Used to - peterstrutt.co.ukpeterstrutt.co.uk/.../05/...Skills-in-Preparation-for-the-Toeic-exam-.docx · Web viewThis solution, adapted from Lougheed (2012) uses a common Toeic

Helping Learners to Acquire Reading Skills in Preparation for the Toeic exam

Word Count : 2491

Contents Page Number1. Introduction

1.1 Focus1.2 Scope

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2. Analysis of Features2.1 What is the Toeic?2.2 What is reading and how is it tested?2.3 Skimming and scanning2.4 Guessing from context2.5 Main-ideas comprehension

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3. Problems and solutions3.1 Problem 1 – skimming and scanning3.2 Solution 1 – skimming3.3 Solution 2 – scanning3.4 Problem – guessing from context3.5 Solution3.6 Problem 1 – main-ideas comprehension3.7 Solution3.8 Problem 23.9 Solution

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4. Conclusion 75. Bibliography

5.1 Resource Materials5.2 Research Materials

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6. Appendices 9-20

1. Introduction

1.1 FocusA requirement of my school is for students to sit the listening/reading Toeic test. The decision was made at an administrative level without regard for our syllabus, which does not cater for test preparation.

Helping Learners Prepare for the Toeic Joanne Smith Candidate Number 007

Because the skills necessary for the reading components of the tests are not present in the syllabus, my students underperform. Anderson (Nuttall, 2005) states that teaching reading and testing it are similar, the major difference being the way the materials are used. The focus of this skills assignment therefore is helping learners prepare for the reading element of this exam.

1.2 ScopeThrough talking to students and prior research, I have decided to limit my scope to the longer reading passages in the Toeic which require the ability to skim and scan, guess words from context, and understand main ideas.

These abilities are on Grabe’s list of ‘major component abilities for reading comprehension’. Grabe (2009:357, appendix 1). Grabe states that the fundamental goal of L2 learners is developing main-ideas comprehension. Nation (2000) puts guessing from context at the top of his list of vocabulary learning strategies. Hughes (2003) states that skimming and scanning have not been given enough prominence in tests in the past and that consequently learners have not been trained in these skills.

2. Analysis

2.1 What is the Toeic?This high stakes proficiency test can reflect a test-taker’s educational progression and can help career advancement. Learners need a range of reading skills to obtain a B2+ level - the result required by various organisations worldwide.

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The table below from ETS (Handbook, 2016:2) shows the reading test format.

Part 5 Incomplete sentences (40 questions)Part 6 Text completion (12 questions)Part 7 Reading comprehension (48 questions)

Single passages: 28 questions7-10 reading texts with 2-5 questions each

Double passages: 20 questions4 pairs of reading texts with 5 questions per pair

In part 7, the scope of this assignment, there is a main idea or specific detail to find. All answers are multiple choice. The most common types of passages found are advertisements, business correspondence, forms, charts and graphs, articles and reports and announcements and paragraphs. (Lougheed, 2012:161)

2.2 What is reading and how is it tested? Reading involves extracting meaning from a text. It is not passive, however. Readers actively look for meaning and use a variety of techniques to make sense of what they read. (Nuttall, 2005).

According to Grellet, (1981) the main ways of reading are skimming for gist, scanning for a particular piece of information, extensive reading for global understanding and intensive reading to extract specific information. Hughes (2003) states that flexibility is a vital characteristic of an accomplished reader in that s/he varies her/his reading according to purpose and text.

Because these are skills that a good reader uses, it is natural to test them. Here is how reading skills are tested in the Toeic.

2.3 Skimming and scanningSkimming a text involves glancing quickly through it to determine its gist. This technique is used to determine whether material is worth reading, or to ascertain the tone of a piece. People tend to skim through newspapers to decide which articles to read.

Scanning retrieves a desired piece of information from a text; a date or a name for example. Our eyes flit in all directions when looking at a train timetable. It is unnecessary to read the whole timetable to locate one train time. (Grellet, 1981)

A 75-minute time limit for the Toeic requires expeditious reading and Trew (2007) recommends spending 60-90 seconds per question for the longer passages. Test-takers should therefore skim and scan to extract answers quickly. Appendix 2 shows an advertisement and questions which require a quick scan for the answers, doable in the 60-90 seconds recommended.

Appendix 3 shows a meeting agenda and an email. Candidates must skim the questions to establish that 160, 161 and 163 relate to the agenda and that scanning will yield the

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answers. 162 and 164 relate to the email, which test-takers need to skim to understand the main purpose.

2.4 Guessing from contextAn L1 reader sometimes references a dictionary on encountering unfamiliar words, but more commonly guesses the meaning. It wasn’t until reading Nuttall’s Teaching Reading (2005) that I realised how much I use this top-down strategy to understand words.

