academicenglishreadingforacademicpurposes.docx

1、academicenglishreadingforacademicpurposesReading for academic purposesText Reading for academic purposes, Text 1a (Reading texts Text 1a contains information on how to read for academic purposes more effectively.Task 1 Reading for general understandingThe exercise below will give you practice in rea

2、ding for general understanding. It is therefore important that you do not stop to look up any of the unknown words (you will get a fuller understanding of difficult vocabulary after completing some of the later tasks). The text in the part of Reading texts consists of six sections. The table on the

3、next page contains seven headings that are possible summaries of the content for each section. Read the instructions below.a Read the summary headings and underline the most important word or words in each one. If necessary, your teacher will explain the meaning of the language used.b Read Section I

4、. of the text and label the appropriate summary heading in the table.c Discuss your answer with other students and/or your teacher.Study tip: Reading for general meaning is a very important skill that will help you deal with the amount of reading at university. See Skimming in the Introduction on pa

5、ge IX.Summary headingsSectionsLinking effective reading to vocabulary acquisitionReading widely and criticallyGood reasons for readingThe difficulties of reading academic textsThe motivation behind readingAcquiring good reading habitsThe EAP reading syllabus Now read and match Sections 2-6 to the ap

6、propriate summary headings in the table. One of the summary headings does not need to be used.Task 2 Reading for specific details Read Text 1a again and find the answers to the following will use some of your answers to complete another task later in the unit.1. What type of reading material is Bass

7、ett (2010) concerned with 2. Bassett believes the key to the best understanding of a text is 3. The greater the readers reading ability, the greater their 4. What are the two main criteria for text selection for an EAP course Study tip: Being able to read for specific detail is another important ski

8、ll. See Scanning, Search reading and Careful reading in the Introduction on page X.5. When are EAP students more likely to read subjected-related material6. What does a critical reader use to assess the value of a text7. What is Kurlands main idea8 . What helps to determine how a text should be read

9、9. What reason for reading is suggested for students in higher education10. How much daily reading is recommended12. what are postgraduates often given before starting their studies13. How much exposure to a word is needed before its use becomes automaticTask 3 Paragraph reorganisationThe second par

10、agraph of Section 6 has been removed from the original text in Reading texts. The sentences from the removed paragraph are listed below, but they are in the wrong order. Read the sentences 1-6 and arrange them in the appropriate order to form a paragraph.a. Read sentences 2 and 3 that have been iden

11、tified as the first and finalsentences.b. Read sentences 1, 4, 5 and 6 and identify the correct order.c. Complete the remaining boxes with the appropriate number.1 .This is one of the reasons why most reached university level in their home countries.2. Fluency in both written and spoken language wil

12、l only develop with practice.3. Thus, the more students work on developing good reading habits, the more fluent they should become and the more successful they are likely to be in their academic studies.4. Nonetheless, university students are expected to read a considerable amount during a typical w

13、eek.5. In fact, international students studying through English are normally already fluent readers in their own languages.6. International academics, ., students, have to do this in a foreign language-English.Task 4 Inferring meaning from contextNot knowing the meaning of words is one of the main d

14、ifficulties faced by language learners reading in a foreign language. When you come across a word which is unfamiliar, try to avoid automatically reaching for a dictionary or tapping the word into your electronic translator; develop the habit of reading on in the text to see if this helps your under

15、standing. lf, however this does not help, experiment with the following advice. Look at the sentence from Text 1a and discuss the meaning of the underlined word with another student. If this word was new to you, what helped you infer its meaningBassetts focus is on graded readers, but arguably the t

16、ype of text should suit the needs and interests of individuals.(Lines 15-16)Key reading skills: Inferring meaningOne way of identifying the meaning of the word is to look at it in context-the way it is used within the sentence. For example, in the sentence above, the word bur is used to indicate a c

17、ontrast or difference. Thus, although Bassett is interested in graded readers, the writer is saying there is arguably more to reading than just readers. In other words, there is some sort of argument or disagreement involved.Another way is to think of the root word, which in this case is argue-which

18、 means to not agree about something. You might also think about words with a similar sound or spelling which may help you. The key thing is that the more you think about a word, the more likely it is to become part of your active lexicon.Study tip: The more you read, the wider your vocabulary will b

19、ecome and the easier it will be to identify synonyms.It is also useful to recognise and understand the way that language varies within a text. One way of varying language is through the use of synonyms.A synonym is a word or phrase that has the same meaning, or almost the same meaning, as another wo

20、rd or phrase. Read Section 1 again from Text 1a and find synonyms for the words or expressions in the left-hand column.Defining wordssynonymLine numberproof/confirmationevidence7a wide range ofclosely connected/significantget something backhelp/make easierwithout being aware of or without thinking a

21、bout somethingability/skillSomething which is aimed at or is the main focusTask 5 Identifying word class Read the following definitions of word classes and match them to the correct words in the box.Study tip: Identifying the word class of a word or phrase often helps you to work out the meaning of

22、a word you dont know.Conjunction, preposition, noun, adverb, verb, adjective, pronoun1. a word referring to a person, a place or a thing ( )2. an action or doing word ( )3. a word that describes what a person, a place or a thing is Like ( )4. a word used to describe a verb, an adjective or another a

23、dverb ( )5. a word which comes before a noun or a pronoun and show its relation to another part of sentence ( )6. a word that is used to replace a person, a place or a thing ( )7. a word that is used to join other words, phrases, clauses or sentences ( ) Read Sections 2-5 again from Text 1a and find

24、 the words in the table. Complete the table by writing the line number where each word occurs in the text and the word class of each word.wordLine numberWord classTopics31nounTypicallyThisblendsConsiderationSimplyThroughEmbarkTheironly Look at the words from Ex and choose which ones you want to reco

25、rd. You should record words if:you dont know their meaning or how they are used, and/oryou think they might be useful words to know either now or for future academic purposesKey reading skills: Choosing and recording new words from a textOne way of deciding which words to record is to check how freq

26、uently the word is used by native speakers. You can do this by visiting the compIeat Lexical Tutor, which can be found at here you will find that, for example, the adverb arguably is a K1 word-in other words, it is among the 1,000 most commonly used words. Considering this information, you may decid

27、e that it is a word you would want to use in future and, therefore, keep a record of.Study tip: In your own language, you naturally make use of word classes to read effectively with speed and understanding. This will develop in English over time.Task 6 Reading for a purposeAt various stages in Units

28、 1-8, you will be given a Focus task. This is an essay question, or similar academic task, that is linked to a read will help direct your reading and the use you ing text or texts in Reading texts. The Focus task make of the text(s) to synthesise ideas.Focus task: Summarise the main points of the te

29、xt Reading for academic purposes. Re-read Text 1a and then write a short one-paragraph summary of the main ideas. You can use some of the answers in Task 2 to help you.Key reading : Reading selectivelyAt university level, you may be given extensive reading lists. It can be a daunting prospect to rea

30、d all the texts and sources and to understand them at the same time. It is therefore important to read selectively. This means thinking carefully about your reading purpose and concentrating only-or mainly-on texts, or parts of texts, which are relevant to that reading purpose.Reading for academic p

31、urposes1Reading is a very important language skill for students to develop in order to study effectively, because during their academic courses they may be expected to read many pages in a week, possibly hundreds!It seems fairly obvious that the more someone reads the better a reader he/she will bec

32、ome. Reading will also help in the readers efforts to develop other language skills. According to Pulido (2003), as you read you will develop a wider vocabulary”. She goes on to provide statistical evidence to back up her claim. It is generally believed that good readers also make good writers. Reading can act as a model for writing as t