Reading for a Purpose /
Kate Parry.
- New York : St. Martin's Press, 1992.
- xiv, 290 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Includes index.
"This book is intended for upper-level classes in developmental reading programs; a student who has satisfactorily worked through it should be able to proceed directly to regular undergraduate courses. The material is varied and arranged by genre: newspaper and magazine articles in Chapter 1, selections from novels in Chapter 2, college textbook material in Chapter 3, philosophical essays in Chapter 4, and sample test passages and items in Chapter 5. Each chapter begins with an introduction, and each selection is accompanied by exercises; the introductions and exercises together reinforce the point made by the arrangement of the book as a whole: that reading is a diverse activity, and in reading different material for different purposes one must be able to adopt a variety of strategies. Nevertheless, the skills necessary for reading of all kinds, such as perceiving the overall structure of a text and inferring the meanings of unfamiliar words, are discussed fully in the introduction to Chapter 1. The selections cover a wide range of issues, though there are a number of recurring themes, such as the status of women in relation to man, the problems of poverty in both advanced and developing economies, and the relationship between individuals and the social groups to which they belong. The issues are serious ones and are seriously discussed, for though developmental students may not read easily, they are adults and can be expected to have a mature appreciation of social problems. Particular emphasi has been placed on subjects of international concern, in order to provide for those classes that include foreign or immigrant students as well asstudents born and raised in the United States. The book provides sufficient material for a two-semester course, although, assuming that instructors will want to pick and choose among the selections, it would probably be more suitable for a single semester. It lends itself to a variety of pedagogical approaches, ranging from systematically sequenced instruction in a series of skills to a more open-ended method in which students set their own pace and choose much of their reading material for themselves. But whatever the method of instruction, the emphasis is always on the students' own work, and the need for them to extend their reading beyond this book to the diverse materials they will come across as students and as professional workers." (Preface, p. iii-iv) CONTENTS: Preface To the Student CHAPTER ONE - Reading for General Information Reading Faster EXERCICE Reading without Looking Back Integrating the Text Understanding Reference Words Using Connectives The and Group / The but Group / The do Group / The e.g. Group EXERCISE Using Connectives to Make Predictions EXERCISE Linking Ideas without Connectives Recognizing Paragraph Structure EXERCISE Identifying Topic Sentences Patterns of Overall Organization EXERCISE Recognizing Overall Organization Dealing with New Vocabulary EXERCISE Word Meaning from Context Using the Reading Selections and Exercises SELECTION 1-1 The Greenhouse Effect COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-2 At the Frontlines: Foundation for International Community Assistance COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-3 How the Smallpox War Was Won COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-4 When Will They Ever Learn? COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-5 "I Accept in the Name of the Poor" COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1-6 In a Bronx School, a '38 Free Speech Victory COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-7 Getting to See the Invisible Woman COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1-8 Only for Consenting Adults in Private COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-9 Undercover Agent, 81, Helps Halt Nursing Home Payoffs COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-10 Bringing Up Baby, One by One COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-11 Homeless Families: How They Got That Way COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 1-12 Censoring Sex Information: The Story of Sassy COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION CHAPTER TWO - Reading for Pleasure Extending Your Reading Biography and Autobiography Classics of the Twentieth Century Coming-of-Age Stories Medical Stories Mysteries and Thrillers Romance Social and Political Issues Sports Keeping a Reading Journal Using the Reading Selections and Exercises SELECTION 2-1 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-2 Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-3 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-4 The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-5 The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-6 The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-7 Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION SELECTION 2-8 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontė COMPREHENSION CHECK QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION CHAPTER THREE - Reading for Study Steps in Studying Finding Out What the Text Is About Drawing Up Questions Finding Answers Recycling the Material Going Beyond the Text Making Notes Outline Notes Diagrams Vocabulary Notes Quotations Bibliographical Notes Personal Index Writing Essays and Papers Using the Reading Selections and Exercises SELECTIONS 3-1 Interpersonal Communication QUESTIONS FROM SKIMMING QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT QUESTIONS BEYOND THE TEXT OUTLINE NOTES AND DIAGRAMS VOCABULARY NOTES QUOTATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ESSAY TOPICS SELECTION 3-2 The Logical Thinker as Challenger QUESTIONS FROM SKIMMING QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT QUESTIONS BEYOND THE TEXT OUTLINE NOTES VOCABULARY NOTES ESSAY TOPICS SELECTION 3-3 The United Nations QUESTIONS FROM SKIMMING QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT QUESTIONS BEYOND THE TEXT OUTLINE NOTES DIAGRAMS QUOTATIONS ESSAY TOPICS SELECTION 3-4 Introduction to Anthropology QUESTIONS FROM SKIMMING QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT QUESTIONS BEYOND THE TEXT OUTLINE NOTES VOCABULARY NOTES PERSONAL INDEX ESSAY TOPICS SELECTION 3-5 Mendel's Principles of Genetics QUESTIONS FROM SKIMMING QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT QUESTIONS BEYOND THE TEXT VOCABULARY NOTES DIAGRAMS OUTLINE NOTES ESSAY TOPICS CHAPTER FOUR - Reading for Insight Dealing with References Connecting the Selections with One Another Using the Reading Selections and Exercises SELECTION 4-1 Politics by Aristotle PREREADING QUOTATIONS TO THINK ABOUT MAKING CONNECTIONS SELECTION 4-2 Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau PREREADING QUOTATIONS TO THINK ABOUT MAKING CONNECTIONS SELECTION 4-3 Other Inquisitions by Jorge Luis Borges PREREADING QUOTATIONS TO THINK ABOUT MAKING CONNECTIONS SELECTION 4-4 Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis PREREADING QUOTATIONS TO THINK ABOUT MAKING CONNECTIONS SELECTION 4-5 The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir PREREADING QUOTATIONS TO THINK ABOUT MAKING CONNECTIONS CHAPTER FIVE - Reading for Testing Types of Text Item Main Idea Detail Vocabulary Inference Tone or Mood Using the Exercises Appendix : Graphs for Recording Speed and Scores Index