With the recently introduced GCSE for all high school leavers, there come considerable obstacles for the teachers and students in many parts of Vietnam. Those difficulties primarily involve the teaching, learning and finally revising for this new type of national exam. The MOET released figures on students’ performance in all the six papers have further cemented this observation of the apparent lack of a suitable approach to the exam. Accordingly, the failure ratio among testtakers of each of the eight papers, namely Mathematics, Literature, English, History, Geography, Physics, Biology and Chemistry is astoundingly high, and the most conspicuous feature can be found in English, with the most popular score being around 2 out of a tenpoint scale.
Trang 1WORKSHOP PRESENTATIO
N
Trang 2PREPARING FOR THE GCSE
EXAM: THE MULTIPLE CHOICE
READING TEXTS
I Introduction
With the recently introduced GCSE for all high school leavers, there come considerable obstacles for the teachers and students in many parts of Vietnam Those difficulties primarily involve the teaching, learning and finally revising for this new type of national exam The MOET released figures on students’ performance in all the six papers have further cemented this observation of the apparent lack of a suitable approach to the exam Accordingly, the failure ratio among test-takers of each of the eight papers, namely Mathematics, Literature, English, History, Geography, Physics, Biology and Chemistry is astoundingly high, and the most conspicuous feature can be found in English, with the most popular score being around 2 out of a ten-point scale
Being a teacher of English- the subject with the lowest average score recorded in the exam last year, I have combined my teaching experiences with the skills and knowledge gained from several professional development workshop and propose a solution to a small part of the problem In particular,
I suggest familiarizing students with the types of questions commonly found what are often much dreaded- the most difficult part of the papers: the multiple choice reading texts (MCQ texts)
II Aims and objectives
- To provide fellow teachers with the types of questions commonly found in the English papers of the national GCSE exam
Trang 3- To suggest the necessary strategies for successfully completing the tasks of reading and answering questions effectively
- To encourage discussion about and evaluation of the most effective teaching tips and techniques for dealing with MCQ texts
III Multiple choice reading texts: An overview
For the sake of brevity, the specifics of MCQ texts are presented in the table below:
Number of texts 2
Length of texts 250 words per text
Number of questions 10 questions per text
Length of time N/ A, but possibly 12-15 minute/ text
Level of difficulty Different: 1 text intermediate, 1 text
upper-intermediate
An example of the MCQ text (upper-intermediate), with its questions is given hereby:
Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each
of the questions
The Winterthur Museum is a collection and a house There are many
museums devoted to the decorative arts and many house museums, but
rarely in the United States is a great collection displayed in a great country house Passing through successive generations of a single family, Winterthur has been a private estate for more than a century Even after the extensive renovations made to it between 1929 and 1931, the house remained a family residence This fact is of importance to the atmosphere and effect of the
museum The impression of a lived-in house is apparent to the visitor: the
rooms look as if they were vacated only a short while ago whether by the original owners of the furniture or the most recent residents of the house can
be a matter of personal interpretation Winterthur remains, then, a house in which a collection of furniture and architectural elements has been
assembled Like an English country house, it is an organic structure; the
house, as well as the collection and manner of displaying it to the visitor, has changed over the years The changes have coincided with developing
Trang 4concepts of the American arts, increased knowledge on the part of collectors and students, and a progression toward the achievement of a historical effect
in period-room displays The rooms at Winterthur have followed this current, yet still retained the character of a private house
The concept of a period room as a display technique has developed gradually over the years in an effort to present works of art in a context that would show them to greater effect and would give them more meaning for the viewer Comparable to the habitat group in a natural history museum, the period room represents the decorative arts in a lively and interesting manner and provides an opportunity to assemble objects related by style, date, or place of manufacture
Câu 30: What does the passage mainly discuss?
A Historical furniture contained in Winterthur
B How Winterthur compares to English country houses
C Elements that make Winterthur an unusual museum
D The reason that Winterthur was redesigned
Câu 31: The phrase "devoted to" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
A specializing in B sentimental about C surrounded by
D successful in Câu 32: What happened at Winterthur between 1929 and 1931?
A The old furniture was replaced B The estate became a museum
C The owners moved out D The house was repaired
Câu 33: What does the author mean by stating "the impression of a lived-in
house is apparent to the visitor"?
A Few people visit Winterthur
B The furniture at Winterthur looks comfortable
C Winterthur does not look like a typical museum
D Winterthur is very old
Câu 34: The word "assembled" in line 9 is closest in meaning to
A summoned B appreciated
C fundamentally changed D brought together
Câu 35: The word "it" in line 10 refers to
A collection B English country house
C visitor D Winterthur
Câu 36: The word "developing" in line 11 is closest in meaning to
Trang 5A evolving B exhibiting C informative D traditional Câu 37: According to the passage, objects in a period room are related by
all of the following EXCEPT
A place of manufacture B date
C past ownership D style
Câu 38: What is the relationship between the two paragraphs in the
passage?
A Paragraph 2 explains a philosophy of art appreciation that contrasts
with that explained in Paragraph 1
B Paragraph 2 explains a term that was mentioned in Paragraph 1.
C Each paragraph describes a different historical period
D Each paragraph describes a different approach to the display of objects
in a museum
Câu 39: Where in the passage does the author explain why displays at
Winterthur have changed?
A lines 6-8 B lines 4-5 C lines 1-2 D lines 10-12
IV Types of MCQ reading questions and suggested
strategies
Again, brevity and clarity prevail, therefore the writer would like to present this section in the form of a table, which is believed to be more reader-friendly and easier to understand Further details on how to recognize certain type of questions can be presented later in the conference (if time permits)
Question
types Skills tested Number of
question s
Strategies
Detail
questions Reading fordetails:
Scanning Skimming
4-5/text - Identify keywords in the questions
- Scan the text to find the keywords
- Read the surrounding text carefully to answer the Q
Reference
and
Vocabular
y
questions
Scanning Skimming 2-4/ text
- Reference word may refer to a noun, or a noun phrase
- Try substituting the choices for the given word
- Use context clues
Trang 6- Use word formation knowledge
Reading
for
inference
Skimming Scanning 0-2/ text
- Go beyond the information stated
in the passage
- Reason out what is implied
- The answer will not be stated word by word in the passage
- Wrong answer may be overly exaggerated to be precisely correct
Reading
for main
ideas
Skimming Scanning 1/ text -- Skimming is importantRead the first sentence of the
passage, and the last sentence
- Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph
- Skim the text quickly to determine the correct answer
- The incorrect answr may be too specific, too general, or incorrect
VI Discussions of the suggestions and further
recommendations
I have attempted incorporating this knowledge of the MCQ into my teaching in
class, which seems to be effective No official research has been done to confirmed this, however.
From my experience, I strongly suggest dividing the questions into separate types and spending at least 1.5 to 2 hours acclimatizing students with each category
Finally, the teacher should provide students with ample opportunities for practice and remind them of the strategies as she/he correct the exercises/ tests.
This being a mere report on the basics of my presentation at the coming workshop Time issues do not permit a lengthier explanation I would be grateful for any
feedback and welcome to improve this report.