Lesson 5 The Receptive Skills

In your academic and professional undertakings you need critical or evaluative literacy.
Your content subjects demand reading, especially for board courses. Reading any
material enables you to amass knowledge and information available in print and online
sources.

Before you can read critically, however, you should equip yourselves with basic reading
skills such as fluency. Fluency pertains to your reading speed. According to
Crawley and Meritt (2009), fluency in reading means decreasing reversals, omissions,
substitutions, non-pronunciations, repetitions, and insertions. Decreasing faulty reading
habit as subvocalization, lip movement, finger pointing, and head movement will also
accelerate your reading.

Your vocabulary skills can be enhanced through learning morphology like compound
words, contractions, affixes, and root words. Strange words really hinder comprehension
so it is imperative that you know some strategies in determining word meaning. It‘s easy
for you to say, ―Look it up in the dictionary. But what if you do not have a dictionary at
hand? Some strategies like using context clues and determining word parts can help you
expedite vocabulary building. Moreover, as effective readers, you must recognize main
ideas from supporting details, identify facts from opinions, summarize important ideas,
draw inferences, and form conclusions.

Of paramount importance is critical reading or critical literacy. Critical literacy is the

process of making evaluations or judgments when experiencing ―print, non-print, image-
based, and verbal‖ communication (Phelps, 2002). Critical literacy is the highest level of
comprehension. It involves analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

During critical reading, you may be asked to determine the author‘s purpose or
competence, the authenticity of sources and facts. You may be asked to judge whether
events, incidents, or characters are real or fictitious, or evaluate the suitability of a
character‘s actions.

By taking an actively critical approach to reading, you will be able to do the following:

Stay focused while you read the text

Understand the main idea of the text
Understand the overall structure or organization of the text
Retain what you have read
Pose informed and thoughtful questions about the text
Evaluate the effectiveness of ideas in the text

Take a look at the sample text, then guided by the critical questions, criticize the text.

Teams are not magic. They must have tasks that are achievable within a specified time frame.
The team charged with 'management' has an impossible brief and will surely fail unless effort is spent
spelling out what the management task involves and what constitutes success.
 Neither are teams a cheap option. They inevitably consume resources and time. Teams rarely resolve
conflict. More often, they pressure-cook it.
If an individual has the skills to do the job with the requisite creativity, then the individual, not the team,
should do the job.
What evidence does the author provide to support his or her argument?
2. Is the last sentence a fact or an opinion?

Steps to becoming a critical reader

1. Prepare to become part of the writer's audience.

Authors design texts for specific audiences, and becoming a member of the target
audience makes it easier to get the author's purpose. Learn about the author, the history
of the author and the text, the author's anticipated audience; read introductions and
notes.

2. Prepare to read with an open mind.

Critical readers seek knowledge; they do not "rewrite" a work to suit their own
personalities. Your task as an enlightened critical reader is to read what is on the page,
giving the writer a fair chance to develop ideas and allowing yourself to reflect
thoughtfully, objectively, on the text.

3. Consider the title.

This may seem obvious, but the title may provide clues to the writer's attitude, goals,
personal viewpoint, or approach.

4. Read slowly.

Again, this appears obvious, but it is a factor in a "close reading." By slowing down, you
will make more connections within the text.

5. Use the dictionary and other appropriate reference works.

If there is a word in the text that is not clear or difficult to define in context: look it up.
Every word is important, and if part of the text is thick with technical terms, it is doubly
important to know how the author is using them.

6. Make notes.

Jot down marginal notes, underline and highlight, write down ideas in a notebook, do
whatever works for your own personal taste. Note for yourself the main ideas, the thesis,
the author's main points to support the theory. Writing while reading aids your memory in
many ways, especially by making a link that is unclear in the text concrete in your own
writing.

