阅读理解的定义(Definitions of Reading Comprehension)

 

　　从一般意义上看，汉语的“阅”是指看(文字)，“读”是指看并念出声或者看并理解其义;“阅读”主要是指看(文章书报)并领会其内容。

 

　　在英语中，"Reading”的意义相对较多。从词源上看, " read"是地道的英语词汇;它来自同属日耳曼(Germanic)语系的古英语raden，与荷兰语raden和德语raten同源，早期的意思是“advise; guess; interpret( a riddle or dream)".

 

　　现在，在不同的语境中，"reading”可以分别表示“阅读，看书;学识;读物;原文;见解;解释;(仪表)读数;读议案;朗读”等意义。在《新牛津英语词典》中，对“read"和“reading"的主要释义为:

 

　　(1) Read-1. look at and comprehend the meaning (of written or printed matter) by men-tally interpreting the characters or symbols of which it is composed.

 

　　2. speak(thewritten or printed material that one is reading) aloud, typically to another person.

 

　　3. discern (a fact, emotion, or quality)in someone's eyes or expression.

 

　　(2)Reading- 1. the action, practice or skill of reading written or printed matter silently oraloud.

 

　　2. an opinion about the meaning of a statement. set of events, etc.;an inter-pretation.

 

　　3. a figure or amount shown by a meter or other measuring instrument.

 

　　4. a stage of debate in parliament through which a bill must pass before it can become law.

 

　　一The New Oxford Dictionary of English (2001)

 

　　普通词典的释义比较宽泛概括，它总结出在日常交际中，人们使用“read"和“reading"时所要表达的主要意义。但另一工具书，《朗文英语教学和应用语言学词典》的解释，或许更有助于我们加深对“reading”的理解:

 

　　(3)Reading-1. perceiving a written text in order to understand its contents. This can be done silently (silent reading). The understanding that results is called reading com-prehension.

 

　　2. saying a written text aloud (oral reading). This can be done with or without an understanding of the contents.

 

　　-Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching&Applied Linguistics(2003)

 

　　从严格的意义上说，阅读是一个接受言语信息的心理语言过程;理解是一个处理言语信息的心理语言过程。所谓阅读理解，是指在原有的语言知识和语境知识的支持下，对书面的言语材料进行信息加工，并在自己的头脑中积极主动地建构意义的过程。比如，看到‘`dog”这个符号时，我们知道它代表汪汪吠叫的四足动物;看“Take care!”时，我们知道这是表示要自己当心、注意，周围可能有潜在的危险存在，这说明我们理解了这些词语的意义。

 

　　阅读理解不但依赖于对言语符号的正确感知，而且还依赖于读者原有的知识和经验。正确感知视觉的言语符号是阅读理解的基础，但阅读理解并不是简单地把有形宇符所表达的意义移植到自己的头脑中去的过程(那实际上是学习语言的过程)，它是一种主动地、积极地建构意义的过程。可以说，“意义”实际上早已存在于自己的头脑中，读者需要做的只是借助原有的知识或经验，在自己的头脑中想象、整合出特定言语所呈现的情景，并通过期待和推理来领会特定育语符号所蕴含的意义。

 

　　以“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder where you are!”这句诗为例，有的人可用它来练习发音，有的人可用它来练习书法，有的人可用它来练习打字。如果在处理过程中，人们并没有有意识地在自己的头脑中积极主动地建构它可能的意义，那么，虽然这个句子可能已在自己的大脑中转过很多圈，但也只能说是在朗读、抄写或打字，而绝对称不上是阅读或理解，因为它缺少了调动自己原有的知识经验进行加工思考的过程。

 

　　阅读理解的核心，是特定读者积极主动地在自己的头脑中建构特定语符的意义。美国学者Irwin L. Joffe(1991)曾就此作出过生动的描述。他说道:

 

　　(4)Reading is an active process and requires concentration. Have you ever had the fol-lowing experience? You prepare to read a textbook (or perhaps a novel). You make yourself comfortable and begin to glance at the reading material. You go through one page, two, three, four, five pages. Suddenly you look up and say,“My Gosh!

 

　　What have I read?" You don't know. You've done an eye exercise. Although your eyes faithfully followed every word on these pages, your mind was elsewhere. You were thinking about what you planned to wear to the dance Saturday night or what

 

　　time class would be over tomorrow or even that it was warm or cool or noisy outside.Reading is an active thinking process. When you read-really read-your whole mind is on the task at hand.

 

　　Can you read a foreign language just because you can verbalize or sound out the letters? No. Reading is thinking. Therefore, a reader has to understand the author'sthoughts, not merely words. The words are an intermediary step, just as the score is in music. An author expresses thoughts in meaningful groups of words (meaningful phrases). The word the by itself means nothing. Boy by itself means little. Run byitself means little. Put the three words together, and you have a thought. Now ithas meaning. You must see the sentence "The boy runs" and think the IDEA "Theboy runs.”We even have an expression that points this up. The expression "I readyou" means“I understand you.”Reading is understanding, and making sense of symbols。