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Unit 1 – INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC
PURPOSES
1. Features of academic writing
1.0. Introduction
Writing is necessary for all students in higher education. It is a process. It starts from understanding your task. It then goes on to doing the research and reading. The next stage is planning and writing various drafts. This is followed by proof-reading and editing. All this should lead to the final text.
Academic writing is a social practice. By a social practice it is meant that it is what people do together. This means that you always write with a readership in mind. You always write with a purpose: to explain, to persuade, etc. It also means that what is right and wrong, appropriate or inappropriate is defined by the users in the social community. In your case these are other students, lecturers or examiners. There is nothing natural about the organisation and the way language is used in a scientific report, for example. It is as it is because that is the way it has developed through centuries of use by practitioners. For that reason it has to be learned. No-one speaks (or writes) academic English as a first language. It must be learned by observation, study and experiment.
Academic writing is clearly defined by having a clear audience; a clear purpose, either an exam question to answer or a research project to report on. It is also clearly structured.
Academic writing in English is linear, which means it has one central point or theme with every part contributing to the main line of argument, without digressions or repetitions. Its objective is to inform rather than entertain. As well as this it is in the standard written form of the language.
There are six main features of academic writing that are often discussed. Academic writing is to some extent: complex, formal, objective, explicit, and hedged.
1.1. Complexity
Written language is grammatically more complex than spoken language. It has more subordinate clauses, more "that/to" complement clauses, more long sequences of prepositional phrases, more attributive adjectives and more passives than spoken language.
Written texts are shorter and have longer, more complex words and phrases. They have more nominalisations, more noun based phrases, and more lexical variation. Written texts are lexically dense compared to spoken language - they have proportionately more lexical words than grammatical words.
The following features are common in academic written texts:
Subordinate clauses/embedding
There are several factors which help to prolong this period to perhaps three or four times that in the male. The other way in which the economic aspects of military expenditure were presented was in the form of the public expenditure costs. The family establishes a variety of bases for refuges which seem to be used at different times of the year.
Complement clauses
that -clauses:
This conforms conveniently with Maslow's (1970) claim that human motivation is related to a hierarchy of human needs. It follows that if the Labour Government is to secure acceptance of its economic package, it has to secure the support of MPs from either the Liberal or the Conservative party.
to -clauses:
Britain's apparent ability to rally Commonwealth support at Chicago seemed to the Americans to be evidence of Britain's continued world power.
of+ing -clauses:
The possibility of increasing dollar receipts was coupled with a belief that Africa could be a strategic centre for British power.
Sequences of prepositional phrases
Sequences of prepositional phrases are common in academic English.
This article analyses the constitutional aspects behind the formation of the first and second National Governments, examining in particular the role of the king in the formation of the two governments.
Participles
Formal written English uses verbs less than spoken English. -ed and -ing participles allow verbs to be used nominally or adjectively.
Similar temptations overcame philosophers concerned with establishing a secure base for individual responsibility The Egyptians regarded time as a succession of recurring phases. Doubts as to the proper division of property at death, as well as rights between partners living together , were resolved by having legal rules prescribing a formula. It was only to be tolerated in a controlled and formalised context. A frequent change found in proper names is syllable loss.
Passive verbs
In spoken English we often use a subject such as "people", "somebody", "they", "we", or "you" even when we do not know who the agent is. In formal English, particularly writing, we often prefer to use a passive.
Compare:
They're installing the new computer system next month. The new computer system is being installed next month. (more formal)
Lexical density
Written English generally has a much denser pattern of words, it is more lexically dense. If we define lexical density as the number of content words in a clause, then written English has a higher lexical density than spoken English (Halliday, 1996, p. 347).
For example, the written text:
Obviously the government is frightened of union reaction to its move to impose proper behaviour on unions.
is more lexically dense than the spoken version:
Obviously the government is frightened how the unions will react if it tries to make them behave properly.
