1/19 From Reading to Writing-A Basic Rhetorical Pattern
Slide 2
2/21 10/08/08 What about other universities? TungHai
University(1) TungHai University(1) TungHai University (2) TungHai
University (2) FuJen University FuJen University Taiwan University
Taiwan University
Slide 3
3/21 10/08/08 What I ll do today Introduce a basic rhetorical
pattern. Work on an activity Analyze structure/organization of a
lesson from ASR 3. Show how to write a model paragraph using this
pattern. Introduce an interactive model to approach reading
Slide 4
4/21 10/08/08 Analyze Students writings(1) What do you think
are the physical effects of astronauts living in space for a long
time? I think that living in a gravity-free environment is not
easy. Astronauts suffer from physiological and psychological
problems. When it comes to the physical effects of living in space,
I have read a report about the disorders of astronauts in the outer
space. Living in space is different from living on earth.
Astronauts dont eat ordinary foods and cant exercise in space.
After they return to the earth, terrible things happen to them. For
example, they cant stand still and eat normally and they often feel
sick. Astronauts sacrifice their lives in order to let humans live
a happy life and I really appreciate what they have done for
us.
Slide 5
5/21 10/08/08 Analyze Students writings(2) What do you think
are the physical effects of astronauts living in space for a long
time? Weakening of muscle strength, having a puffy face and losing
bone density are the three major physical effects of astronauts
living in space for a long time. Due to the non-gravity
environment, astronauts do not have to use muscle in doing most
things, so their muscle strength weakens. Moreover, their body
fluids flow to the upper parts of their body, such as the head and
the face. As a result, they have a puffy face. Another phenomenon
is that astronauts might lose bone density due to the loss of
calcium. To sum up, if astronauts want to live in the space for a
long time, these effects must be dealt with carefully.
Slide 6
6/21 10/08/08 Share my own writing Did I use the basic rhetoric
pattern while I was writing essays? Cultural difference Cultural
difference
Slide 7
7/21 10/08/08 A paragraph is defined as a group of sentences
that develops one main idea (topic). This main idea is expressed
through three sections of a paragraph: (1) Beginning (the topic
sentence): Introduce your idea. (2) Middle (body/paragraph
development): Explain your idea. a. Supporting detail (1) b.
Supporting detail (2) c. Supporting detail (3) (3) End (the
concluding sentence): Make your point again (summary, advice, hope
for change), transition to next paragraph. Outline of an Expository
Paragraph (not a narrative paragraph)
Slide 8
8/21 10/08/08 The Topic Sentence State your idea, point,
opinion, or attitude about the topic An easy way to make sure your
reader understands the topic of the paragraph is to put your topic
sentence near the beginning of the paragraph. (A topic sentence is
a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea the paragraph
is going to deal with. Please note that not all paragraphs have
clear-cut topic sentences. )
Slide 9
9/21 10/08/08 Supporting sentences Provide explanations and
support for the topic sentence (main idea) of your paragraph
Supporting sentences that include facts, statistics and logical
reasoning are much more convincing than simple statements of
opinion.
Slide 10
10/21 10/08/08 Concluding sentence Restate the main idea (found
in your topic sentence) in different words and reinforces the point
or opinion.
Slide 11
11/21 10/08/08 Transitional sentence Prepares the reader for
the following paragraph. Should help readers logically understand
the connection between your current main idea, point or opinion and
the main idea of your next paragraph.
Slide 12
12/21 10/08/08 Adequate Development The topic (which is
introduced by the topic sentence) should be discussed fully and
adequately. Again, this varies from paragraph to paragraph,
depending on the author's purpose To make your writing interesting
and convincing, you need to develop your ideas logically and
thoroughly. You want to avoid writing superficial paragraphsthat
is, paragraphs in which the ideas are not carefully developed or
fully explained. Superficial writing leaves the reader with many
questions. Well-developed writing tries to answer as many of the
readers questions as possible.
