Graduate Student Reading Workshop Slide Presentation and Handout

Yesterday,   English Language Support led a reading workshop for Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management students.    Here is the slideshow,  summary of the reading survey results,  and the accompanying handout for students who attended or did not attend.

Reading Survey Results (x=16)

Workshop Handout

Strategic Reading for Graduate Students:

 A workshop for MASLM

October 22,  2015

Presented by Les Barclay and Bruce Cornwall

http://viulanguagesupport.blogspot.ca/

1.   Introduction

·       What do you find difficult in reading? 

·       4 themes:

1. Approaches and process – an overview of effective processes involved in critical and active reading of academic articles from both macro and micro perspectives

2. Knowledge, context and thinking when reading – what happens when you read?

3. Interacting with a text – effective annotation process and strategies

4. Collaboration and reading – how to use the power of groups to get more meaning out of a text

2.         Process: Macro and Micro

·       Different types of readings/text need to approached differently (academic  

      article/newspaper article/website

·       Big picture: Scan title, subtitles, intro, conclusion

·       Purpose: entertain or inform or persuade

·       Find thesis, and 2-3 supporting arguments

3.         Knowledge and Context 

●       SLM,   Canada,  North America

●       What is context?     Sources?    Influence?   Importance?

●       5 dimensions of context

●       Degrees of context

●       Long term strategies?

●       Short term strategies =  compensation strategies

·       know what you know and don’t know (at the start, and during reading)

·       ask questions

·       don’t translate

·       talk to others (including teacher)

·       Google stuff

·       think in terms of Canada and North America first

·       annotate

·       prioritize

·       keep the reading purpose in mind

4.   Annotations:   Know the author’s purpose, the text structure, and of course,your purpose

·        Prioritizing –find the main/key ideas in a section of writing and decide why the information is useful or not;

·        Interpreting/Inventing– a key stage where you must use your own words to express the main ideas. Inability to do this could indicate barriers in understanding, and it is here that you to need to not give up and find solutions to gain understanding;

·        Analogizing –for example, in a literature review, you need to understand each article to the point that you can connect the similarities, differences, and additional information to discuss the value of each text.

·        Bruce will demonstrate using p.66 ‘The development of the ecotrekking strategy’.

5.        Collaborative Reading:

 Benefits:

·        helps paraphrasing and summarizing as you practice putting ideas in your own words

·        makes discussing the readings in class easier as you have already practiced talking        

         about them in English

·        deepens your knowledge and understanding --  explaining to someone else forces you 

         to strengthen your vocabulary and depth of understanding;   you realize what you don't 

         understand or don't understand well enough.

·        you can fill in missing pieces with the other person

·        you  can organize the text you are reading

·        if you both/all don't understand something, then it isn't just you

 

Steps and principles of effective collaborative reading:

1.     Find someone (or a group) to discuss readings with; this person should not speak the 

         same first language as you unless it is English

2.     Have a plan for your reading discussions; what do you hope to discuss? When will you

         meet?  How often will you meet? How long will you meet for?

3.     Read before meeting and identify the parts/aspects of the reading to discuss; annotate

         (especially what you don't get)

4.     Speak English only in your discussion

5.     Your discussion should happen before the class

6.     Have a strategy for dealing with new vocabulary -- don't translate

7.     Be an active and critical reader (both alone and collaboratively); find something you 

        agree and disagree with -- first ensure you all understand and agree on the thesis

8.     Reflect and connect -- together,  reflect on the reading and connect it to your course    

         and to your lives

9.      If the text has discussion questions,  please use these

10.   Consider context -- what do you and don't you know about this topic; what is the 

        situation in your own country and culture?

11.   Consider the purpose of reading this text

12.   Make a concept map from the text

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