Written English is lexically dense - there is a higher proportion of content words per clause. This can be done by modification of noun-phrases.
premodifier + noun
adjective - the constitutional aspects
ed-participle - a balanced budget, from the confused events of 19-24 August, the emitted light
ing-participle - growing problem, one striking feature of the years 1929-31, existing structures
noun - market forces, cabinet appointments
noun + post modifier
relative clause - students who have no previous experience
to-clauses - the solution to the problem of inflation, the question to be debated
ing-clauses - a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments
ed-clauses - canoes preserved by a hard plaster, a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments, the curve shown
prepositional phrase - we need to bring to the box a special tool with a ready-compressed spring
adverb (phrase) - the road back , the people outside
adjective (phrase) - varieties common in India , the festival proper , something different
Attributive adjectives
Adjectives can be used either attributively (e.g. the big house) or predicatively (e.g. the house is big ). Attributive adjectives are common in academic English.
With economic specialisation and the development of external economic linkages, division of labour intensifies, a merchant class is added to the political elite, and selective migration streams add to the social and ethnic complexities of cities.
Examples
Halliday (1989, p.79) compares a sentence from a spoken text:
You can control the trains this way and if you do that you can be quite sure that they'll be able to run more safely and more quickly than they would otherwise, no matter how bad the weather gets.
with a typical written variant:
The use of this method of control unquestionably leads to safer and faster train running in the most adverse weather conditions.
The main difference is the grammar, not the vocabulary.
Other equivalents are given below:
Spoken Written Whenever I'd visited there before, I'd ended up feeling that it would be futile if I tried to do anything more.
Every previous visit had left me with a sense of the futility of further action on my part. The cities in Switzerland had once been peaceful, but they changed when people became violent.
Violence changed the face of once peaceful Swiss cities. Because the technology has improved it’s less risky than it used to be when you install them at the same time, and it doesn't cost so much either.
Improvements in technology have reduced the risks and high costs associated with simultaneous installation. The people in the colony rejoiced when it was promised that things would change in this way.
Opinion in the colony greeted the promised change with enthusiasm.
1.2. Formality
Academic writing is relatively formal. In general this means in an essay that you should avoid:
a. colloquial words and expressions; ""stuff", "a lot of", "thing", "sort of",
b. abbreviated forms: "can't", "doesn't", "shouldn't"
c. two-word verbs: "put off", "bring up"
d. sub-headings, numbering and bullet-points in formal essays - but use them in reports.
e. asking questions.
Julie, I'm your practice teacher, you're my student. And I have to tell you to refrain from using terms such as "loony", "fruitcake" "nutcase" and "one sandwich short of a picnic" to describe people with mental illness.
Oh, come on, Clare! Don't be so PC. Are you telling me you've never used those expressions?
...but not in my dissertation.
Well, ... yes
Exercises 1, 2, 3.
1.3. Objectivity
Written language is in general objective rather than personal. It therefore has fewer words that refer to the writer or the reader. This is related to the basic nature of academic study and academic writing, in particular. Nobody really wants to know what you "think" or "believe". They want to know what you have studied and learned and how this has led you to your various conclusions. The thoughts and beliefs should be based on your lectures, reading, discussion and research and it is important to make this clear.
- Compare these two paragraphs:
The question of what constitutes "language proficiency" and the nature of its cross- lingual dimensions is also at the core of many hotly debated issues in the areas of bilingual education and second language pedagogy and testing. Researchers have suggested ways of making second language teaching and testing more "communicative" (e.g., Canale and Swain, 1980; Oller, 1979b) on the grounds that a communicative approach better reflects the nature of language proficiency than one which emphasizes the acquisition of discrete language skills.
We don't really know what language proficiency is but many people have talked about it for a long time. Some researchers have tried to find ways for us to make teaching and testing more communicative because that is how language works. I think that language is something we use for communicating, not an object for us to study and we remember that when we teach and test it.
Marx referred throughout his work to other systems than the capitalist system, especially those which he knew from the history of Europe to have preceded capitalism; systems such as feudalism, where the relation of production was characterized by the personal relation of the feudal lord and his serf and a relation of subordination which came from the lord's control of the land. Similarly, Marx was interested in slavery and in the classical Indian and Chinese social systems, or in those systems where the ties of local community are all important.
