyzing a structure or form which is part of the field.

Up till now not very few empirical researches both home and abroad have been

carried out to find out the correlation between FD/I cognitive style and second language acquisition, such as Naiman (1978), Hansen and Stansfield(1981), Roberts and Chapelle (1986), Xu Weicheng (1999), Zhang Yanling (2003). However, few studies have been conducted to revolve around its influence specifically on reading.

1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study

The present study takes the non-English-major sophomores in an independent

college as the subjects to find out whether students’ FD/I cognitive style will have any influence on their reading abilities, on their choice and use of reading strategies and through exploring the correlation between the use of reading strategies and reading abilities to figure out how the use of strategies of students with different cognitive style affect their reading abilities. The significance of the present study consists in the following aspects.

First, it conforms to the “students-centered” teaching ideology. Since the 1970s,

researchers’ interests in second language acquisition (SLA) have shifted from

teachers’ teaching method to learners’ learning. In other words, they began to emphasize how learners learn a foreign language and what effects individual learners’ differences (age, aptitude, motivation, personality, cognitive style and learning strategies) exert on learning process and learning achievements, because language teaching and learning is a cooperation process, during which, students are the executors of learning behaviors and teachers are only guiders who direct the former, teachers should take into full consideration students’ individual differences. Only in this way, can they devise an appropriate teaching plan and use different teaching strategies to suit students’ learning. Otherwise, not only students can’t follow teachers’ teaching plan and teaching methods, but their learning enthusiasm will be frustrated.

Second, as a cognitive activity, reading has, since the 1960s, been a major

interest of cognitive psychologists. Strategies appear to have come into reading research via psychology, where they are used to describe how an organism seeks to attain its goals. Pritchard (1995: 275) defines a reading strategy as “a deliberate action that readers take voluntarily to develop and understand what they read”. So the process of reading and the choices and application of reading strategies are supposed to be closely correlated with cognitive style. To study the influence of cognitive style on reading proficiency can help learners to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of their own cognitive styles in language learning and grant them confidence in making best use of their advantages and remind them to adopt effective reading strategies to make up for the disadvantages of their cognitive styles.

Third, being a typical model which features the wholistic-analytic dimension of

cognitive style, field-dependent/ field-independent (FD/I) cognitive style is also the core of cognitive style. It connects a person’s cognition with his personality, therefore, can relatively represent a typical individual characteristic. In our daily life, it is more evident and can be more easily identified by us than other types of styles, therefore, draws the particular attention of psychologist. Compared with other types of cognitive style, it has more mature way of measurement and most important of all it constitutes the theoretical frame of cognitive style and relates closely with other types of cognitive style (Tan Dingliang 1995: 69). It is founded by Witkin and is the earliest type of cognitive style studied and the most widely explored one with the broadest application to the field of education.

1.3 Layout of the Thesis

The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One “Introduction” explains the

background, the significance and purpose of the study. Chapter Two “Reading and Reading strategies” presents an introduction to reading process, a review of learning strategies, and reading strategies. Chapter Three “Field-dependent/ Field-independent Cognitive Style (FD/I)” provides an introduction to cognitive style and a survey of FD/I as well as the empirical studies on FD/I and reading and FD/I and strategies. Chapter Four “Research Methodology” focuses on the rationale, research questions, research design, research instruments, data collection and analysis for the present study. Chapter Five “Result and Discussion” revolves around the findings of each research questions and provides tentative explanations to them. Chapter Five “Conclusion” summarizes the major findings of the present study and offers some implications correlated with them.

Chapter Two Reading and Reading Strategies

2.1 Understanding of Reading

2.1.1 Definition of Reading

Our understanding of reading in second language (L2) has been changed

considerably in the last several decades. Traditionally, reading sometimes was regarded as “passive” or “receptive” as early as 1917, and reading was nothing more than decoding written symbols. In the late 1960s, reading was considered a skill for learner to acquire, mainly to enforce the grammar and vocabulary being taught orally. Reading comprehension was once thought of as a process of understanding with reasonable accuracy the information contained in a text. In the 1970s, researchers argued that great importance should be put on reading and advocated a psycholinguistic model or theory for reading. More recent views of reading focused on the constructive elements of the process and the acknowledgement that what was retained was the result of a dynamic interaction between the reader, the task, and the context.

