Fun English Book 8: Get Wise for Tests

FUN

ENGLISH

Book 8

Get Wise for Tests

Adriana Bejko

Copyright © 2018 by Adriana Bejko. 742577

ISBN:         Softcover           978-1-9845-5912-8

                   EBook                978-1-9845-5911-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 12/17/2018

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To the Users of Fun English Series:

Fun English Series is a course of study that consists of eight books, of which this is the last book. These eight books can be used for teaching English to speakers of other languages, regardless of their age, in in a structured, intentional and explicit way. This unique series of textbooks aims at giving the student a sound knowledge of the essentials of both spoken and written English and takes the learner well on the way to a mastery of literary and idiomatic English as used by educated native speakers of English. The level of English proficiency and on-going progress of language mastery is measured through various standardized or teacher developed tests included in the Fun English series of books. Many academic or immigration support institutions require proof of passing standardized tests with certain pre-established scores for admission or citizenship purposes. Some of these standardized tests are IELTS, TOEFL, TOIEC, Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB), English Language Arts 30 or Grade 12 state exams. Meeting the requirements of these tests can be quite a challenging task and the details of standardized tests are discussed in the last theme of this book.

The author of Fun English Textbooks has chosen the vocabulary and language skills to be mastered in these textbooks based on lists of English words and thinking skills deemed necessary for different standardized tests and lists of most frequently used words of the English language¹. Specifically, Book # 8 –Get Wise for Tests is focused on the academic vocabulary required to successfully face the challenges of final or language learning exit tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, ELA 30 etc. Another source used to inform the selection of academic vocabulary for Book # 8 –Get Wise for Tests has been the textbooks for various high school core subjects such as English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Sciences. However, neither lists of word nor skills used in different tests and subjects are followed slavishly and blindly, they are integrated in different contexts and help the students master their practical use in different contexts. The vocabulary, grammar, and skills included in this book have been tested constantly and are based on the author’s experience gained during some 43 years of teaching English to English Language Learners (ELLs) and writing instructional materials to help improve English proficiency in a well-structured and intentional way.

The proper use of grammatical constructions and sentence patterns as well as increased academic vocabulary and reading for comprehension skills are interwoven and practised throughout the eight textbooks. The learner is guided through the essentials of English language usage in the simplest possible manner and every skill and structure is explicitly taught and explained as soon as it appears in context and continuously recycled in various contexts in lessons that follow.

Fun English Book #8 –Get Wise for Tests specifically focuses on strengthening the skills that are measured by different standardized tests and required for success in settings where English is the language of instruction. This final book mainly achieves this objective through three main themes: Reading for Comprehension, Writing Skills, Avoiding Typical Mistakes and Understanding Requirements of different standardized tests.

Furthermore, because the author believes that the deep knowledge of the spoken and the written communication is the true basis of language learning, most of the textbooks are structured in a conversational format, conversations and discussions between teachers, Dr. Alba, Miss Lovely, Mr. Knowitall, Mrs. Knowitall, Dr. Writer, and their students from all over the world. The textbooks give a constant attention to correct communication to ensure that, despite the restrictions that a limited vocabulary naturally imposes, every sentence in these conversations is expressed in an authentic form of the living language used by an educated English speaker.

Since the most effective spur of learning a language (or anything else) is interest, every effort has been made to cover the linguistic pill with the jam of gaiety in every lesson in this book. To this end, while in the previous books the reader was introduced to different joyful characters, such as the teachers: Miss Lovely, Mr. and Mrs. Knowitall, and Dr. Alba and their students from all over the world; for Book #8 we have chosen Dr. Alba’s class at a local Canadian high school. Dr. Alba and her students will discuss three main themes that include special skills to achieve Advanced Level of English proficiency and will prepare students to successfully face the challenges of standardized tests: Theme #1- Reading for Comprehension; Theme # 2 –Structure & Written Expression; Theme #3 –Typical Mistakes & Standardized Tests

Though a textbook that is ideal for every teaching context is perhaps an impossibility, it is hoped that teachers and students will feel that Fun English Series, and specifically, Fun English Book #8 – Get Wise for Tests, will provide a plethora of chances to improve skills that intentionally, in a well-structured pattern, and explicitly prepare the learner to face different challenges that will contribute in increasing the learner’s level of language proficiency and their test scores.

