Facultad de Humanidades Lectura de Textos Acadmicos en Ingls II

Escuela de Ciencias del Lenguaje Profesor: Edward Sarasty

Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras

Reading for a purpose
A reader finds different kinds of text that usually provide some specific type of information.
That is, according to the readers needs and interest, he can select from a large variety of
books, magazines, booklets or newspapers, the best or most appropriate information for
his/her purpose. There are different types of texts and purposes, but it is also important for
the reader to handle the text in the best possible way in order to get the required information.
Vocabulary management
Recognizing cognates
These are words which have similar forms and meanings in different languages. They have
the same origin, although some of them have had some changes in form and meaning through
their historical development. English has many words that are similar in form to those in
French, Italian, Spanish, and German. English and Spanish have thousands of words equal
or similar in spelling and meaning, but with different pronunciation. These are called true
cognates.
Examples:

Attention: Some cognates develop different meaning in different languages. They are called
false cognates. Although they are few, it is important to know them.
Examples:
English Spanish
lecture conferencia
success xito
English French Italian Spanish
Symbol Symbole Symbolo Smbolo
Materials Matires Materiali Materiales
Radioactive Radioactive Radioattivo Radioactivo
Protection Protection Protezione Proteccin
Respiratory Respiratoire Respiratorio Respiratorio
to realize darse cuenta
large grande
once una vez
* You also ought to know that there are some words that can be false or true cognates. It
depends on the context in which they appears.
rest = resto
rest = descansar
Example:
Where are the rest of the students?
I rest only on Sundays.

Key words
When you read a text you must try to identify key words that seem to be important in it. That
is to say, in any reading you will find words that appear in the title or several times in the text
and these words can give you clues that may help you understand the text more clearly.
Associating these words with the ones you already know, you can find the meaning of some
words that you may not know.

Context clues
When you read a text in English, you may find unfamiliar words. Before using the dictionary,
try to understand the meaning of these words from the context clues. That is, finding the
meaning of a word in a sentence, or a paragraph; or you can observe the meaning of its parts:
root and affixes. A good reader has to develop the ability to guess the meaning of words
through different ways, using the dictionary only if necessary.

Derived words
One of the main resources to enrich our vocabulary in any language consists in the addition
of letters (affixes) to a root. Affixes placed before a root are called prefixes (inter, micro,
un, fore.) When they are placed after the root they are called suffixes (er, able, tion, ist.)

































AFFIXES
PREFIXES
They change the meaning. e.g.
Write rew
rite
SUFFIXES
They change the grammatical category (type of
word.) e.g.
Sick sickness
Function Prefix Examples
Negation Un- non-in-il-dis-de Unhappy
Unusual,
Disappear,
Illegal,
Non-alcoholic
Size Semi-mini- maxi-
micro, macro
Microwave
Semiconductor
Minimarket
Microorganism
Macrocosm
Location Inter-super-trans-
mid-extra-retro
International
Superstar
Transformation
Extravehicular
Midwinter
Time/order Pre-ante-fore-post Preconceive
Antediluvian
Postgraduate,
Forerunner

Number Mono-bi-multi-hex-
oct-poly
Monolingual
Bisexual
Polybasic
Multimillionaire
Miscellane-
Ous
Re-over-co-auto-out Reread
Cooperation
Output
Automobile
Noun Verb Adjective Adverb
-ics
-ity
-ance
-our
-er
-or
-ist
-ism
-ness
-tion
-ion
-ship
-hood
-ment
-dom
-acy
-ary
-cian
-th
-age
-ize
-ise
-ate
-fy
-ify
-en
-able
-ible
-al
-ic
-ical
-ful
-ish
-ive
-less
-ous
-ious
-y
-ly
-wise
e.g.
communication (noun)
communicate (verb)
communicative (adjective)
communicably (adverb)