If you intend your sentence to give extra information, make it clear. He is born into a family, he marries into a family, and he becomes the husband and father of his own family. In addition, he has a definite place of origin and more relatives than he knows what to do with, and he receives a rudimentary education at the Canadian Mission School. If you are giving examples, do it explicitly. This has sometimes led to disputes between religious and secular clergy, between orders and bishops. For example, in the Northern context, the previous bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Philbin, refused for most of his period of leadership in Belfast to have Jesuits visiting or residing in his diocese.
Signalling words
1. Time/order at first, eventually, finally, first, firstly, in the end, in the first place, in the second place, lastly, later, next, second, secondly, to begin with 2. Comparison/similar ideas in comparison, in the same way, similarly 3. Contrast/opposite ideas but, despite, in spite of, even so, however, in contrast, in spite of this, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, still, whereas, yet 4. Cause and effect accordingly, as a consequence, as a result, because, because of this, consequently, for this reason, hence, in consequence, in order to, owing to this, since, so, so that, therefore, thus 5. Examples for example, for instance, such as, thus, as follows
6 Generalisation as a rule, for the most part, generally, in general, normally, on the whole, in most cases, usually
7. Stating the obvious after all, as one might expect, clearly, it goes without saying, naturally, obviously, of course, surely 8. Attitude admittedly, certainly, fortunately, luckily, oddly enough, strangely enough, undoubtedly, unfortunately 9. Summary/conclusion
finally, in brief, in conclusion, in short, overall, so, then, to conclude, to sum up
10. Explanation/equivalence
in other words, namely, or rather, that is to say, this means, to be more precise, to put it another way
11. Addition
apart from this, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover, nor, not only...but also, too, what is more
12. Condition
in that case, then
13. Support
actually, as a matter of fact, in fact, indeed
14. Contradiction
actually, as a matter of fact, in fact
15. Emphasis
chiefly, especially, in detail, in particular, mainly, notably, particularly
Examples
1. Time/order
Eventually
Eventually the group did manage to buy some land in a village not far from London, but the project had to be abandoned when the villagers zoned their land against agricultural use.
2. Comparison
Similarly
You should notify any change of address to the Bonds and Stock Office. Similarly, savings certificates should be re-registered with the Post Office.
3. Contrast
However
The more I talked the more silent Eliot became. However, I left thinking that I had created quite an impression.
4. Cause/effect
As a result
Many roads are flooded. As a result there are long delays.
5. Example
For instance
Not all prices have increased so dramatically. Compare, for instance, the price of oil in 1980 and the price now.
6. Generalisation
On the whole
on a particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are making. Different subjects prefer to do this in different ways.
A technique common in certain kinds of academic writing is known by linguists as a ‘hedge’.
Language used in hedging:
1 .
Introductory verbs: e.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, be sure, indicate, suggest
2 .
Certain lexical verbs
e.g. believe, assume, suggest
Certain modal verbs:
e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could
Adverbs of frequency
e.g. often, sometimes, usually
Modal adverbs e.g. certainly, definitely, clearly, probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably,
5 .
Modal adjectives e.g. certain, definite, clear, probable, possible
Modal nouns e.g. assumption, possibility, probability
That clauses e.g. It could be the case that. e.g. It might be suggested that. e.g. There is every hope that.
8 .
To-clause + adjective
e.g. It may be possible to obtain. e.g. It is important to develop. e.g. It is useful to study.
Examples
Compare the following:
1. It may be said that the commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was
less strong than it is now. The commitment to some of the social and economic concepts was less strong than it is now.
2. The lives they chose may seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.
The lives they chose seem overly ascetic and self-denying to most women today.
3. Weismann suggested that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no
successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution. Weismann proved that animals become old because, if they did not, there could be no successive replacement of individuals and hence no evolution.
