6 things beginning with R

Scott Thornbury

• Routine • Reading• Repetition• Register• Reference• Rote learning

Routine

Pre-reading 1. Do you know anyone who has changed their career for something completely different? 2. What is the odd-one-out in this group of words? Why? tap leak tools discipline van apprentice plumber While reading Read the text quickly and answer these questions. 1. What did Jo do before? 2. What does she do now? 3. Why did she change?

Re-reading Why are these words important in the text? Ilkley, mother-in-law, French, apprentice Post-reading Complete these sentences from the text with the correct form of the verb in brackets:

a. I was a French teacher, but I [become] _______ very unhappy with what was happening in schools.

b. I [always like] ________ the idea of being a plumber,

because it’s such a useful job. Response to the text Would you like to change your career? If so, what to?

Reading

Possible purposes for reading a text in class: • to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/ reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role play etc 

Possible purposes for reading a text in class: • to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/ reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role play etc  

Possible purposes for reading a text in class: • to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/ reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role play etc  

Possible purposes for reading a text in class: • to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/ reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role play etc  

Possible purposes for reading a text in class: • to teach/develop the skill of reading ?????

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/ reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role play etc  

L2 readers need a minimum threshold level of general L2 language competence before they can generalise their L1 reading abilities into L2. Where proficient L2 learners are good readers in their L1, the consensus view (based on a wide range of research studies and teachers’ observation) is that reading abilities can, indeed, be generalised across languages even in the case of differing scripts.

Catherine Wallace, ‘Reading’. In The Cambridge Guide to TESOL, 2001, ed. Carter, R., and Nunan, D. (CUP)

L2 readers need a minimum threshold level of general L2 language competence before they can generalise their L1 reading abilities into L2. Where proficient L2 learners are good readers in their L1, the consensus view (based on a wide range of research studies and teachers’ observation) is that reading abilities can, indeed, be generalised across languages even in the case of differing scripts.

Catherine Wallace, ‘Reading’. In The Cambridge Guide to TESOL, 2001, ed. Carter, R., and Nunan, D. (CUP)

The Language Threshold Hypothesis argues that students must have a sufficient amount of L2 knowledge (i.e. vocabulary, grammar and discourse) to make effective use of skills and strategies that are part of their L1 reading comprehension abilities….  Readers usually cross the threshold whenever they encounter L2 texts in which they know almost all of the words and can process the text fluently. Grabe, W., & Stoller, L. Teaching and Researching Reading. Longman, 2002

Repetition

DEATH OF THE POET

This yearthe roof of my hivebroke open to the sky my bees buzzlike anxious flies will they learn to feed on absence? my combs are fillingwith dark space. Forget selling myselfto the first sweet tooththat sniffs along

 the night air is licking meclean out of honey. This yearthe roof of my hivegave up and let everything down. Does it matterthat the moon is pouringthrough my holes?

(Dorothy Porter)

DEATH OF THE POET

This yearthe roof of my hivebroke open to the sky my bees buzzlike anxious flies will they learn to feed on absence? my combs are fillingwith dark space. Forget selling myselfto the first sweet tooththat sniffs along

 the night air is licking meclean out of honey. This yearthe roof of my hivegave up and let everything down. Does it matterthat the moon is pouringthrough my holes?

(Dorothy Porter)

1. What is the overall organisation of each text? For example, how many parts do they all have?

2. What grammatical features are common to each part? For example, what tense is used? What pronouns? What modal verbs?

3. Can you find any words or phrases that are repeated across the different texts?

Register

Headline

Finding

Research

Headline

Finding:

present tense

“you”

Research:

past tense

“they” = researchers, experimental subjects

North Americans tend to spend more timeEast Asians are more likely to scan the backgroundScientists believe this may help to explain faith in a pill can prompt your brain to release help could be at handButterbur ... is likely to be licenced across the rest

research published Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests.... Research published in Nature shows that…. …according to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

X + colleagues + studied/measured etc Richard Nisbett … and his colleagues studied the eye movements…. Andrew Lilley … and colleagues measured the respiration rate … Andreas Schapowal … and colleagues found Butterbur extract was….

Repetition (again)

(1) A draft version of the honey bee genome has been made available to the public - a move that should benefit bees and humans alike.

(2) The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is multi-talented. (3) It produces honey, pollinates crops and is used by researchers to study human genetics, ageing, disease and social behaviour.

(11) The genome's publication is good news for beekeepers and victims of bee stings alike.

(23) This is the first time that the amassed sequence data have been made publicly available.

Reference

Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already at work. But they copied each other only when they knew nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.

Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already at work. But they copied each other only when they knew nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.

Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already at work. But they copied each other only when they knew nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.

Rote learning

“An actor acquires lines readily by focusing not on the words of the script, but on those words’ meaning – the moment-to-moment motivations of the character saying them – as well as on the physical and emotional dimensions of their performance ... Good actors don’t think about their lines, but feel their character’s intention in reaction to what the other actors do, causing their lines to come spontaneously and naturally.”

Q: Who is the bees’ favourite singer?A: Sting! Q: What goes zzub, zzub?A: A bee flying backwards! Q: What bee is good for your health?A: Vitamin bee! Q: What's more dangerous than being with a fool?A: Fooling with a bee! Q: Why do bees hum?A: Because they've forgotten the words!

• Routine • Reading• Repetition• Register• Reference• Rote learning