Concurso Público para Professor Efetivo do Ensino Básico, Técnico e Tecnológico do Instituto Ferderal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Paraíba.

The use of lexical and grammatical references to reading and

understanding textual genres in English.

Teacher Ailton Pinheiro Moreira

Reading in Technical Courses

Genre Theory

Genres are socially-constructed practices.Context plays an important role in shaping

genres (Holquist, 1986).Speech genres are recognizable patterns of

language-in-context (Bakhtin, 1986).Speech genres include both oral and written

forms of language. We focus on written genres.Genres embody collections of specific

features (Hasan, 1989; Paltridge, 1994).

Webpage

Comic Books

Résumé

Abstract

What is Reading?

“Along with writing and reasoning, reading is one of the most important activities in which students have to engage. This is a fact of life” (FAIRBAIRN, G. J. FAIRBAIRN, S. A., 2001, p. 1).

Reading

Reading is a process undertaken to reduce uncertainty about meanings a text conveys.

The process results from a negotiation of meaning between the text and its reader.

The knowledge, expectations, and strategies a reader uses to uncover textual meaning all play decisive roles way the reader negotiates with the text's meaning.

Reading

Reading does not draw on one kind of cognitive skill, nor does it have a straightforward outcome—most texts are understood in different ways by different readers. (http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/reading/01/)

Reading

“...reading means ‘reading and understanding’. A foreign language learner who says, ‘I can read the words but I don’t know what they mean’ is not, therefore, reading, in this sense. He or she is merely decoding – translating written symbols into corresponding sounds” (UR, Penny. A course in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 138)

Moira is a professor at the New York State University. She is American and lives in New York. She has a big family. Her husband is John. He is a taxi driver. Moira has 5 kids. Edward, Donald, Sarah, Rebeca, and Luke. Edward is a university student. He is 20 years old. His favorite hobby is studying. Donald is a university student too. He is 18. His favorite hobby is watching movies. He studies Arts. Sarah is a High School student. She is 15. Her favorite passtime is dancing. Rebeca and Luke are twins. They are 10 years old. Their favorite hobby is playing with Crool, their dog. But they are unhappy today because Crool is not well. Its paw is hurt. So, it cannot run to play with them.

Reading Activity

Moira is a professor at the New York State University. She is American and lives in New York. She has a big family. Her husband is John. He is a taxi driver. Moira has 5 kids. Edward, Donald, Sarah, Rebeca, and Luke. Edward is a university student. He is 20 years old. His favorite hobby is studying. Donald is a university student too. He is 18. His favorite hobby is watching movies. He studies Arts. Sarah is a High School student. She is 15. Her favorite passtime is dancing. Rebeca and Luke are twins. They are 10 years old. Their favorite hobby is playing with Crool, their dog. But they are unhappy today because Crool is not well. Its paw is hurt. So, it cannot run to play with them.

Discussion

1. What is the main topic?

2. Who is Moira?

3. Who is John?

4. Who is 20 years old?

5. Who are the twins? What does “twins” mean?

6. Where does Moira live?

7. Which word from the text has the same meaning of hobby?

Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level (http://www.bothell.washington.edu/wacc/for-students/eslhandbook/coherence).

Cohesion and coherence aren't too difficult to explain.  Cohesion refers to connectivity in a text.  Coherence refers to how easy it is to understand the writing (http://gordonscruton.blogspot.com.br/2011/08/what-is-cohesion-coherence-cambridge.html).

Coherence and Cohesion

"My favourite colour is blue.  I like it because it is calming and it relaxes me.  I often go outside in the summer and lie on the grass and look into the clear sky when I am stressed.  For this reason, I'd have to say my favourite colour is blue."

Cohesion with no Coherence

"My favourite colour is blue.  Blue sports cars go very fast.  Driving in this way is dangerous and can cause many car crashes.  I had a car accident once and broke my leg.  I was very sad because I had to miss a holiday in Europe because of the injury."

Cohesive, NOT Coherent

Lexical References

Reference;Substitution; Ellipsis;Conjunctions;Lexical Cohesion.

References: “Take a look at this.”

Situation – Exophora

1 – Maria is very happy. She is pregnant!

2 – Because she is pregnant, Maria is very happy!

Text – Endophora

1 – It is anaphoric because the pronoun she refers back to the proper noun Maria.

2 – It is cataphoric because the pronoun she refers forwards to the noun Maria.

“At home, looking through the window, he stood in silence. David felt lost.

“The horse had run the whole shore. Now, it was worn out.”

Reference

Situation – Exophora Text – Endophora

Endophora: Anaphora and Cataphora

Substitution

The woman started to scream. Everybody did just the same.

She loved all the blouses you bought her. But she preferred the red ones.

Ellipsis

She had three nightgoans: she used the green Ø on Mondays and Tuesdays, the yellow Ø on Wendsdays and Thursdays, and the black Ø on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mark goes jogging everyday. He wakes up very early, Ø does some stretching exercises, Ø has some fruit for breakfasft, Ø brushes his teeth, and Ø leaves home.

Conjunctions

We went home and went straight to bed.They are rich but aren’t happy. We took the day off because we were

tired.We went home early, so we missed the

end of the concert. We decided to go home when the two

men next to us started a fight. You can make it if you really want it.

Lexical Cohesion

A child came to me. The girl seemed to be scared.

The teacher entered the classroom, sat at the desk in silence. All the students hushed. She opened her case, picked a pen, opened the attendance book, took a deep breath, and started to cry.

Bibliographical References

BROWN, Douglas H. Principles of language learning and teaching. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994.

Foreign Language Teaching Methods. Disponível em < http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/reading/01/ > Acesso em 20 de março de 2014, às 20:30.

Have fun teaching – reading worksheets. Disponível em < http://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/reading-worksheets/predictions-worksheets/ > Acesso em 25 de fevereiro de 2014, às 19:17.

LUIZ, Cecília Parreira. Colégio Cenecista Doutor José Ferreira. Disponível em: <http://www.joseferreira.com.br/blogs/lingua-inglesa/2013/marco/cognatos-e-falsos-cognatos/> Acesso em 01 de março de 2014, às 18:17.

RICHARDS, J. C., HULL, J. and PROCTOR, S. New Interchange: English for International Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

SWAN, M. A Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Understanding English. Disponível em < http://gordonscruton.blogspot.com.br/2011/08/what-is-cohesion-coherence-cambridge.html > Acesso em 22 de março de 2014, às 17:00.

University of Washington – BOTHEL. Disponível em < http://www.bothell.washington.edu/wacc/for-students/eslhandbook/coherence > Acesso em 20 de março de 2014, às 14:20.

UR, Penny. A course in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Thank you!