Reading Comprehension And Reading

Comprehension Tests Of FMET

------Lv Yanzhu

Fujian Institute Of Education

OUTLINE

I. Reading Theory 1. What’s reading comprehension? How does the communication process take place?2. What’s Schema Theory ? Two modes of information processing3.What’s Gestalts Theory ? Try to understand reading from the standpoint of the

writer to achieve better communication.II. Reading Comprehension Tests Of FMET1.What are the requirements described in the testing syllabus of FMET concerning reading? 2. A brief analysis of the latest three years’ test papers3. How to develop the six reading skills and better cop

e with reading comprehension tests of FMET

The communication process

Schema Theory

Schema (plural schemata) is a mental structure that organize our knowledge and assumptions about something and are used for interpreting and processing information.

The concept of schemata was initially introduced into psychology and education through the work of the British psychologist, Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886–1969) This learning theory views organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures that represent one's understanding of the world.

Gestalt Theory

Gestalt is a German word which means organization or whole or pattern. The concept of Gestalt was first introduced in contemporary philosophy and psychology by Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) .

1.Phrase as a unit of meaning

Only three local students won Chinese Blog Competition. (2009 FMET, 阅读 A 篇 )

2. Sentence as a unit of meaning

Sentences are the basic building blocks for writing something that will be read. A sentence, as a larger unit of meaning, is always about something—its subject—and always has a statement about the subject.

One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao, 19, from the Saint Andrew’s Junior College, who spared no effort in researching for and writing her blog.

(2009 FMET, 阅读 A 篇 )

The ugly brown dog with one broken leg and no collar that the man earlier in the day had chased from the yard several times suddenly and with no warning bit the angry man hard enough to draw blood.

3.Paragraph as a unit of meaning

A Paragraph is not just a bunch of sentences that have nothing to do with each other. A paragraph must have sentences that are connected with each other in some logical way.

4.Passage as a unit of meaning When I met him, I had a lot of anger inside of me. I’ve lived my whole li

fe in Spanish Harlem, but in my neighborhood, there are shoot-ups all the time. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way, too, but Mr. Clark wouldn’t let that happen. Mr. Clark worked long hours, making sure I did my work. My grades rose. In fact, the scores of our whole class rose. One day, he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera, and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show, he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down. Mr. Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat; those students would go with him to Los Angeles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names, Mr. Clark said, “You’re all going.”

On graduation day, there were a lot of tears. We didn’t want his class to end. In 2001, he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in touch. He started giving lectures about education, and wrote a bestselling book based on his classroom rules, The Essential 55. In 2003, Mr. Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages ( 孤儿院 ). It was the most amazing experience of my life. It’s now my dream to one day start a group of women’s clubs, helping people from all backgrounds.

(2007 FMET, 阅读 A 篇 )

The testing syllabus stipulates that the total reading input capacity of each test paper should be above 1300 words, which consists of five passages and is required to finish within 35 minutes and to respond to the 20 questions.

The required reading skills of FMET

1. Understanding the gist ( including main idea, title and purpose)

2. Understanding explicitly stated information3. Deducing unfamiliar words and phrases

through contextual clues4. Making simple judgment and inference5. Understanding the basic structures of

passages6. Understanding the writer’s intention, opinions and attitude

A brief analysis of the latest three years’ test papers

Reading skills coverage of reading tests from 2008 -2010.

1. Reading for main ideas

Recognizing topic nouns or topic phrases Distinguishing topic sentences Avoiding irrelevant ideas

Recognizing topic nouns or topic phrases

Example 1 Forget Twitter and Facebook, Google and the Kindle. Televi

sion is still the most influential medium around. Indeed, for many of the poorest regions (地区 ) of the world, it remains the next big thing — finally becomes globally available. And that is a good thing, because the TV revolution is changing lives for the better.

Across the developing world, around 45% of families had a TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60%. That is some way behind the U.S., where there are more TVs than people, and where people now easily get access to the Internet. Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will get a TV over the next five years. In 2005, after the fall of the Taliban (塔利班 ), which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one. The global total is another 150 million by 2013 — pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families.

Television’s most powerful effect will be on the lives of women. In India, researchers Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that when TVs reached villages, women were more likely to go to the market without their husbands’ approval and less likely to want a boy rather than a girl. They were more likely to make decisions over child health care. TV is also a powerful medium for adult education. In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chitrageet is a popular show that plays Bollywood songs with words in Gujarati on the screen. Within six months, viewers had made a small but significant (有意义的 ) improvement in their reading skills.

Too much TV has been associated with violence, overweight and loneliness. However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide.

(2010 FMET, 阅读 B 篇 )

63. What would be the best title for the passage?

A.TV Will Rule the World

B. TV Will Disturb the World

C.TV Will Better the World

D.TV Will Remain in the World

Recognizing topic nouns or topic phrases.

Example 2

The global energy crisis is approaching. What can we do? Here are some steps you can take.

Cooling puts the greatest stress on your summer energy bill and the power grid (电网 ). Just as a tune-up for your car can improve your gas mileage, a yearly tune-up of your heating and cooling system can improve efficiency and comfort. Clean or replace filters monthly or as needed.

For central air conditioning systems and room air conditioners, look for the ENERGY STAR, the federal government’s symbol for energy efficiency. For central air, purchase the system with the highest possible Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio(SEER).

Use energy-efficient ceiling fans either alone or with air conditioning. Ceiling fans do a great job of circulating air. When used with air conditioning, fans allow you to raise the thermostat(恒温器 ) and cut costs. Ceiling fans cool people, not rooms, so before you leave, turn off the ceiling fan.