7. Keep a reading journal.

In addition to note-taking, it is often helpful to regularly record your responses and

thoughts in a more permanent place that is yours to consult. By developing a habit of
reading and writing in conjunction, both skills will improve.
Critical reading involves using logical and rhetorical skills. Identifying the author's thesis
is a good place to start, but to grasp how the author intends to support it is a difficult
task. More often than not an author will make a claim (most commonly in the form of the
thesis) and support it in the body of the text. The support for the author's claim is in the
evidence provided to suggest that the author's intended argument is sound, or reasonably
acceptable. What ties these two together is a series of logical links that convinces the
reader of the coherence of the author's argument: this is the warrant. If the author's
premise is not supportable, a critical reading will uncover the lapses in the text that show
it to be unsound.

Content Area Reading

In college, you encounter reading materials in your respective disciplines, hence you use
reading as a tool for thinking and learning in your content subjects. One goal of content
area learning is to get students to think as they read (Faber, 2015). Your prior
knowledge and experiences, language development, reading ability, and attitudes
toward school are all critical elements in content area learning. Readers who prejudge
reading materials as too hard and boring will have trouble understanding texts.

One way to deal with content materials is to consider text features. Text features differ
from subject to subject, so the reading skills and strategies you use will also change from
subject to subject.

According to Faber (2015), authors often organize their text by patterns.

Common patterns found in textbooks are:

Comparison/contrast
Descriptive pattern
Episode pattern
Time sequence
Process/ cause-effect
General to specific

Reading Strategies

There are various strategies that you can employ in reading. As readers, you might have
encountered problems such as poor comprehension, slow reading speed, regression,
subvocalization, poor memory, and many other challenges. Your positive attitude toward
reading and your motivation will help you overcome these challenges.
Remember that if you are enrolled in a board course, you need to improve your reading
skills. The strategies below will hopefully aid you in your reading tasks.

1. Previewing
Research shows that it is easier to understand what you are reading if you begin with a
general idea of what the passage is about. Previewing helps you form a general idea of
the topic in mind.

To preview, read the title, if there is one; the first sentence of each paragraph; and the
last sentence of the passage. You should do this as quickly as possible.

Example
Directions: Preview the following passage. Underline the first sentence in each
paragraph and the last sentence. Can you identify the topic?

A black hole is a region of space created by the total gravitational collapse of matter. It
is so intense that nothing, not even light or radiation, can escape. In other words, it is a
one-way surface through which matter can fall inward but cannot emerge.

Some astronomers believe that a black hole may be formed when a large star collapses
inward from its own weight. As long as they are emitting heat and light into space, stars
support themselves against their own gravitational pull with the outward thermal
pressure generated by heat from nuclear reactions deep in their interiors, but if a star
eventually exhausts its nuclear fuel, then its balanced gravitational attraction could
cause it to contract and collapse. Furthermore, it could begin to pull in surrounding
matter, including nearby comets and planets, creating a black hole.

Answer: The topic is about black holes.

2. Reading for main ideas

By previewing, you can form a general idea of what a reading passage is about; that is,
you identify the topic. By reading for main ideas, you identify the point of view of
the author; that is, what the writer‘s thesis is. Specifically, what does the author propose
to write about the topic? If you could reduce the reading to one sentence, what would it
be?

Questions about the main idea can be worded in many ways. For example, the following
questions are all asking for the same information: (1) What is the main idea?
(2) What is the subject? (3) What is the topic? (4) What would be a good title?

Example

Directions: The main idea usually occurs at the beginning of a reading passage.
Underline the first two sentences in the following passage. Can you identify the main
idea? What would be a good title for this passage?

For more than a century, despite attacks by a few opposing scientists, Charles
Darwin‘s theory of evolution by natural selection has stood firm. Now, however, some
respected biologists are beginning to question whether the theory accounts for major
developments such as the shift from water to land habitation. Clearly, evolution has not
proceeded steadily but has progressed by radical advances. Recent research in
molecular biology, particularly in the study of DNA, provides us with a new possibility.
Not only environmental but also genetic codes in the underlying structure of DNA could
govern evolution.

Answer: The main idea is that biologists are beginning to question Darwin‘s theory.

A good title would be Questions about Darwin‘s theory.

3. Using Context Clues for Vocabulary

Before you can use a context, you must understand what a context is. In English, a
context is the combination of vocabulary and grammar that surrounds a word.
Context can be a sentence or a paragraph or a passage. Context helps you make a
general prediction about meaning. If you know the general meaning of a sentence, you
also know the general meaning of the words in the sentence.
Making predictions from contexts is very important when you are reading. You can read
and understand the meaning of a passage without stopping to look up every new word
in a dictionary.