4. Yet often it cannot have been the case that a recalcitrant trustee remained in possession
of the property entrusted to him. Yet a recalcitrant trustee did not remain in possession of the property entrusted to him.
5. Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland indicates a separating out
of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa. Recent work on the religious demography of Northern Ireland shows a separating out of protestant and catholic, with the catholic population drifting westwards and vice versa.
6. By analogy, it may be possible to walk from one point in hilly country to another by a
path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley. By analogy, one can walk from one point in hilly country to another by a path which is always level or uphill, and yet a straight line between the points would cross a valley.
7. There are certainly cases where this would seem to have been the only possible method
of transmission. There are cases where this would have been the only possible method of transmission.
8. Nowadays the urinary symptoms seem to be of a lesser order.
Nowadays the urinary symptoms are of a lesser order.
Exercise 7
2. Reading skills for academic study
2.0. Introduction
When you start a university course in the United Kingdom, you will have the same problem as every other student: how to get through the vast amount of reading given for each course. There is not enough time to read everything line by line. You need to be able to read efficiently. The way you read something will depend on your purpose. You need to read quickly to find relevant sections, then read carefully when you have found what you want. General efficient reading strategies such as scanning to find the book or chapter, skimming to get the gist and careful reading of important passages are necessary as well as vocabulary building exercises in your own area. Learning about how texts are structured can also help you to read more efficiently.
When you pick up a book for the first time, use the index, the preface, the blurb (publisher's comments on the cover), the table of contents and glance through it rapidly in order to identify the relevant sections. Look at the chapter titles. If the chapter seems useful, look at the headings and sub-headings. Quickly survey any useful chapters by reading the first few lines of each paragraph or by reading the first and last paragraphs.
When you think you have identified relevant sections, skim through them, read the conclusion perhaps, to be sure they are relevant.
Many students still rely on painstakingly slow word by word reading. It soon becomes clear to them, however, that they cannot read every word in the library.
You will need to practise:
• Understanding meaning: deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words and word
groups; relations within the sentence/complex sentences; implications - information not explicitly stated, conceptual meaning, e.g. comparison, purpose, cause, effect.
• Understanding relationships in the text: - text structure; the communicative
value of sentences; relations between the parts of a text through lexical and grammatical cohesion devices and indicators in discourse.
• Understanding important points; distinguishing the main ideas from supporting
detail; recognising unsupported claims and claims supported by evidence - fact from opinion; extracting salient points to summarise; following an argument; reading critically/evaluating the text.
• Reading efficiently: surveying the text, chapter/article, paragraphs, skimming for
gist/general impression; scanning to locate specifically required information; reading quickly.
• Note taking.
So first, skim through the text to see what is included and how it is organized. Your text might not contain all the following parts, but you can expect to find many of them. Look especially at the following parts.
Title (plus maybe a sub-title).
The title is a summary of the text. Sometimes, perhaps when you are in the library or when you are searching through a catalogue, you need to make quick decisions on the basis of the title, maybe including a sub-title, alone. Therefore it is useful to try to understand it well. This may mean looking up unfamiliar words in a dictionary.
You need to ask yourself whether the text is relevant for your purpose and what sort of information you expect to get from it.
Details about the author. It can be helpful to know about the author, what the author's academic position is, what experience the author has had, etc.
Date of publication and edition. This helps you to decide whether or not the book is up to date. It is worth checking whether or not there is a more recent edition.
Abstract. An abstract is usually a single paragraph at the beginning of the text. It normally summarises the different sections of the text and draws attention to the main conclusions. Reading the abstract will help you to decide whether or not the text is relevant for your purpose.
Preface, Foreword or Introduction. In the preface, the author explains the purpose, organisation, method of presentation, and whatever particular features of the book you should especially notice. Read it carefully. The author is explaining how to get the most out of the book.
Table of Contents. The contents will give you an overall view of the material in the book. Looking at this is a quick and easy way to survey the book to see if it includes the information you need.
Text. The layout of the text can help you. Text books are organised into chapter and chapters have titles and section headings.Very often each chapter will start with an introduction of what is in the chapter and a summary at the end.
