LECTURE NOTES

ENGL6163
English Professional

Week 4
Sesssion 5

Making Prediction on Text

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES

On successful completion of this Course, students will be able to:

LO 4: Demonstrate the Intermediate-level Academic English writing skills in terms of

Introduction, Middle and Conclusion (a minimum of BINUS English Writing scaled
score of 15 of scale 30)
LO 1: Demonstrate the Intermediate-level Academic English Listening skills of Basic
Comprehension, Pragmatic Understanding, and Connecting Information (a minimum of
iBT TOEFL Listening scaled score of 15 of scale 30)

OUTLINE:

INTRODUCTION
DISCUSSION
1. Grammar: Reviewing present Vs past tenses
2. Writing Skill: Composing an agree or disagree essay
3. Listening Skill 3: Determining the speakers’ purposes on the texts
4. Listening Skill 4: Finding the speakers’ attitude from the passages
CONCLUSION

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 INTRODUCTION

In addition to the writing foundation, especially in creating sentences, little part of

grammar especially present vs past tense will be discussed in this lesson. The grammar will be
equipped with the example and function. Next, agree and disagree essay theory will also be
presented part by part. Together with the writing, listening skill 3 and also listening skill 4 about
understanding the function and the speakers’ stance will be discussed. The description of the
skills and the strategy to get the answer of those two listening skills will also be shown.

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 DISCUSSION

1. Grammar: Reviewing present Vs past tenses

a. Present Simple
The Present Simple tense is a tense which says about something that was true in the past,
is true in the present, and will be true in the future. It is used for general statements of facts.
Example:
 Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen.
 The sun rises in the east.
 Tiger kills other animals for food.
Another use of Present Simple is to express habitual or everyday activity.
Example:
 He plays tennis most weekends.
 I study for two hours every night.
 Maya goes to school on foot every morning.
b. Present Continuous Tense
The Present Continuous tense is a tense which expresses an activity that is in progress at
the moment of speaking. It began in the past but still continuing in the present and will probably
end at future.
Example:
 John is sleeping right now.
 Billy is taking a shortcut to school because he thinks he’s late.
 A: What are you doing with that book?
 B: Oh, I’m reading it. It’s quite interesting.

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Another use of Present Continuous is to tell about an activity or plan for the future.
Example:
 We're looking for a new flat for next month.
 I am taking four courses this semester.
 Lydia is trying to write another book this year.
Note how, in all these examples, we use the present continuous to talk about events which
are temporary/limited in time. The present simple to talk about events which are
habits/permanent. For “Lydia is trying to write another book this year.”, it means that writing a
book is a general activity she is engaged in at present, but it does not mean she is sitting and
writing at the moment.
c. Future Simple
The Future Simple tense is a tense which says about something or an activity that will
happen or not happen in the future. Besides that, the future simple tense can also be used to
express prediction, a prior plan, and willingness. For the usage of expressing prediction, we can
make a sentence using will or be going to.
Example:
 According to the weather report, it will be sunny tomorrow.
 According to the weather report, it is going to be sunny tomorrow.
 Look at that car! It will hit someone.
 Look at that car! It is going to hit someone.
From the examples above, both (a) and (b) has no different meaning. The examples (c) and (d)
also has no difference in meaning.
Another use of Future Simple tense is to express a prior plan. When the speaker is expressing a
prior plan (something the speaker intends to do in the future because in the past s/he has made a
plan or decision to do it), only be going to is used.

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Example:
 A: Why did you buy this stairs?
B: I’m going to fix my roof tomorrow.
 I talked to Ennie yesterday. She lost her keys and almost couldn’t enter her home. She is
going to buy a new key chain for her new keys.
Another use of Future Simple tense is also to express willingness. When the speaker volunteers
to do something, the speaker uses will to show his/her willingness. This is different because there
is no prediction or prior plan. It shows about the spontaneous action and willingness from the
heart.
Example:
 A: Why is it so cold here?
B: Ah, the AC temperature shows 18 degrees of celcius. I’ll turn it off for you.
 A: I hate this mathematic problems.
B: What’s the matter? You don’t know the answer? Here, I’ll help you.
 A: Oh, no! The copying machine is broken and I still need to make another copy.
B: Quick, call Adrian. He’ll fix it. He’s the best.
d. Present Perfect
The Present Perfect tense is a tense which expresses the idea that something happened
(or never happened) before now, at an unspecified time in the past but still have some impact
or effect in the present. The exact time it happened is not important which is different in past
smiple tense. If the exact time is mentioned, then we can’t use the present perfect tense. We have
to use the past simple tense.
Example:
 I have already seen that movie.
 Have you ever visited Singapore?
 I have never eaten pizza in my whole life.
The present perfect tense also expresses the repetition of an activity before now. The
exact time of each repetition is not important.

