8: WORD AND MORPHEME

TASK 8: 22 FEB 2012

9: TEXT AND DISCOURSE

TASK 9: 16 FEBRUARI 2012
Explain the differences about text and discourse!

10: GENRES

TASK 10: 18 FEBRUARY 2012

Explain about "Genres"!

USING A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS' WRTING ACHIEVMENTS

Writing is one of the most important and difficult language skills since it involves some language components. Writing activity will be available whenever it is supported with reading skill since writing and reading have a tight relationship. When learners are able to read, they must be able to write, too. Some difficulties to express their ideas are commonly found, it is happened since some learners are not facilitated with a good writing strategy or media to encourage them to write well. Using a digital media such a facebook account will encourage them to write well.

There are two reasons used facebook as his teaching media for his writing classroom activities; first, facebook is one of social networks which is used by many people around the world, so it is easy to be accessed. Second, facebook commonly is used to greet other people, express their feeling on happiness and sadness, share activities through photos, play a game and have a fun. It is a big challenge to change their paradigm in using facebook as one of learning media in technological era.

In doing his teaching activities, he follows some teaching procedures. They are (1) each student should have personal fb account with their own names which is registered in their attendance list. It is used since teaching and learning is a formal activities, so that they are invited to put their original names as it is registered in their attendance list, (2) the teacher creates a group for their learning subject, then he/she adds their students' name into the group for their learning membership, (3) the teacher makes a group for uploading varied pictures to facilitate their students in giving their responses for the subject that he/she taught in the classroom, (4) the students are directed to give a command through the given pictures appropriate with the subject taught in the classroom, the right command is given a "thumb" which is used as a symbol that their command is already accepted and right. When their sentence is wrong (grammar, spelling, punctuation, contents), so they have chances to revise their sentences into a good one, (5) each student has to choose one picture and give a command for the picture, it means that every students should have different pictures in giving their command. It is hopefully that they have many varied sentences with the same forms in sentence patterns.

USING RPSEQV STRATEGY FOR READING COMPREHENSION

Read: Read through your reference material that relates to the topic you want to learn for your exam being mindful to pick out the information that best relates to the questions you wish to answer.

Preview: Look at the topic you have to learn by glancing over the major headings or the points in the syllabus.

Summary: This is the most flexible part of the method and allows individual students to bring any ways that they used to summarize information into the process. This can include making written notes, spider diagrams, flow diagrams, labeled diagrams, mnemonics, making a voice recording of you summarizing the topic, or any method that feels most appropriate for what has to be learned. You can combine several methods as long as this doesn't extend the process too long as you may lose sight that you are merely seeking to use the information in the most appropriate way.

Examine : real all around the text. Make conclude about what happened in the text. Examine the main topic or main idea.

Question: Formulate questions that you would like to be able to answer once you have finished the topic. It is important that you match as much as possible what you would like to know to your syllabus or course direction. This allows a certain flexibility to take in other topics that may aid your learning of the main point or if you are just interested. Make sure that your questions are neither more specific or more open-ended than they might be in an exam.

Visualize : do a thing like your brain is a camera. Imagine what happened in the text. You can see the running of the text like you are watching a film. It makes you understand the text better.

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REDW Strategy for Finding Main Idea

REDW is a good strategy to use to find the main idea in each paragraph of a reading assignment. Using this strategy will help you comprehend the information contained in your assignment. Each of the letters in REDW stands for a step in the strategy.

1. Read- Read the entire paragraph to get an idea of what the paragraph is about. You may find it helpful to whisper the words as you read or to form a picture in your mind of what you are reading. Once you have a general idea of what the paragraph is about, go on to the next step.
2. Examine- Examine each sentence in the paragraph to identify the important words that tell what the sentence is about. Ignore the words that are not needed to tell what the sentence is about. If you are allowed to, draw a line through the words to be ignored. For each sentence, write on a sheet of paper the words that tell what the sentence is about.
3. Decide- Reread the words you wrote for each sentence in the paragraph. Decide which sentence contains the words you wrote that best describe the main idea of the paragraph. These words are the main idea of the paragraph. The sentence that contains these words is the topic sentence. The other words you wrote are the supporting details for the main idea.
4. Write- Write the main idea for each paragraph in your notebook. This will provide you with a written record of the most important ideas you learned. This written record will be helpful if you have to take a test that covers the reading assignment.
   Use REDW to help you understand the information in your reading assignments.

