English for

Academic
Purposes
Reading Writing Presenting
Listening

Effective reading 1
You are reading for a purpose
Dr. Indriana Kartini

What is reading
Getting meaning from text
Types of reading
Silent reading
Oral reading

A complex set of behaviors including

linguistic, psycholinguistic, graphic,
social, and pragmatic skills

Study after study has demonstrated that there is a strong

and positive correlation between literacy in the native
language and learning English and that the degree of
childrens native language proficiency is a strong
predictor of their English Language development.
Literacy in a childs native language establishes a
knowledge, concept and skills base that transfers from
native language reading to reading in a second
language. (Antunez)
Antunez, Beth. Reading Research and English Language Learners., 23 Nov.
2007, <http://www.readingrockets.org/article/342>

Types of Reading Material

Different Kinds of Books
Fiction / Non-fiction

Comics
Newspapers
News, Business, Sports,
Entertainment

Magazines
News, Language, Serious, Popular

Reading Purpose
For pleasure
For course requirements
For exam
For increasing knowledge
For information
For promotion in job
For study
For work (Getting or holding a job)
To kill time
To solve a problem
Different purposes determine different reading
speed and strategies.

Assessing Reading
Reading tests
Comprehension questions
Detail Questions
Following Directions Questions
Main Idea Questions
Inference
Sequence

Assessing Reading

Alternative assessment

Projects
Journals
Portfolios
Diaries and logs
Checklists and rating scales
Group work evaluation
Self-evaluation

Question examples
Main Idea Question:
The purpose of this passage is to .
Sequence Question:
Look at the four squares [ ] that
indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
For example, consider the case when
authorities question a witness about a
car accident.
Where would the sentence best fit?

Strategies
survey the text
analyse the problems/questions
check your answer go back to
the text

Reading entire articles is

TIME CONSUMING
and the entirety of information is often NOT directly
relevant
Read:
Abstract (outline, but not enough on its own) introduction,
conclusion first to get an overview of main
argument/findings/conclusions
Then,
first sentence of each paragraph to understand the thread or
flow of the argument
i.e. is it topical, chronological, compare/contrast,
cause/effect, listing (enumeration)?

Survey the text

Look at:
the title
section heading and special print
illustrations, graphs and tables

Build up an idea of what the text as a whole

is about
Look at each paragraph:
there is often one sentence summarizing what
the paragraph about
do not take more
than 2 minutes !!!!

Identify key terms

significant words/expressions

phenomena, themes, issues, debates

names people, places, writers/authors
systems, structures relationships
categories, classes
theories, propositions, concepts, ideas

Analyse the
problems/questions
read it carefully

Define the problems

general
specific information (number, time, activity ?)
develop your own glossary

Define the form of the answer

one word
two words
a sentence

Check your answer

Be clear about what information you need
to find
Just look for the information
Allow a short period of time for checking
Look at any answer you are not sure of

Punctuation: Importance
in reading and writing
Comma, period, question mark, exclamation
mark, underlining, italicized print.
Regulates the traffic of words in reading
Important for reading fluency
Important in comprehending whole science
text passage

Points to remember

different reading speeds for different purposes

selective in what you read
actively thinking about contents relevance
summarise so that you dont have to go back or waste
time searching

Hard copy rules!

Margin notes:
- main idea
- examples
- specialised vocabulary and definitions
- reactions
- questions
- section summary

Reading exercises
finding general theme (main ideas)
finding topic sentence
finding specific information (answering
open question)

II

The deathwatch beetle is thought of as the devils pest in old

houses, but in natural habitats it infests a wide range of decaying
hardwoods. 2It has been found in hornbeam, sweet chestnut,
hawthorn, beech, ash, blackpoplar, elm, larch, spruce and yew,
but the two most commonly infested species in Britain are oak
and willow. 3In buildings, oak timbers are usually the focus of
attack by the beetle, but alder, walnut, elm, larch and Scots pine
can be affected too. 4Deatwatch beetle attack wood that has been
decayed by fungi, so it is the damp-prone parts of timbers, at the
ends and near leaking gutters and enclosed spaces, that are
normally attacked first.
1

Adult beetles emerge from holes in the timber in spring, or

occasionally in autumn. 2They breed once and a week or two later
the females lay eggs, usually about fifty, in small cracks on the
surface of the wood. 3Adults depend on stored reserves; they do
not feed, so the adult lifespan is largely determined by body size
and metabolic demands. 4Emergent females rarely live for more
than ten weeks, and males eight or nine weeks, at a temperature
of about 20 oC.
1

III 1

The eggs hatch after two to five weeks and the larvae then
wander across the wood to find suitable entry points through
which to bore into the timber. 2They then take between two and
ten years to complete their development. 3The larvae pupate in
late summer to early autumn, each individual having constructed
a pupal cell just below the surface of the wood. 4After two or three
weeks, the immature beetle emerges from the pupal skin, but
then remains torpid inside the chamber until the following spring
or early summer. 5The mature beetle then cuts perfectly round
hole, three to five millimetres in diameter, and emerges covered
in a fine layer of wood powder.

1. What is the main idea (general theme) of the passage as

a whole?
2. Which paragraph contains information about the larvae?
3. Which paragraph contains information about the adult
beetles?
4. Which paragraph contains information about where the
beetles live?

Reading exercises
gap-filling exercises

Complete the following by choosing a maximum of two

words from the passage.
The deathwatch beetle is found most often in .1..
and 2. They infest damp-prone timber which has
been affected .3.. Adults do not feed, so they
survive on ..4. and live for up to 5, feeding on
the timbers during that time. They pupate on 6 but
the adult does not emerge until the following spring.

1. oak

3. by fungi

5. ten weeks

2. willow

4. stored reserve 6. late summer

If readings are too

difficult
Preliminary reading may be necessary to understand
frameworks/terminology
This often applies to students who have changed
disciplines at the MSc level
e.g. humanities social sciences
e.g. finance development
management

h
Fossils in the rocks, and the rock layers themselves, can give
us a great deal of information about life and conditions on
earth in the past. 2There are many unique ecosystems, and a
lot of different kinds of plants and animals living in them. 3An
ecosystem is an area where plants, animals, the landscape,
and the climate all interact together to create a unique
environment. 4Some of the extreme conditions make it an
excellent site for an "X-Games gathering. 5In this lesson you
will take a closer look at the organisms that inhabit some of
the Grand Canyon ecosystems.
1

What is the main idea?

Find the topic sentence!

Word Game

ex . . . . . . . . . . .

Read the clues and try to complete the

words that begin with ex1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

not cheap
to sell products to other countries
the way out of a building
a test
If you dont do this, you wont stay
healty
someone who knows a lot about
something
to think something is going to
happen
Im right on time. It is 5 oclock
to give something & get something
. for being late

ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex