CHUYÊN đề TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

Skim the reading passage to determine the main idea and the overall organizations of ideas in the passage.. The question – type tells you exactly where to look in the passage to find cor

CHUYÊN ĐỀ: TEACHING SKILLS TO DO

READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

Tác giả:Đỗ Thị Thu Minh Giáo viên trường THPT Vĩnh Yên Đối tượng học sinh: Lớp 12, Ôn thi ĐH – CĐ

Số tiết dự kiến: 10 tiết

1 Đối tượng bồi dưỡng : Học sinh lớp 12

2 Số tiết dạy dự kiến : 10

3 Hệ thống kiến thức :

Skill 1-Answer main idea questions correctly

Skill 2 Answer stated detail questions correctly

Skill 3 :Find “unstated” details

Skill 4 Find pronoun referents

Skill 5 Answer implied detail questions correctly

Skill 6 Find definitions from structural clues

Skill 7 Use context to determine meanings of difficult words

Skill 8 Use context to determine meanings of simple words

Skill 9 Determine the tone, purpose, or course

TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS:

Each reading passage is often followed by 10 questions of reading comprehension and vocabulary Topics of the reading passage are varied, but they are often informational subjects such as history, literature, art, architecture, geology, geography, and astronomy Time is definitely a factor in the Reading Comprehension

Some students, especially average students, note that they are unable to finish all the questions in this section Others cannot understand what the passage is about, so they do without intention and don’t know surely if their answer is true Therefore, they need to make the most efficient use

of their time in this section to get the highest score The following method

is the best way of attacking a reading passage to get the most questions correct in a limited amount of time

STRAGIES FOR THE READING COMPREHENSION

QUESTIONS

1 Skim the reading passage to determine the main idea and the overall organizations of ideas in the passage You do not need to understand every detail in each passage to answer the questions correctly It is therefore a waste of time to read the passage with the intent of understanding every single detail before you try to answer the questions

2 Look ahead at the questions to determine what types of questions you must answer Each type of question is answered in a different way.

3 Find the section of the passage that deals with each question The question – type tells you exactly where to look in the passage to find correct answers

- For main ideas questions, look at the first line of each paragraph

- For directly and indirectly answered detail questions, choose a key word in the question, and skim for that key word (or a related idea)

in order in the passage

- For vocabulary questions, the questions will tell you where the word is located in the passage

- For overall review questions, the answers are found anywhere in the passage

4 Read the part of the passage that contains the answers carefully The answer will probably be in the same sentence (or one sentence before

or after) the key word or idea

5 Choose the best answer to each question from the four answer choices listed in the textbook The best answer can be chosen according to what is given in the appropriate section of the passage, eliminate definitely wrong answers, and mark the best guess on the answer sheet

The following skills will help students to implement these strategies in the Reading passage of the test

A QUESTIONS ABOUT THE IDEAS OF THE PASSAGE _

It is very common for reading passages of the test to have questions about the overall ideas in the passage The most common type of question asks about the main idea, topic, title, or subject

Skill 1 Answer main idea questions correctly.

Students may be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, or main idea These questions are all really asking what primary point that the author is trying to get across in the passage, and it is not difficult to find the main idea by studying the topic sentence, which is most probably found at the beginning of a paragraph

If the passage consists of only one paragraph, students should study the beginning of that paragraph to determine the main idea If a passage consists of more than one paragraph, students study the beginning to determine the main idea.

Example 1 In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2010-2011, Code AV 121, the Reading comprehension is that:

The Asian Beach Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in

2008 in Bali, Indonesia

This Games will be composed of sports with strong television appeal such

as windsurfing, kite boarding, swimming, beach volleyball, beach handball, beach soccer, and dragon boat racing

The Asian Indoor Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The Games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand

This Games will be composed by sports with TV broadcasting potential and not included in the Asian Games and Winter Asia Games Programs and are not Olympic sports The sports program will comprise from six to eight exciting sports with strong television appeal, including electronic sports, extreme sports, aerobics, acrobatics, indoor athletics, dance sports, inline hockey, fin swimming, and 25 meters short course swimming

