Comprising

This is the comprising of an article found in the website,

http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=abstract&id=664743&q1=call%20&f1=all&b1=and&q2=%20language%20learning&f2=all&recNo=1, consulted on February 28th, 2011.

Abstract (Andrea's version)

This study reflects the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and the attitude towards educational technology. 83 high school English as Foreign Language from Tehran working in Iran who have knowledge about how to make use of CALL to their language teaching, participated on the research. Surveys sent by e-mail and interviews were done to manage to get the information needed. The results were from neutral to positive, in regard to their attitude and their knowledge about CALL. Even though, this technology is accepted, the lack of tools, money, development and teachers’ proficiency in schools in Iran do not make possible to apply it as they want. Computers, funds and competitiveness are what schools in Iran lack of these days. The positive attitude is there, but more access from teachers and students is demanded.


The whole article can be found in

http://www.ijls.net/volumes/volume4issue3/bordbar2.pdf

Paraphrasing

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is saying the author’s ideas in different words and phrases instead of quoting the author’s message exactly.

Exercise 1

1. Despite their massive size, elephants are known for being agile.

Elephants are fast, even though they are really heavy.

2. Because elephants consume up to 500 pounds of food a day, they are able to strip a forest bare in no time.

Elephants can eat a lot of food per day, so a forest can disappear if they are really hungry

3. Over the centuries, lions have been used in art to represent power and magnificence.

Power and magnificence is what lions have represented in art pieces , throughout years.

4. Lions are social animals with one dominant male in each pride.

Lions are animals that live in communities and they have just one leader.

5. George Washington Carver was a dedicated teacher, in addition, he was known as talented artist, musician, and researcher who made valuable contributions to his people and his country.

The person who carved George Washington was a really dedicated teacher and he contributed during his life to his people and his country.

6. Archibald McLeish, known for his poetry, was appointed head of the Library of Congress by President Roosevelt in 1939.

President Roosevelt designated Archibald McLeish who was known for his job in poetry, to be the head of the Library of Congress.

Exercise 2

1. There is plenty of water of water on the earth. In fact, there is enough water in this planet for everyone to have a huge lake. The trouble is that the water is not always found in the place where it’s needed. In addition, much of water is polluted or salty. Because of these problems. There are many people without sufficient water.

Main idea: the water on earth and its unequal distribution.

2. New oil supplies need to be found to replace those that have been used up. There is a constant search for new oil fields. Oil hunters sink their wells wherever there are signs of oil. Each of these drillings costs thousands and thousands of dollars, and often there is not enough oil to make it profitable. Nevertheless, the search for new oil never ends.

Main idea: the expensive search for oil supplies.

3. Quakers a religious group known as the Society of Friends, have always worked for human causes. Before the Civil War in the United States, they were against slavery and led the movement to help slaves escape from the southern part of the United States and seek for freedom in the northern part. Today, they fight hunger and disease around the worlds and still aid people fleeing tyranny and war. Their beliefs are based on the principles of pacifism and simple living.

Main idea: Quakers are known for their beliefs and work for human causes.

Exercise 3.

Students rights.

Thesis: Students are the ones that will spend part of their life at University and they ask to their leaders to let them participate in issues that affect their lives throughout the university lives

I Main Idea: students fight for their inclusion in university matters as faculty selection, curriculum planning and scheduling.

II Main Idea: the selection of the faculty members.

III Main idea: student’s interests in the material that should be used to study. They fight for the permission to participate in the curricula planning that should be implanted in the university.

Conciness

According to Ryan Weber and Nick Hurn, The goal of concise writing is to use the most effective words. Concise writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the strongest ones. Writers often fill sentences with weak or unnecessary words that can be deleted or replaced. Words and phrases should be deliberately chosen for the work they are doing. Like bad employees, words that don't accomplish enough should be fired. When only the most effective words remain, writing will be far more concise and readable.

Exercise on Page 100

Adam Smith, the founder of Modern Economics, proposed a theory in the eighteen century that has made him controversial ever since. Smith was born in Scottland and educated in England, wrote the first study of political economy. The wealth of nations was published in the same year that Americans declared the independence from England, in 1776. Smith’s book pointed out the interdependence of freedom and order, economic processes, and free trade laws. Although his thinking did not really affect economic policies, its influence in the next century was considerable. “The invisible hand” and “Laissez-faire” are synonymous with Smith’s name. Business people will smile and make a response like “ He was a good man- really understood how business works” if you say “Adam Smith” the opposite will happen if you say his name to liberal reformers, they will say “ He was an evil man really sold the average citizen down to the river”. Both reactions are extreme but they responses indicate how controversial Smith’s ideas are now.

Sentence reducing strategies

Page 198

Schenker’s article “Smart House, in 1969 establishes that, in the future, houses willnetworked facilitating people’s life. Electronic devices will be connected tointernet and will have special chips to control different activities like, housework, communications, bills or people’s social life. The disadvantages of a networkedhome do not seem to be significant. People will have to pay extra dollars for extra chips, the internet connection and security measures to protect the system againstcyber pirating. The maintenance will not be afforded by the people, because theservices will repair themselves. Schenker concludes that, the money that people can spend will not be much considering all the benefits of a smart house.

Page 199

This study went through over 1,600 marginal and end comments written on 110 first drafts of essays by 47 university advanced ESL students, considering the pragmatic goals for linguistic features of each comment. After this, drafts of each essay were examined to observe its influence on the first draft commentary on the students’ revisions and assess whether the changes that were made improved the essays. The author thinks that a really significant proportion of the comments led to student revision, and there were particular types and forms of more helpful commentary than others. The final results, suggest several implications for writing instruction and for future studies on a vital but neglected topic.
be substantive L2

Main idea and Topic

Main Idea.

"The main idea is the most important thing the paragraph says about the topic".

"The topic is what a paragraph is all about"

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/mainideadef.html

"A main idea is important information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or section of a text".

http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/mainidea.html

"The central purpose or gist of a passage; the primary message expressed by a passage. The main idea of a paragraph may be explicitly stated in a topic sentence."

http://www.education.com/definition/main-idea/

Topic

1. The subject of a speech, essay, thesis, or discourse.

2. A subject of discussion or conversation.

3. A subdivision of a theme, thesis, or outline. See Synonyms at subject.
4. Linguistics A word or phrase in a sentence, usually providing information from previous discourse or shared knowledge, that the rest of the sentence elaborates or comments on. Also called theme.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/topic

Topic

A topic is the main organizing principle of a discussion, either verbal or written. Topics offer us an occasion for speaking or writing and a focus which governs what we say. They are the subject matter of our conversations, and the avenues by which we arrive at other subjects of conversations. Consider, for instance, a recent class discussion. Although your instructor determined what topic you discussed initially, some students probably asked questions that led to other topics. As the subjects of our discussions lead to related subjects, so do the topics we write about lead to related topics in our academic studies. However, unlike the verbal conversations we have, each individual piece of writing we produce usually focuses on a single topic. Most effective writers learn that when they present a well-defined, focused, and developed topic, they do a better job of holding their readers' attention and presenting appropriate information than if they had not attempted to place boundaries on the subject of their writing.

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/topic/pop2a.cfm

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"The main idea is what It's said in the paragraph about the topic"

"The topic is what the paragraph is about. The purpose for it to be written and discussed"

Andrea Carpio

Recognizing the topic and the main idea in the text is very important, because it has a special part in the reading comprehension and with this the development of one of the four skills in learning a language.