References list or Bibliography. An alphabetical list of books and articles which have been referred to is included either at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book or article. Looking through the list of rereferences will give you some idea of the author's background.
Index. One of the most important sections of any textbook is the index at the end. This is a fairly detailed alphabetical listing of all the major people, places, ideas, facts, or topics that the book contains, with page references. The index can give you information about the topics covered in the book and the amount of attention paid to them.
Blurb. The blurb is the publisher's description of what the book is about, usually on the back cover. But remember that the main purpose is to sell the book.
Reviewers' comments. These are usually on the back cover, but remember they are chosen by the publisher and therefore will probably be good.
Exercise 10
2.3. Skimming
Skimming is useful when you want to survey a text to get a general idea of what it is about. In skimming you ignore the details and look for the main ideas. Main ideas are usually found in the first sentences of each paragraph and in the first and last paragraphs. It is also useful to pay attention to the organisation of the text.
As reading is an interactive process, you have to work at constructing the meaning of the text from the marks on the paper. You need to be active all the time when you are reading. It is useful, therefore, if you need to read the text in detail, before you start reading to activate the knowledge you have about the topic of the text and to formulate questions based on this information. Skimming a text for gist can help you formulate questions to keep you interacting with the text.
- Skimming a text using first lines of paragraphs.
In most academic writing, the paragraph is a coherent unit, about one topic, connected to the previous and next paragraphs. Paragraphs are organised internally and the first sentence of each paragraph is often a summary of, or an introduction to, the paragraph. You can therefore get a good idea of the overall content of a text by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This should help you get a feeling for the structure of the text. In many cases that will be enough, but if it isn't, you will now have a good idea of the structure of the text and you will find it easier to read in detail. Familiar texts are easier to read.
As reading is an interactive process, you have to work at constructing the meaning of the text from the marks on the paper. You need to be active all the time when you are reading. It is useful, therefore, if you need to read the text in detail, before you start reading to activate the knowledge you have about the topic of the text and to formulate questions based on this information. Skimming a text using first lines of paragraphs can help you formulate questions to keep you interacting with the text.
Example: Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the following text.
THE PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A TEACHER
Here I want to try to give you an answer to the question: What personal qualities are desirable in a teacher? Probably no two people would draw up exactly similar lists, but I think the following would be generally accepted. First, the teacher's personality should be pleasantly live and attractive. This does not rule out people who are physically plain, or even ugly, because many such have great personal charm. But it does rule out such types as the over-excitable, melancholy, frigid, sarcastic, cynical, frustrated, and over-bearing : I would say too, that it excludes all of dull or purely negative personality. I still stick to what I said in my earlier book: that school children probably 'suffer more from bores than from brutes'. Secondly, it is not merely desirable but essential for a teacher to have a genuine capacity for sympathy - in the literal meaning of that word; a capacity to tune in to the minds and feelings of
What Is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the study of humankind, especially of Homo sapiens, the biological species to which we human beings belong. It is the study of how our species evolved from more primitive organisms; it is also the study of how our species developed a mode of communication known as language and a mode of social life known as culture. It is the study of how culture evolved and diversified. And finally, it is the study of how culture, people, and nature interact wherever human beings are found. This book is an Introduction to general anthropology, which is an amalgam of four fields of study traditionally found within departments of anthropology at major universities. The four fields are cultural anthropology (sometimes called social anthropology), archaeology, anthropological linguistics, and physical anthropology. The collaborative effort of these four fields is needed in order to study our species in evolutionary perspective and in relation to diverse habitats and cultures. Cultural anthropology deals with the description and analysis of the forms and styles of social life of past and present ages. Its subdiscipline, ethnography, systematically describes contemporary societies and cultures. Comparison of these descriptions provides the basis for hypotheses and theories about the causes of human lifestyles. Archaeology adds a crucial dimension to this endeavor. By digging up the remains of cultures of past ages, archaeology studies sequences of social and cultural evolution