Transcript Communication Skills - Chapter 01

Chapter 1
Effective reading for
academic purposes
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
1
1-1
Learning objectives
On completion of this chapter students will
know how to:
• identify individual reading styles and
recognise their strengths and weaknesses
• understand the role of critical reading in the
Australian academic context
• develop a range of strategies to improve
reading capability, including speed and
comprehension
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
2
1-2
Learning objectives (cont.)
• adapt reading styles to suit the requirements
of different texts
• recognise the integrated nature of reading
and note-taking.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
3
1-3
Why focus on reading?
• Tertiary studies require you to read very
widely and in-depth across a range of
subject areas.
• You will encounter new vocabulary and
concepts.
• You will begin to notice that writers use
different styles and structures of writing
depending on the subject area.
• You might find that the reading strategies
you have been using successfully are no
longer adequate.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
4
1-4
Your own reading style
• In groups of three or four, discuss your own
reading ability.
–
–
–
–
What makes a ‘good’ reader?
Are you a good reader?
What is your main problem when reading?
What strategies have you developed for
reading?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
5
1-5
Your own reading style
(cont.)
• Also consider the following questions:
– What sorts of reading material do you enjoy
most? Why?
– What attracts you to start reading a book or other
text (e.g. cover, pictures, font size, topic etc.)?
– What are the best conditions for your reading?
– Do you use the same place?
– Do you need to be alone?
– Do you read at the same time each day?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
6
1-6
Reading (English) quiz
For each of the following items, indicate whether the
statement is true or false.
1. I never read (in English) for pleasure.
 True  False
2. Reading is a tedious task that I do only because I
have to.
 True  False
3. The best way to read academic texts is to just read
the abstract or summary and then pretend to have
read the whole thing.
 True  False
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
7
1-7
Reading (English) quiz
(cont.)
4.
A good strategy to understand difficult vocabulary is to
use an electronic translator.
 True  False
5.
If I could read faster I would be a ‘good’ reader.
 True  False
6.
I know I can’t read all the material assigned to me in
my program, so I don’t even try.
 True  False
7.
I have some well-developed reading strategies which
have worked very well in my study experience to date.
 True  False
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
8
1-8
Reading (English) quiz
(cont.)
8.
I find that talking about the main points of a difficult text
with a classmate really helps my comprehension.
 True  False
9.
I never write notes as I read. I just keep the information
in my head.
 True  False
10. I always use a highlighter or pencil when reading
academic texts.
 True  False
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
9
1-9
Critical reading
• Students need to take individual
responsibility for learning.
• Much more reading is needed than just the
lecture notes or course guide.
• Developing your reading skills is of
paramount importance.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
10
1-10
Critical reading (cont.)
• ‘…it is not simply what you read or how
much you read but how you read that will
crucially affect your level of reading skill’
(Boddington and Clanchy 1999, p. 1).
• How you read will impact on your
understanding of source material and the
way you incorporate these sources into your
own writing on a topic.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
11
1-11
Critical reading (cont.)
• Critical reading involves making judgments
about the value of what you are reading
(Boddington & Clanchy 1999).
• Instead of simply consuming information you
are expected to become a producer of
information.
• You need to carefully assess what you read
while constantly asking yourself whether the
information you are reading is useful for the
particular assignment you are working on.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
12
1-12
Critical reading (cont.)
• To develop critical thinking and reading you
need to interrogate both the writer and the
text. Use the following questions to help you
gain a critical perspective:
– What is this document about?
– Is it accurate? How do you know?
– Who wrote it? Is the writer an authority in this
field?
– Is the writer trying to persuade you of a particular
position?
– Is this argument based on a broad or narrow
view of the issue?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
13
1-13
Critical reading (cont.)
• More questions:
– What evidence is offered to support the
argument?
– What hasn’t been included in the argument?
– What would a totally opposite point of view look
like?
– Do you agree/disagree with the position
presented by the writer?
– How did you come to this view?
– What do other writers have to say about this
topic?
– Does this text add anything ‘new’ to the topic?
