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Welcome to the MOOC How to succeed in the English B1 level exam.
Today's video class is about key features
of a reading comprehension activity.
First of all, I'm going to talk about
the meaningful reading process
and then we'll move on to a typical exam situation
and how to face a reading comprehension activity
First we'll work on the text of the activity
and then on the questions.
Finally, I'll give you some useful references.
Okay, what do experts say about the meaningful reading process?
There are two trains of thought.
One says this is a bottom up process from specific to general
that language is made up of words, chunks of words or morphemes
prefixes, suffixes
and structures of words to be decoded or deciphered.
Therefore, reading is about linear and hierarchical interpretation.
And experts recommend extensive reading.
saying or arguing that skills need to be practised
to be mastered.
Okay.
There are also experts who consider that reading is...
above all, a top down process, from general to specific.
That language is integrated and not to be fragmented.
And meaning is contextual.
A word only means what the surrounding context means.
The reading session must be turned into a purposeful experience.
Judging from these trains of thought
we might deduce or conclude
that we have to try to integrate both perspectives
and consider a process that is perceptual
where we organise and store the incoming information we read.
And another module
that is mental
and is about reflection
formulating and confirming or dismissing predictions
based on our own experience
and also on the incoming text that we are accessing.
And finally we must reach a synthesis
and refocus what we've done.
The process may be iteratively undertaken
that is, reread
until we are satisfied.
We might consider these aspects before, while or after reading.
What is the text likely to be about?
Is it above or at my level?
Because it is very recommendable
not to access text, either audio or in writing
that is too difficult or too easy.
It is better to read too easy a text than too difficult a text.
Why?
Because it'll be frustrating and too hard to obtain any benefit.
So, as we go along and realise which fragments are clear or not
we'll try to decode those fragments that are unclear
by using linguistic knowledge, textual knowledge
and our real world experience.
Finally, we could ask ourselves: what's the point of the composition?
Was it what I thought it was going to be?
These metacognitive questions are fundamental
to undertake a successful reading activity
and also to improve our reading skills.
Here are some tips to be used.
We can ask ourselves: is what I read coherent?
Can I make a list with the data?
Put them in a chronological order?
We can also look for confirmation
on the internet, social media, books, etc.
And, very important, avoid frustration.
Because understanding 80%, 40%, even 10% of a text
is not the same as nothing.
This process will inevitably improve as we read more and more.
And we do it using our metacognitive skills
our real world knowledge, linguistic knowledge, etc.
English, Spanish, German...
Indo-European languages are related
so sometimes we can use our...
knowledge of our own language to figure out what the word means.
Beware of grammatical differences and occasional false friends.
Some words might sound the same
like 'carpet' in English and 'carpeta' in Spanish
and they mean different things.
Be ready to question any assumption
like primary meanings of words in a given text.
We know what a house is in English
but the House of Commons
or the House of Parliament is a completely different thing.
We have to be ready to formulate predictions
use as many different types of knowledge as possible
but be also ready to dismiss...
predictions that are not...
that are proven not to be right.
Here's a short example
of a text that has appeared in a previous B1 exam.
Imagine a football league that's so poorly managed
that it has to sell its best players in order to survive.
Okay.
Some words are probably easy for a B1 student.
like 'imagine', 'football' and 'best'.
But using our own language we can...
figure out the meanings of 'world famous'
using our knowledge of the words 'world' and 'famous'.
Something famous at the international level.
'League'.
'Poorly'. We might not know the adverb.
but we would know 'poor'
and deduce what 'poorly' is.
"Done in a poor manner".
'Managed'.
We might not know the verb, but we're familiar with 'management'
which is used in many other languages.
'Players', from 'play'.
'Leagues'.
Or 'survive', 'sur-vive'.
Here the prefix might help us.
So if we work on the text that way
then we can figure out what the whole sentence means.
Also using our knowledge of football and the football business.
Imagine a football league that is so poorly managed
that has to sell its best players in order to survive.
Even if we don't know the meaning of the words 'sell' or 'foreign'
we can imagine that all the leagues
are doing something with the players.
We know that players are sold
and exchanged for money or other players all the time.
And here we have other examples.
Brazil's football is in financial trouble.
We might not know 'financial', but perhaps we do 'finance'
because it's similar to the equivalent in our language.
As we know these sentences belong to the previous text
we might figure out 'financial'
'Brazil's football', 'selling', players'
This must be something negative about Brazil's football finances.
Skilled athletes are one of Brazil's leading exports.
We might know the meaning of 'exports'
because we use it too, or 'leading', 'leader', 'to lead'.
There are other, similar words
with the same root that can be used.
When is the activity over?
When further readings or focuses
confirm our interpretation and there's no informative gain.
Once we read and are satisfied
or acceptably satisfied with what we've read
and if we continue reading
it doesn't change anything
so we might conclude that the activity is over.
And then we move on to the exam. Some tips.
Most questions require intensive reading.
Do not rush to answer the questions
because, very frequently, there are...
several questions may not be completely wrong.
Very often we're asked to select the best of the four options.
So highlight the fragments of text where the answer may be found
apply your knowledge of the text, the context, real world knowledge
comprehensively, in an integrated manner
and do not overrate your predictions, be ready to dismiss them.
Do not make a decision until you've read all four options
and be aware that you might be asked to provide
the opposite, or the question might be negative.
In the negative modality.
Let's see an example.
In the director's box sits the man who has made his goal
to save the team.
Okay, which of the answers below means the opposite of 'to save'?
Help somebody from drowning, pay, help to win or help to lose?
Okay, 'pay'? Could be.
'Help somebody from drowning'. It certainly means that.
Not in the context of the football business.
So, save, yeah, 'help somebody win'.
Option C.
Well yes, but...
Read the question again, which answer means the opposite of 'to save'?
We're asked to provide the opposite.
'Help somebody lose'.
Okay, so here's a few references
of texts that might be useful
because they talk about how to gain in reading fluency
and also there, at the beginning
the Common Framework of Reference for Languages
because that will help you realise where your reading level is.
It's very important to be in charge of your own learning process.
Thank you for your attention. Bye for now. Good luck.
Subtitles: Tomás Costal.