SYLLABUS FOR EXIT LEVEL COURSES (2007)
ADVANCED I - PSYCHOMETRIC: 100-119
ADVANCED II - PSYCHOMETRIC: 120-133
Length of text for exit level exam: 3000 words
(Note: The syllabus is the same for both courses. Advanced II is
completed in 1/2 the number of hours)
READING SKILLS
A.
Skim and scan a text to anticipate its content and structure
B.
Identify the main idea of a text and the purpose of the writer;
Identify the point of view or attitude of the writer
C.
Recognize the structure and development of a text via transitions
and other organizational markers, and understand the relationship
between ideas as they are expressed across several paragraphs.
D.
Identify the main idea of a paragraph; understand the
development of ideas in a paragraph via common rhetorical
devices such as general statement and illustrative support,
comparison and contrast, cause and effect.
E.
F.
Infer meaning at both sentential and discourse levels.
Develop conscious awareness of cognitive strategies as tools in
reading.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
G.
Master vocabulary adequate for advanced academic texts and
deduce meanings of other words via morphological, syntactic and
context clues.
H.
Understand the meaning of a sentence with the help of syntactic
clues.
I.
Identify the meanings of references and ellipses within and
between sentences.
SKILL A: Skim and scan a text to anticipate its content and structure
1.
Use extra-textual clues to predict the topic of the text.
Look at length of text, physical layout, charts, diagrams,
illustrations, title,
sub-titles, bibliographic information.
2.
Use textual clues to predict the content.
a. Skim opening and closing paragraphs to get the main
idea or
conclusion of the writer.
b. Read first sentence of each paragraph to get the gist of
the
text.
c. Scan for technical vocabulary, dates, names, numbers.
SKILL B: Identify the main idea of a text and the purpose of the writer;
identify the point of view or attitude of the writer.
1.
Identify the explicit main idea of a text by referring to opening
or closing paragraphs of a text, and by using markers and
content.
2.
Infer the implicit main idea of a text by making use of general
knowledge and textual clues.
3.
Identify the purpose of the writer by recognizing direct
statements of intent or by recognizing other clues of intent
such as type of text, style and use of language, and overall
tone.
4.
Identify the point of view or attitude of the writer by
distinguishing between fact and opinion, between the writer’s
own view and his/her presentation of other views, between a
neutral and an ironic tone, between the denotation of words
and their connotations.
SKILL C: Recognize the structure and development of a text via
transitions and other organizational markers, and understand
the relationship between ideas as they are expressed across
several paragraphs.
1.
Identify writer’s method of presentation and text
organization.
2.
Recognize the function of markers of transition.
3.
Identify the function of paragraphs as they relate to each other and
to the
text as a whole.
SKILL D: Identify the main idea of a paragraph; understand the
development of ideas in a paragraph via common rhetorical
devices such as general statement and illustrative support,
comparison and contrast, cause and effect.
1.
Recognize the structure of a paragraph--general
statement (topic sentence) illustrated by specific
details, examples, explanations.
2.
Recognize the markers of illustrative support.
Distinguish between general and specific sentences
and relate examples to their general statement and
vice versa.
3.
Identify the stated main idea of a paragraph (via
the topic sentence or concluding statement), i.e. the
statement that is supported by the specific details of
the paragraph.
4.
Infer the main idea of a paragraph when it is not
directly stated by integrating partial statements or by
making use of the supporting details.
5.
Recognize the markers of comparison and
contrast. Identify comparison and contrast of ideas.
Recognize the items which are being compared or
contrasted and what is the point of the comparison or
contrast.
6.
Recognize the markers of cause and effect. Identify
cause and effect relationships, distinguishing the
cause or reason from the result or event, and
connecting the cause with its particular result.
SKILL E: Infer meaning at both sentential and discourse
levels.
1.
Deduce the meaning of words from morphological, syntactic
and contextual
clues.
2.
Recognize implied meanings in figurative language such as
metaphor and analogy.
3.
Infer information not stated directly in a sentence by
using sentence markers, time expressions, and other
clues.
4.
Infer the main idea of a paragraph when only specific details
or partial statements are given.
5.
Infer the main idea of a text when it is not stated
directly, by using general knowledge and textual
clues.
6.
Infer the tone of a text (ironic, humorous, sceptical) from
indirect statements and stylistic devices such as
exaggeration, understatement and inflated language.
7.
Infer the genre of a text from rhetorical clues such as
abstracts, headings, graphs, illustrations, or from
stylistic clues such as professional jargon, academic
citation, or popular idioms.
8.
Infer the writer’s point of view/position from
references to opposing viewpoints and tone of
personal statements.
SKILL F: Develop conscious awareness of cognitive strategies as tools in
reading.
1.
Note that the meaning of a sentence is much more
than the translation of words in that sentence.
2. Note that the use of the strategies listed above facilitates
comprehension
3. Note the contribution of previous knowledge to the reading of
new material.
4.
Recognize that higher cognitive strategies combine with lower
decoding
strategies in reading comprehension.
5. Make conscious use of the reading skills listed, as
needed.
SKILL G: Master vocabulary adequate for advanced academic texts
and deduce meanings of other words via morphological,
syntactic and content clues. Recognize figurative language.
1. Enrich vocabulary by learning new words as they come up in the
readings.
2.
Guess the meaning of words by their form, i.e. by identifying
prefixes and suffixes.
3.
Guess the meaning of unfamiliar words by understanding how
they function
in a sentence (grammatical classes--parts
of speech).
4.
Guess the meaning of words from content clues such as
synonyms, antonyms, examples that illustrate the meaning,
markers of logical relationship, and the general sense of the
passage.
5.
Make predictions while reading so that expectations give
meaning to unknown words.
6. Recognize the meanings of idioms and figurative
language.
7.
Recognize which words are more important for the general
meaning of the
passage and which words are less important.
SKILL H: Understand the meaning of a sentence with the help of
syntactic clues.
1.
Recognize basic English sentence structure (subject, verb,
complement). Focus on subject and main verb as carriers of
meaning.
2.
Understand the structure of complex sentences, i.e.
multiple-clause structures. Identify the main clause
and the dependent clauses.
3.
Use markers to understand the logical relationship between the
main clause and the other clauses, i.e., the type of information
conveyed by each clause.
4.
Understand the meaning conveyed by grammatical structures
(tenses, modals).
5.
Read sentences in meaningful units.
SKILL I: Identify the meanings of references and ellipses within and
between sentences.
1.
Recognize the use of reference markers--pronouns and other
words that
substitute for preceding words in a text.
2.
Identify the antecedents of these reference markers.
3.
Recognize the words in a text that refer to the same
antecedent (synonyms and paraphrases).
4.
Deduce the meanings of unknown words by recognizing the
writer’s use of references.
5.
Recognize ellipses, relative pronouns, reduced adjective
clauses, and other instances of ellipsis within and between
sentences.
6.
Make inferences that depend on identification of
antecedents.