2. Literature Review

Reading is important in study and our daily life. With the appearance of the written form of language, people began to record and transport information via written language. In order to read quickly, people began to do research on reading and reading strategies. Researchers have realized the significance of reading strategies on it since 1980s.

The following part of the passage will give us a brief introduction on reading by researchers.

2.1 The Definition of Reading

     Reading is defined as a process of getting information from written materials. Written materials are mainly characters combined, and they also include symbols, formula and charts. Firstly, we change the characters and symbols into sounds for the purpose of acquiring the understanding skills of written materials. Reading is an active process, which is controlled by readers on different purposes. Loud reading is one of the reading styles. It means a process used in a loud voice, such as reading poems in some cases. Reading aloud has a strong function highly focusing on key points. But according to the process of acquiring useful information from written materials, silent reading is more important than loud reading for understanding written materials mainly depending on silent reading. External factors on effective reading contain written materials and characteristics of contexts, such as light condition, styles of characters and sizes. Readability of written materials, length and structure of the sentences, density of the items, generalization, frequency and purposes also affect the understanding degrees of written materials. Internal factors on effective reading are mainly determined by the readers’ knowledge. In addition, readers’ attention, memory and thought also contribute to reading. Seen from the definition of Reading Comprehension, the competence of reading is a complex concept, and is various in reading tasks, reading motivation, reading goals and language ability. (Qin Jiliang, 2012: 19)

2.2 Related Theory about Reading文献综述

     Cognitive theory tries to explain human behavior by understanding the processes of thought. The assumption is that humans are logical beings who make choices that get the most available ways to them. Information processing is comparing the human mind to a computer processing, a common method used by description of the mental process. Social cognitive theory is a sublimation of cognitive theory. Primarily focused on ways in which we learn modeling the behavior of others, social cognitive theory can be seen in advertising campaigns and peer pressure situations. It is also useful in different processes of reading. Focusing on the premiere role of reading in the basic skills of foreign language, it is considered a meaningful way to use social cognitive theory to guide English reading strategies.