Composition Skills

Tamkeen Zehra Shah

Week1-Lec1
Fall 2020
Objectives of the Course
• Developing intensive reading skills
• Reading for critical thinking
• Critically evaluating information and taking an informed stance on a
given topic
• Synthesizing useful information into a coherent written response
• Practicing the writing process- prewriting, first draft, final draft
• Refining/editing a composition (grammar skills)
• Presenting your work to an audience
The Four Skills
• Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking
• Link b/w reading and writing

• Spoken language is inherently different from writing

Spoken language:
• Simple sentence structure
• Run-on sentences
• Repair and clarification
• Pauses and redundancies
• Less explanatory (takes advantage of gestures, common background knowledge of the
speaker and hearer).
Written composition:
• A one-off event – no room for clarifications
• More explanatory – cannot take advantage of the context
• Longer sentences
• Varying sentence structure (subordinate clauses, etc.)

Thus, writing is a planned, well-thought-out, deliberate process and it

requires practice.
Reading strategy – The SQ3R Technique
• SQ3R stands for
• Survey
• Question
• Read
• Repeat/Recite
• Review/Relate

(Helps in comprehension and retention)

Survey
• Survey for the big picture
• Read the first and last sentence of a paragraph/article
• Read the introduction of the book and the back cover copy (the blurb)
• Do you need to read this text? Is it important?
• Scan the text and pay attention to:
• Layout
• Chapters, sections
• Headings, footnotes
• Graphs, pictures
• Author, date
• Highlighted words, text boxes, any comprehension questions given, etc.
Question
• Ask yourself questions about the text
• Fact or opinion? (Any text type can contain both fact and opinion)
• Narrative
• Descriptive
• Expository Text types
• Persuasive
• What is the purpose of the text?
(To narrate a story? To describe something in detail? To give in-depth
explanation or information on a theory or phenomenon? To convince
the audience to a certain point-of-view?)
Question (2)
• What do I already know about the text?
• Turn headings and pictures into questions
• This helps you read actively and focus on the content
Read
• Read thoroughly to gain understanding
• Annotate the text (make notes in the margins, highlight, underline,
etc).
• Guess meanings from the context
Repeat/Recite

• Repeat aloud in your own words what you have read

• Explain to someone what you have understood
• Try to write a short summary
• Jot down further questions that come to mind
Review/Relate
• Read important and relevant parts again
• Go through your questions and notes once more with a view to
finding answers and exploring opportunities for further
reading/research
• Relate the text with what you already know (interpretation, meaning-
making)
• Form a judgment. Is the author right? Effective in achieving his/her
purpose? What more could he/she have included?
• Objective analysis & evaluation to form a judgment = critical thinking
Class activity
Q) The following words have been taken from the Academic Word List (2000). Write
the appropriate words against the definitions given:

assume analogy administrate

amend append aspect
abstract albeit accompany
alternative arbitrary ambiguous
adjacent anticipate attribute
 
1.Existing in thought or as an idea ____________
2.A comparison between one thing and another, typically for the purpose of explanation
_________
3.Add something to the end of a written document ___________
4.Next to or adjoining something else ___________
5.Manage and be responsible for the running of ____________
6.Be present or occur at the same time as something else ____________
7.Open to more than one interpretation _____________
8.Based on random choice or personal whim _____________
9.Regard something as being caused by___________
10.Make minor changes to a text to keep it accurate ___________
The End