Reading English key to language learning

Chinese students need better guidance and tools to help them forge the ability of "reading to learn", educators from China and abroad said at a conference about the teaching of English held in Beijing on Friday.

Wang Mengyan, director of ETS TOEFL Junior Management Center in China, said at the conference that many Chinese people have learned English for at least a decade and began to realize that reading is not only about understanding the meaning of the text.

"Rather, it's more about forming a person's own way of thinking, including critical thinking," she said. "Chinese students need specific tools to do this and one tool that turns out be very helpful is graded books."