Academic English and Study

skills: week 4 day 1

Contents
1) Housekeeping
10 vocabulary items
Assessment advice
Vocabulary practice sheets
2) Sample Harvard coursework

Thursday: introduction to Academic Reading Circles

Roles of ARC
10 vocabulary items
• policy
• positive
• potential
• previous
• primary
• process
• purchase
• range
• recent
• region
Sample student essay following Harvard style


https://www.chegg.com/writing/guides/style-guides/harvard-ref
erencing/sample-paper-harvard-referencing/

Please follow the link, read the student’s work page by page, and
then discuss in pairs what the author did well and perhaps not
so well.
Introduction to ARC
 What is ARC?
-Academic Reading Circles – critical reading followed by
discussion
 Why do we use it?

- to improve reading comprehension through collaborative, multi-

perspective engagement with nonfiction texts
 Strategies used:

-summarizing -evaluation
-rereading -visualization
-monitoring -researching
-questioning -synthesizing
-critical thinking -connecting
Roles of ARC

Leader

Connector

Visualizer

Contextualiser

Summariser

Highlighter
Leader


Asks critical thinking to ensure foundational understanding of
text

Sections text by idea/topic (n.b. journal articles, conveniently,
often come pre-sectioned!)

Provides summary of key points of each section of the text

Asks discussion questions to promote greater analysis of text

Promotes group member participation
Connector

 Find connections between the text, outside sources, and personal

experience

 Typically, students find connections between the text and other

readings in the course, other courses, current events, and
personal experience
Visualizer

Uses visuals to help students understand important concepts in the text


Photos, charts and graphs, maps, timelines, infographics, etc.
Contextualiser

Identifies important references to key people, places, events, or ideas
(that are not fully explained in the text) in order to improve
comprehension of article

This may also include background knowledge of concepts mentioned in
the text

Gives short, bulleted points about references and provides an
explanation as to why the author mentioned this reference
Summariser

 summarise main points of EACH section (original language)

 examples in reading/lecture to demonstrate the main points

 relevance of the title and the content

 what the subtitles (if any) tell you about each section
Highlighter

 Focuses on meaning and use of topical/discipline-specific

vocabulary

 Focuses on meaning and use of repeated and important

keywords unrelated to topic or discipline

 Asks close reading questions to promote analysis of language

usage