Bài giảng Tiếng Anh - Reading skills - Trương Văn Ánh

Nội dung text: Bài giảng Tiếng Anh - Reading skills - Trương Văn Ánh

1. Reading skills Mr. Ánh
2. In reading comprehension, reading comprehension skills play a vital role. It is a big mistake that most of students often read the text before they deal with the questions. Reading comprehension skills require the contrary operations. It sometimes takes students most of the limited time to read and understand the text and then they begin to answer the questions. Some students even spend some time translating difficult vocabulary into their mother language prior to replying to the questions. When they are ready to choose the best choice, the time is up. As a result, they fail in this kind of test.
3. When given a test on reading comprehension, students should comply with the following steps: - Reading the questions. - Identifying the questions. - Scanning or skimming for the answers. - Verifying and answering.
4. Skill 1: Main idea questions Usually a reading passage has a multiple-choice question about the main idea of the passage. Such a question may be worded in a variety of ways; students are, for example, asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, main point, main idea or best summary. It is relatively easy to find the main ideas by studying the topic sentences, which are most probably found at the beginning of a passage. The title is often the main idea if it is given. If a passage has only one paragraph, students should study the beginning of that paragraph to determine the main idea.
5. The following outline presents the key information that students should remember about main idea questions. + Identifying the questions: Students should identify main idea questions by means of the key words: Main idea, topic, subject, title, main point, primarily, mainly, best summarize.
6. + Looking for the answers: Students may find the answers in - The titles - The first sentences - The first paragraphs + Verifying and answering: - Skimming through the passage to verify the main idea. - Answering: The answer is found in the title, the idea in the first sentence or in the first paragraph. - Choices: Students select the choice similar to the title/the idea in the first sentence.
7. Skill 2: Stated detail questions One piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole is required by a stated detail question. The answers to these questions are generally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often a restatement of what is given in the passage. This means that the correct answer often express the same idea as what is written in the passage, but the structures and the words are different. Here transformation of sentences is used effectively.
8. The following outline presents the key information that students should remember about stated detail questions. + Identifying the questions: Students should identify stated detail questions by means of the following words: State, indicate, discuss, according to, mention, true and important words.
9. + Looking for the answers: students should: - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the key word. - Read the sentence in which the key word exists + Verifying and answering: - Scanning through the passage to verify the idea. - Answering: Student may find the answers from the idea in the sentence in which the key word exists. + Choices: Students select the choice similar to the idea in the sentence in which the key word exists.
10. Skill 3: Unstated detail questions (Negative questions) Students are sometimes asked in the reading section to find an answer that is not stated or not mentioned or not true in the passage. The kind of question really means that three of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the passage, but one answer is not. The kind of this question is also called negative question. The following outline presents the key information that students should remember about unstated detail questions.
11. + Identifying the questions: Students should identify unstated detail questions by means of the following words: Not stated, not indicated, not discussed, not mentioned, not true, false, except. + Looking for the answers: To find the answer, students should - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the key word. - Read the sentence in which the key word exists.
12. + Verifying and answering: - Scanning through the passage to verify the idea. - Answering: Students should select the choice not similar to the idea in the sentence in which the key word exists. (Do not choose the three similar/true choices)
13. Skill 4: Implied detail questions Students or candidates are asked to answer a multiple choice question about a reading passage by drawing a conclusion from specific details in the passage. The questions contain the words implied, inferred, likely or probably to let students know that the answer to the question is not directly stated. In this type of question, students should understand that they do not have to “pull the answer out of thin air”. Instead, the passage provides some information and students should draw a conclusion from that information. These questions may also ask students to find author’s attitude, opinion or purpose.
14. The following outline presents the key information that students should remember about implied detail questions. + Identifying the questions: Students should identify main idea questions by means of the key words: Implied, inferred, likely, probably, not directly stated. + Looking for the answers: To find the answer, students should - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the key word. - Read the sentence in which the key word exists.
15. + Verifying and answering: - Scanning through the passage to verify the idea. - Answering: Students should take the inference of the idea in the sentence in which the key word exists. + Choices: The choice is the inference of the idea in the sentence in which the key word exists.
16. Skill 5: Vocabulary in context Students or candidates may be asked to determine the meaning of a difficult word or expression that they do not know. In this case, the passage often gives them a clear indication of what the word or expression means. The following outline can help students do this type of questions. + Identifying the questions: Students should identify vocabulary questions by means of the key words: Meaning, mean, replace, stand for, synonym, closest in meaning.
17. + Looking for the answers: In order to find the answer, students should - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the key word. - Read the sentence in which the key word exists, the previous sentence and the following one (The scale is three sentences). + Verifying and answering: - Scanning through the passage to verify the idea. - Answering: The explanation can be found in the scale of three sentences surrounding the key word. + Choices: Students select the choice similar to the explanation in the scale of three sentences surrounding the key word.
18. Skill 6: Reference questions In reading comprehension, students may also get questions on reference. The reference could be to something which has already been mentioned or to something which is going to be mentioned. The following outline can help students do this type of questions. + Identifying the questions: Students can identify reference questions by means of the key words: (it, its, them, their, her, him, this, that, the problem, the question, etc.) refer, substitute.
19. + Looking for the answers: To find the answer, students should - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the pronoun. - Read the previous sentence. + Verifying and answering: - Students should read the previous sentence carefully and find out what the pronoun indicates (thing or person, singular or plural, etc.) - Choose the word or phrase that is equivalent to the pronoun.
20. Skill 7: “Where” questions There will be a multiple-choice question that asks where certain information is found. The answer choices will list possible locations for that information. Students should remember the following outline to find the answers. - Identifying the questions: Students can identify “where” questions by means of the question: where in the passage ?
21. + Looking for the answers: To find the answers, students should: - Scan in order from the top to the bottom for the key word. - Read the sentence in which the key word exists. + Verifying and answering: - Scanning through the passage to verify the idea. - Choosing the idea equivalent to the one in the sentence in which the key word exists.
22. Skill 8: Previous or following topic questions Students may be asked to find the previous topics or the following topics of the given passage. These are very difficult questions because students have to read carefully and understand the passage well so that they can predict the previous and following ideas. Identifying the questions: Students can identify previous or following topic questions via the following questions:
23. - Which of the following would most likely be the topic of the next paragraph? - Which of the following would most likely be the topic of the previous paragraph? Students may read the first sentence and the last one to predict the general idea of the passage.
24. Doing a test on reading comprehension in a traditional way, students have to spend a lot of time, and sometimes, too much time. Therefore, they do often not complete the task on time. Reading comprehension skills suggested above can help students do tests on reading comprehension very effectively. What is more, nowadays we enjoy good chances in contact with a lot of information via reading. We can read and understand a lot of information easily and quickly thanks to reading comprehension skills.
25. Good luck!