Question 27 The passage is about ………

A The Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games

B The Olympic Council of Asia

C The Asian Games and Winter Asian Games Programs

D The Asian Indoor Games and Winter Asian Games Programs

In the above given passage, there are four paragraphs Students should be sure to read the first sentence of each paragraph to determine the subject, title, or main idea In Example 1, the first sentence of the first paragraph

of this passage discusses the Asian Beach Games, and the second paragraph begins with “this Games”, which means that it is about the Asian Beach Games The first sentence of the third paragraph tells of the Asian Indoor Games, about which the fourth paragraph tells, also beginning with “this Games” So the whole passage discusses the two

kinds of games: the Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games

Therefore, the best choice is answer A

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about main idea questions:

MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS

IDENTIFY THE

QUESTIONS

What is the topic of the passage?

What is the subject of the passage?

What is the main idea of the passage?

What is the author’s main point in the passage?

With what is the author primarily concerned?

Which of the following would be the best title?

HOW TO

ANSWER THE

QUESTION

1 Read the first line of each paragraph

2 Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines

3 Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the passage to check that you really have found the topic sentence(s)

4 Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

B DIRECTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS

Skill 2 Answer stated detail questions correctly.

A stated detail question asks about one piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole The answers to these questions are generally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often a restatement of what is given in the passage This means that the correct answer often expresses the same idea as what is written in the passage, but the words are not exactly the same

Example 2: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit 4 “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph:

At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything

at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids

Task 2:

Question 2: At first the parents were the idea of sending

their children to the special class

A interested in B opposed to C satisfied with D

worried about

Since in the first sentence of the paragraph, there is the noun

“opposition”, we can see from the four answers the verb “opposed” in

the answer B, they are in a family So the answer B is the best one

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about stated detail questions:

STATED DETAIL QUESTIONSHOW TO

IDENTIFY THE

QUESTION

According to the passage, …

It is stated in the passage … The passage indicates that … The author mentions that … Which of the following is true …?

1 Choose a key word in the question

2 Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key word or idea

3 Read the sentence that contains the key word

Skill 3 Find “unstated” details.

Students will sometimes be asked to find an answer that is not stated or not mentioned or not true in the passage This type of question really means that three of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the

passage, while one answer is not The actual job is to find the three correct answers and then choose the letter of the one remaining answer The teacher asks students to notice that there are two kinds of answers to this type of question:

1) There are three true answers and one answer that is not discussed

in the passage

2) There are three true answers and one that is false according to the passage

Example 3: In English 12, page 163 and 164, Unit 15 “Woman in

Society”, Part Reading, the last paragraph:

Today, although their status varies in different countries, women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights The most

important of these are: the right to have equal work opportunities and pay

to men, the right to vote, and the right to formal education

Task 2:

Question 5: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the last

paragraph as one of women’s legal rights today?

A the right to hold property

B the right to equal pay

C equal employment opportunity rights

D the right to vote

The question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned, so three of the answers are listed in the passage and one is not Since the right to equal pay, equal employment opportunity rights, the right to vote, are listed in the passage, answers B, C, and D are incorrect However, the right to hold property is not listed in the passage, so answer D is the best answer

HOW TO

IDENTIFY THE

QUESTION

Which of the following is not stated …?

Which of the following is not mentioned …?

Which of the following is not discussed …?

All of the following are true except …?

1 Choose a key word in the question

2 Scan in the appropriate place in the passage for the key word (or related idea)

3 Read the sentence that contains the key word

or idea carefully

4 Look for answers that are definitely true according to the passage Eliminate those answers

5 Choose the answer that is not true or not discussed in the passage

Skill 4 Find pronoun referents.

In the Reading comprehension of the test, you will sometimes be asked to determine which noun a pronoun refers to In this type of question it is important to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, and the pronoun that refers to it comes after Whenever you are asked which noun a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun

Example 4: In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2011-2012, Code AV 101, the Reading comprehension is that:

Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade

A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For

millions of years, the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter Wadhams said, “The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the

potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.”