Although reading is not a strange activity to us and we feel too familiar with it,

we are still not quite clear about the way how we conduct reading. Actually, the process of reading may be viewed as three stages: input, process, and the construction of meaning. Input here refers to written symbols and the structure of the text that serve as stimulus to the reader. Process is the procedure of decoding symbols, storing information in short-term memory, and matching incoming information with existing knowledge in long-term memory. The construction of meaning includes forming hypotheses, verifying the hypotheses, and thereby constructing meaning. During the construction of meaning, the identification of words, understanding of the sentence structures, and the reader’s background knowledge and the strategies the reader uses are all crucial factors in comprehension. The process involves a feedback loop that allows the reader to go back and forth to look for more information for the verification of the hypothesis and the construction of meaning. In this way, readers interact with text continuously and play an active part.

Establishing a clear definition of reading can provide an important perspective

for evaluating what is reading. Various definitions of reading have been given by

many language experts and most of them agree that the major purpose of reading should be the construction of meaning—comprehending and actively responding to what is read. In 1997, the Houghton Mifflin Company cited two most widely cited and agreed-upon definitions of reading:

Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a

complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information”(1997).

“Reading is the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic interaction among (1)the reader’s existing knowledge; (2)the information suggested by the text being read; and (3)the context of the reading situation”(1997).

In addition to it, Grabe and Stroller (2002: 9) define reading as “… the ability to

draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately”.

Grellet (1981:3) points out that “understanding a written text means extracting

the required information from it as effectively as possible”.

Thorndike (cited in Venezky, 1984) establishes the notion that reading is an

active process related to problem solving.

Silberstein (1994: 12) argues that “reading is a complex information processing

skill which the readers interacts with the text in order to (re)create meaningful discourse” and “the reader is an active, problem-solving individual who coordinates a number of skills and strategies to facilitate comprehension”.

All the above definitions believe that reading comprehension is an interactive

process. On the one hand, it is realized through the active involvement of the reader. Without the active involvement of the reader and his activation of relevant prior knowledge, the comprehension and understanding of the text can not be achieved. On the other hand, they also indicate that reading is activated by prints. The reader must be able to comprehend the written words, for example, all four-and five-year-old children can communicate with and learn from oral language, but very few of them can read, because they lack the ability to identify printed words. While simply being able to recognize or “say” the printed words of texts without constructing the meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from a written text is impossible without being able to identify the words.

Besides, reading is supposed to be a cognitive process. Readers need to perceive

the information, categorize, compare and organize it and store it into short-term

memory, then match the new information with the existing knowledge in the long- term memory, evaluate and argue with it, make and test hypothesis, predict, classify, construct the meaning, review, reflect and so on.

Reading can also be considered as a strategic process, which involves ways of

processing the text. Being strategic means that readers can decide what textual clues to attend to according to their reading purposes, how they make sense of what they are reading, and what they can do to deal with the difficulties in reading. Reading not only depends on word comprehension, syntax and semantic analysis in sequence, but also involves readers’ abilities to monitor how to read and to take appropriate strategic actions. They use predicting, inferring, and other strategies to comprehend the text better.

2.1.2 Three Models of Reading Process

Based on the information-processing cognitive theory, many psychologists have

made a lot of researches on the process of reading and put forward a number of models of reading. In the past 50 years, the following three models: bottom-up model, top-down model, and interactive model have been the most influential.

Bottom-up model of reading suggests that the reader perceives every letter,

organizes the perceived letters into words, and then organizes the words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Meaning, at any level, for example, word or phrase, is accessed only once processing at previous (i.e. lower) levels has been completed. Therefore, the reader will process all the letters in a word and then the meaning of the word is accessed; likewise, the reader will process all the words in a phrase or a clause before constructing its meaning. In bottom-up model primary emphasis is placed on textual decoding, the written or printed text. Yet this model is criticized for its flaws, the most serious of which is that too much emphasis is put on the letter, words and sentences. Thus the effect of context and background knowledge is ignored, which may cause difficulty to grasp the original point of view of the writer’s when the understanding of the context and our background knowledge is inadequate. However, bottom-up model can be expected to have efficiency since individuals who do make predications about text meaning tend to have greater comprehension (Palincsar and Brown, 1984)

Top-down model, in contrast, suggests that processing of a text begins in the

mind of the readers from higher levels of processing, and proceeds to use the lower levels selectively. Here the lower levels of processing are connected to the stimulus

