IES 1
May 10th 2012
Today
• Introduction to reading skills
Yesterday’s reading
Yesterday’s reading
• It was not especially difficult.
• Why?
Reading
• Obviously, reading is a highly important skill (in any
language).
• Why is it especially important in university?
• What is special about reading at KAC?
Reading skills
• There are several reading skills we will look at:
• - Using clues to determine meaning.
• - Extensive reading.
• - Intensive reading.
• - Skimming.
• - Scanning.
Reading skills
• Using clues to determine meaning:
• - Use words around an unknown word to try and
determine the unknown word’s meaning.
Reading skills
• Extensive reading:
• - Reading for enjoyment with a focus on general
understanding.
• - Texts are generally not too difficult, but not too easy.
• - Sometimes called “free reading”.
• - Useful for:
•
Learning many aspects of a language.
Reading skills
• Intensive reading:
• - Reading carefully for an exact understanding of a text.
(i.e., understanding every word in a paragraph.)
• - This can be useful for:
•
•
•
understanding instructions.
filling-out application forms.
understanding very specific details (i.e, textbook).
Reading skills
• Skimming:
• - Quickly looking through a text to get a basic idea of what
the text is about.
• - Can be useful for:
•
•
•
- Previewing a text.
- Get a general outline of a text.
- Reading something when you have little time.
Reading skills
• Scanning:
• - Locating specific information in a text.
• - Search for key words or ideas (you know what you are
looking for).
• Can be useful for:
•
- Finding the answer to a question.
- Reading tables and graphs.
Reading skills
• Today: Using clues to determine meaning.
• Context
Example
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were
to solve the problem.”
Reading skills
• In Korean texts…
• - What do you do if you see a word you don’t know in a
text (i.e., book)?
• What do you do in the same situation if the text is
English?
Example
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were
to solve the problem.”
- What is “glockum”?
- You can check your dictionary.
Example
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were
to solve the problem.”
- In a group, try to guess what “glockum” means.
Guessing a word
First: what part of speech is the word?
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Conjunction
article
PART OF SPEECH
BASIC FUNCTION
EXAMPLES
noun
names a person, place, or thing
pirate, Caribbean, ship
pronoun
takes the place of a noun
I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who
verb
identifies action or state of being
sing, dance, believe, be
adjective
modifies a noun
hot, lazy, funny
adverb
modifies a verb, adjective, or other
adverb
softly, lazily, often
preposition
shows a relationship between a noun
(or pronoun) and other words in a
sentence
up, over, against, by, for
conjunction
joins words, phrases, and clauses
and, but, or, yet
interjection
expresses emotion
ah, whoops, ouch
article
identifies and specifies a noun
a,an, the
Example
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were
to solve the problem.”
-What part of speech is “glockum”?
try to guess what “glockum” means.
glockum
• Guesses:
• - evidence
• - ability
• - key
• Clue
• - professor
• -knowledge
Reading clues
• How did your team guess the meaning of the word?
There are several kinds of reading clues
Deduction.
What does the sentence seem to be about?
Which words in the sentence does the unknown word seem
to relate to?
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were
to solve the problem.”
examples
• Can you turn the zong on, it’s cold in here?
• This food can’t be re-zonged?
• My wibble is not working, so I had to take the bus.
There are several kinds of reading clues
Part of speech
Which part of speech is the unknown word?
Is it a noun? Verb? Adjective? Preposition? Something else?
Use the words around the unknown word to guess what part of
speech it is.
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to
solve the problem.”
There are several kinds of reading clues
Chunking
What do the words around the unknown word mean?
How could the unknown word relate to the surrounding
words?
- This is like a more focused kind of deduction.
“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to
solve the problem.”
Examples
1) The tiger's roar could be heard in villages
far away.
What does roar probably mean?
A) food a tiger eats
B) a tiger's dream
C) a tiger's ear
D) a sound a tiger makes
Examples
2) The thought of eating a rat is abhorrent to most
people.
What does abhorrent probably mean?
A) fun, lively
B) horrible, repugnant
C) delicious, tasty
D) sweet, sugary
Examples
Petra has so many friends because she is
a gregarious person.
What does gregarious probably mean?
A) introverted, self-contained
B) shy, quiet
C) friendly, outgoing
D) rude, hostile
Examples
When Sara was sick, her voice was
almost inaudible. We couldn't hear what she was
trying to say clearly.
What does inaudible probably mean?
A) very loud, easy to hear
B) very soft, hard to hear
C) very strange, uncommon
D) very shy, introverted
There are several kinds of reading clues
Vocabulary activation.
When skimming through a text, what seems to be the topic
of the text?
Does the design to the text give any clues?
Does the kind of publication give clues (i.e., a novel, a
textbook, a newspaper article).
Which words can you think of that belong to this vocabulary
category?
Audio journal
• Collect all of your audio journal entries so far.
• Listen to all entries, then answer the following questions:
1. What parts of speaking do need to improve?
2. What parts of speaking are you OK at?
3. In your opinion, what was your best entry? Briefly
explain why.
4. If you are going to improve your speaking, what do you
have to do?
5. What have you been doing to improve your speaking
since coming to KAC?
Audio journal
• Go to the website “Homework” section and follow the
directions for recording.
Deadline: Thursday May 17th