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Example:
 We have had five tests so far and there’s still more.
 She has met her boyfriend every other day for the last three months.
 I have flown to Makassar for many times.
e. Past Simple
The Past Simple tense is a tense which says about something or an activity that began in
the past and also ended at a particular time in the past.
Example:
 I walked from my home to the school yesterday.
 He lived in Bandung for two years, but now he lives in Jakarta.
 Two days ago, I lost my wallet around here.
Another use of Past Simple is to express past activities in sequence. This applies if there is a
sentence using “when” and has both past simple in each clauses. For this type of sentence, the
activity in the “when” happens first.
Example:
 I stood under the tree when it began to rain. (The rain began first)
 When she heard the noise, she got up. (She heard the noise first)
 When I walked on my way home, the car accident happened beside me. (I walked first)
f. Past Continuous Tense
The Past Continuous tense is a tense which expresses an activity which began earlier and was
in progress when the other action occured. Sometimes the past continuous tense is used as a
background detail in story-telling.
Example:
 John was sleeping when the thief broke into the house.
 I was attending the math class last night at 6 p.m.
 A: What’s wrong? Why is everybody seems to panic?
 B: Tommy was climbing the tree to get a boy’s kite but he slipped and fell unconscious!

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As we can see, there is a slight difference in example A from past continuous and past simple. If
there is a past continuous tense and a “when clause”, the activity in past continuous tense
happens first.
2. Writing Skill: Composing an agree or disagree essay
Composing agree or disagree essay is about sharing your opinion toward something in a
written form. Here are some components of writing that essay: Paragraph 1 (Introduction),
Paragraph 2 (Body), Paragraph 3 (Body), Paragraph 4 (Body), Paragraph 5 (conclusion). In the
introduction that can be 5 sentences general idea about the topic and discussion. In the second,
third, and fourth paragraph will be about the main reason 1, 2, and 3. Then in the last, conclusion
part, that is contain of the idea whether the writer agree or disagree by mentioning again the 3
big reasons that have been discussed.
3. Listening Skill 3: Determining the speakers’ purposes on the texts
In IBT TOEFL Listening, you may be asked about the speaker’s function, or purpose, in
saying something. This type of question asks you to understand not just what the speaker said but
why the speaker said it. You may be asked, for example, to determine that a speaker said
something in order to apologize, explain, clarify a point, change a topic, indicate a change of
opinion, or suggest a new action. To answer this type of question, you must listen to what is said
in particular context and draw a conclusion about the speaker’s purpose in saying it.
Key Points of Determining the Speakers’ Purpose
Frequency 0-2 Questions after a conversation
How to identify the question Listen again to part of the passage.
Why does the speaker say this?
What does the speaker mean?
Where to find the answer The part of the passage that indicates what the speaker says will
be replayed for you.
How to answer the question  Listen carefully to what the speaker says in the part of the
passage that is repeated.
 Draw a conclusion about why the speaker says it.

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4. Listening Skill 4: Finding the speakers’ attitude from the passages
In IBT TOEFL Listening, you may be asked questions about the speaker’s stance, or
attitude. This type of question asks you how the speaker seems to feel about a particular topic.
Often the speaker does not say directly how he or she feels; instead, you must understand the
speaker’s attitude from a combination of the words the speaker says, the context in which the
words are said, and the way the words are said. You may, for example, be asked to determine if
the speaker feels positive or negative, happy or sad, impressed or unimpressed, or enthusiastic or
bored about a particular topic. You may also be asked about whether a speaker is doubtful or
certain about what he or she is saying. To answer this type of question, you must listen to what is
said in a particular context and how it is said, and then you must draw a conclusion about the
speaker’s stance, or attitude. To answer this kind of question you can pay attention on the tone,
word choice and context.
Questions about Speaker’s Stance
Frequency 0-1 Question in a passage
How to identify the question Listen again to part of the passage.
Select the sentence that best expresses how the speaker feels.
How does the man/woman seem to feel about .....
Where to find the answer The part of the passage that indicates what the speaker says will
be replayed for you.
How to answer the question  Listen carefully to what the speaker says in the part of the
passage that is repeated.
 Draw a conclusion about how the speaker feels.
 Listen to the intonation and expression.

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 CONCLUSION

The present and past tenses are really familiar to be discussed. Overal, we have simple,
continuous, perfect, and future present and past tense. This knowledge will be useful in writing
paragraph or composition. In the agree and disagree essay covers at least 5 parts. Those are
paragraph 1 (Introduction), paragraph 2 (Body), paragraph 3 (Body), paragraph 4 (Body), and
paragraph 5 (conclusion). To answer listening skill 3 questions, you must listen to what is said in
particular context and draw a conclusion about the speaker’s purpose in saying it. To answer skill
4 questions, you can pay attention on the tone, word choice and context.

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 REFERENCES

1. Deborah Phillips. (2014). Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test: IBT. 3rd
Edition. Pearson Longman. New Jersey. ISBN-10: 0133248127/ ISBN-13: 978-
0133248128
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSOmCGC3Cjc&t=45s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hUObeZqeQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWmKnrtlTHU&t=51s

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