Филологические науки/5. Методы и приемы контроля уровня владения иностранным языком

Svetlana Grytsai

National Aviation University (Kyiv, Ukraine)

READING AND STUDYING TEXTBOOK MATERIAL

Reading textbooks requires a different approach from the intensive, analytical work. When students read a textbook, his/her primary purpose is to extract information. Therefore, intensive analysis of rhetorical patterns and recognition of subtleties in tone and word choice are not as important as they are when students read other kinds of material such as articles, essays, and short stories.

This is not to say, however, that students should ignore the structure of textbook chapters. Textbook writers use methods of paragraph development and patterns of organization to present their ideas for the same reason that other writers do – to organize the material in a way that enables the reader to grasp it easily and to follow the direction of ideas without difficulty. And, since students have gained some skill in recognizing these techniques, their comprehension and ability to remember what students have read, whether in textbooks or elsewhere, should improve.

In fact, textbook material should normally present less of a problem for students than will other kinds of nonfiction prose, simply because textbook authors typically try to present their material in the most straightforward manner possible and to organize their ideas clearly enough that the reader can grasp them readily. Also, textbook writers usually try to avoid the kinds of subtleties and rhetorical flourishes with which other writers strive so hard to endow their writing. The organization of chapters in textbooks is deliberately mechanistic as a result. Generally they begin with a brief outline or overview of what is in the chapter and they end with a quiz or some other device to help students measure what students have learned. In the body of the chapter, the relative importance of the topics discussed is shown graphically by the use of varying typefaces and type sizes: large letters and boldface type indicate major heads; smaller letters and italicized type denote subheads, and so forth. Finally, modern textbooks are filled with charts, graphs, tables, and illustrations which help to explain and interpret the points made in the text. All these devices are there to make the reading/study process easier.

Mastering the content is the most important objective when students read textbook material, but students should not ignore the writer’s purpose and tone. Although the purpose of most textbook writers is to inform and explain (exposition), personal biases are inevitable, and students should be alert for them. The author may have a secondary purpose – to persuade students to agree with his or her beliefs or particular approach to the subject. The students should try to determine, then, what that particular belief or approach is, while also trying to indentify which beliefs and approaches the writer does not agree with. One way to uncover this information, if it is relevant, is to read the preface.

To repeat, the purpose of reading textbooks is to extract information, preferably with a minimal expenditure of time. But students often waste their study time by making two mistakes. First, some students begin reading the assigned chapter at the first page and when they have finished the assignment, they may not remember very much of what they read. A student closes the book and says, “Well, that’s over with. I’ve finished the assignment”. A week or so later, he may remember almost nothing because, as he says, “I haven’t actually studied it yet”. The problem here is obvious, and it is no wonder that during midterm and final-exam periods one sees so many wan faces and baggy eyes. This method of study means that the student must not only read the required chapters again before the test, but he must study everything for the first time as well.

The second mistake is the habit of smearing textbook pages with a colored-ink marker. If done wisely, underlining is helpful, but often using the marker actually delays or postpones real learning. It suggests to the student that what is underlined is something that will eventually have to be learned. The way to correct these two inefficient study systems is simple. Make the most of your study time by learning the material as you go along, resist the temptation to underline everything in the chapter, and put into practice a system for reading textbooks and studying from them.

There are various study skills methods taught in the high school and all involve the basic principles that students often omit from their study time: preview and review. One of the methods is called SQ3R, which stands for:

S – survey;Q – question; R – read; R – recite; R – review.

Here is how the SQ3R system works. Before students start to read an assigned textbook chapter, survey its contents by quickly reading and thinking about as many of the following parts of the chapter as the author provides:

· the chapter title

· the chapter outline

· the chapter introduction

· the main heads and subordinate heads

· the chapter summary

· review questions or questions for discussion.

The purpose of surveying is to give students a framework, an overview of what the chapter will discuss before students spend any time reading it. In this way, students can fit the various parts into a coherent whole while students are reading it, and there will not be any unfamiliar material, since the major points will already be familiar to students. This survey step should take no more than ten minutes.

Next, for the question step, go back to the beginning of the chapter and turn the chapter title and the main and subordinate heads into questions which students expect will be answered in each section.

During these two stages, students should also ask themselves what they already know about the material, in order to avoid spending time studying what is familiar to students. In this way the S – Q steps not only give students a framework for reading, but they also show what parts of the chapter students will need to emphasize in their study time.

The next step, read, will be both easier and more purposeful as a result of students’ having surveyed the whole chapter. As students read each section and subsection, they must keep in mind the questions which were asked during the Q step and read to find the answers to them. After students have read a section or subsection, stop for a moment and recite the important points. Then go on to the next section, reading and reciting in the same way. As noted earlier, student might want to substitute note taking for the recite stage.

Once students have finished reading the entire chapter, they should review – immediately. If students do this right after finish each chapter, the need to review before a test will be substantially reduced, since the material will be completely familiar to the students. To review, look over the chapter once more, restudying the main points in each section, reading the summary, and taking advantage of any discussion questions or review quizzes the author may have provided. Another effective technique is to review all the accumulated chapters students have already studied at the end of every week. This works especially well in preparing for midterm exam, which could conceivably cover the material in eight or ten chapters, or roughly half the text.

The fourth step of the SQ3R method is to recite the key points in each section. This method works well for students who learn well aurally (through the ears). Other students learn better visually: they can assimilate material more easily if they read it in print, or perhaps if they write it down themselves. For visual learners, merely studying the original pages during the review step may be sufficient. However, some students profit from writing information themselves, much as young children are often taught to study spelling words by writing each one ten times.

Also, learning to read and study textbook material well is a difficult task but not an impossible one. In fact, we might redefine “reading” and describe it as a process of decoding print that requires internal translation. In other words, we must take the author’s words and internalize them – not only for what they mean on the surface but for what they suggest beyond that. The first step is to understand accurately the content of what we read – the surface meaning. But the next step is just as essential for the students – learning to read critically and analytically, that is, learning to read beyond the superficial in order to see relationships between ideas, to determine the author’s purpose and tone, to make accurate inferences and judgments, to distinguish between facts and opinions.

References

1. Brendon Heasley, and Michael B. Smith. Semantics. A coursebook. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

2. Briton, Laurel J. The Structure of Modern English: a linguistic introduction. – John Benjamin Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2000.

3. Burnett, R. Technical Communication, 5^th Ed. San Antonio: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.

4. Zeiger, M. Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers, 2^nd Ed. St. Louise: McGraw-Hill, 2000.