– Is this document useful for your present research?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
14
1-14
Reading activity
• Read and critically evaluate the following
two short texts using the critical reading dot
points on the last slide.
• Which text would be most appropriate for
the essay topic ‘Compare and contrast two
brands of similar products available
internationally’?
• How might you incorporate information from
Text 2?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
15
1-15
Text 1 (Baker 1999)
‘Successful brands are those which create [an] image
or personality. They do it by encouraging customers to
perceive the attributes they aspire to as being strongly
associated with the brand. These attributes may be
real and objective (e.g. quality, value for money) or
abstract and emotional (e.g. status, youthfulness). The
personality of the brand is a function of the rational
characteristics but this has to be augmented and
communicated to consumers through advertising,
design, packaging and effective distribution and
display. These position the brand’s personality in a
consumer’s mind, generate confidence and create the
purchasing environment.’
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
16
1-16
Text 2 (Coca-Cola 2005)
‘The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh
everyone it touches. Founded in 1886, our Company
is the world‘s leading manufacturer, marketer, and
distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and
syrups, used to produce nearly 400 beverage brands.
Our corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, with local
operations in over 200 countries around the world.’
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
17
1-17
Effective reading
• There are four inter-related elements
involved in effective reading for academic
purposes (Boddington & Clanchy 1999):
–
–
–
–
context
purpose
text
strategy.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
18
1-18
Context
• The context for your reading is tertiary study at
an Australian/New Zealand university.
• This context determines the attitude you bring
to your reading. You should have a genuine
desire to learn rather than simply to ‘get the job
done’.
• All texts read within your learning environment
need to be approached with a sincere desire to
understand.
• Without this basic attitude you are unlikely to
gain the full benefit of your reading while
studying at university.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
19
1-19
Activity 1
• Write down the five main reasons you decided
to enrol in your current program of study.
• Consider your career aspirations, what you
hope to achieve in your particular degree or
program, how your study will affect your future
life and so on.
• Now consider how the reasons for embarking
on your current course of study might impact
on the attitude that you bring to your reading,
which in turn will result in more or less effective
reading practices.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
20
1-20
Purpose
• Before you begin reading you need to define
your purpose.
• If researching for an assignment, are you
looking for an explanation, evidence for a
critique, or to fill gaps in your own
knowledge of the topic?
• To ascertain the purpose of your reading:
– pay careful attention to your lecturer’s instructions,
both oral and written
– ensure that you fully understand the requirements
of the assignment
– use the marking criteria provided to guide your
reading.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
21
1-21
80/20 principle
• Piscitelli (2004) recommends the ‘80/20
principle’.
• In most reading assignments, 80% of what
you need to know is in about 20% of the
material.
• So you usually only need to skim read 80%
of the document and carefully read the
relevant 20%.
• This will significantly cut down your reading
time.
• The purpose for your reading will dictate
how much of the text you have to read
carefully.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
22
1-22
Refining your purpose
• Your purpose will change as you work
through your research tasks:
– when you first receive an assignment
– when you start to answer the assignment
question
– as your ideas start to change
– when you decide you need to read different texts
to fill in any gaps in your emerging
understanding.
• Boddington (1999) refers to this process as
‘refining your purpose’ (p. 10).
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
23
1-23
Text
A text may be:
• a book
• a textbook
• a newspaper article
• a journal article
• a report
• an online document
• a graphic/table/illustration
• even a comic!
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
24
1-24
Text and genre
• Texts in the same genre have similar
characteristics or conventions.
• Recognising the particular features of
different genres helps you to skim a text and
determine if it is appropriate to use for your
present research.
• You need to be able to identify:
– different types of text you will need at university
– the data or information available in each.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
25
1-25
Activity 2
• Form groups of three or four students and
discuss how your reading technique differs
depending on the type of text you are
reading. Consider the way you read:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
a dense academic text
a newspaper
an advertising brochure
a recipe book
a novel
a comic
a personal letter.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
26
1-26
Activity 2 (cont.)
• Is your reading technique determined by the
type of text, your purpose for reading or a
combination of both?
