INGLÉS 4 – UNIDAD 2 – CAMBRENGFORENGIN.

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4 The language of discussion
When discussing common ideas avoid personal phrases such as in my
opinion or personally, I think . . .
Use impersonal phrases instead such as:
These phrases suggest a minority viewpoint:
When you are supporting your opinions with sources use phrases such as:
1EEE
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It is generally accepted that working from home saves commuting time . . .
email and the internet reduce reliance on an
It is widely agreed that office . . .
to need face-to-face contact with colleagues . .
Most people appear .
more companies will encourage working from
home . . .
It is probable that certain people are better at self-management .
..
The evidence suggests that

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T These phrases suggest a minority viewpoint:
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It can be argued that home-working encourages time-wasting

One view is that home-workers become isolated

When you are supporting your opinions with sources use phrases such as:
According to Emerson few companies have developed clear policies .
(2003) ..

Poledna (2007) claims that most employees benefit from flexible

5 Counter-arguments
Counter-arguments are ideas that are opposite to your ideas. In an academic
discussion you must show that you are familiar with both sides of the
argument, and provide reasons to support your position. It is usual to deal
with the counter-arguments first, before giving your view.

_ What is the writer’s position in the following example, on the topic of

prisons (2 above)?

5.1 It is claimed that prisons are needed to isolate

dangerous criminals from society, but while this may
be true in some cases, more commonly prisons act as
‘universities of crime’, which reinforce criminal behaviour.

_ Study the example below, and write two more sentences using ideas

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from the title in (3).

Counter-argument Your position

Some people believe that homeworkers but this can be avoided by holding weekly
become isolated, meetings for all departmental staff.

6 Providing evidence
Normally your conclusions on a topic follow an assessment of the evidence.
You must show that you have studied the relevant sources since only then
can you give a balanced judgement.

_ Study the following text, which discusses the idea that young people
today, who have grown up with computing and the internet, are
different from previous generations.

6.1 DO ‘DIGITAL NATIVES’ EXIST?

Various writers have argued that people born in the last two
decades of the twentieth century (1980–2000) and who have
been using computers all their lives have different abilities and
needs to other people. Palfrey and Gasser (2008) refer to them
as the ‘net generation’ and argue that activities such as putting
videos on You Tube are more natural for them than writing
essays. Similarly Prensky (2001a) claims that the educational
system needs to be revised to cater for the preferences of
these ‘digital natives’.
But other researchers doubt that these claims can apply to a
whole generation. Bennett, Maton and Kervin (2008) argue that
these young people comprise a whole range of abilities, and
that many of them only have a limited understanding of digital
tools. They insist that the so-called ‘digital native’ theory is a
myth, and that it would be a mistake to re-organise the
educational system to cater for their supposed requirements.
Clearly there are some young people who are very proficient
in online technologies, but taking a global perspective many
still grow up and are educated in a traditional manner.
Teaching methods are constantly being revised, but there is no
clear evidence of a need to radically change them.

_ The table below shows the structure of the text, but the descriptors
have been mixed up. Re-arrange them in the correct order.

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 1 Arguments against
2 Writer’s viewpoint
3 Claims for ‘digital natives’

The Correct Order.

Texts With Worksheets

TEXT 1: WHAT KIND OF MORNING PERSON ARE YOU?
1. BEFORE YOU READ

a. Look at the title.

1. What do you think this text is about?
2. What kind of morning person are you? How do you feel in the morning?
3. Is it easy or difficult for you to get up in the morning?
4. How do you react if someone tries to wake you up?

b. Skim the text very quickly, to get a general impression.

Is this a story or a description of types?

c. Vocabulary – These words and phrases will help you understand the text:
alarm clock, annoying, awake, ball of energy, behave, complain, (to) hate, lazy, (to) need, often,
punishment, sleepyhead, sleep through, snooze, (to) stretch, suffer, tasks, type, unless

2. WHILE YOU READ

Think about:
1. How many types of morning people does the article describe?
2. What signals help you find the types?
3. Can you divide the text into sections?

WHAT KIND OF MORNING PERSON ARE YOU?

What kind of morning person are you? What are you like in the morning? How do you behave?
You probably belong to one of the following three types: those who hate mornings, those who sleep
through them or those who like them. Those who hate mornings are often called "grumps". Grumps
hate waking up in the morning and if you try to wake them up, they complain and make you suffer.
It's a good idea to stay as far away from a morning grump as possible, unless you like punishment.
The second type of morning person is the kind who always says "give me just another minute" and
then stretches "another minute" into 30 or 40 minutes with the help of a snooze alarm. She often
sleeps right through the morning and is late for everything. The last kind of morning person is the
most annoying, because he actually likes mornings. For him, there is no need for an alarm clock. He
always gets up early, bright-eyed and happy to face a new day. In fact, he usually finishes his

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morning tasks long before anyone else is even awake. This is the kind of morning person who
makes everyone else look lazy. So what kind of morning person are you? Are you a grump, a "just-
another-minute" sleepyhead or a bright-eyed ball of energy?

Adapted from Reading Skills for Beginners 1,

Bar-Ilan University, 1998.

3. AFTER YOU READ

a. How much did you understand?
1. How many kinds of morning people does the writer describe?
2. What name is given to people who hate mornings?
3. Explain in your own words the sentence: "It's a good idea to stay as far away from a morning
grump
as possible, unless you like punishment." (lines 10-12)
4. What does the second type usually do when you wake her up?

b. Text Analysis Questions

1. List and briefly describe the 3 types of morning people.
2. What is the writer's definition of "grumps"?
3. What is the writer's aim in writing this text?
4. Why does the writer call the last kind of morning person "the most annoying"?
What is the writer's attitude to this kind of morning person?

TAKEN FROM: CAMBRENFORENGIN (UNIT 2) + ACADEMIC WRITING HANDBOOK (PG 105 A 107) +
READINGACADEMICENGLISH (PG 21-22).

LLL