Punctuation.
(f) Pronunciation.
(g) Enunciation.
(h) Revising and editing drafts.
2. Comprehension
(a) Levels: literal, interpretive, analytical, application, synthesis, evaluation.
(b) Modes:
(i) efferent – focus on informative statements;
(ii) aesthetic – focus on expressive/empathetic language; listening and reading;
(iii) critical – focus on identification, discrimination and evaluation of a writer’s purpose,
techniques, ideas.
(c) Genres:
(i) narrative/descriptive, for example, short stories, novels, journal entries;
(ii) expository, for example, explanations, instructions, directions;
(iii) argumentative/persuasive, for example, opinion pieces, advertisements, speeches.
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MODULE 1: GATHERING AND PROCESSING INFORMATION (cont’d)
3. Summary Skills
(a) Note taking and note making.
(b) Distinguishing main and subsidiary ideas.
(c) Understanding logical linkages between ideas.
(d) Formulating topic sentences and linking them to subsidiary ideas.
(e) Sequencing.
(f) Condensing.
(g) Writing outlines.
(h) Writing continuous prose summaries.
(i) Editing drafts (peer-evaluation and self-evaluation).
4. Current Issues: Evaluating Sources
(b) Defining key concepts (authority, reliability, validity, bias, fact, opinion):
(i) giving examples and non examples;
(ii) comparing and contrasting concepts.
(c) Identifying a significant issue.
(d) Sourcing information:
(i) locating primary and secondary sources;
(ii) choosing from among sources;
(iii) determining the appropriateness of data collection methods;
(iv) summarising the content of sources;
(v) evaluating the reliability and validity of sources:
- author and speaker (expertise, authority, perspective, social and political biases);
- context (social and historical);
- text (factual accuracy, logical structure, cogency).
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MODULE 1: GATHERING AND PROCESSING INFORMATION (cont’d)
5. Organising Skills (oral and written)
(a) Introductions and conclusions.
(b) Focus and emphasis (that is, defining scope; streamlining; placing and keeping central ideas in
the foreground; highlighting).
(c) Logical linkages (linkages within and between paragraphs [for example, the use of transitional
words like ‘although’, ‘therefore’, and ‘however’; variation of sentence structure to achieve
coherence).
(d) Formatting (selecting and using particular styles of arrangement correctly, for example,
appropriate headings and sequences of headings for a short informal report).
(e) Revising and editing drafts (via conferencing, peer-evaluation, self-evaluation).
Suggested Teaching and Learning Activities
To facilitate students’ attainment of the objectives in Module 1, teachers are advised to engage students in
the
following teaching and learning activities.
1. Engage students in the development of general study skills as follows:
(a) scheduling the time to work;
(b) setting purposes for general and specific reading;
(c) defining the elements of listening and reading;
(d) systematically recording salient information from sources consulted;
(e) working collaboratively in groups.
2. Let students keep a log of their communication activities at school or at home for a 24-hour period
during
the week. They should record the number of minutes spent on the four main language skills: reading,
writing, speaking and listening, each day. They should then make a pie chart showing the percentage of
time spent on each type of communication skill.
Have follow-up discussion, focusing on the implications of the distribution with regard to the student’s
own individual communication style and interactive environment relations, as well as broad
conclusions that may be drawn about these four communication acts in general.
3. Have students listen to a five-minute segment of a radio news programme. Let them recall and list the
main items. Review the list.
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MODULE