Why is activating background important for reading comprehension?
As stated in the chapter, background knowledge is what a reader knows about the topic of the text. Therefore, background knowledge will help the reader make different connections between the reader's experience, events occurring in the world and the text. These connection will, then, form the required knowledge needed for comprehension.
Where does the background knowledge come from?
Background knowledge comes from your experience or from different text you have read before aor from the events occurring in the world.
What tells you that the writer mentions a group of nursery kids in the following sentence?
Daisies, walk down the aisle and gather in that corner.
Background knowledge. How?
1. Daisies as flowers do not listen to the instructions.
2. Daisies are planted and they do not walk and gather as instructed.
3. Noone would like to group daisies like this.
4. a lot of people know that nursery kids are grouped and their groups are named after flowers.
therefore, upon reading such a sentence, a reader's background knowledge will tell him/her all these, and, the reader, consequently, will visualize a group of kids walking down the aisle and gathering in the corner.
When does activating the background take place?
Before reading the text. As stated in the book, it refers to accessing what you already know about the topic of a text and building an initial knowledge that you need to comprehend the text.
To activate your background knowledge, you can make different connections before you read the text.
Which reading technique can be associated with finding key words?
Skimming. Skimming is gist reading, in other words, reading to understand the gist of the text. It requires global understanding.
Why is understanding the main idea of a text important?
In a text or in a paragraph, there is always a main idea. the main idea is the author’s message about the topic. Identifying the main idea can help you better understand a text and become
a more effective reader.
At what stage are the key words identified?
While reading the text. As the book states, you can identify and underline key words as you read the paragraphs, which will help you better understand the text.
How does keywords help the reader to understand the text?
Underlined key words will help the reader to retrieve retrieve important information
from it.
How can a reader easily retrieve locations, names and facts?
If the reader underlines the key words such as names, locations, and facts, this will help retrieve the important information.
Underline the key words in the following paragraph about archeology.
Archeology is the systematic retrieval and analysis of the physical remains left behind by human beings, including both their skeletal and cultural remains. Both the classical civilizations and prehistoric groups, including our prehuman ancestors, are investigated.
Archeology is the systematic retrieval and analysis of the physical remains left behind by human beings, including both their skeletal and cultural remains. Both the classical civilizations and prehistoric groups, including our prehuman ancestors, are investigated.
Why have we underlined these words as key words?
Archeology: the topic of the paragraph. the paragraph defines archeology.
systematic: To emphasize that whatever done, it is systematic. This word tells us how it is studied.
retrieval: this word tells us what sort of procedure is applied.
analysis: this word also tells us what sort of procedure is applied.
remains: what is retrieved and analysed? This word reveals the meaning.
skeletal: desribes the remains emphasizing the type of remains.
cultural: describes the type of remains.
classical civilizations, prehistoric and prehuman: all describe the groups that are investigated.
What is the main idea of the following paragraph?
The scientific method is a way of thinking that helps you to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions. It helps you to avoid non-scientific thinking. It reminds you to treat your first conclusion as one of several possible conclusions. It reminds you to gather evidence to support your conclusion. The five steps in the scientific method begin by questioning an observation, and end with a conclusion that is based on evidence.
The scientific method is a way of thinking that helps you to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions is the main idea of this paragraph because the paragraph continues to develop this idea. In this text, main idea is in the first sentence.
What is the main idea of the following text?
Sloths have a round head, small ears, a stubby tail, and sad-looking eyes set in a dark-colored “mask.” The shape of a sloth’s mouth makes it look like it is always smiling. It has extra bones in its neck that make it possible for it to turn its head almost all the way around. Sloths are very cute to look at, but they don’t put on much of a show.
Sloths are very cute to look at, but they don’t put on much of a show is the main idea of this text. In this text, we can find the main idea in the last sentence of the text. The text starts and continues with physical characteristics of sloths. Having defined the physical characteristics, the author reaches a comment on how sloths look like. therefore, this last sentence is the main idea of this text.
How is making inferences defined?
Making inferences is defined as “reading between the lines” because we go beyond what the author explicitly expresses and infer what the author is trying to say.
How did John feel when he left the room? What inference can you make from the following sentence?
John left the room and slammed the door.
From this sentence, we infer that John was angry because he slammed the door. Our background knowledge tells us that slamming the door is a sign of anger. Therefore, using this clue, we infer that John was angry.
What kind of clues help us to make inferences?
We use the clues available in the text as well as our own knowledge and experiences and the way the author expresses an idea or a fact to infer what is not directly said.
What happened to Old Mr. Chicken?
Old Mr. Chicken was standing by the side of the road. He heard what sounded like a BIG TRUCK coming. He decided to cross the road anyway. Unfortunately, he never made it to the other side. Poor Old Mr. Chicken.
Old Mr. Chicken was run over by the big truck. We infer that from the clues in the text. The first clue is "he heard what sounded like a big truck coming". This sentence tells us that a big truck is coming and our experience tells us that it is dangerous to cross the road while a big truck is coming. In the second sentence the word "anyway" tells us that Old Mr. Chicken dares to cross the road although he knows that it is dangerous. "Unfortunately" tells us that there is something negative happened. Then the last sentence Poor Old Mr. Chicken tells us that Old Mr Chicken was run over by the big truck. We made inferences using our world knowledge, experience and textual clues to reach the conclusion.
What inference would you make from the following text?
A girl is dressed in shorts and a jersey and is holding a basketball.
The girl is in the basketball team and she will play basketball shortly.
What are the clues that have led us to this inference?
The girl is dressed in shorts and a jersey; this kind of clothing is worn by the basketball team members.
The girl is holding a basketball. In addition to the evidence coming from clothing, we understand that the girl is ready to play the basketball because she is holding a basketball at the moment.
What is note-making important while reading?
As the book suggests, note-making is the process of reviewing, connecting and synthesising ideas/information while reading. Note making is a step of critical reading because it improves the understanding and therefore, lead into a critical perspective into the content. Notes will cover the important details of the text and these details are connected to each other.
What are the advantages of note-making?
The advantages of note-making are;
1. to improve your understanding of a text
2. to take a critical perspective to the content.
3. to create a record of important details from the text
4. to put information into your own words.
5. to review what you have read
6. to synthesize information
What is the advantage of ideas map?
An ideas map/mind map will organize the ideas coming from the text. It helps the reader see how main ideas, supporting ideas and examples are related. It is a basic diagram that enables the reader to visualise the information in the text and to find
connections between different pieces of information presented in the text.