Shift In English Language Learning Research

With the development in the field of education during the last two decades, a gradual but significant shift has taken place, resulting in less stress on teachers and teaching and greater emphasis on learners and learning. (Nunan, 1988) One remarkable outcome of this shift is to emerge in large numbers researches for learning strategies in second language learning, especially in English reading learning.

1.1 Research Background

Among four skills in learning English as a foreign language, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, reading has been regarded as the most important and efficient way to gain numerous type of information, especially for senior high school students. It is essential not only to academic learning in all subject areas,

In the past decades, a great number of studies on English reading had been made in China, including reading essence, reading models, reading strategies. Just in the recent twenty years, since Wen Qiufang, for the first time, talked about the function of meta-cognitive strategies monitoring in the discussion of English learning method system, a gradual shift had taken place in English teaching, which results in not emphasizing on teaching or teachers but on learning and learners. Learner-centered curriculum is advocated and learning strategy research emerges increasingly in aspects of language learning. (Wang Lifei，Wen Qiufang，2003) This change has opened a new angle which focuses on researching meta-cognitive strategies in English reading. Even though the researches on meta-cognitive strategies in English reading have been proven that meta-cognitive strategies have a positive effect on reading, but they make their studies mostly in universities. It is not sure whether the results affected English reading in senior high school students similarly. So it is necessary to investigate whether meta-cognitive strategies are used by senior high school students in their reading comprehension processes and whether they are helpful for improving senior high school students’ reading achievement. Thus, the effect of meta-cognitive

The study attempts to investigates the present situation of meta-cognitive strategies use in English reading in the senior one students in Mudanjiang No.2 Senior High School, so as to find effective ways to give the role of meta-cognitive strategies a full play in English reading teaching. The study also aims at finding out the effect of meta-cognitive strategies in senior high school students’ reading achievement. These informative data are expected to contribute some valuable guidelines to apply the study findings to the practical English reading learning in senior high school. Under the effect of using meta-cognitive strategies, students in senior high school not only can the knowledge points in reading materials be accessible rapidly, but also their autonomous learning abilities can be developed, which can lay a steady foundation for students’ English study in the