Lesson 1: study skills

Reading skills
Functional English
Lecture #1
Ms. Hamna khalid spring-19
 Agenda
01 Speed-reading

02 Reading for inference

03 Reading for main idea

03 Reading in context to understand difficult words

Inference

Bringing what you know and

adding it to what you
read/see/study to derive new
meaning which is not directly
given.
Passage
The young woman walked a bit hesitantly towards the famous cozy
Italian restaurant. She did not believe the excuse her parents gave her
for having to meet her at the restaurant instead of at their house. To
make matters worse, she was a bit grumpy because she was still
catching up on the sleep that she lost during exam time. She noticed
some cars that looked familiar in the parking lot. As soon as she
walked through the door, she heard, "Surprise!"
Three Levels of Reading
Right There–Learning something by simply locating the words in a
sentence
(literal comprehension) uses text only
Think and Search–Learning something that can be found in the
passage but not in one sentence
(inferential comprehension) uses text and head
On My Own–Learning that takes place when the reader relates in their
head what they read
(evaluative comprehension) uses head only
Comprehension
• What kind of restaurant was the woman going to?
Literal comprehension: text only
• Why had the woman’s parents called her there?
Inferential comprehension: text and head
• How would you feel/have you felt if somebody surprised you this way
on a special occasion?
Evaluative comprehension: head only
 What is a thesis statement?
• It is the main idea sentence in an essay.
• It is usually in the first or last paragraph, or both.
• It is a complete sentence.
• It unifies the writer’s point.

“Nothing so facilitates good writing as actually having

something to say.”
T.S. Eliot
What is a topic sentence?
Read the paragraph. The underlined sentence is the topic sentence.
My favorite drink is tea and I drink a lot of it. I always have tea in the
morning for breakfast. I make an entire pot of tea and I drink it all
myself. Sometimes I have another pot before lunch. At four pm, I
make a cup of mint tea. Mint tea is good for waking up and studying.
Which of these is correct information about
topic sentences?
A topic sentence is:
at or near the start of the paragraph
at the end of a paragraph
a small detail from the paragraph
one or two words
the main idea of the paragraph
a complete sentence
Read the paragraph and choose the best topic
sentence
_____________________.It
produces many cars, such as
a) Japan is a very beautiful Toyotas and Nissans, which sell all
country. over the world. It also produces
b) Japan, for example, makes electrical goods such as TVs and
computers. DVDs. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is
one of the biggest and most
c) Japan is a very important modern cities in the world.
country.
d) Japan makes cars.
What is wrong with the other topic
sentences?
PROBLEMS: TOPIC SENTENCE:
• It is an example. a)
• It is a smaller idea, not the main
idea. d)
• It is about something different
from the other sentences.
b)
 Summary of reading for main idea
Topic sentence Thesis statement
1. It is the main idea of the
1. It is the main idea of a
entire essay
paragraph
2. There is only one thesis
2. There is more than one
statement in every essay,
topic sentence in every essay although it might be restated
3. Each individual topic in the conclusion
sentence is summarized in 3. It summarizes the ideas
the thesis statement contained in all the topic
sentences
 Experience cue
Hint Example Explanation

Sometimes you can use

The cacophonous rattling A noise that would make
your own experiences to
made Maria cover her you cover your ears would
figure out the definition of
ears. be unpleasant and jarring.
a word.
 Example cue

Hint Example Explanation

The sentence doesn't say

Because some sentences Choose a periodical from
that periodical is a
give examples for a new among the following:
magazine, but you can
word, you can build a Time, Reader's Digest, or
figure that out from the
definition. Seventeen.
examples.
 Conjunction cue

Hint Example Explanation

Some sentences contain

conjunctions which To be affluent instead of The use of “instead of”
establish relationships poor is enough to provide next to the word poor
between unfamiliar and high status in certain hints that affluent is the
familiar words in the societies. opposite of poor.
sentence.
 Definition cue
Hint
Some sentences are written
just to give the definitions of
difficult words - words that
readers will need to know to
understand what they are
reading.
Example Explanation
One of the remarkable features
The second sentence, which
of the Nile Valley is fertility of
tells us that the soil was rich
the soil. This rich earth that
and that it supported plant
supported plant growth made
growth, explains the word
it possible for Egyptians to
fertility.
thrive in a dry region.
 Antonym cue
Hint
Some sentences tell the
opposite of what a new word
means. From its opposite, you
can figure out the meaning of
the word.
Example
Parents who constantly spank
their children cannot be called
lenient.
Explanation
If you are lenient, you do not
often punish your children.
Merciful or gentle would be
good guesses for the meaning
of lenient.
Helping words to show
opposites: not, but, although,
however, on the other hand...
Thank you