Moreillon (2007:77) urges us to ‘understand reading as a transaction between text, reader and context’. ‘Reap’ in the last sentence in the article in appendix 4 illustrates Moreillon’s point. Reading around the word we know that combining change strategies successfully leads to productivity and profitability. These are both good things because of the positive connotations of ‘successful’ and ‘significant’. If companies are more productive and profitable they will earn more money. So reap must mean earn or receive.

2.5 Main-ideas comprehensionReaders have motives for reading and writers have messages to convey. A considerate writer makes her/his main idea clear with a topic sentence and expands on it with supporting sentences. Key words and sentences are often repeated throughout the text by way of reformulation, synonyms and semantically related lexis. (Thornbury, 2005)

The Toeic often asks ‘what is the article mainly about’. Appendix 4 shows the same sample passage as in 2.4 and its questions. To answer question 156 correctly, the test-taker must recognise that ‘companies’ is a synonym for ‘organisations’, ‘new conditions’ relates to ‘changes’ and that ‘adapt to new conditions’ in the body of the text is reformulated as ‘manage the changes’. Then there are ‘layoffs’, ‘downsizing’ and ‘restructuring’ as types of changes plus ’changes in corporate culture’.

3. Problems and Solutions

I have taken my sample Toeic passages from www.ets.org and, if internet access is not available, Lougheed (2012).

3.1 Problem 1 – skimming and scanningThe Toeic redesigned their listening/reading test in 2006 to encompass a broader range of sub-skills. (Trew, 2007). As Hughes (2003) says, learners have suffered from the negative backwash of older tests where skimming and scanning were not tested, and consequently not taught in class.

My concrete sequential learners who like step-by-step work (Scrivener, 2012) insist on reading exam passages in detail, trying to understand every word before reading the questions. This is counter-productive and a reason they fail to finish the test.

3.2 Solution 1 – skimmingThis solution, adapted from Lougheed (2012) uses a common Toeic passage type (see 2.1) and shows that reading and understanding every word is not necessary.

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http://www.ets.org/


Tell students they will read different types of business correspondence in the Toeic. Elicit emails and letters.

Ask why businesses write emails and letters and write ideas on the board; to confirm an order, to promote or advertise, to request payment etc.

Hand out the letter in appendix 5 without the questions and ask students why it was written. Give students 30 seconds to skim the letter then ask them to write a short sentence to answer the question ‘why was the letter written?’. They must skim alone but can check ideas with a partner. Check the answers as a class. Don’t enter into details, a general idea is all that’s required.

Distribute questions 153/4 and give the students 30 seconds to answer.

Students can work in groups to find answers, but solo work is better exam practice. It would work well in one-on-one classes with the student trying to beat his/her time. Positive backwash is that students would be equipped to use this technique outside the classroom. It would be useful for students who work in international companies and are confronted with a multitude of documents to read in English, some of which only require a cursory glance.

For general learners supply book reviews/summaries. Ask them which one deals with a certain topic. Adapt the length and difficulty to learner level. Discussion could revolve around choosing a book and why. (Appendix 6). These activities show learners the practicalities of skimming and encourage students to transfer their L1 reading skills to their L2.

3.3 Solution 2 – scanningAdvertisements are another common Toeic passage type, whether for jobs, renting or promoting. This solution familiarises students with advertisements and their associated vocabulary in preparation for the exam.

Write three headings on the board; job, rental and promotional (common types of advertisements in the test). Brainstorm the kind of lexis common to each and list the lexis in the appropriate columns. Words could include salary, education, apply, rent, tenant, landlord, sale, discount, offer. Tailor the words to the advertisement to be used.

Distribute the sample advertisement in appendix two. Ask what is being promoted and how. Ask them to scan for and underline any identical or semantically connected words to the ones listed on the board. Help them realise that ‘off’ means ‘discount’.

Hand out the questions and get students to scan for the answers.

In my experience students’ schema is activated by reading the title and salient words and phrases. A2 students link ‘expire’ in question 155 with ‘good until’ in the advertisement because of their previous knowledge of these kinds of texts.

The same procedure could be used as a TBL activity with students planning trips by scanning brochures for a holiday destination and train or plane timetables to organise their departure. This authentic and meaningful activity could convince students to adapt their reading to the text in front of them.

With business students a letter could be given and various questions devised to target scanning practice. (Appendix 7). Skimming and scanning can be combined in the same class.

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Students can skim to get the general idea then scan for specific details. Their own documents could be used to show the practicality of the techniques.

