UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES

DEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS Y CULTURA

TALLER DE LECTURA-READING WORKSHOP 2 Name:_____________________________

Apply the following strategies to demonstrate your reading comprehension.

Review of Reading Comprehension Level One: Literal Meanings

Preview
1. Complete the following information from the text “Can Latin American Higher Education Go Global
without Using English?” in your Readings and Exercises book.
Number of paragraphs ________________
Author _______________________________________
Reference/source _______________________________
Date of publication ______________________________

Pre-reading
2. Skim and scan the text using some other text features (pictures, excerpts, italics, etc) and complete the
following idea.
The general topic of the text is ___________________________________________________________

3. Read the introduction, the first and the last sentence of each paragraph. Then complete the following
ideas.
The specific topic of the text is ___________________________________________________________
The general idea of the text is ____________________________________________________________

While-Reading
1- Read the whole text and complete the following ideas.
a. The main idea of the text is (explicit or implied?) ____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.

b. Is that main idea based on a FACT □ or an OPINION □ ? Mark you choice.

c. Which ideas can support that main idea directly? Underline them in the text.
Review of Text Analysis
After reading the text Can Latin American Higher Education Go Global without Using English. Do the
following exercises.
Text Analysis
1. The text can be considered mainly
a. expository
b. argumentative
c. narrative

because its general purpose is to

a. amuse the audience by narrating how Latin American higher education can go global with the
use of English.
b. report how Latin American higher education has failed to be the key for prosperity in those
countries.
c. justify why it is necessary to encourage Latin America to use English more in educational
institutions to compete in a globalized world.

2. The most suitable context of the text is

a. political
b. educational
c. linguistic

3. The tone of the text is

a. apathetic and moody
b. condescending but optimistic
c. illustrative and earnest

3. The rhetorical purpose of paragraph 3 is

a. to support the idea how Latin America fits into the 19th century European model of education.
b. to compare aspects of general education with professional education in Europe and Latin
America.
c. to give reasons why the curricula in Latin America should be less rigid.

4. The rhetorical purpose of paragraph 7 is

a. to motivate educational institutions to publish their research results in periodicals different
from the English ones.
b. to promote the dissemination of their local culture using their own native languages such as
Portuguese and Spanish.
c. to suggest the inclusion of English as a possible solution for universities to be more
competitive in a globalized educational world.

5. The rhetorical purpose of paragraph 10 is

a. to criticize Latin American universities on how they have failed internationalization.
b. to present the conditions for Latin American universities to improve their quality.
c. to mention that there are some Latin American universities looking for internationalization.
Inferences
6. Tick ( √ ) ALL the ideas that can be inferred supported by the evidence in the text.

_______ A. Successful internationalization should imply more intitiatives rather than only
exchanging programs.

_______ B. The old European model of education is not relevant anymore for Latin American
institutions.

_______ C. Attending classes must be the clue for successful educational and professional results.

_______ D. Extra-curricular activities need to be included more in undergraduate programs to

consolidate knowledge and open professional possibilities.

_______ E. Leandro Tessler suggests that the American style of education needs to be reestructured.

_______ F. Research publications in English are considered more qualified in the educational field.

Funcional Value of Ideas

7. Choose the most appropriate functional value(s) for the following ideas.

A. “But institutions with a strategic view should now be thinking about taking the opportunity to go
beyond simply hosting exchange students.” (P1)
a. fact
b. opinion
c. fact and opinion

B. “Suddenly Latin American universities became regarded as important potential partners and
everyone wants to cooperate, most with a greedy eye for tuition fees in times of crisis.” (P1)
a. generalizing
b. defining
c. predicting

C. “Although the situation is slowly improving, the majority of the Latin American population has
very limited knowledge of English.” (P5)
a. reporting and exemplifying
b. reinforcing and instructing
c. asserting and conceding

D. Why does author mention that “Many Latin American research results are published in Spanish or
Portuguese in periodicals with different standards than their English counterparts.”?

a. To provide evidence of why people only publish in Spanish or Portuguese.

b. To elaborate on the importance of using English for publications.
c. To illustrate the cases of language education in Latin America.