1
Reading for academic purposes
Text
Reading for academic purposes, Text 1a (Reading texts pp.133-136)
Text 1a contains information on how to read for academic purposes more effectively.
Task 1 Reading for general understanding
The
exercise
below
will
give
you
practice
in
reading
for
general
understanding.
It
is
therefore
important that you do not stop to look up any of the unknown words (you will get a fuller
understanding of difficult vocabulary after completing some of the later tasks). The text in
the part of Reading texts consists of six sections. The table on the next page contains seven
headings that are possible summaries of the content for each section.
1.1 Read the instructions below.
a
Read the summary headings and underline the most important word or words in each one. If
necessary, your teacher will explain the meaning of the language used.
b
Read Section I. of the text and label the appropriate summary heading in the table.
c
Discuss your answer with other students and/or your teacher.
Study tip:
Reading for general meaning is a very important skill that will help you deal with the
amount of reading at university. See Skimming in the Introduction on page IX.
Summary headings
Sections
Linking effective reading to vocabulary acquisition
Reading widely and critically
Good reasons for reading
The difficulties of reading academic texts
The motivation behind reading
Acquiring good reading habits
The EAP reading syllabus
1.2 Now read and match Sections 2}-6 to the appropriate summary headings in the table. One
of the summary headings does not need to be used.
Task 2 Reading for specific details
2.1 Read Text 1a again and find the answers to the following questions.
You will use some of
your answers to complete another task later in the unit.
1. What type of reading material is Bassett (2010) concerned with?
2. Bassett believes the key to the best understanding of a text is
鈥?/p>