Read to Succeed: A Thematic Approach to Academic Reading

Read to Succeed: A Thematic Approach to Academic Reading

Read to Succeed (RTS) was inspired by the philosophy that four critical goals for a reading textbook could be met with a thematic content-based approach.

• First and foremost, RTS aims to spur developmental readers to become active readers by fostering intellectual inquiry through an exploration of contemporary themes related to academic disciplines. All too often college students are uninspired by reading textbooks that focus on isolated skills and are thus unmotivated to invest their time and effort in reading them. RTS takes the approach that there is no substitute for high-interest, cohesive content that engages students and taps into their natural curiosity. After all, reading should be a pleasant experience! 

• Secondly, RTS offers a strong focus on building vocabulary development skills.  Research shows that reading students have mature thoughts and ideas, but that they lack sufficient vocabulary to express them. One of the strongest features of Read to Succeed: Gateway to Academic Reading is its emphasis on vocabulary development. We hope that our heavy emphasis on vocabulary building will eliminate the necessity to adopt another vocabulary text along with the reader.

• Thirdly, RTS has the goal of helping students develop their reading comprehension skills in preparation for standardized reading tests. Unlike most reading textbooks, RTS offers in-depth reading skills foci integrated into each chapter’s thematic content focus. In this way, students are motivated to work with these critical reading skills, as it is the improvement of these skills that will help them gain a deeper understanding of the chapter’s content-based readings. 

• Finally, a fourth goal of RTS is to help prepare students for the challenges of the 100-level survey courses that lie just ahead of their developmental course-work. By offering chapter foci across a wide array of academic disciplines (Sociology, Biology, Economics, Psychology, Mathematics, Physical/Occupational Therapy, etc.) and by having students work with authentic content course textbook chapters, developmental readers are exposed to the college-level material they will be working with in their credit courses. This gives RTS readers a valuable edge in their academic preparation.  Moreover, many students in the developmental stage of their college careers are undecided about their majors and reading across the curriculum can give them an introduction into the most popular academic disciplines and help students explore potential areas of academic interest.

Content Overview

           

The text is organized into ten chapters, each focusing on a different academic discipline. A critical reading skill focus is integrated into each thematic unit.

                       

                                                       Academic Discipline                  Reading Skill in Focus

Chapter One	Sociology	Vocabulary in Context
Chapter Two	Biology	Main Idea and Topic
Chapter Three	Personal Finance	Supporting Details
Chapter Four	Economics	Author’s Purpose
Chapter Five	Literature	Author’s Tone
Chapter Six	Mathematics	Logical Relationships
Chapter Seven	Design/Architecture	Patterns of Organization
Chapter Eight	Travel and Tourism	Fact and Opinion
Chapter Nine	Communications/Journalism	Author’s Bias
Chapter Ten	Physical/Occupational Therapy	Combined Skills

Beyond the many activities offered within the academic units, there are endless opportunities for instructors to go deeper into a given academic discipline of high interest to students. Faculty guest speakers can give overviews of their respective academic areas. Students can do further online research of an academic major of interest.

Special Features of Each Chapter

Each chapter within Read to Succeed contains a variety of apparatus designed to engage students and support the principle features; themes of academic disciplines, a variety of genres, extensive vocabulary support-in addition to overall reading improvement.

How Read to Succeed augments each chapter’s academic theme

• Landmark in the discipline: A significant landmark in each of the academic fields is profiled. In the sociology chapter, students will learn about the evolution of chat rooms. In Biology, they will read about the development of organs transplants and for personal finance online banking is profiled. After each of the landmark readings, students are asked to research another important landmark in the respective academic field. 

• Interview with Students Majoring in Each Academic Area: Students have the opportunity to read interviews with successful individuals who are majoring in the academic disciplines in focus. The interviewees discuss what inspired them to study what they studied and how they overcame the obstacles in their academic journey. The students also discuss their career plans beyond graduation from college.

• Textbook Application: Each chapter contains an extended authentic textbook reading from an introductory text. The textbook content reflects the academic discipline focus of the chapter. Students learn how to navigate textbook reading and are given ample practice to check their comprehension with multiple-choice questions after each textbook selection. Students will also have the opportunity to first listen to the text read in lecture style (audio file will be available on the Pearson-RTS website) as a preview before interacting with the written text. Research has shown that this listening skill component is critical in developing intermediate-level readers’ reading proficiency. 

• Panel Discussion: A panel discussion is a commonly used speaking activity in academia and professional conferences. Each chapter provides the students with an opportunity to participate in a panel discussion and articulate their thoughts on a controversial topic. This activity will enable students to practice making a presentation and to practice raising and responding to questions. Unlike a debate, in which two teams argue for and against a controversial topic, a panel discussion is a forum whereby the panelists express their points of view without being subjected to winning or losing an argumentation. For example, the first chapter on sociology discusses whether violent TV programs can cause imitative behavior among children and teenagers. In short, the primary purpose of a panel discussion is to integrate skills of public speaking with those of asking and answering questions.

·     How Read to Succeed engages students with a variety of genres 

    

    Immersion in Reading: With a minimum of seven (7) reading selections per chapter, RTS provides students with the opportunity to develop key reading skills. These selections are from a variety of genres, including newspapers, Web articles, poems, blogs and textbooks.

·     Internet Fact Search: Students develop their online web research skills by seeking out statistical information and fast facts related to each academic discipline.

How Read to Succeed develops students’ vocabulary

• Key Terms in the Field: Each respective academic discipline has a set of high frequency key terms used in the field. RTS includes a discipline-specific vocabulary list and vocabulary building activities for each academic area covered. 

• Pre and Post Reading Vocabulary Exercises: Each reading selection is preceded by a vocabulary exercise whereby students practice guessing meaning from context. Frequently occurring academic words are highlighted in the reading selection and marginal definitions are provided. Finally, a post-vocabulary exercise gives students the opportunity to solidify their newly acquired vocabulary.

How Read to Succeed helps students’ overall academic improvement

• Reading Skill Focus: Every chapter provides in-depth instruction for a key reading skill. Students interact with exercises and examples to develop these critical skills, and then work to apply them in the context of authentic reading passages within each discipline focus. 

• College Study Skills/Readiness for College: These features will guide students toward better college preparedness. College Study Skills focuses on critical applications such as ‘how to highlight a text’, or ‘how to build your vocabulary using index cards’, etc.  Readiness for College offers students helpful hints on how to be successful in college with advice on ‘how to communicate with your professor’ or ‘how to build a weekly study plan’.

• Writing Connections: Every chapter has this feature, which helps students make a conscious link between reading and writing and explore their thoughts in writing. The writing assignment changes from chapter to chapter, introducing students to a specific type of writing. For example, students practice free writing in a reflective journal in Chapter 2, and they learn to build a financial plan in Chapter 3. The rationale behind this feature is that reading and writing are integrated skills, and that reading students need to practice writing in response to the various reading selections they read and analyze.

The many salient features and activities form the core part of RTS, an academically oriented and content-based textbook, designed to mirror a college-level mainstream course. We believe that RTS will not only improve students’ reading proficiency, but also increase their familiarity with the North American higher education system.