3.4 Problem – guessing from contextMany older learners turn to the dictionary as soon as they encounter unfamiliar words. They are fearful of making mistakes or of not being able to grasp the true meaning of a word. As dictionaries are proscribed in exams, my learners need to adapt to guessing from context.

3.5 SolutionI believe that practising with nonsense words lowers affective filters. This solution is particularly useful for apprehensive, less confident students as anxiety is reduced and they can enjoy guessing as part of a group. It is taken from Nuttall (2005:72).

Cover the sentences below, revealing them one at a time. After each sentence, learners write down what they know about the word tock. Ask questions drawing on schema, showing that background knowledge can be used to help. (Appendix 8).

1. She poured the water into a tock2. Then, lifting the tock, she drank.3. As she was putting it back on the table, the tock slipped from her hand and broke.4. Only the handle remained in one piece.

This activity could work in one-on-one classes, groups or for business students with adapted texts. (Appendix 9) Once students realise this technique is possible, use exam passages and supply dictionaries to check guesses. Regular practice is needed to speed up guesses in preparation for the test.

Care must be taken when preparing these exercises as students’ schema differ. ‘Tock’ for a French student is a glass, even when handle is mentioned, as culturally water is drunk from a glass and never a cup.

3.6 Problem 1 – main-ideas comprehensionMy learners struggle with longer reading passages. They do not use co-text to help determine the main idea, nor do they identify key words or sentences. Their motivation is to find an answer in a test and they forget to use these techniques to help them. As Thornbury (2005:54) says ‘practice in identifying the topic is good training’.

3.7 Solution Moreillon (2007:96) says that ‘main ideas are dependent on the purpose of a reading’. My students read in the exam because they have to. They have not been taught to look for the writer’s purpose.

Tell learners that main-idea questions relate to the general idea of the passage and that in order to discover the writer’s purpose they should first read the questions.

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Distribute appendix 4, questions 156 to 159 and ask learners to read them. This should raise interest in the text to follow. Help learners turn the choices into

questions they would like the text to answer. What are the marketing plans? How can companies increase profits?

Answering their own questions should lead to the answer - marketing is not mentioned in the passage, technology is mentioned once but not expanded on etc. If they cannot answer their question, it is not the correct answer.

Grasping the main idea is essential. Each Toeic passage usually has one main idea question and three detail questions. Once students misunderstand the main idea, there is a risk that all their answers will be incorrect. I find that this activity shows learners that if they are interested in the text, the questions are easier to answer.

3.8 Problem 2 My learners complain that Toeic questions are paraphrased in such a way that it is impossible to find the correct answer within the text. After consulting with learners disappointed with their result I realised that they read the questions, looked for the exact words in the passages and panicked on not finding them.

3.9 SolutionI found this solution helpful with a B1 learner. Moving through the following steps showed her how to ask logical questions and look for reformulation and synonyms.

Give learners the passage in appendix 10 without the questions. Ask learners to skim the passage and state its purpose (to invite amateur film-makers

to enter a competition). Invite learners to highlight key words, in this case amateur, animators, animation,

competition, awards, prizes etc. Draw attention to lexical repetition, synonyms and related words.

Supply question 160. Ask students if the key words they highlighted help to answer the question. If not, go through each choice asking questions about the words they highlighted. Does encourage in choice A have a synonym? Yes, urge. Is the text urging people to attend university? No, to enter a competition. Is there another word for funds in choice B? No. Lead the students to answer C. Ask what an artist is? Can a film-maker be an artist? What does unknown mean? What is to provide exposure? The goal is to guide discovery to the fact that answers are not always explicitly stated and some interaction with the text is required.

In my experience, higher level learners easily reject two possibilities and hesitate between two similar choices. This activity encourages learners to interrogate the text in order to home in on the correct answer.

4. Conclusion Reading is a complex series of cognitive processes of which skilled readers are rarely conscious. (Ashby & Raynor, 2006 as referenced in Grabe, 2009). I believe the exercises outlined in this assignment raise consciousness that L1 reading skills can be transferred to learners’ L2 and can help test-takers get a better Toeic result. My aim is to implement these techniques, to monitor exam success rates and to question my learners on how and if the techniques helped in the exam.

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5. Bibliography

5.1 Research materials

ETS, 2015. Examinee Handbook, Listening and Reading. ETS. Grabe, W, 2009. Reading in a Second Language. Moving from Theory to Practice.

Cambridge University Press.

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Grellet, F, 1981. Developing Reading Skills. A Practical Guide to Reading Comprehension Exercises. Cambridge University Press.

Hughes, A, 2003. Testing for Language Teachers. 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press.

Moreillon, J, 2007. Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension. American Library Association.

Nation, I.S.P, 2000. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge Applied Linguistics.

