How to give an effective extensive reading class

【Abstract】Quality education emphasizes much on improving the students practical ability to employ a certain language，and this promotes extensive reading course in college to be of greater importance，for it is a course which intends to achieve the purpose by training the students fast reading and reading comprehension through a large amount of practical reading materials.That is，its aims to make the students master some necessary skills on speed- reading and understanding，thus，gain good competence to use this tongue.This paper lists some problems happening during the extensive reading and shows some solutions，hoping to help the students with the reading part in the English exam.

【Key words】extensive reading； problems； solutions

As far as we know，the teaching in the past did not get satisfactory effects as we have expected，the reason may be quite complex.On one hand，the text books are not suitable，they may be out of date，or may not go with the level of the students （generally，different types of universities should compile corresponding text-books according to their different levels.） And on the other hand，the students have not an effective and proper method to deal with this course.They probably have not realized the importance and purpose of learning such a course，even they do，they feel puzzled how to learn it in reality.Proper methods of teaching extensive reading are quite necessary in the class.

First teachers should select proper textbook for the students.Generally，different types of universities should compile different textbooks.The materials are required to original in content，wide in subject，varied in style，at the same time，to be interesting and informative.Besides，the difficulty should be moderate； it should be parallel with the level of most students，or a little higher above their level.When in reading，the teacher should be clear about his teaching aim of every teaching time.Is it to train the students reading speed？ Or develop their reading skills？ Or acquire a full understanding of there adding materials？ （This is the prerequisite to a successful class）

When reading teachers should make instruction understood.English is not their mother tongue，and language itself may be a barrier in the teaching.If a teacher can-not even make himself understood，how can he expect the students to react to his instructions or to cooperate with him？ Simple，unambiguous language and an articulate，pleasant voice are what a teacher most needs.Sometimes，proper body language can also add beneficially to the accuracy and efficiency of the language.

Make best use of the teaching aids，such as bibliography，picture，map，radio，TV，video，a slide projector and so on.These can help to illustrate the materials，to make abstract concrete，and dull vivid.

Organize a large variety of communicative activities and let students get involved in them as much as possible.Class activities should not be restricted to the teacher-students question-answer form.Teachers can encourage different students to respond to his questions，more importantly is the teacher can be the prompter to guide students to prepare and ask each other questions.Eventually，students can be involved in not only individual work，but also pair work，group work or team work.And teachers can not use a fixed way to deal with all the materials.Sometimes，teachers can do some explanation，other times teachers only need to give instructions of guidance，for instance.

Teachers can have students conjecture the content or style of a passage according to the title or headings before reading.This is a good way to make students receive new information by using their cognition structure （try to conjecture the intention of the author，and imagine some possible similar plots of your own.）

Materials of different styles can be dealt with flexibly.If it is a story-like narrative，teachers can ask students to retell it in English，using their own words.An exposition，teachers can let students enumerate the main contents，maybe the main functions of a certain thing.

To train the students ability of independent thinking， teachers can devise some penetrating questions for them to discuss.At last，the students not only practice and improve their oral English and thinking ability，but also get a moral lesson，and have deepen their thought，broaden their minds.

Organize group discussion on a specific topic in the end，ask representatives of each group to present their opinions，or to organize a wonderful debate.By this way，teachers can test the students logic thinking，instant language organizing ability and correct grammar-using capability.

To conclude，both teachers and students should draw much attention to the extensive reading in the class，and proper approaches can improve the performance of extensive reading.This paper only lists some methods hoping to obtain more method from different point of view.

Reference：

[1]Arnold， J.，1999.Affect in Language Learning.Cambridge： CUP.

[2]Brophy， J.， Good， T.， 1986.Teacher Behavior and Student Achievement.New York： Macmillan.

[3]谢葵.论大学英语泛读及其教学[J].长沙：长沙电力学院学报. 1999.

作者简介：郭妍（1987.1），女（汉族），吉林长春人，助教，2014年4月毕业于长春理工大学外语学院，硕士研究生，研究方向：应用语言学与英语教学法，现任长春理工大学光电信息学院基础大学英语教师一职。