Title of the AR: "An Action Research on Improvement of Reading Comprehension of CET4" 

Author: Jian-Ping Luo

Abstract: This action research is aiming at improvement of reading comprehension of College English teaching and learning, which is a major time-consuming course with low efficiency in colleges and universities in China. The research subjects were 134 first-year college students of science, engineering and liberal arts, who were from either developed provinces or developing ones. The reading materials used for this research were from passages of reading comprehension of CET4 of each year. This action research went through two stages, at the first of which it focused on improvement by skills-based teaching, but with not much improvements obviously, and at the second of which, after a deep analysis, it combined with text-based teaching and introduced linguistic and schematic knowledge, and finally achieved a good improvement of reading ability with the result showing significant difference, compared with that of the first stage.

Problem: The primary problem identified was the low efficiency of College English teaching and learning in China, particularly concerning reading comprehension. Despite extensive English education, many students struggled with reading skills, as evidenced by poor scores on the College English Test Band 4 (CET4).

Action: To address this issue, the researcher implemented an action research approach in two stages. In the first stage, the focus was on skills-based teaching, aiming to enhance reading abilities through targeted instruction. However, this approach yielded limited improvements. In the second stage, a more comprehensive strategy was adopted. This involved combining skills-based teaching with text-based instruction and introducing linguistic and schematic knowledge. This integrated method led to a significant improvement in students' reading comprehension, as indicated by the study's results.