The author would like to acknowledge the help and support of countless colleagues and students who have accompanied and encouraged her in the long and joyful teaching journey for more than forty years that has resulted in these eight books. I bow with respect to all my students who hail from majestic beaches of Albania, to Rocky Mountains of Canada, from the Great Wall of China to the Pacific shores of United States and Canada, from the beautiful beautiful island of Jeju in Korea to the Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines, and from the Nile in Juba, South Sudan, to the beautiful Andes Mountains in Peru. I will be most grateful at any time for further criticism and suggestions that will help make Fun English Series more interesting and beneficial to those who study or teach using these books. Please, feel free to e-mail your suggestions to [email protected]

The Author

THEME 1

Reading for Comprehension

•   Lesson # 1 — Speed Reading & Comprehension

•   Lesson # 2 — Sub vocalization & Fixation

•   Lesson # 3 — Avoid Regression & Increase Reading Speed

•   Lesson # 4 — Comprehension & Fluency

Progress Exam

THEME 2

Structure & Written Expression

•   Lesson # 1 — Writing as a Process

•   Lesson # 2 — Vocabulary Building

•   Lesson # 3 — Understanding Literature

•   Lesson #4 — Cultural Knowledge

Progress Exam

THEME 3

Typical Challenges

•   Lesson # 1 — Language Errors & Grammar

•   Lesson # 2 — Diction & Conventions

•   Lesson # 3 — Writing for Academic Purposes

•   Lesson # 4 — Standardized Tests

SCOPE & SEQUENCE

Theme # 1

Reading for Comprehension

Lesson # 1 — Reading Passages

Lesson # 2 — Reading Passages

Lesson # 3 — Reading Passages

Lesson # 4 – Reading Passages

Let us meet our old friends:

Dr. Alba & her students

Lesson # 1

The Birth of Photography & Sea Urchins

Narrator: Lesson Focus:

Our discussion today will mainly focus on issues related to improving the level of comprehension of an unknown text. In order to comprehend a passage we read, we need to be able to improve the rate of the reading speed and understand the details provided in the passage. Simply put, reading for comprehension is the act of understanding what one is reading and being able to answer questions about the details of a passage one just read. While the definition can be simply stated, the actual comprehension skills are not so simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading for comprehension is an intentional, active, and interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular reading passage or story.

Reading for comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading. When a person reads a text, she or he engages in a complex array of cognitive processes; the reader is simultaneously trying to use and understand

a. Phonemes (individual sound pieces in language);

b. Phonics (connection between letters and sounds and the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and

c. The ability to construct meaning from the text.

This last component of the act of reading is called reading for comprehension.

However, comprehension cannot occur independently or in a vacuum. Learners claim that comprehension is both the most difficult and most important component of reading. There are two elements that are vital to the process of reading and comprehension. A successful reader must possess a rich vocabulary knowledge and must master the right skills for text comprehension.

First, in order to understand a reading passage, the reader must be able to comprehend the vocabulary used in the piece of writing. If the individual words do not make sense to the reader, then the overall story will not make sense either. In an attempt to achieve comprehension, readers should learn to draw on their prior knowledge of vocabulary, but most importantly they need to continually learn new words. The best vocabulary instruction occurs at the point of need. In order to develop a rich vocabulary, teachers should always begin each class by explaining the new words (glossary) that learners will encounter in various texts and subjects or should help their students to understand and master unfamiliar words they may encounter prior to starting to read and comprehend a new text.

Furthermore, in addition to being able to understand each distinct word in a written text, the reader also has to be able to put them together and develop an overall concept of what the author is trying to say. This action is the actual text comprehension. Text comprehension is much more complex and varied than vocabulary knowledge or simply getting a general idea of a text. Readers use many different text comprehension strategies to develop reading comprehension. These include understanding the overall meaning, answering and generating questions about the text, summarizing it, etc.

Let us join Dr. Alba and her class to learn more about reading comprehension from their discussion. (Dr. Alba’s Advanced Level Class is discussing different strategies of improving their reading comprehension skills)

Dr. Alba: (starts teaching) Good morning everyone. We are starting this week with discussing a very important issue directly connected with the successful mastery of the advanced level of second language acquisition – Reading for Comprehension.

