TEST OF LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE -

READING COMPREHENSION
The test is intended to be "open book"—please respect the Honour Code by looking only at
recommended resources (books, articles, notes, web sites, videos, dictionaries, etc.), and by not
consulting others.
By signing below, you take full responsibility for your work.
Honour Code. (1) On my honour I pledge that I have never given or received help for this assignment. (2)
My answers to this assignment will be my own work. (3) I will not make solutions available to anyone
else. (4) I am aware that any attempt to cheat, lie or plagiarise will be penalised - I will receive 0 points
for the assignment.

Name Merutia Gabriela

Faculty: UBB Cluj
Department: Social Work
Date : 28 May 2020

EXERCISES
Exercise 1
Consider the requirements. Then read Text A and do the following tasks.

Read the brief research report “Too Relaxed to Read?” and fill in the tables below with the requested
information. (1.5 p)

Table 1 - experiment phases (0.5)

Procedure for all groups
Phase 1 of experiment (2 weeks) Measurements of accuracy, speed and comprehension in reading
Phase 2 of experiment (5 weeks)

Table 2 - Group Procedures and Results (1 p)

Group Procedure Results
Accuracy Speed
1
 1
2 No improvement
3
4 Control group Daily reading tests No improvement
5 Control group

Exercise 2
Consider the requirements. Then read Text B and do the following tasks (3.5 p)

2.1 Note-taking: Fill in the tables below with information from the text. Use note form. (2 p)

Table 1: Similarities and differences between social work and sociology

Similarities Differences
Social work
Sociology

Table 2: Similarities and differences between social work and psychology

Similarities Differences
Social work
Psychology

2.2 Social work and other professions: Use the notes in Table 1 OR in Table 2 to write a 50-60-word
text about what social workers do in comparison and contrast with sociologists OR psychologists. (1.5 p)

Write your answers in the box below

Exercise 3
Consider the requirements. Then read Text c and do the following tasks (5 p)

3.1 Comment on the following statements. Justify your answers with information given in paragraphs 1 and 2.
(1.5 p)

a. Faster economic growth and cuts in real wages are said to play an essential role in finding solutions to the
unemployment problem.
b. Rapid economic growth brings about more jobs.
c. Monopolistic wages and benefits decrease business costs.
d. Researchers consider that the levels of economic development necessary to solve the unemployment rate can be
sustained by most economies.
2
 e. One way to solve the unemployment problem is the better dissemination of information on available jobs.

3.2 Process the information in the whole text and elaborate on the following in your own words. Use only the
available space. (3.5 p).

a. What issue does the article focus on?

b. What are some of the consequences of the monopolistic wages and fringe benefit premiums?
c. List briefly the possible approaches suggested by Ottosen and Thompson (1996) in order to help reduce countries’
unemployment rates.
d. How do the Swedish job centres accumulate and disseminate information on available jobs?
e. Imagine you are in charge of an unemployment agency. Based on the text, name two programs you would
implement to reduce unemployment. Explain your choice.

Write your answers in the box below

TEXTS
Text A: Too relaxed to read?

1 Backward readers can be helped more by teaching them to read than by teaching them to relax, according to
Christopher Sharpley, of Monash University, Australia, and Steven Rowland, of the Scot's School, Australia (British
Journal of Educational Psychology, vol.56, part 1, page 40).
2 Previous studies have suggested that backward readers experience stress caused by anxiety at failure, and that
their learning can be improved by teaching relaxation.
3 The study involved 50 nine to eleven year old children, in five small primary schools, in four country towns in
New South Wales. The children were divided into five groups. One group were taught to lower their muscle tension
by using electromyographic biofeedback (which involves electrodes attached to a forearm and to a visual display
dial); the second was given relaxation training; and the third had remedial teaching based on phonics and
comprehension. In addition, one of two control groups had daily reading tests (as did the three experimental groups)
and the other did not.
4 The children's accuracy, speed and comprehension in reading were measured for two weeks, then the different
treatments were given for five weeks. The results showed that only the group which had received remedial teaching
improved in reading accuracy. No group improved in reading speed – and this even decreased for the group which
3
 experienced biofeedback.
5 All the experimental groups showed gains in comprehension, as did the first control group, suggesting that this
was an effect of increased reading practice.
6 The authors suggest that reducing stress may have worked against any improvement in reading (an optimum level
of stress being necessary for successful learning), or that teaching the children to relax reduced the attention they gave
to their reading.
7 So while the relaxation may be of general benefit, reducing the symptoms of stress seems to be less helpful than
reducing its cause – failure.

Text B: Social work and other professions

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK

How are sociology and social work related to each other? Admittedly, they share much in common but are also different
in many ways. Sociology has been defined by early American sociologists as follows: L. F. Ward defines it as the
“science of society” and F. H. Giddings as “the scientific study of society.” A. W. Small said that sociology “is the study
of men considered as affecting and as affected by association.” Sociology and social work are both interested in people,
their interactions, and understanding these interactions. The sociologist is particularly concerned about the how, when,
and why people behave as they do in association with others. He or she aims to pinpoint the social problems, conduct
research, and do everything possible to understand interaction in human associations. The sociologist is particularly
interested in the why of human interaction. The social worker is interested in understanding people and how they behave
in association with others; he or she is particularly concerned about helping these same people solve the problems they
have and improving their social functioning. Whereas the sociologist generally spends most of his or her time in study and
in ferreting out the facts, the social worker tries to understand the client or the community, to make an appropriate
diagnosis, and to proceed with treatment, thereby helping solve the problems and change the situations to bring about
better adjustment.

PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK

The psychologist and social worker are often members of the same professional team, particularly in treatment clinics and
related settings. Nevertheless, many people raise questions about the overlapping and the differences between the two.
Psychology is the science of the mind; it seeks to study, explain, and change behavior of people. The psychologist is
particularly interested in understanding the individual and his or her behavior. Psychology and social work operate on
some common grounds. Both are interested in the behavior of people, particularly in their interactional patterns, although
the psychologist focuses mainly on individual behavior and the social worker on social functioning. They both seek the
thinking and feeling processes of people. In regard to differences, psychologists have an area entirely unto themselves in
the field of testing and measurements. Psychologists study biological factors as well as social factors related to individual
behavior. The psychologist is particularly interested in the individual attributes of people and aims to understand their
characteristics and behavior. On the other hand, some psychologists, particularly clinical psychologists, go beyond the
study phase and work directly with people in the helping process. These activities overlap some with social work, and yet
the focus seems to be different when considered as a totality. The psychologist usually works with individuals on a rather
intensive basis and sometimes becomes a psychotherapist. Conversely, the social worker is particularly interested in the
social functioning and relationships of clients and in utilizing community resources to meet clients’ personal and social
problems.

A clarifying tribute was paid to social work by a graduate student who reported: It may sound naive, but I was most
impressed by the philosophy underlying the principles used in social work. I am in psychology, and while I am certain
psychology operates from the same philosophy, this had never been spelled out. What I am referring to is emphasis on
human worth and dignity which would seem to stem from a Judeo-Christian ethic and also the belief in democratic
4
processes and an attempt to make this work at the community level—not only in community organization, but in case and
group work as well.

Text C: Unemployment - Solutions To The Unemployment Problem

1 Much of the discussion on finding solutions to the unemployment problem has centred on the pivotal role of faster
economic growth and cuts in real wages. The former is viewed as a means of generating more jobs whereas the latter is a
reaction to the view that through their demands for higher wages, some groups of workers have priced themselves out of a
job. How much growth and how large a fall in real wages would be required to reduce the size of the unemployment
problem both remain matters for debate. Ottosen and Thompson (1996) suggest an overhaul of the National Labour
Relations Act in the United States as a way of preventing unions from delivering the monopolistic wages and fringe
benefit premiums that raise business costs and lead to unemployment. Such proposals are often very difficult to
implement. Simulations by Guy Debelle and James Vickery (1998) for the Australian labour market are suggestive of
manageable wage cuts only if the unemployment target is not set too low. Such advice is not very encouraging. Many
researchers also believe that the levels of economic growth required to make a major difference to the unemployment
problem are unlikely to be sustained by most economies.

2 Countries could take other approaches to help reduce their unemployment rates (Ottosen and Thompson 1996). First, the
methods of accumulation and dissemination of information on available jobs and workers could be improved. Ottosen and
Thompson have suggested following the Swedish model, in which job centres have a nationwide, integrated database of
jobs, employers, and available employees. This could reduce the time spent by an average worker on the unemployment
roll and thus reduce the unemployment rate. Second, unemployment agencies could tighten their job search and job
acceptance requirements. Third, there could be improvements to the education and training provided to young people,
with a greater focus on vocational skills. Finally, countries need to ensure that their welfare systems do not provide
disincentives to work. Australia, for example, has strengthened the "Mutual Obligation" requirements (e.g., taking part in
Work for the Dole projects) that eligible job seekers must meet in order to avoid loss of part of their income support.

3 There may also be a role for unemployment programs that target various groups of jobless persons. Carol West (1994)
surveyed the unemployment programs aimed at reducing cyclical, frictional, seasonal, and structural unemployment in the
United States. Some of these programs aim to change people to match existing jobs while others create jobs to match
existing worker skills. The change in focus over time and the short duration of many programs make evaluation difficult.
Many programs appear to do little more than reorder the line of unemployed people, though obviously they have the
potential to fulfill an equity function in the labour market. John Piggot and Bruce Chapman (1995) suggest that labour
market programs can be a cost-effective means of managing the pool of unemployment.

4 A number of other solutions to the unemployment problem have been advanced in the literature. For example, work
sharing, early retirement, and reduced migration have been discussed. These policies affect the labour market by reducing
the supply of labour. However, they have not won a great deal of support among economists. (Source:
http://family.jrank.org/pages/1727/Unemployment-Solutions-Unemployment-Problem.html)

5
Evaluation grid & scoring
Exercise 1
Ability to scan factual information in order to perform specific tasks = 1p
Organisation of content, overall presentation = 1p

Exercise 2
Ability to locate main information in sections of text = 0.4p x 5 items = 2 p
Ability to rephrase given structures = 1p
Grammatical accuracy = 0.5p

Exercise 3
Ability to infer opinion, attitude and underlying meaning = 1p
Ability to understand the text as a whole = 0.5p
Ability to select specific information from the text = 0.5p
Ability to identify and use relevant vocabulary = 1p
Grammatical accuracy = 1p
Organisation of content according to given structure = 0.5p