An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system Experts call it Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the

UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reduce their carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020

Question: 33 What does the word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A the Arctic sea ice

B climate system

C refrigerator

D the Earth

To answer this question, students should look before the pronoun it for

singular nouns that pronoun could refer to An ice sea Arctic, the Arctic sea ice, the Earth’s climate system come before the pronoun, so they are

possible answers Then students should try the three possible answers in the sentence in place of the pronoun From the following sentence

students should notice that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer , so the best answer to this question is answer A.

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about pronoun referents:

PRONOUN REFERENTSHOW TO

2 Look for nouns that come before the pronoun.

3 Read the part of the passage before the pronoun

4 Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

C INDIRECTLY ANSWER QUESTIONS _

Some questions of the Reading Comprehension section of the test will require answers that are not directly stated in the passage To answer these questions correctly, you will have to draw conclusions from information that is given in the passage Two common types of indirectly answer questions are:

(1) implied detail questions and

(2) transition questions

Skill 5 Answer implied detail questions correctly.

You will sometimes be asked to answer a question by drawing a conclusion from a specific detail are details in the passage Questions of this type contain the words implied, inferred, likely, or probably to let you know that the answer to the question is not directly stated In this type of question it is important to understand that you do not have to “pull the answer out of thin air.” Instead, some information will be given in the passage, and you will draw a conclusion from that information

Example 5: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit 4 “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph is :

At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything

at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids

Task 2:

Question 3: It can be inferred from the second paragraph of the reading

passage that there has been

A a change in the parents’ attitude towards the class

B a lot of protest from the parents against the class

C a feeling of doubt in the teacher’s ability

D a belief in the parents’ opposition

To answer this question, students should refer to the part of the passage

where it states that in the past the parents had a lot of opposition, but now they don’t, so the answer B is incorrect It also says that their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids, which means the parents don’t have the feeling of doubt in the teacher’s ability, then the answer C is incorrect, too The sentence

“Gradually more children arrived” shows that the parents have a change

in the parents’ attitude towards the class, so the answer D can’t be

correct and the best answer is A

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about implied detail questions:

IMPLIED DETAIL QUESTION

IDENTIFY THE

QUESTION

It is implied in the passage that …

It can be inferred from the passage that …

It is most likely that … What probably happened …?

1 Choose a key word in the passage

2 Scan the passage for the key word (or a related idea)

3 Carefully read the sentence that contains the key word

4 Look for a answer that could be true, according

to that sentence

D VOCABULARY QUESTIONS

In the Reading Comprehension section of the test, there will be a number

of vocabulary questions To answer this type of question, it is of course useful if you know the meaning of the word that the test is testing However, it is not always necessary for you to know the meaning of the word; often there are skills that you can use to help you find the correct answer to the question:

(1) finding definitions from structural clues;

(2) determining meanings from the word parts, and

(3) using context clues to determine meanings

Skill 6 Find definitions from structural clues.

When you are asked to determine the meaning of a word in the Reading Comprehension section of the test, it is possible

(1) that the passage provides information about the meaning of the word, and

(2) that there are structural clues to tell you that the definition of a word is included in the passage

Example 6:

In law, a nuisance is an act that has no legal justification and which interferes with the safety or comfort of other people Public nuisances, those which are injurious to the community, may be prosecuted as crimes

Question: A nuisance is _.

A a protective law B an injurious act

C a legal justification D a safety precaution

We should choose answer B because a “nuisance” is an act which

interferes with the safety of others, that is, an injurious act.

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about structural clues to help you understand unknown vocabulary words:

What is the meaning of …?

What is true about …?

HOW TO 1 Find the word in the passage

ANSWER THE

QUESTION

2 Locate any structural clues

3 Read the part of the passage after the structural clue carefully

4 Eliminate any definitely wrong answer and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

Skill 7 Use context to determine meanings of difficult words.

On the test you will sometimes be asked to determine the meanings of the difficult words, a word that you are not expected to know In this case, the passage will give you a clear indication of what the word means

Example 7: In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2011-2012, Code AV 101, the Reading comprehension is as follows:

Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade

A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For

millions of years, the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter Wadhams said, “The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.”

