【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 an important place in classrooms where language learning is the central purpose.Further, reading is suggested to be an indispensable cognitive activity in human society. Frank Smith’s slogan says: We learn to read by reading (Frank Smith, 1988). When we reading a lot, we will find this slogan is true, and this provides another slogan: The best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it.(Nuttall, 2002:129) Through reading, we grasp sufficient language knowledge, understand how to municate with foreigners smoothly. Reading materials, it is believed that, provide good models for English writing. When we teach the writing skill, we will need to show students models of what we are encouraging them to do. Reading materials also provide opportunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. Moreover, good reading materials can stimulate students’ interest, then they can learn initiatively if they are interested in the reading materials.Since we are in an era of globalization, the upgrading of knowledge and transmission of information is being greatly rapid. It is no doubt that English is being the international language nowadays. It is statistic that among the world populations, over 40 percent speaks English or can speak English. In addition, about 20 percent people are learning English。 almost 85 percent of the letters are written in English. Rather, 90 percent of information in various systems of electronic munication in the world is in English, too. In addition, half of the newspapers are published in English, and three to five of news broadcast use English as well(Wang,2002:1). Today, English is being the general language widely used on the Internet. Necessity of autonomous reading.Teachers want students to read better and faster with full understanding. In order to do this, they need to read more, and there are two ways to achieve this: requiring them to do so and tempting them to do so. The best way to do that is to provide opportunities for them with maximum autonomy. Thus, autonomous reading is one of the necessary methods in English learning.According to the standard of English curriculum, students should reach the level of “8 band” when graduate form senior high school. The demand for reading like this:The students should be able to:(1) Comprehend the different viewpoint and attitude of the reading material。(2) Identify the features from different styles of writing。 (3) Comprehend the difficult sentences。 (4) Appreciate light literary works with the teacher’s help。 (5) Get information from Internet and process it according to the needs of learning task.Besides the textbook, the number of extracurriculum reading should add up to above 30,000 words (2002).However, the level of the students’ reading in high school is far form the related provision: they have only five classes once a week and they study English only in class. They seldom touch English when finishing the assignment after class, and as a consequence, many a student is with a narrow field of reading, less amount of reading, slower reading speed, and also less English culture knowledge, which result in low reading petence. Some of them even cannot understand English material or understand the real idea of an article correctly though after many years of English learning.It is really not enough for learners to master a foreign language merely depending on classroom setting within the limited time, the single textbook, by a certain stereotype way. How to reach the reading goal is being more and more urgent in English teaching. However, the spare time is relatively adequate for them to draw on, and they can fulfill their reading tasks out of classroom. So autonomous reading can overe the shortings.Autonomous reading can overe learners’ anxiety, heighten their selfconfidence and reduce other negative effects in English learning. Formal classroom teaching deprives students of the freedom to decide what to read and how to read. Autonomous reading, on the other hand, returns them the longlost right to exercise responsibility for their own reading. As a result of this freedom, autonomous learners usually are more motivated than students who are teacherdependent, and are more efficient in learning. There is a convincing evidence that people who take the initiative in learning learn more things and learn better than people who always need the guidance of teachers. To this point, giving students some control over their reading procedure can benefit them a lot: it provides broader space of freedom for them to select the reading materials for their own level. It allows learners arrive at the reading goal in terms of their own interests and preferences. Learners draw on effective techniques and reading strategies. Also, adjustment and regulation can be made when they realize that they are in a wrong way.Autonomous reading, however, shows the features of diversity and flexibility. The reading activity is conducive for them to read lots of books in a broader space. So, autonomous reading, whether from a long run or not, is quite necessary for teachers to enhance their students’ language proficiency and petence. The advantages of autonomous reading.Autonomous reading means that students are interested in reading English and are eager to improve their ability to read English. With the help of teachers, they first set up their goals, and select the English materials that they are interested in and that are suitable to their English level. They are able to use the reading strategies correctly while reading to get the information they need and reach the goal they have set. Students are also capable of monitoring their reading in the process of selfaccess reading and still they can assess and evaluate their own reading.From the concept of