Parts of speech (type of words)
Part of
speech
Definition Examples Example sentences
Noun A noun is a word that refers to
people, places, things, ideas and
concepts.
Einstein, planet, book,
science, gravity.
He studied law and political
science.
Verb A verb is a word that indicates an
action or a state.
(to) be, have, do, like,
work, read, write,
think.
He helped in the translations of
the new Colombian Constitution.
Adjective An adjective is a word that
indicates a quality and describes a
noun or a pronoun.
Big, dark, blue,
academic, intelligent.
He worked on various television
parodies, which contained humor
about materialistic society and
politics.
Adverb An adverb is a word that describes
or modifies verbs, adjectives and
other adverbs. Several adverbs in
English end in ly (really =
realmente), but others do not
(much, well, too, very, always.)
Now, again, late,
immediately, never.
Garzn created many different and
instantly recognizable fictional
characters.
Pronoun A pronoun is a word that replaces
a noun.
You, he, she, they,
one, it.
He was a Colombian journalist, a
comedian, lawyer, peace activist
and political satirist.
Preposition A preposition is a word that helps
to link a noun to another word.
Some prepositions denote time,
location or direction.
In, on, at, between,
among, to, over,
below, with, of,
under, next to, within,
off, from, for.
Garzn was born on October 24,
1960 in Bogot
Conjunction A conjunction is a word that joins
clauses or sentences.
And, but, so, then,
however.
He studied law and political
science at the Universidad
Nacional de Colombia, but his
active involvement in politics and
television did not allow him to
finish.
Interjection An interjection is a short
exclamation, sometimes inserted
into a sentence.
Oh! Ouch! Hi!
Well
Hi! How are you?
Ouch! That hurts!


Reading strategies
Skimming.
To read in a superficial manner just to find out what the text is about. You skim when you
quickly run your eyes over the text, picking out the words and sentences which might give
you the general information of the text. When doing so, do not stop reading in order to
understand the meaning of a certain word, nor trying to know specific details

Scanning.
It is similar to skimming because they both are quick reading. However, when scanning the
search is more focused, the purpose is to obtain specific information, e.g. a date, a name, a
figure, etc. When applying this strategy you do not need to read the whole text.
Intensive reading
This is careful reading for obtaining the complete meaning of a passage. At this level of
comprehension, the reader is able to summarize the authors ideas and it is also useful to
get implicit information from the text.

Critical reading
Critical reading implies that the readers make judgments about what they read. This kind of
reading requires posing and insuring questions such as:

- Does my own experience support that of the author?
- Do I share authors point of view?
- Am I convinced by the authors arguments and evidence?
- What is my opinion about the text?


Structure of discourse

Sentences and paragraphs are not just strung together, one after the other. The ideas they
express are connected by means of certain words or phrases that relate the ideas to each other.
It will help you improve your reading to recognize different connectors and referents.

Referents
Referents are words which substitute other words. They refer back to ideas that have already
been expressed. They also refer forward to ideas yet to be started. Pronouns are the most
familiar reference words. Here are some examples in the following paragraphs. The referents
are italicized and colored and then explained below.
Some students read slowly and know it; others read slowly and dont know it. The former
can be helped easily because they are already aware of their problem. The latter can be
helped, however, they must be aware of the problem.
Lets identify the meaning of these referents:

it: the fact that they read slowly
others: students
it: the fact that they read slowly
the former: students who read slowly and know it
they: the former students
their problem: reading slowly
the latter: students who read slowly but do not know it
they: the latter students
the problem: reading slowly

*The former: el primero mencionado / los primeros mencionados
*The latter: el ltimo mencionado / los ltimos mencionados


Connectors

Your reading will be more efficient and meaningful if you are aware of the conjunctions that
link ideas into some kind of relationship. These words (conjunctions, prepositions, verbs) or
phrases connect ideas together to indicate contrast, cause, addition, and so on. Connectors
are useful clues that will help you read rapidly; therefore, a little practice in recognizing them
will be useful. There are many more connectors in English than in Spanish.
Some common examples are:
Sequence
To start
To start with
First
First of all
Second, Third
Later
After
Then
Next
Afterwards
At the same time
Immediately

Conclusion
As a result
Concluding
Finally
In brief
In conclusion
Thus
In short
In summary
To conclude
To sum up
Without a doubt

Addition
In addition
Also
Besides
Moreover
And
Whats more
Furthermore


Exemplification
For example
For instance
Such as
Similarly
Likewise
In this case
Also
Another
Namely
i.e.
e.g.

Contrast
But
Although
Even though
Nevertheless
Whereas
On one hand on the other hand
Otherwise
However
In contrast
In spite of

Time links
While
Meanwhile
As
When
Whenever
Before
After