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Academic Reading

Open Seminar

English Language English Language SupportSupport

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Reading in an academic settingReading in an academic setting

• Textbooks at university level• By scholars for scholars, e.g. research articles

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OverviewOverview

Academic reading:

Strategies for reading texts in English

• Some of your reading list materials this spring will be in English. During this seminar, we will discuss different reading strategies which can be useful if you are not used to reading advanced texts in English. How can you prepare before reading a text? What parts of a text should you focus on? How can you combine skimming a text with intensive reading to enhance understanding and acquire new vocabulary for the future?

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LAU110, reading list

Runesson, Ulla. 2006. “What is possible to learn? On variation as a necessary condition for learning”. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50, 4: 397-410:

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Content

• General reading strategies– Preparations– Types of reading

Scanning – to search for something in particularSkimming – understanding general idea

Active reading - taking notes, underliningIntensive reading

– Academic writing: questions to ask

– Grammar & vocabulary acquisition

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Reading strategies in L2

• Different than L1 strategies?

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Preparing to read

• Physical surrounding• Mental preparations• Tools

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SQ3R

• Survey• Question, e.g. change headings into questions• Read• Recall• Review

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Surveying/skimming the text

• Title • Subheadings• Tables/figures• Italics/bold face

What did you learn about the text?

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Surveying/skimming

• First paragraph and last paragraph of a chapter• Topic sentences of paragraphs• Concluding sentence of paragraphs

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Consider

• Purpose of the assignment

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Paragraph Paragraph – introduction, body, conclusion– introduction, body, conclusion

SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED TO SUPPLEMENT THE SENSE OF SIGHT IN NUMEROUS WAYS. In front of the tiny pupil of the eye they put, on Mount Palomar, a great monocle 200 inches in diameter, and with it see 2000 times farther into the depths of space. Or they look through a small pair of lenses arranged as a microscope into a drop of water or blood, and magnify by as much as 2000 diameters the living creatures there, many of which are among man’s most dangerous enemies. […] THUS ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION YET DISCOVERED HAS BEEN USED TO EXTEND OUR SENSE OF SIGHT IN SOME WAY. George Harrison, “Faith and the Scientist”

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/paragraphs.shtml

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Runesson 2006:403.

ASPECTS THAT ARE DISCERNED COME INTO THE FOREGROUND OF OUR AWARENESS. ASPECTS CAN CHANGE FROM BEING NOT DISCERNED TO BEING DISCERNED. For example, we do not discern noise from a ventilation system which we have been exposed to all day until it is switched off (Emanuelsson, 2001). When the noise is discerned against a background of silence, a dimension of variation is opened. THE PATTERN OF DIMENSIONS OF VARIATION AND ALSO INVARIANCE THAT IS PRESENT IN AWARENESS IS OF DECISIVE SIGNIFICANCE FOR LEARNING.

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Sequence signals

Learn to recognise sequence signals, for example:"Three advantages of..." or "A number of methods are available..." leads you to expect several points to follow.

http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/studytips/reading_skills.htm

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Continue by reading

• Abstract• Introduction• Conclusion

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Academic writing

• Abstract – aim, method, material, results, conclusion

• Introduction• Aim• Method & Material• Results• Conclusion

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Abstract (Runesson 2006:397)

A recent development of phenomenography, variation theory, is illustrated [AIM] using a video recorded case of learning [MATERIAL/METHOD]. From a variation theory perspective, to learn is to be aware of critical aspects of what is learned [DEFINITION]. THE WAY WE EXPERIENCE OR UNDERSTAND SOMETHING DEPENDS ON WHAT ASPECTS WE ARE AWARE OF AND CAN DISCERN SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE POSSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNER TO DISCERN AND FOCUS ON THESE ASPECTS IS CRITICAL FOR LEARNING. BUT WE CAN ONLY DISCERN AN ASPECT IF WE EXPERIENCE VARIATION IN THAT ASPECT [RESULTS]. Thus the possibility of experiencing variation in critical aspects is a necessary condition for learning. Variation theory is proposed to be a powerful means for describing and revealing conditions critical for learning in a pedagogical setting [CONCLUSION]

.

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For difficult passages, try

• paraphrasing in writing or • by talking to yourself• reading out loud

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Terminology

• Phenomenography

• Variation theory

- READ ABOUT THE SAME TOPIC BY CONSULTING SOME OTHER SOURCE

• Learn

• Aware

- ALSO TERMINOLOGY?

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Intensive reading

In a dictionary, look forexpressionspronunciation

Relations to other wordssynonymsoppositesetc

Concordance:

http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx#queries

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“THE WAY WE EXPERIENCE OR UNDERSTAND SOMETHING DEPENDS ON WHAT ASPECTS WE ARE AWARE OF AND CAN DISCERN [my bold] SIMULTANEOUSLY”Discern (Macmillan 2007)

1 to notice something especially after thinking about it carefully or studying it: discern a difference/pattern/reason

2 to see or hear something especially something that is far away or not very clear = MAKE OUT: We could just about discern a small figure walking toward us.

Synonyms?

DiscernibleDiscerningDiscernment

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Concordance for discern- look for context before and after

• insofar as it is possible to discern any actual lyrics• Even his brotherly eye could discern that she was looking

remarkably pretty• he was able to discern and reveal its innermost secrets• investigators hope to discern what kind of bomb was used• words and practices varied in ways not easy to discern• report says it is “difficult to discern significant distinctions”• and perhaps also can better discern its weaknesses”• I begin to discern a pattern: Her mother was sickly, her

father

http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx#queries

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Academic writing references

• Bailey, S. 2006. Academic Writing. A Handbook for International Students, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

• Björk, L. & C. Räisänen. 2003. Academic Writing. A University Writing Course, 3rd ed. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

• Fawcett, S. 2007. Evergreen. A Guide to Writing with Readings, 8th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

• MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, 2nd ed. 2007. Oxford: MacMillan.

• Oshima A. & A. Hogue. 1999. Writing Academic English, 3rd ed. River, NJ: Pearson Education.

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More on reading strategies

• http://www.isu.edu/~kingkath/readstrt.html• http://esl.about.com/od/englishreadingskills/a/readingskills.ht

m• http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/studytips/reading_skills.ht

m• http://www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/skillbuilding/reading.html

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THANK YOU!THANK YOU!

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