An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system Experts call it Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the

UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reduce their carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020

Question 32: The word “fragile” in the passage mostly means

………

A easily broken B easily damaged C physically weak _D extremely complicated

To answer this question, students should look at the sentence that

contains the word fragile It comes before the word eco-system, which means that it is an adjective of the latter word So it cannot be easily broken, physically weak or extremely complicated, then answers A, C,

and D are incorrect As a result, answer B is the best answer to this

“What is the meaning …?”

“Which of the following is closest in meaning to …?” The word is a difficult word, one that you probably

1 Find the word in the passage

2 Read the sentence that contains the word carefully

3 Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning

4 Choose the answer that the context indicates

Skill 8 Use context to determine meanings of simple words.

You will sometimes be asked to determine the meaning of a simple word,

a word that you see often in everyday English In this type of question, you should not give the normal, everyday meaning of the word; instead, the test wants to know the meaning of the word in this situation

Example 8: A line from the passage:

… He put his answer this way …

Question: The word “put” is closest in meaning to which of the

following?

In this type of question, students should understand that put is a normal,

everyday word, and they are not being asked to give the regular meaning

of a normal, everyday word Because the primary meaning of to put is to place, answer A is not the correct answer To answer this type of question

students must see which of the answers best fits into the sentence in the

passage We cannot place an answer or set an answer or hand an answer, but we can express an answer, so answer C is the best answer to this

“What is the meaning …?”

“Which of the following is closest in meaning to …?” The word is a simple word, one that you see often in everyday English.

1 Find the word in the passage

2 Read the sentence that contains the word carefully

3 Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning

4 Choose the answer that the context indicates

E OVERALL REVIEW QUESTIONS

Often in the Reading Comprehension section of the test, the last question (or two) for a particular reading passage is an overall question, one that asks about the passage as a whole rather than one small detail The overall review questions are generally not main idea questions; instead they ask about some other aspect of the passage as a whole The most common types of overall review questions are

(1) questions that ask where in the passage something is found;

(2) questions about the tones of the passage;

(3) questions about the author’s purpose in writing the passage, or(4) questions about which course the passage might be a part of

Skill 9 Determine the tone, purpose, or course.

Other types of overall review questions occur occasionally in the Reading Comprehension section of the test Possible questions of this type are those that ask about:

(1) the tone of the passage;

(2) the author’s purpose in writing the passage, and

A question about the tone is asking if the author is showing any emotion

in his or her writing The majority of the passages on the test are factual passages presented without any emotion; the tone of this type of passage

could be simply informational, explanatory, or factual Sometimes on the

test, however, the author shows some emotion, and you must be able to recognize that emotion to answer a question about tone correctly If the

author is being funny, then the tone might be humorous; if the author is making fun of something, the tone might be sarcastic; if the author feels strongly that something is right or wrong, the tone might be impassioned.

A question about purpose is asking what the author is trying to do in the

passage You can draw a conclusion about the author’s purpose by referring to the main idea and the organization of details in the passage For example, if the main idea is that George Washington’s early life greatly influenced his later career and if the details give a history of his

early life, the author’s purpose could be to show how George Washington’s early life influenced his later career However, the answer

to a purpose question is often considerably more general than the main idea A more general author’s purpose for the main idea about George

Washington would be to demonstrate the influence of early experiences

on later life (without any mention of George Washington).

Example 9: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit 4 “Special Education”, Part Reading:

A TEACHER IN A SPECIAL CLASSLike other teachers, Pham Thu Thuy enjoys her teaching job However,

her class is different from other classes The twenty-five children, who are learning how to read and write in her class, are disabled Some are deaf, some dumb and others mentally retarded Most of the children come from large and poor families, which prevents them from having proper schooling.

At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything

at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids

Watching Thuy taking a class, one can see how time-consuming the work

is During a maths lesson, she raised both arms and opened up her fingers one by one until all ten stood up She then closed the fingers one by one She continued the demonstration until the children realized they had just learned how to add and subtract The children have every reason to be proud of their efforts They know a new world is opening up for them

Question 5: The writer’s attitude towards Thuy’s work in the passage can

be described as _

A humorous B angry C suspicious D admiring

The question asks about the tone (writer’s attitude) of the passage To

determine the tone of a passage, students should look for any indications

of emotion on the part of the writer In this passage, the writer shows the great efforts the teacher has made to help the poor kids who later see a new horizon opening up for them Therefore, the best answer to this

question is answer D There is nothing in the passage to indicate any humor A, anger B, or suspicion C on the part of the writer

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about tone, purpose, or course questions:

TONE, PURPOSE, OR COURSE

IDENTIRY THE

QUESTION

Tone: What is the tone of the passage?

