Introduction to Reading and Writing - Quiz

Introduction to Reading and Writing - Quiz

• Macro Skills: Reading (16%), Listening (45%), Writing (9%), Speaking (30%), Viewing
• Reasons students dislike reading: People feel pressured to read, it's not a habit, reading is intimidating, books are perceived as anti-social, lack of pictures compared to watching movies, and other activities being more appealing.
• Reasons students dislike writing: Students don't see the relevance of writing, feel pressured to write perfectly, slow feedback, demotivating.
• Reading Comprehension: Reading involves applying the ability to draw meaning from printed text and interpreting the information accordingly. This is achieved by a combination of word recognition and language comprehension.
• 5 Components of Reading: Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
• Big 5 of Reading Comprehension: Identifying main ideas and key details, sequencing passages, answering direct recall questions, making inferences/predictions, and recognizing familiar vocabulary.

Principles of Reading and Writing

• Understand biases, assumptions, and perspectives within texts.
• Writing is a process of invention, discussion, and revision.
• Written texts have three authors: human, imagined, and reader.
• Reading is fundamental for effective writing.
• How we read is linked to how we discuss.
• Refers to the five processes of creation.

The Reading Process

• Bottom-Up Theory: Deciphering meaning from text by analyzing basic components (words, phrases). This method involves understanding basic phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.
• Top-Down Theory: Using background knowledge and schemas to predict and understand text. Analyzing the text through conceptual understanding and prior knowledge.
• Interactive Compensatory Theory: The simultaneous use of bottom-up and top-down processing; previous theories come together to form comprehensive understanding.

Text as a Connected Discourse

• Discourse: A formal discussion utilizing concepts, organized logically, communicating meanings, or provoking responses (oral or written).
• Purpose of Discourse: Inform, persuade, or entertain.
• Context of Discourse: Culture, social environment, and experiences impact author's perspective.
• Types of Discourse: Claims, argumentation (claims and counterclaims), descriptions, expositions (clarify, define, explain) and narration (storytelling).
• Categories of Discourse: Poetic, expressive, transactional (action-oriented written material), literary, academic (formal language).

Selecting and Organizing Information

• Organizing Techniques: Location, alphabet, time, category, hierarchy
• Brainstorming: A technique for generating ideas by encouraging free-flowing thoughts. This approach promotes quantity, wildness, and idea combination. The four rules of brainstorming are-no criticism permitted, quantity is important, wild ideas welcome, and combining of ideas is encouraged.
• Brainstorming Methods: Ideation lists, creation of idea maps with connecting lines and shapes.
• Graphic Organizers: Visual aids that facilitate understanding via symbols and visual cues. Includes concept maps to show relationships and sequence charts for processes and events.
• Cause-and-Effect Diagrams: Show connections between events and concepts for analysis.

Properties of Well-Written Text

• Paragraph Structure: Introduction, body, and conclusion. A collection of related sentences focused around a single idea.
• Unity: Consistency in focus and message.
• Coherence: Logical connections between ideas. Achieved by ordering ideas to match the organizational pattern or a conceptual level.
• Cohesion: Clear links between sentences and ideas within a text via clear writing.
• Language Use: Clear, concise, and precise word choice, consistent use of pronouns, appropriate tone for the audience and avoiding redundancy, wordiness, and clichés.
• Mechanics: Adhering to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalisation rules.

Test your understanding of the essential macro skills involved in reading and writing. Explore the common reasons students dislike reading and writing, along with the key components of reading comprehension. This quiz will help reinforce your knowledge on how to effectively draw meaning from text and improve your reading abilities.