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BBC learning English dot com presents talk about English a series of
radio features that support your English language studies.
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It's time for academic listening a series for students of English
speaking universities this time season fun is focusing on academic
reading but to begin with let's hear from two people a student and a
teacher as they tell us how they understand the problems of reading
for academic purposes.
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I think in fact the problem of reading this is due to get the gist of.
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It.
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Thank thank.
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The main problem with reading is the actual amount of reading that
you're likely to have to do it university you may be given a book list
which has fifteen twenty or even thirty books on it and you got a very
short time in which to read those books so what you really have to
learn to do is to read effectively and you also have to learn to be
selective in what you read.
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The reason you have to do is a student is quite different from any
reading you do for pleasure.
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Particular problems associated with it.
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The first of these relates to the sheer volume of material that confront
see when you walk into the library when you receive your reading list.
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There are the more obvious problems such as having to learn a whole
new specialist vocabulary.
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Well let's start with some tips.
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If you come across some familiar words when you're reading an
academic text trying not to reach immediately for the dictionary try to
guess the meaning of the word from the context well from what you
already know about the subject.
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Another World service class member has advice for those of you who
find you have so much to read you just don't know where to start.
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You're given a loss to lots of different things and sometime you you
think it's half that maybe you have to become familiar with everything
which then is is really impossible to so you have to be able to select
very much and then to make choices as well it doesn't mean that you
left out and added is dizzy making choices on on where I would focus.
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In trying to decide what to read it's worth remembering that no one
expects you to read everything on your reading list.
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You need to narrow down the choice.
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Rescue to to roll Elektra what they consider to be the most important
books or articles to read whether they can recommend particular
chapters.
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All the students on your course may also have found certain text to be
particularly useful them for advice.
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Once you've chosen your reading material however you make that
selection it's vital to be absolutely clear about why you're reading.
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When you know what you're going for when you know the purpose in
doing the reading for example an essay you might on yourself with a
list of questions.
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Simon Williams teaches English in the language center at University
College London.
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Then having found the books look at the contents look at the index in
the back of the books academic books normally have an index and
look for key words make a note of those read the blurb that's the
description on the dust cover of a book.
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Next if the material looks promising.
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Scan through the the first chapter or the introduction and conclusion
because it's rather light Lexus the middle part of the book is going to
be quite specific it's going to amplify give examples so the important
things at this stage is going to be the beginning and the end of the
book or of a chapter or of a section.
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Based on what you know about the subject to ready and what you
need to know for your assignments will project son William suggests
that you prepare a list of questions.
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This activity will help you to focus more effectively on the ideas in a
text.
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And you can adjust the speed and depth of your reading to suit your
purposes as Christine Reeves explains.
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She teaches English at bell Norwich a language school in the east of
England.
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 What you have to understand is students is that when you read you
don't read everything at the same speed that you have to learn to
adapt to adjust your speed according to the level of understanding that
you need from the material that you're reading and I think that is one of
the things that are very useful on any AP course but we have to try to
teach you.
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Well that's the theory so how does it work in practice.
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Well when I'm looking for a book for a specific topic what I do is that I
first of course look at the title if he's not in my reading list and then I
start looking at the index the index will suggest me to different topics
that are taken that book I look through the chapters and as I look in the
chapter them look I haven't read from the beginning to the end but I
better scheme the text and I choose a feast relevant for my topic.
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One technique of reading that will help you to read large quantities of
material is for example skimming.
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Skimming isn't really reading skimming is quickly looking over some
material or text to decide is this useful for me is it necessary do I need
to read it so you're not really reading it word for word you're looking for
some key words to picking up the key words to decide do I need to re
do a tool and in this way if you decide that it's necessary then you can
read it but it is not necessary and this is one way of eliminating a lots
of material and it will save you a lot of time.
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Often a quick glance at the title in any subtitles or the chapter
headings and information about the office special academic interest
we'll soon tell me whether the books like you to be useful for your
purposes.
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You might then narrow down your search even further if you look for
specific information using another reading technique.
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Christine reefs again.
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Another technique that is very useful in meeting is scanning.
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Okay what to scanning and how is it different from skimming in
skimming what you're doing is deciding is this particular text useful for
me do I need to read it scanning is different in that you have an idea of
what you're looking for you have a specific question in your mind when
you're looking for the answer to that question it could be a date it could
be a name it could be a sentence but the thing is that you have you
know what you're looking for you have an idea of what you're looking
for in the text.
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And that technique is familiar to around for polity student.
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For example when I was writing an essay about the creation of his two
pressing the Buddhist world which hurt monuments in Buddhist
cultures I had to go through the the different dates when the strippers
were built in different countries so what I did is going through the
chapters looking for their specific dates and not reading anything else
but scanning the text and looking for them.
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Once you've carried out this quick survey of a text an established itself
will contend unsuitability fuel requirements and armed with a list of
questions you need on says it's time for slower more careful reading.
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It would help you enormously if you're able to read faster.
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And Simon Williams believes that this is a skill you can develop.
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Regis don't read word by word they tend to look at the language of the
text in chunks and that means that the I. fixes on a group of words at
once they recognize the meaning of a whole phrase perhaps
unconsciously every time the reader focuses on a particular group of
words the I. stops for a moment it's as if they fix on that group it's a
kind of fixation but that takes time so the few fixations the reader can
manage the better.
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Send out something to try off to the program find a book or a magazine
and think about how you read.
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Son William suggest you find that your rights don't move from one
what's the next at a regular pace but then they tend to stop on groups
of words and phrases can you comprehend these in one go.
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This momentary rest on a group of words is sometimes called a
fixation and according to Simon Williams the secret of speed reading
lies in choosing the number of these fixations.
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Now in order to reduce the number fixations it helps if you can train
yourself to read down the center of the page instead of moving your
eyes from left to right quite so much dot way there are few fixations
and quick understanding but don't try this with academic books at least
not at first because you you you'll miss so much important information
what you can do is to look at like material magazines newspapers and
practice pushing yourself foster with material light that.
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Of course this may be easier said than done whenever I try this myself
I find are you so much mental energy concentrating on the reading
process but I fail to taking most his on reading but stick with it and
eventually you find that you're able to very reading speed to suit the
material you're reading and uranium.
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 And that brings us to the end of this program in which season fan
focused on reading academic texts and some useful reading
techniques.
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That was talk about English from BBC learning English dot com.