• List the reading techniques you have
developed in your study so far.
• Does your reading technique change
according to the task (e.g. if you are reading
for an assignment, or reading as part of
exam revision)? How?
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
27
1-27
Reading strategies
•
•
•
•
Speed reading
Scanning by key words and phrases
Skimming by paragraphs
SQ3R method:
–
–
–
–
–
Survey
Question
Read
Recite
Review
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
28
1-28
SQ3R method
• Before you read, SURVEY (SCAN) the text:
–
–
–
–
title, headings, subheadings
captions under pictures, charts, etc.
introduction and conclusion
summary or abstract.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
29
1-29
SQ3R method (cont.)
• QUESTION while you are surveying:
– Turn the title/headings into questions.
– If reading a textbook, read the questions at the
end of the chapter.
– Ask yourself, ‘What do I already know about this
subject?’
– Ask yourself, ‘What did the lecturer say about
this topic?’
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
30
1-30
SQ3R method (cont.)
• When you begin to READ:
– Note all the underlined, bold or italicised words.
– Reduce your reading speed for difficult passages
(but try not to do this all the time).
– Check your dictionary only when you cannot
determine the meaning from the context. DO
NOT check every word.
– Give yourself permission to ‘miss’ the meaning of
some words. Aim for overall comprehension.
– Look for answers to the questions you first
raised.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
31
1-31
SQ3R method (cont.)
• RECITE after you read each section:
– Orally ask yourself questions about what you
have just read.
– Write a one-sentence summary at the end of
each section.
– Underline/highlight key points.
– Make notes in the margin (or on a separate
piece of paper with the full reference included in
your notes).
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
32
1-32
SQ3R method (cont.)
• REVIEW your reading:
– After you have finished the whole article or
chapter, write a short summary. Keep this
summary with the text.
– Never finish an article without doing some form
of oral and written review.
– If studying for an exam, go back through the text
and ask yourself questions (flash cards work
well).
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
33
1-33
Skimming by paragraphs
• This approach is based on the following
understandings:
– The paragraph is an idea unit, coherent in itself
but also part of a whole argument.
– Signposts (single words or phrases) show the
internal connections and the overall development
of an argument and usually occur at the
beginning of paragraphs.
– Opening sentences of each paragraph usually
provide an outline of the argument being
presented.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
34
1-34
Skimming by paragraphs
(cont.)
• Four steps in this approach (Clanchy and
Ballard 1997):
– Step 1: Look for signposts (in the title or section
headings).
– Step 2: Read just the first section in full.
– Step 3: Summarise the key points in this section.
– Step 4: Read the first sentences of each
paragraph. (You will notice that if you put these
first sentences together they will be similar to
your summary of the first section.)
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
35
1-35
Reading difficult vocabulary
• If you are constantly checking the meaning
of words, ask yourself the following
questions:
– Why are you reading? If it is simply to gain an
overview of a topic, you may not need to know
the meaning of every word.
– Do you need all the detail? Again, a general
impression (remember 80/20) may be all you
need.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
36
1-36
Reading difficult vocabulary
(cont.)
• Some words are more important than
others, in which case you will need to
consult a dictionary:
– Is the word in the title?
– Does it occur often?
– Is it a ‘jargon’ word?
• Try to work out the meaning from the
context.
• To understand a process, look up verbs.
• If you want to understand an idea, look up
nouns.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
37
1-37
Reading tips
• Reading speed and comprehension depend
on the type of text.
• Practice is the best way to improve.
• Do not read every word starting from the
beginning.
• Read the title: ask yourself what you already
know.
• Scan or survey the whole text first.
• Read introductory and concluding
paragraphs.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
38
1-38
Reading tips (cont.)
• Read the first sentence in each paragraph
carefully.
• Note headings, titles, diagrams, pictures.
• Think while you read. Ask yourself questions.
• Underline, highlight, make notes in the
margin.
• Try to work out the meanings of words from
the context but, if necessary, check your
dictionary.
• Write a one-sentence summary at the end of
every chapter or section or do a simple oral
review.
Copyright  2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
39
1-39