(i.e. print or sound) and are concerned mainly with recognizing and decoding this stimulus. Higher levels of processing are involved with comprehending and constructing the meaning of what is being seen, read or heard. In top-down model, readers do not read every word, but sample the text , make hypotheses about the next word to be encountered, sample the text again to confirm their prediction, and so forth. The top-down model of reading focuses on what the readers bring to the process. The readers sample the text for information and contrast it with their world knowledge, helping to make sense of what is written. The focus here is on the readers as they interact with the text. Grabe and Stroller (2002) stress that top-down model assumes that reading is primarily directed by reader goals and expectations, which is why top-down model characterizes the reader as someone who has a set of expectations about the text information and samples enough information from the text to confirm or reject these expectations.

Top-down models also have their shortcomings. It depends too much on the

prior knowledge. If the reader has little background knowledge, he cannot get prediction according to the limited clues. Or it will take much more time to generate predictions than to decode the linguistic forms. People who support top-down model fail to see the good readers do rely on graphic information, which may be more efficient than trying to “predict” words only upon context and language structure, and good readers are usually more competent in word identification.

The interactive model (Rumelhart, 1977; Stanovich, 1980) stressed both what is

on the written page and what a reader brings to it and advocates using both top-down and bottom-up skills. Stanovich (1980: 36) states that in interactive modes “processes at any level can compensate for deficiencies at any other level — higher processes can actually compensate for deficiencies in lower-level processes”. They work together to pull the various fragments of knowledge and information into a coherent whole. Both top-down and bottom-up skills contribute to a comprehensive construction of the meaning of the text. An interactive reading model attempts to combine the valid insights of bottom-up and top-down models, and tries to avoid the criticisms leveled against each, making it one of the most promising approaches to the theory of reading today.

To sum up, reading is a cognitive, interactive and above all a strategic process

and the conscious or subconscious application of each of the three reading models is just the verification of its strategic nature. Before introducing the reading strategies employed in reading, some literature review of learning strategy will be made, since

we know that as an important behavior and aspect of learning, reading is also conducted accompanied by the application of certain learning strategies, and the learning strategies used in reading are called reading strategies.

2. 2 A Brief Survey on Learning Strategy

Language learning is a complicated process, in which learning strategies play an

important role, especially in second or foreign language learning. Oxford (1990:1) stated that learning strategies are “especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement”, and appropriate learning strategies can “result in improved proficiency and greater self-confidence”. The effects of learning strategies have drawn more experts’ attention and many researchers have explored the relationship between second language learning strategies and achievements of learners. Many researches on successful and unsuccessful language learners conducted in 1970s have proved that learning strategies can affect learning results, either positively or negatively. (Ribin, 1975; Naiman et al. 1978; Wong-filmore, 1976; Hosenfeld, 1977).

Influenced by cognitive psychology theory, learning strategies are all regarded

as a complex cognitive process. The development of research on learning strategies interacts with that of cognitive psychology. With the influence of the cognitive psychology theory, learning strategies are regarded as a complex cognitive process.

2.2.1 Definition of Learning Strategy

As have been mentioned above, reading is one of the important ways for

language learning. And learning strategies play an important role in language learning process, which in turn is closely related to learners’ reading achievement. So the findings and methods of those previous researches on learning strategies can shed much light on the researches on reading strategies.

Stern (1983: 261) pointed out that strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics and the approach employed by the language learners, leaving techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning behavior.

Weinstein and Mayer (1986) believed that learning strategies are the behaviors

and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that intended to influence the learner’s encoding process.

Oxford (1989) considers language learning strategies as behaviors or actions

which learners use to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable.

Cohen (1998:4) said that language learning strategies can be defined as those

processes which are consciously selected by learners and which may result in action taken to enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language, through the storage, retention, recall and application of information about that language.

The above authors’ definitions about learning strategy are not in agreement, but

they all try to point out the basic characteristics of it from different angles, eg: from its purpose (to influence the learner’s encoding process /to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable/ enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language), its forms (thoughts/behaviors; general tendency/techniques), and its nature (consciously selected/ subconscious). Based on these definitions, Ellis (1994: 532-533) put forward a list of eight characteristics of learning strategies which are generally thought to be the relatively comprehensive summary toward learning strategy:

1）Strategy refers to both general approach and specific action or techniques

used to learn a second language.

2）Strategies are problem-oriented: the learner employs a strategy to solve some

particular learning problem.

3）Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and identify what the

strategies consist of if they are asked to pay attention to what they are doing or thinking.

4）Strategies involve linguistic behaviors (such as requesting the name of an

object) and non-linguistic strategies (such as pointing at an object so as to be told its name)

5）Linguistic strategies can be performed in the L1 and in the L2.

6）Some strategies are behavioral while others are mental. Thus some strategies

are directly observable, while others are not.

7）In the main, strategies contribute indirectly to learning by providing learners

with data about the L2 which they can then process. However, some strategies may also contribute directly (for example, memorization strategies directed at specific lexical items or grammatical rules)

8）Strategy use varies considerably as a result of both the kinds of task the

learner is engaged in and individual learner preferences.

Although many linguists hold the opinion that learning strategies are intentional

or deliberate action. Here the researcher prefers to give learning strategies a generalized definition that whether they are tendencies or techniques, conscious or not, behavioral or mental, learning strategies, simply put, are an individual’s approach to complete a task as efficiently as possible. More specifically, a learning strategy is an individual’s way of organizing and using some steps to enhance learning, and accomplish tasks more effectively and efficiently in school as well as in nonacademic setting.

2.2.2 Classification of Learning Strategies

A large number of researchers (Naiman et al. 1978; Wenden and Rubin, 1987;

Oxford, 1990; O’ Malley and Chamot, 1990 etc.) have tried to classify language learning strategies in different ways according to different criteria and considerable progress has been made in classifying learning strategies.

The early attempt to identify and classify learning strategies is based on the

observation of the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful learners. Rubin proposed a classification schema that subsumes learning strategies under two primary groups: strategies that directly affect learning and processes that contribute indirectly to learning in 1981 (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990). In 1987 he further divided these strategies into three types of strategies: learning strategies, communication strategies, and social strategies. Learning strategies include 6 main cognitive learning strategies: Clarification/Verification, Guessing/Inductive differencing, deductive reasoning, practice, memorization, and monitoring, contributing directly to the development of language system and some meta-cognitive learning strategies (including planning, prioritizing, setting goals, and self-management), regulating or self-directing language learning. Communication and social strategies are viewed less directly than learning strategies.

With the development of the theories of second language acquisition and

cognition, some classifications in more details are proposed, viewing both learning and learning strategies as cognitive processes. (Oxford, 1990; O’Malley and Chamot, 1990). Among them, the categorizations of learning strategies which have been accepted by most of linguists are made by O’Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990).

O’Malley and Chamot (1990) divided language-learning strategies into three

main subcategories: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. Metacognitive strategies make use of knowledge about cognitive processes and constitute an attempt to regulate language learning by means of planning, monitoring, and evaluation. It includes advance organizers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, advance preparation, self-monitoring, delayed production, and self-evaluation. Cognitive strategies are used by the learners to integrate new knowledge into old cognitive structure. It includes repetition, resourcing, directed physical response, translating, grouping, note-taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, and inferencing. Social/affective strategies can provide the learners more learning opportunities. It includes cooperation and question for clarification. O’Malley and Chamot (1990) think there is a relationship of levels between these three strategies, that is to say, metacognitive strategies play a more important role in language learning than the other two categories of strategies.

Oxford (1990) summarizes all the different typologies of language learning

strategies published over the past years. She places them into a more coherent and more comprehensive typology and redresses the woeful lack of research emphasis given to social and affective strategies. According to the relationship between learning strategies and target language, Oxford (1990) divided language learning strategies into two main categories: direct strategies and indirect strategies. Direct strategies directly involve the target language and the direct strategies are composed of memory strategies, cognitive strategies and compensation strategies. Cognitive strategies are the mental strategies learners use to make sense of their learning; memory strategies are those used for storage of information, and compensation strategies help learners to overcome knowledge gaps to continue the communication. (Oxford. 1990: 16-17). Indirect strategies include meta-cognitive, affective and social strategies. In Oxford’s system, metacognitive strategies help learners to regulate their learning. Affective strategies are concerned with the learner’s emotional requirements such as confidence, while social strategies lead to increased interaction with the target language.

In fact, Oxford’s classification has some overlaps with O’Malley and Chamot’s

classification. Direct strategies are similar to O’Malley and Chamot’s cognitive strategies, while indirect strategies to some extent equal metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. The difference is O’Malley and Chamot maintains that metacognitive strategies are superior to other strategies, while Oxford believes that

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