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Morning reading is a unique phenomenon in China as well as some Asian countries. Many Chinese educators and teachers have done many researches on it, trying to improve its efficiency and make it more acceptable by students. They have offered some suggestions, such as emphasizing the importance of morning reading to students, adjusting the content of morning reading according to students’ degree of concentration and giving timely evaluation to effect of morning reading.
In the paper, I am going to find out what students think of morning reading in Baochuta Experimental School, what kind of morning reading they prefer, and what we can do to improve it to motivate students
2. Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
There is no doubt that interest plays an important part in students’ study. Educators have recognized the importance of reading interests as a motivating factor in the reading process, and more studies were concerned with reading interests and preferences of children and adults than any other reading issues. However, despite there being a universal belief in the importance of reading, different groups of people (including students) hold different attitudes to reading and have very different reading interests and habits.
The review of the literature on reading interests revealed that most of the studies in this field were conducted in the western countries where English is a first language, whereas very few studies were conducted in countries where English is a second or foreign language.
2.2. The Importance of Reading Interest
The importance of capitalizing on reading interests stems from the fact that there is a relationship between reading interests and reading comprehension. Spache (cited in Shnayer, 1967, p.36) claims that when interest is high, students read materials that are above their proficiency levels. He also maintains that books that are high in interest may be reacted to as appropriate in difficulty even when these are actually above the students’ reading levels by two or more grade levels. But when the interest is low, students often rate books as too hard even when they are below their reading levels. Hence, any proper evaluation of the students’ reading comprehension should take into account the interest factor and its influence on performance.
Teachers can motivate students to read by undertaking alternative activities starting with a survey of the kind of reading materials that students find difficult and easy (Robb, 1997). Moreover, Clary (1991, pp. 340–343) suggests six strategies that teachers should use to motivate their students to read. These strategies are capitalizing on reading interests, making reading materials accessible, building a conductive environment, allowing the time to read in school, providing significant adult models and using motivational techniques. She maintains that capitalizing on interests can be achieved in two ways: knowing what most students like and what inpidual students like.