When a person reads words like apple, banana, blue, walk, tree, happy, sing,, surely she or he is able to read each word in that phrase and understand what each word means independently like- an apple is a fruit that is usually round and red, green or yellow; a banana is another fruit that is yellow; blue is a color…and so on and so forth. However, when the reader would look at those words as a whole (apple, banana, blue, walk, tree, happy, sing,), it might not make any sense. This non-sense group of words demonstrates the difference between being able to read or recognize individual words (learn vocabulary) versus being able to comprehend a complete written passage. As efficient readers, we may take for granted this distinction since for us the acts of reading and comprehension occur almost simultaneously. Nonetheless, for developing readers, this relationship might not be as apparent, but it is an essential skill they will need to learn and possess in order to become strong, capable readers in the future.

Lindsay: I understand that reading for comprehension is much more than just reading individual words, it means that we need to be able to understand the ideas and give answers to questions about a passage we read. However, what I find very difficult is that many tests give the reader a limited time to read and answer questions. For example, recently I took a practice test for TOEFL iBT² and the time to finish reading the passages and answer questions was very limited. The Reading Section included four reading passages. There were 12 to 14 questions per passage. However, the test gave only 60 minutes to read and answer all the questions in the reading section. It seemed like the test taker had to answer approximately one question per minute.

D.T: That is so true. I took a practice test, too, and it was not easy at all. Reading passages are excerpts taken from university-level textbooks that would be used in introductions to a course or a topic at university level. The passages cover a variety of different subjects and some of the topics I had never heard before.

Dr. Alba: I understand your concerns, Lindsay and D.T. However, I am sure with practice this can be improved as reading and learning are just skills that require practice in order to develop both comprehension and reading speed. Those skills are not things that one would either get or not. They are learned skills which can be improved by practice. All readers have the same capacity to read and learn the comprehension skills. However, the skill we need to focus here is speed reading, which requires a lot of practice on the part of the reader. Speed reading is a vital skill for success in reading for comprehension tests.

We are aware that all skills, whether it is playing basketball or figure skating or using a computer, can be improved with a strong desire, dedication and a lot of practice; speed reading is the same. So, it is possible for a reader to improve the ability to read faster by practising good reading skills. We need to accelerate the reading speed because all standardized tests are timed and if one does not have an adequate reading speed, the tests score can go down due to reader’s slow reading.

Dr. Writer: No doubt, reading speed is an essential skill for reading comprehension but do not worry, there are many ways to increase it. The average person should be able to read about 250 words per minute. That sounds like a lot, but it really is not. This speed is not nearly fast enough to assimilate all the information we are presented with while in school or performing a job, or taking a test. Believe it or not, that impressive-sounding reading speed of 250 words per minute puts a reader at a great disadvantage. Even if one learns to speed read as many as 300 to 400 words every minute, he or she still may not be reading fast enough to get ahead in today’s highly competitive and information-packed world. Nonetheless, it is quite possible to increase the reading speed if one can learn to break old reading habits and adopt new techniques. It really is that easy.

D.T: Let’s face it. The reading habits we use now have been with us a long, long time. Most of those habits were developed around the same time we first learned to read; that would be in the first and second grade, right? Since then, many things have changed; our vocabulary has increased and now we are able to read a more difficult written material. However, how we read has not changed at all. Everything has remained the same - If we are asked to read a paragraph, we probably would start on the left side of the page and read each sentence one word at a time. At the end of each line, our eyes would wrap back around to the left and continue reading the next line word-for-word. As we read, our lips might move and if we listen closely, we might even hear ourselves sounding out each of the words. Is this the right way to read?

Pamela: I don’t know about the others, but that is (stresses the word) exactly how I do it. That is because at school I was taught to read by sounding out words and following the lines from left to right .

D.T: There is nothing wrong with this method of reading, right? In fact, I find it a very effective way to read for first-time readers or if one is reading a poem and wants to analyze it. However, the problem is that this technique, which has become a habit in us, limits how fast one can read. This habit is called sub-vocalization, which means the reader engages not only the eyes and the brain, but also the mouth and the ears in reading. However, it is high time that we understand the disadvantage of this approach to reading and avoid using sub-vocalization because it slows down our reading.

Dr. Writer: You are absolutely right, D.T. Sub-vocalization interferes with the speed with which one reads. Here is what happens when a reader sub-vocalizes, which slows down the reading speed:

• The eyes are busy trying to see the words;

• The mouth is busy saying the words the eyes see. The reader is either moving the lips or saying the words in his mind;

• When the reader says something, the ears naturally want in on the action so they tune in to hear what