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SNIPS Reading Strategy

SNIPS is a five-step reading approach for facilitating on-line processing through interpretation of visual aids.

Start with Questions

The reader begins by clarifying his/her goals by asking him/herself "Why am I looking at this visual aid?" The reader then asks questions to determine what kinds of information on which to focus, depending on the type of visual aid presented.

Note What Can Be Learned From Hints

In order to answer the questions, look for hints or clues about the meaning of the visual aid in the title, caption, lines, numbers, or colors. Activate prior knowledge as it relates to the subject. 

Identify What Is Important

Identify the main idea of the graphic as well as two facts represented in the graphic. 

Plug It Into the Chapter

Consider how the visual aid relates to the main ideas of the chapter or article. 

See If You Can Explain the Visual to Someone

Explain the visual aid to another person, or explain it aloud to yourself if no one is available. What is the graphic about? How does it relate to the chapter? What are the best hints about the meaning, and why are they good hints?

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PARS STRATEGY

PARS Strategy is a simple study strategy which could be used by a student first learning to use study strategies.  It helps the students actively process and remember the information they are reading in their texts.

The steps for PARS are described below:

       P = Preview

Preview the text to be read by skimming it. Skimming is the technique of allowing your eyes to travel rapidly over a page, stopping here and there to register the main idea. When skimming, you should follow the procedure below, adapting it to your purpose. through the pages of the student reading passage and read the headings of the short story and any sections. Read the first and last paragraph in each section. And view the illustrations in each section. Survey the material to get an idea of the general orgainization, major topics and subtopics. Look at headings of the short story, and then try to identify what the student will be reading about.

   A = Ask Questions  

Formulate questions the teacher wishes to emphasize. You might respond to the student's question by directing her (or his) attention to a particular aspect of the issue she has raised, or drawing her attention to some previously learned course material that is relevant to answering the question or by going beyond what the student has said in some way. The intent of probing questions is to draw the student's attention to things that may be only implied in her answer, and so help her answer her own question.

R = Read.  

Read the material with these questions in mind. Try to answer the students own questions while reading. read the material carefully; if the student asked questions about a section, make sure they find the answer when they read.

S = Summarize

Summarize the material and verify responses to the questions. A summary is a collation of your notes, recording the main points the writer makes. Making a summary from your notes has two main benefits. Writing a good summary demonstrates that you clearly understand a text...and that you can communicate that understanding to your readers. A summary can be tricky to write at first because it’s tempting to include too much or too little information. But by following our easy 8-step method, you will be able to summarize texts quickly and successfully for any class or subject.

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REAP Strategy in Reading Comprehension

The REAP Strategy is an Annotation Strategy for improving reading and writing skills. Annotating has several benefits (Strode, 1993). Besides making texts more meaningful, annotating improves student attention while reading and makes reading a more active process. Annotation writing enhances information processing and, in turn, improves registration of information in memory. There is less information to remember when it has been summarized in an annotation, and annotations are written in a student's own words.

Students exposed to annotation writing are better able to write succinct summaries of texts, which may improve performance on exams and standardized tests. Annotating focuses student attention on those aspects of text often overlooked while reading. While the strategy may be used for nearly any subject, it is especially helpful in English courses in which summary and critique writing is common requirements.

REAP develops independent reading skills by encouraging the reader to put the main idea of the passage into his/her own words, both orally and in written form. It can be employed as a study technique, thereby assisting long term memory. It is particularly beneficial for students with learning problems because it encompasses analysis and synthesis.

REAP is an acronym for the following process:

• R - Read to determine the writer's message.

• E - Encode the message by putting it into your own words.

• A - Annotate by writing the message for yourself or sharing it.

• P - Ponder the message through self-questioning and discussion with others.

And it is one of strategies to approach in reading comprehension.

References:

Bromley, K. D. (1985).  Precise writing and outlining enhance content learning. Reading Teacher, 38, 406-411.

Eanet, M. G. and Manzo, A. V. (1976).  REAP - A strategy for improving reading/writing/study skills.  Journal of Reading, 19, 647.

Smith, C. C. and Bean, T. W. (1980).  The guided writing procedure:  Integrating content reading and writing improvement.  Reading Teacher, 29, 220-294.

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