Slide 13
13/21 10/08/08 An activity Work in groups trying to analyze the
structure of the paragraphs Exercise 1 Exercise 1
Slide 14
14/21 10/08/08 What to do in class Use Active Skill Reading 3,
Unit 9-2, Changing roles: Stay- at-Home Dads, as an example
Slide 15
15/21 10/08/08 Some pre-reading activities Word
Associationprovide them with words from the text (to replace the
words they already know) Activate their schemata (sociolcultural
content, connecting to their real life), not just linguistic
content Predicting how the author will present his/her point of
view, whats the authors main idea, whatll happen in the story,
etc.
Slide 16
16/21 10/08/08 Students will Do silent reading Find the topic
sentence Find the main idea Find supporting sentences Find the
concluding sentence Write them on the board
Slide 17
17/21 10/08/08 Other Activities Write an outline Write a
summary Answer short answer questions Others??
Slide 18
18/21 10/08/08 Bottom-up model Some teachers teach reading by
introducing new vocabulary and structures first and then going over
the text sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph with the
students. This is then followed by questions and answers to check
comprehension. Also a lot of time is spent on having students read
aloud the text. This way of teaching reflects the belief that
reading comprehension is based on the mastery of the new words and
new structures as well as a lot of reading aloud practice. It
basically follows a linear process from the recognition of letters
to words, to phrases, to sentences, to paragraphs, and then to the
meaning of the whole text.
Slide 19
19/21 10/08/08 Top-down model A different view believes that
ones background knowledge plays a more important role than new
words and new structures in reading comprehension. For example, we
all have experiences of reading something that does not contain any
new words or new structures, but we still fail to understand its
overall meaning. In other cases, we may read an article which
contains quite a number of new words as well as difficult
structures with reasonable understanding. This is because we have
made use of our knowledge about the topic to assist our
comprehension. Therefore, it is believed that in teaching reading,
the teacher should teach the background knowledge first so that
students equipped with such knowledge will be able to guess meaning
from the printed page.
Slide 20
20/21 10/08/08 Interactive model The current theory views
reading as an interactive process. The brain receives visual
information and at the same time, interprets or reconstructs the
meaning the writer had in mind when he wrote the text. This process
does not only involve the printed page but also the readers
knowledge of the language in general, and of the world. During the
process of reading, all these factors interact with each other and
compensate for each other.
Slide 21
21/21 10/08/08 Interactive model During the reading process,
our mind by interacting with the printed page its words, phrases,
sentences, as well as the context it provides can be stimulated and
a proper schema will be activated to allow us to relate the
incoming information to already known information. If we do not
have the type of necessary schema for a particular reading text,
lets say cultural specific knowledge, we may have to resort heavily
to other knowledge which is available, such as our linguistic
knowledge to aid our comprehension. Similarly, when we do not have
the necessary linguistic knowledge, we will have to resort to our
world knowledge to help ease the difficulties in comprehension.
Obviously, a good knowledge base of all the above is essential for
good reading comprehension and we believe a good linguistic basis
is the fundamental as far as foreign language reading is
concerned.
Slide 22
22/21 10/08/08 References
http://myweb.scu.edu.tw/~cynthiayhttp://myweb.scu.edu.tw/~cynthiay
http://write.scu.edu.twhttp://write.scu.edu.tw
http://www.mychinesetea.net/enghome_b2.htmhttp://www.mychinesetea.net/enghome_b2.htm
http://www.mychinesetea.net/enghome_b3.htmhttp://www.mychinesetea.net/enghome_b3.htm
http://esl.about.com/od/writingintermediate/a/paragraphs.htm
http://esl.about.com/od/writingintermediate/a/paragraphs.htm
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_pgrph2.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_pgrph2.html
Langan, John. 2001. English Skills (7th ed.).New York: McGraw-Hill.
Smalley Regina L. et al. 2001. Refining Composition Skills:
Rhetoric and Grammar (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Heinle& Heinle
Lougheed, Lin. 2004. How to Prepare for the TOFEL Essay (2nd
ed.).Hauppauge, New York: Barrons Educational Series, Inc.
