Academic-English-Reading-for-academic-purposes

1ReadingforacademicpurposesTextReadingforacademicpurposes,Text1a(Readingtextspp.133-136)Text1acontainsinformationonhowtoreadforacademicpurposesmoreeffectively.Task1ReadingforgeneralunderstandingTheexercisebelowwillgiveyoupracticeinreadingforgeneralunderstanding.Itisthereforeimportantthatyoudonotstoptolookupanyoftheunknownwords(youwillgetafullerunderstandingofdifficultvocabularyaftercompletingsomeofthelatertasks).ThetextinthepartofReadingtextsconsistsofsixsections.Thetableonthenextpagecontainssevenheadingsthatarepossiblesummariesofthecontentforeachsection.1.1Readtheinstructionsbelow.aReadthesummaryheadingsandunderlinethemostimportantwordorwordsineachone.Ifnecessary,yourteacherwillexplainthemeaningofthelanguageused.bReadSectionI.ofthetextandlabeltheappropriatesummaryheadinginthetable.cDiscussyouranswerwithotherstudentsand/oryourteacher.Studytip:Readingforgeneralmeaningisaveryimportantskillthatwillhelpyoudealwiththeamountofreadingatuniversity.SeeSkimmingintheIntroductiononpageIX.SummaryheadingsSectionsLinkingeffectivereadingtovocabularyacquisitionReadingwidelyandcriticallyGoodreasonsforreadingThedifficultiesofreadingacademictextsThemotivationbehindreadingAcquiringgoodreadinghabitsTheEAPreadingsyllabus1.2NowreadandmatchSections2}-6totheappropriatesummaryheadingsinthetable.Oneofthesummaryheadingsdoesnotneedtobeused.Task2Readingforspecificdetails2.1ReadText1aagainandfindtheanswerstothefollowingquestions.Youwillusesomeofyouranswerstocompleteanothertasklaterintheunit.1.WhattypeofreadingmaterialisBassett(2010)concernedwith?2.Bassettbelievesthekeytothebestunderstandingofatextis…23.Thegreaterthereader'sreadingability,thegreatertheir…4.WhatarethetwomaincriteriafortextselectionforanEAPcourse?Studytip:Beingabletoreadforspecificdetailisanotherimportantskill.SeeScanning,SearchreadingandCarefulreadingintheIntroductiononpageX.5.WhenareEAPstudentsmorelikelytoreadsubjected-relatedmaterial?6.Whatdoesacriticalreaderusetoassessthevalueofatext?7.WhatisKurland'smainidea?8.Whathelpstodeterminehowatextshouldberead?9.Whatreasonforreadingissuggestedforstudentsinhighereducation?10.Howmuchdailyreadingisrecommended?12.whatarepostgraduatesoftengivenbeforestartingtheirstudies?13.Howmuchexposuretoawordisneededbeforeitsusebecomesautomatic?Task3ParagraphreorganisationThesecondparagraphofSection6hasbeenremovedfromtheoriginaltextinReadingtexts.Thesentencesfromtheremovedparagrapharelistedbelow,buttheyareinthewrongorder.3.1Readthesentences1-6andarrangethemintheappropriateordertoformaparagraph.a.Readsentences2and3thathavebeenidentifiedasthefirstandfinalsentences.b.Readsentences1,4,5and6andidentifythecorrectorder.c.Completetheremainingboxeswiththeappropriatenumber.1.Thisisoneofthereasonswhymostreacheduniversitylevelintheirhomecountries.□2.Fluencyinbothwrittenandspokenlanguagewillonlydevelopwithpractice.□3.Thus,themorestudentsworkondevelopinggoodreadinghabits,themorefluenttheyshouldbecomeandthemoresuccessfultheyarelikelytobeintheiracademicstudies.□34.Nonetheless,universitystudentsareexpectedtoreadaconsiderableamountduringatypicalweek.□5.Infact,internationalstudentsstudyingthroughEnglisharenormallyalreadyfluentreadersintheirownlanguages.□6.Internationalacademics,i.e.,students,havetodothisinaforeignlanguage-English.□Task4InferringmeaningfromcontextNotknowingthemeaningofwordsisoneofthemaindifficultiesfacedbylanguagelearnersreadinginaforeignlanguage.Whenyoucomeacrossawordwhichisunfamiliar,trytoavoidautomaticallyreachingforadictionaryortappingthewordintoyourelectronictranslator;developthehabitofreadingoninthetexttoseeifthishelpsyourunderstanding.lf,howeverthisdoesnothelp,experimentwiththefollowingadvice.4.1LookatthesentencefromText1aanddiscussthemeaningoftheunderlinedwordwithanotherstudent.Ifthiswordwasnewtoyou,whathelpedyouinferitsmeaning?Bassett'sfocusisongradedreaders,butarguablythetypeoftextshouldsuittheneedsandinterestsofindividuals.(Lines15-16)Keyreadingskills:InferringmeaningOnewayofidentifyingthemeaningofthewordistolookatitincontext-thewayitisusedwithinthesentence.Forexample,inthesentenceabove,thewordburisusedtoindicateacontrastordifference.Thus,althoughBassettisinterestedingradedreaders,thewriterissayingthereisarguablymoretoreadingthanjustreaders.Inotherwords,thereissomesortofargumentordisagreementinvolved.Anotherwayistothinkoftherootword,whichinthiscaseisargue-whichmeanstonotagreeaboutsomething.Youmightalsothinkaboutwordswithasimilarsoundorspellingwhichmayhelpyou.Thekeythingisthatthemoreyouthinkaboutaword,themorelikelyitistobecomepartofyouractivelexicon.Studytip:Themoreyouread,thewideryourvocabularywillbecomeandtheeasieritwillbetoidentifysynonyms.Itisalsousefultorecogniseandunderstandthewaythatlanguagevarieswithinatext.Onewayofvaryinglanguageisthroughtheuseofsynonyms.Asynonymisawordorphrasethathasthesamemeaning,oralmostthesamemeaning,asanotherwordorphrase.4.2ReadSection1againfromText1aandfindsynonymsforthewordsorexpressionsintheleft-handcolumn.DefiningwordssynonymLinenumberproof/confirmationevidence74awiderangeofcloselyconnected/significantgetso