under diverse natural and cultural conditions. In the quest for understanding the present-day characteristics of human existence, for validating or invalidating proposed theories of historical causation, the great temporal depth of the archaeological record is indispensable. Anthropological linguistics provides another crucial perspective: the study of the totality of languages spoken by human beings. Linguistics attempts to reconstruct the historical changes that have led to the formation of individual languages and families of languages. More fundamentally, anthropological linguistics is concerned with the nature of language and Its functions and the way language Influences and is Influenced by other aspects of cultural life. Anthropological linguistics is concerned with the origin of language and the relationship between the evolution of language and the evolution of Homo sapiens. And finally, anthropological linguistics is concerned with the relationship between the evolution of languages and the evolution and differentiation of human cultures. Physical anthropology grounds the work of the other anthropological fields in our animal origins and our genetically determined nature. Physical anthropology seeks to reconstruct the course of human evolution by studying the fossil remains of ancient human and infrahuman species. Physical anthropology seeks to describe the distribution of hereditary variations among contemporary populations and to sort out and measure the relative contributions made by heredity, environment, and culture to human biology. Because of Its combination of biological, archaeological, and ethnographic perspectives, general anthropology is uniquely suited to the study of many problems of vital Importance to the survival and well-being of our species. To be sure, disciplines other than anthropology are concerned with the study of human beings. Our animal nature is the subject of intense research by biologists, geneticists, and physiologists. In medicine alone, hundreds of additional specialists investigate the human body, and psychiatrists and psychologists, rank upon rank, seek the essence of the human mind and soul. Many other disciplines examine our cultural, intellectual, and aesthetic behavior. These disciplines include sociology, human geography, social psychology, political science, economics, linguistics, theology, philosophy, musicology, art, literature, and architecture. There are also many "area specialists," who study the languages and life-styles of particular peoples, nations, or regions: "Latin Americanists," "Indianists," "Sinologists," and so on. In view of this profusion of disciplines that describe, explain, and Interpret aspects of human life, what justification can there be for a single discipline that claims to be the general science of the human species? The Importance of General Anthropology Research and publications are accumulating in each of the four fields of anthropology at an exponential rate. Few anthropologists nowadays master more than one field. And anthropologists increasingly find themselves working not with fellow anthropologists of another
field but with members of entirely different scientific or humanistic specialties. For example, cultural anthropologists interested in the relationship between cultural practices and the natural environment may be obliged to pay closer attention to agronomy or ecology than to linguistics. Physical anthropologists interested in the relationship between human and protohuman fossils may, because of the Importance of teeth in the fossil record, become more familiar with dentistry journals than with journals devoted to ethnography or linguistics. Cultural anthropologists interested in the relationship between culture and individual personality are sometimes more at home professionally with psychiatrists and social psychologists than with the archaeologists in their own university departments. Hence, many more than four fields are represented in the ongoing research of modern anthropology. The specialized nature of most anthropological research makes it Imperative that the general significance of anthropological facts and theories be preserved. This is the task of general anthropology. General anthropology does not pretend to survey the entire subject matter of physical, cultural, archaeological, and linguistic anthropology. Much less does It pretend to survey the work of the legions of scholars in other disciplines who also study the biological, linguistic, and cultural aspects of human existence. Rather, it strives to achieve a particular orientation toward all the human sciences, disciplines, and fields. Perhaps the best word for this orientation is ecumenical. General anthropology does not teach all that one must know in order to master the four fields or all that one must know in order to become an anthropologist. Instead, general anthropology teaches how to evaluate facts and theories about human nature and human culture by placing them in a total, universalist perspective. In the words of Frederica De Laguna, Anthropology is the only discipline that offers a conceptual schema for the whole context of human experience. It is like the carrying frame onto which may be fitted all the several subjects of a liberal education, and by organizing the load, making it more wieldy and capable of being carried. (1968, p. 475) I believe that the importance of general anthropology is that it is panhuman, evolutionary, and comparative. The previously mentioned disciplines are concerned with only a particular segment