Example

Directions: Read the following passage, paying close attention to the underlined words.
Can you understand their meanings from the context without using a dictionary?

At the age of sixty-six, Harland Sanders had to auction off everything he owned in order
to pay his debts. Once a successful proprietor of a large restaurant, Sanders saw his
business suffer from the construction of a new freeway that bypassed his establishment
and rerouted the traffic that had formerly passed.

Answers: auction means to sell proprietor means owner formerly means in the past

4. Scanning for details

After reading a passage, you will be expected to answer questions. First, read a question
and find the important content words. Content words are usually nouns, verbs, or
adjectives. They are called content words because they contain the content of the
sentence.

Next, let your eyes travel quickly over the passage for the same content words or
synonyms of the words. This is called scanning. By scanning, you can find a place in the
reading passage where the answer to the question is found. Finally, read those specific
sentences carefully and choose the answer that corresponds to the meaning of the
sentences you have read.

Example

Directions: First, read this passage. Then, read the questions following the reading
passage, and circle the content words. Finally, scan the passage for the same words or
synonyms. Can you answer the questions?

To prepare for a career in engineering, a student must begin planning in high school.
Mathematics and science should form the core curriculum. For example, in a school
where sixteen credit hours are required for high school graduation, four should be in
mathematics, one each in chemistry, biology, and physics. The remaining credits should
include four in English, and at least three in the humanities and social sciences.
The average entering freshman in engineering should have achieved at least a 2.5 grade
point average on a 4.0 scale in his or her high school. Although deficiencies can be
corrected during the first year, the student who needs additional work should expect to
spend five instead of four years to complete a degree.
1. What is the average grade point for an entering freshman in engineering?
2. When should a student begin planning for a career in engineering?
3. How long will a student, who needs additional work, expect to complete a degree ?
4. How many credits should a student have in English?
5. How many credits are required for a high school diploma?

Answers: 1. 2.5
2. in high school
3. 5 years
4. four
5. sixteen

5. Making Inferences
Sometimes, in a reading passage, you will find a direct statement of fact. That is called
evidence. But other times, you will not find a direct statement. Then you will need to use
the evidence you have to make an inference. An inference is a logical conclusion based
on evidence. It can be about the passage itself or about the author‘s viewpoint.

Example

Directions: First, read this passage. Then, read the questions following the passage, and
make inferences. Can you circle the evidence for your inference in the reading
passage?

When an acid is dissolved in water, the acid molecule divides into two parts, a hydrogen
ion and another ion. An ion is an atom or a group of atoms which has an electrical
charge. The charge can be either positive or negative. If hydrochloric acid is mixed with
water, for example, it divides into hydrogen ions and chlorine ions.

A strong acid ionizes to a great extent, but a weak acid does not ionize so much.
The strength of an acid, therefore, depends on how much it ionizes, not on how many
hydrogen ions are produced. It is interesting that nitric acid and sulfuric acid become
greatly ionized whereas boric acid and carbonic do not.

1. What kind of acid is sulfuric acid?

2. What kind of acid is boric acid?

Answers: 1. A strong acid ionizes to a great extent, and sulfuric acid becomes greatly
ionized.
Conclusion: Sulfuric acid is a strong acid.
2. A weak acid does not ionize so much, and boric acid does not ionize greatly.
Conclusion: Boric acid is a weak acid.

6. Drawing conclusions

A conclusion refers to information that is implied or inferred. This means that the
information is not clearly stated in the text.

Example

Directions: Read the passage and draw a conclusion.

Video gaming is one of the largest industries in America. Each day more and more
children are getting addicted to video games. There have been many video game
opponents accusing the industry of becoming too violent. It is not uncommon to play a
shoot‘em up game where ten people are getting killed every minute. Yet, despite
societal pressures to eliminate violent video games, as each day passes, more gamers are
getting hooked.

Which conclusion can you draw about the video game industry?
Answer: As time goes on more and more children will play video games.