Guided reading is an instructional approach that involves a teacher working with a group of students who demonstrate similar reading behaviors and can all read similar levels of texts. The text is meaningful enough for students to read with the instructor's skillful support. The text offers challenges and opportunities for language skills as well as culture significance, but is not too difficult for students to read with some efforts. The selections will help students expand their knowledge and learning strategies.
The programme is created and carefully leveled by Ms. Ruan Beiyi, professional tutor for English majors and the translation stusents of the College of Foreign Languages.
This autumn's Guided Reading in Anglo-American Culture consists of 12 required units' profile of the cultural figures, with further references to the works and contributions of about 50 cultural celebrities in America.

Students can read the selected short pieces and extracts of longer works that with reference to the background information and notes.
Learners involved can understand and enjoy the original works because they are accessible to them through their own strategies, supported by the teacher.
They focus on meaning of the works, the cultural values and impact, but use intensive and extensive strategies to figure out words they don’t know, deal with difficult sentence structure, and understand concepts or ideas they have never before encountered in their original form.
This makes reading a "difficult" experience more enjoyable and rewarding to non-English majors.

Guided reading gives students the chance to apply the strategies they already know to new text. We provide support, but the ultimate goal is independent reading.

The guided reading experience is a powerful way to support the development of cultural understanding and reading strategies.The instruction includes rigorous guided practice in comprehension, pronunciation and intonation, vocabulary, accuracy and fluency.

The ultimate goal of guided reading is reading a variety of original texts with ease and deep understanding and to develop the lifelong love for books and reading.

Good readers choose to read a wide variety of materials — biographies, novels for enjoyment, novels to challenge and inspire us, directions to find out how to put something together or cook, or newspapers and magazines to find out about current affairs or investments.

Today's workplace demands many different kinds of literacy, and the many cross-cultural communication opportunities require better cultural awareness and acquisition abilities. Good readers do not simply "practice" reading; they have a range of purposes and objectives. Similarly in school, the student who is a good reader will read, understand and enjoy the topic whether it is geography, history, literature or science. Good readers learn from their reading.

The teacher assesses the readers their level of reading and understanding so as to assist them into contact with authentic reading and cultural materials. A brief introduction of the historical background helps to support readers and it includes a combination of these strategies:
* A short conversation about the main idea of the text.
* A briefing about the author and his/her purpose for writing and some important rhetoric and stylistic features.
* A description of the main characters in fictional works.
* A discussion of concepts needed for understanding the text by activating prior or related knowledge.
* Getting the readers to predict what they think will be presented in an unfamiliar original text, weigh the points given by the author and ponder on the values behind text.