Let a programmable thermostat “remember for you” to automatically adjust the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns to reduce cooling bills by up to 10 percent. You can come home to a comfortable house without wasting energy and creating pollution all day while you are at work.

Try to make your home airtight enough to increase your comfort, make your home quieter and cleaner and reduce your cooling costs up to 20 percent.

Cut your air conditioning load, and reduce pollution by planting leafy trees around your home and fixing reflective bricks on your roof.

Close blinds or shades on south- and west-facing windows during the day, or fix shading equipment to avoid heat build-up.

Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers. And use fluorescent bulbs (荧光灯 ), which provide bright, warm light while using at least two-thirds less energy, producing 70 percent less heat and lasting up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs (白炽灯 ).

Drive the car that gets better gas mileage whenever possible if you own more than one vehicle. If you drive 12,500 miles a year, switching 10 percent of your trips from a car that gets 20 miles per gallon to one that gets 30 mpg will save you more than $65 per year.

Carpool. The average U. S. commuter (乘车上班族 ) could save about $260 a year by sharing cars twice a week with two other people in a car that gets 20.1mpg -- assuming the three passengers share the cost of gas.

(2008 FMET D 篇）

71. This passage is mainly about __________. A. energy-saving tips B. fuel-saving tips C. do-it-yourself tips D. environment-protecting tips

Distinguishing topic sentences

Forget Twitter and Facebook, Google and the Kindle. Television is still the most influential medium around. Indeed, for many of the poorest regions (地区 ) of the world, it remains the next big thing — finally becomes globally available. And that is a good thing, because the TV revolution is changing lives for the better.

Across the developing world, around 45% of families had a TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60%. That is some way behind the U.S., where there are more TVs than people, and where people now easily get access to the Internet. Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will get a TV over the next five years. In 2005, after the fall of the Taliban (塔利班 ), which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one. The global total is another 150 million by 2013 — pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families.

Television’s most powerful effect will be on the lives of women. In India, researchers Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that when TVs reached villages, women were more likely to go to the market without their husbands’ approval and less likely to want a boy rather than a girl. They were more likely to make decisions over child health care. TV is also a powerful medium for adult education. In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chitrageet is a popular show that plays Bollywood songs with words in Gujarati on the screen. Within six months, viewers had made a small but significant (有意义的 ) improvement in their reading skills.

Too much TV has been associated with violence, overweight and loneliness. However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide.

(2010 FMET, 阅读 B 篇 )

Avoiding irrelevant ideas

2. Reading for explicitly stated information

A detail is piece of information or fact in a paragraph or a passage which either proves, defines, or provides an example of the main idea of the reading material.

3. Guessing unknown vocabulary

Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items through understanding word formation

Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items through contextual clues

Example 3

For years we have been told that encouraging a child’s self–respect is important to his or her success in life. But child experts are now learning that too much praise can lead to the opposite effect. Praise-aholic kids who expect it at every turn may become teens who seek the same kind of approval from their friends when asked if they want to go in the backseat of the car. (2008 FMET, B篇阅读 )

61.The underlined words “Praise-aholic kids” refer to kids who are_______.

A. tired of being praised B. worthy of being praised

C. very proud of being praised D. extremely fond of being praised

The following tables show some of the most commonly used suffixes. Suffixes that create nouns: suffix meaning example

-er, -or, a person who or a thing which

operator, seller

-ian, -ist, –yst

a person who musician, artist, analyst

-ness a condition of eagerness, illness

-sion,-tion, -ation, -ment,

a state of or the action of possession, attention, civilization,

government, treatment (I),

-ity state of, quality of ability, reality, majority (I)

-ship, -dom,-hood

condition or state friendship, freedomchildhood

-al action of arrival, removal

Suffixes that create verbs:

suffix meaning example

-en, -fy, -ize, -ate to make harden, satisfy, realize, graduate

-ify to give Classify (II),

Suffixes that create adverbs:

suffix meaning example

-ly in the manner of highly, finally

-wise otherwise

-ward forward

Suffixes that create adjectives:

suffix meaning example

-al,-ar, -ic, -ive having the quality of

-ous, -ious full of dangerous ,curious

-able, -ible capable of being workable,

-ful having or being helpful

-less without homeless

-ish like childish

-ly having the quality of friendly, manly

-some troublesome

-y rainy, funny

Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items through contextual clues.

Definition Experience Related information Repetition Examples Comparison Contrast

4. Drawing inference

5. Reading to discover organization

How parts of a passage are related?

Consider four kinds of things: the introduction; the main idea; the supporting details; and the conclusion.

Characteristic of different kinds of writings

News reports follow a definite pattern in which the most important information is given early.

The characteristic of narration is in which everything is described as it happens in a time sequence.

As for an argumentative style, we will often look for arguments and counter-arguments at the very beginning of the passage.

The exposition could be in the form of step-by-step instructions with explanations given.

Suggestions

1.Developing a reading vocabulary. Word

building should be emphasized in regular

teaching and learning.

2.Students should strengthen and widen their reading.

The reading passages of FMET have a broad selection of topics covering social life, culture, popular science and modern technology, news reports, education, travel and so on. Students should read a lot in different areas on regular basis to broaden their academic horizons. This will help improve their reading comprehension.

3.Trying to make progress in speed. Set aside time every week. It may be a fr

ee period for some specific regular practice. Check the reading speed through pacing to improve the student’s wpm.rate. Getting rid of the bad habits, such as word for word reading, finger-pointing, subvocalizing and eye regression.

Thank you!