Weeks 9-10: Reading comprehension

Aims:

ü  enhance reading comprehension

ü  analyse sentence structure

ü  analyse noun phrases

ü  identify structural and argumentational signposts

Review of the previous chapters. 

Chapter 7 Reading comprehension

Part One: Self-evaluation 

Let Ss read the list of statements and circle the answer according to their condition.

ü  I can reduce a sentence to its basic parts to understand its meaning. 

ü  I can find what is important information in a sentence and what is not by identifying main subordinate clauses. 

ü  I can work out the meanings of words through an awareness of the different relationships between the nouns in noun combinations. 

ü  I can identify signpost to work out the function of the section of text I am reading. 

ü  I can identify argumentational signpost to see how a section fits into the overall argument the author is making. 

Part Two：On Writing and Discussing in Group

On Question Discussion

In what way does your reading comprehension help your academic writing? 

On Writing 

1.       Analysing sentence structure 

ü  Academic language is efficient and a lot is said in few words. 

ü  A lot of information is given in a short space. 

ü  Strip the sentence of all the details and look at the underlying grammatical framework. 

ü  Reduce the long sentences to their essentials. 

ü  Be aware of the different sentence types. 

2.       Possible difficulties

ü  Some words have the same noun and verb forms. 

ü  Sentences that contain reduced relative clauses can also cause some confusion. 

3.       Analysing noun phrases

ü  Noun phrases are commonly used in academic writing. 

ü  Identify head nouns. 

ü  Be aware of the different relationships between the nouns in noun combinations. 

ü  Topic, purpose, location and name are only some of the relationships between nouns. 

ü  When you have three nouns, you need to think about how all the nouns related to each other.

ü  Pay attention to the adjective and noun combinations. 

4.       Identifying signposts

ü  Besides the titles and subheadings, the three-part-structure is also important: introduction, main part and conclusion. 

ü  The background, e.g. prvious research.

ü  The position of the author: which previous research they agree/do not agree with.

ü  The claims that the author makes.

ü  The evidence that is offered for each claim.

ü  The common that are made about each claim and/or evidence.