Nuttall, C, 2005. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Macmillan. Seidenberg, M & Tanenhaus, M, 1981. Discourse Context and Sentence Perception. Scrivener, J, 2012. Classroom Management Techniques. Cambridge University Press. Thornbury, S, 2005. Beyond the Sentence. Introducing Discourse Analysis.

Macmillan.

5.2 Resource materials

Learning Express, 2005. Reading Comprehension Success in 20 Minutes a Day. 3rd Edition. Learning Express LLC

Lougheed, L, 2012. Longman Preparation Series for the Toeic Test: Listening and Reading 5th edition. Pearson.

Trew, G, 2007. Tactics for Toeic Listening and Reading Test. OUP

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6. Appendices

6.1 Appendix 1

Grabe’s 14 major component abilities for reading comprehension (2005:357)

1. Fluency and reading speed2. Automaticity and rapid word recognition3. Search processes4. Vocabulary knowledge5. Morphological knowledge6. Syntactic knowledge7. Text-structure awareness and discourse organisation 8. Main-ideas comprehension9. Recall of relevant details10. Inferences about text information11. Strategic-processing abilities12. Summarisation abilities13. Synthesis skills14. Evaluation and critical reading

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6.2 Appendix 2Refers to 2.3 – skimming and scanning and 3.3 Solution 2 – scanningTaken from a sample Toeic paper (www.ets.org)

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6.3 Appendix 3Refers to 2.3 – skimming and scanningTaken from a sample Toeic paper (www.ets.org)

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Appendix 3 cont.

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6.4 Appendix 4Refers to 2.4 – guessing from context, 2.5 – main-ideas comprehension and solution 3.7Taken from a sample Toeic paper (www.ets.org)

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Appendix 4 cont.

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6.5 Appendix 5Refers to solution 3.2 – skimmingTaken from a sample Toeic paper (www.ets.org)

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6.6 Appendix 6Refers to solution 3.2 – skimmingTaken from Goodreads. www.goodreads.com

A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America by Craig Werner ". . . extraordinarily far-reaching. . . . highly accessible.""No one has written this way about music in a long, long time. Lucid, insightful, with real spiritual, political, intellectual, and emotional grasp of the whole picture. A book about why music matters, and how, and to whom."

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins The Moonstone is a page-turner. It catches one up and unfolds its amazing story through the recountings of its several narrators, all of them enticing and singular. Wilkie Collins’s spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired a hugely popular genre–the detective mystery. Hinging on the theft of an enormous diamond originally stolen from an Indian shrine, this riveting novel features the innovative Sergeant Cuff, the hilarious house steward Gabriel Betteridge, a lovesick housemaid, and a mysterious band of Indian jugglers.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams?What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/6138.The_Moonstone

https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/253757.A_Change_Is_Gonna_Come


6.7 Appendix 7Refers to 3.3 Solution 2 – scanningTaken from Lougheed (2012)

6.8 Appendix 8

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Refers to Solution 3.5Taken from Nuttall, 2005:73

6.9 Appendix 9

Q: What can we learn from sentence one?A: That a tock can hold water? Q: Suggestions?A: A bucket, a bowl, a hole etcQ: Do we know what she was pouring from? How would it affect our ideas about what a tock might be if she was pouring from a bucket, a kettle, a test tube? etc

Q: How does sentence 2 narrow down the possibilities?A: We know a tock can be lifted (so it isn’t a hole, for instance) and that it can be drunk from.Q: Do we know whether it’s intended to be drunk from? A: No. Perhaps she’s drinking from shell or a hat, or some other makeshift container in an emergency.

Q: What new information do we get from sentence 3?A: We know a tock is fragile – it broke when she dropped it.Q: All tocks?A: This one anyway.Q: What might it have been made of?A: Glass, china, clay, stone?

Q: And sentence 4?A: It has a handle, it’s probably a cup.Q: Can we exclude a jug? Other things with handles?A: No, but in the absence of other evidence, we choose what seems most likely

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Refers to solution 3.5

6.10 Appendix 10

When Lee lost his job he started to get into financial difficulty. He had to move out of his home because he could not afford the rent and faced years of glop.

He took out a loan to cover immediate expenses but the rate of interest was over 20% and he began to accumulate even more glop.

His sister was able to help him with some of the repayments but then her business collapsed and she too was left heavily in glop.

He now finds himself saddled with glops of over £20,000 and he doesn’t know which way to turn.

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Refers to solution 3.9Taken from a sample Toeic test

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Documents

Used to - peterstrutt.co.ukpeterstrutt.co.uk/.../05/...Skills-in-Preparation-for-the-Toeic-exam-.docx · Web viewThis solution, adapted from Lougheed (2012) uses a common Toeic