A Writer's Process: Critical Reading Strategies

By -
A Writer’s Process: Critical Reading Strategies

Previewing – creates an interest in an awareness of what you’re about to read.
            Get to know the author.
            Skim the selection.
·       Skim over the introduction
·       Briefly note the first sentence of every paragraph.
·       Quickly read the conclusion.
Reflect on the reading.
·       Think about your expectations of the essay.
·       Freewrite on the same topic.

Reading for Meaning – reading for class is different than reading for pleasure.
            Annotate the selection.
·       Underline.
·       Circle unfamiliar words.
·       Write questions in the margins.
·       Number the major points.
·       Connect related ideas with arrows, lines, and symbols.
·       Use exclamation points to identify rhetorical devices you want to remember.

Outlining.
·       Shows how the essay unfolds paragraph by paragraph.
·       Informal, doesn’t have to follow outline rules, just a sketch.

Summarizing.
·       What is the author trying to prove?
·       How does the writer convince me she is well informed and right?
·       Why did the writer choose to write this essay?
·       Who is the author addressing?

Charted readings.
·       Useful if you can’t or won’t write in the book.
·       Spread a sheet of paper horizontally and comment on the essay paragraph by paragraph.

Dialectical notes.
·       Draw a line down the middle of a page.
·       Number sections paragraph by paragraph.
·       Summary on right, commentary and refutation on left.

Critical Reading and Your Reading Journal
            Use the above techniques in your journal to expand your responses.
·       Agree or disagree with the writer.
·       Make a personal connection.


            

Comments

  1. Unknown9:48 AM

    Thanks for sharing those techniques to follow up in the journal.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

English Pronunciation for Turkish Speakers

By -
Image
Areas of Difficulty for Turkish Speakers Consonants: I.    /t/ & /d/: When Turkish speakers of English pronounce these alveolar consonants, they touch the back of their upper teeth with the tip of their tongue. Instead, try to form a constriction by touching your alveolar ridge (the area behind your upper teeth) with the tip of your tongue. Pronounce these sounds in different phonological environments such as word-initial, medial, and final position and in consonant clusters. tiresome      little      brat       staple    burst     crest                  totalitarianism automatic    trickster            cattle     dental    tirade    tardy     training technique    tangle    terminal            trinket terse                  temptation tutelage      tile        battle     crate     biting    fighting             might daredevil     ladle      broad    build     dollar    crude    building            greed                               dangle         divide
Keep reading

Schumann’s Acculturation Model

By -
Image
Schumann's Acculturation Model Consider how these social and psychological factors affect the extent of the learner’s capacity to learn his or her second language (L2).   Schumann asserts that the more distance created between the L2 learner and his or her target language (TL) culture by such factors, the less contact s/he will have with the TL culture and thus the lower will his or her expected L2 proficiency be. Furthermore, he considers the social factors to be the prime influences; the psychological factors come into play and become the deciding factors only in situations where the combined social factors create neither positive nor negative circumstances for the learner.   Which outcomes of each of these factors make for a bad learning situation and which ones for a good learning situation? Consider as many as apply to your group’s learner testimonial. Social Distance Factors Social dominance : Is the learner’s native group dominant to, equal to, or subordinat
Keep reading

Knowing a Word

By -
Image
Knowing a Word   Fluent native speakers intuitively know how to use a lexical item in the appropriate context. They can even determine meaning of an unfamiliar word when it is written or spoken. However, second language learners may not understand what constitutes knowledge of vocabulary. This post delineates the various strands of vocabulary non-native speakers need to acquire to become highly proficient in writing and speaking in their second language.  1. Word meaning:  Knowing a word entails understanding it when it is written and/or spoken by      others in formal contexts. Native speakers do this readily without asking for clarification, but      second language learners need to acquire this tacit knowledge of vocabulary.  2. Recall: A fluent speaker of a language can recall a word when it is needed in writing or in speech.     S/he can incorporate the needed word while speaking without looking it up in a dictionary. In other     words, proficient speakers
Keep reading