Purpose: What is the author’s purpose in this passage?

author is showing some emotion

2 Choose the answer that identifies the emotion

Purpose: 1 Study the main idea in the topic sentence and

the details used to support the main idea

2 Draw a conclusion about the purpose

B READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES

These quill pens were one of the earliest products

“designed”specifically for left and right- handed people Fathers from the

left wing of the goose worked best for the right- handers because of the way that the feathers arched Feathers from the right wing were preferred

by left- handers

1 Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

a.Early Ballpoint and Fountain pens

b Quill Pens for Lefties and Righties

c Where quill Pens Came from

d Various Users for goose Feathers

2 The passage indicates that a quill pen could hold enough ink to

write………

a one or two pages b for about one hour

c a couple of words d numerous sentences

3 Look at the word designed in paragraph two It could be best the

a Left- handers were unable to use quill pens

b Left- handers people generally preferred quills from the right wing

c Right- handers could use quill pens

d Right- handed – people generally preferred quills from the left wing

5 It can be inferred from the passage that quill pens………

a are still used regularlytoday b are referred over ballpoint pens

c are the best pens for the left- handers d.are not longer used much

B.

When you can’t touch the car door handle or sit on the seat because they are so hot, you are meeting solar energy We can use this heaat from the sun to keep us warm and give us electricity

We know that we will someday run out of the fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal And we are now spending lots of money to learn how to put nuclear energy to work for us But we knoe that the radioactive

wastes that result from using nuclear energy can be very dangerous

We need a supply of energy that will not pollute our air or water, that will not cost too much and thatwill not run out One of the sources

we are considering is the sun Enough sunshine falls on the United States

in one minute to give the whole country all the energy, we’ll be able to make as much electricity as we need And it wouldn’t make smog in our air or poison our water

We could collect the sun’s heat in big sun farms A good place for

a sun farm is on the desert, where the sky is clear and there is plenty of sunshine and only a little rain People could set up acres of glass mirrors

to focus the sun’s rays on a special surface that would become very hot

Or they could put out acres and acres of glass- covered collectors called solar energy traps to gather the sun’s heat The heat would melt a special metal;this melted metal would below to a largetank of melted salt; the melted salt would then take the heat from the metal and hold it

This stored heat could then be used like the heat we get rom

burning fossil fuels It would make steam and turn generators to make

electricity There would even be enough heat to make steam during the night and on cloudy days.

The trouble is that collecting the sun’s heat in these ways is

expensive right now We need to find out how to make these methods cost les before we can have big sun farms on our deserts

Scientists are trying to make a solar energy collector that they hope will be cheap enough for anybody to put on a house- either on the roof or

in the wall The inventors are making these solar collectors in kits for people who want to do- it themselves

6 What is the subject of this selection?

a.Kinetic energy b nuclear energy

c Mechanical enegy d Solar energy

7 According to this article,……

a the sun is a good source of energy b smog does not pollute the air

c nuclear energy is safe and clean d many people use solar energy

8 The best place for a sun farm is the………

a desert b seashore c moutains d forest

9 Scientists……

a have final found a safe way to use nuclear energy

b Know that fossil fuels willlast forver

c Are still experimenting with energy from the sun

d Have found the cheap way to collect the sun’s heat

10 The writer feels that nuclear energy……

a will soon run out b is cheap c is clean d can be harmful

In fact, he lost most of the money he invested By 1887, the 49- year- old author had invested most of his money in one project, the Paige

typesetting machine

Twain expected the Paige machine to be completed in 1989

Unfortunately, the machine was never completely finished, and by the early 1980s, Twain kneww he was in serious financial situation He

worked hard to take care of his problems by producing a number of books

is a row he wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1892),