阅读理解

Testinghastakentheplaceofteachinginmostpublicschools．Pretestsdrillstestsandretests．Theyknowthatthebestwaytoreadatextbookistolookatthequestionsattheendofthechapterandthenreadthetextquicklyfortheanswers．IbelievethatmydaughterEricawhogetsexcellentmarkshasneverreadachapterofanyofherschooltextbooksallthewaythrough．Andteachersareoftenheardtosayproudlyandopenlythattheyteachtothetest．

Teachingtothetestisacuriousphenomenon(现象)．Insteadofdecidingwhatskillsstudentsoughttolearnhelpingstudentslearnthemandthenusingsomemethodsofassessment(评价)todiscoverwhetherstudentshavemasteredtheskillsteachersareencouragedtoteachthestudentsintheoppositeway．Firstonelooksatatest．Thenonechoosestheskillsneedednottomasterreadingbuttodowellinthetest．Finallythetestskillsaretaught．

Theabilitytoreadorwritemightsuggesttheabilitytodoreasonablywellonstandardizedtests．Howeverneitherreadingnorwritingdevelopssimplythroughbeingtaughttotaketests．Wemustbecarefultoavoidmistakingpreparationsforatestofaskillwiththeacquisition(习得)ofthatskill．Toomanydiscussionsofbasicskillsmakethismisunderstandingbecausepeoplearetestedratherthanconcernedwiththenatureandqualityofwhatistaught．

Recentlymanyschoolshavefacedwhatcouldbecalledthecrisisofcomprehensionorinsimplewordsthephenomenonofstudentswithgrammarskillsstillbeingunabletounderstandwhattheyread．Thesestudentsarequitegoodattesttakingandfillinginworkbooks．Howevertheyhavelittleornoexperiencereadingorthinkingandtalkingaboutwhattheyread．Theyknowthedetailsbutcan'tseeorunderstandthewhole．Theyaretaughttobesoconcernedwithgradesthattheyhavenotimetothinkaboutmeaningandrereadthingsifnecessary．