of human experience or a particular time or phase of our cultural or biological development. But general anthropology is systematically and uncompromisingly comparative. Its findings are never based upon the study of a single population, race, "tribe," class, or nation. General anthropology insists first and foremost that conclusions based upon the study of one particular human group or civilization be checked against the evidence of other groups or civilizations under both similar and different conditions. In this way the relevance of general anthropology transcends the interests of any particular "tribe," race, nation, or culture. In anthropological perspective, all peoples and civilizations are fundamentally local and evanescent. Thus general anthropology is implacably opposed to the insularity and mental constriction of those who would have themselves and none other represent humanity, stand at the pinnacle of progress, or be chosen by God or history to fashion the world in their own Image. Therefore general anthropology is "relevant" even when It deals with fragments of fossils, extinct civilizations, remote villages, or exotic customs. The proper study of humankind requires a knowledge of distant as well as near lands and of remote as well as present times. Only in this way can we humans hope to tear off the blinders of our local life-styles to look upon the human condition without prejudice. Because of Its multidisciplinary, comparative, and diachronic perspective, anthropology holds the key to many fundamental questions of recurrent and contemporary relevance. It lies peculiarly within the competence of general anthropology to explicate our species' animal heritage, to define what is distinctively human about human nature, and to differentiate the natural and the cultural conditions responsible for competition, conflict, and war. General anthropology is also strategically equipped to probe the significance of racial factors in the evolution of culture and in the conduct of contemporary human affairs. General anthropology holds the key to an understanding of the origins of social inequality - of racism, exploitation, poverty, and underdevelopment. Overarching all of general anthropology's contributions is the search for the causes of social and cultural differences and similarities. What is the nature of the determinism that operates in human history, and what are the consequences of this determinism for individual freedom of thought and action? To answer these questions is to begin to
- Intertextual framing - making connections with other texts you are reading to help to understand your text.
Useful skills are:
- Understanding text structure/organisation. Understanding the text organisation will help you understand the writer's purpose and where to find other information.
- Understanding conceptual meaning, e.g. comparison, purpose, cause, effect
- Understanding reference in the text, e.g. it, he, this, that, these those
- Dealing with difficult words and sentences.
3.1. Understanding text structure/organisation
Every text has a structure. It is not just a random collection of sentences. The parts that make up the text are related in a meaningful way to each other. Recognising the way in which a text has been organised will help you to understand it better. The writer may, for example, be explaining two opposing points of view, or describing why something happens. Understanding the text organisation will help you understand what the writer is trying to do.
Look at the structure of the following text.
The Personal Qualities of a Teacher
1. Here I want to try to give you an answer to the question: What personal
qualities are desirable in a teacher? Probably no two people would draw up exactly similar lists, but I think the following would be generally accepted.
2. First, the teacher’s personality should be pleasantly live and attractive. This
does not rule out people who are physically plain, or even ugly, because many such have great personal charm. But it does rule out such types as the over-excitable, melancholy, frigid, sarcastic, cynical, frustrated, and over- bearing : I would say too, that it excludes all of dull or purely negative personality. I still stick to what I said in my earlier book: that school children probably ‘suffer more from bores than from brutes’.
3. Secondly, it is not merely desirable but essential for a teacher to have a
genuine capacity for sympathy - in the literal meaning of that word; a capacity to tune in to the minds and feelings of other people, especially, since most teachers are school teachers, to the minds and feelings of children. Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant - not, indeed, of what is wrong, but of the frailty and immaturity of human nature which induce people, and again especially children, to make mistakes.
4. Thirdly, I hold it essential for a teacher to be both intellectually and morally
honest. This does not mean being a plaster saint. It means that he will be aware of his intellectual strengths, and limitations, and will have thought about and decided upon the moral principles by which his life shall be guided. There is no contradiction in my going on to say that a teacher should be a bit of an actor. That is part of the technique of teaching, which demands that every now and then a teacher should be able to put on an act - to enliven a lesson, correct a fault, or award praise. Children, especially young children, live in a world that is rather larger than life.
5. A teacher must remain mentally alert. He will not get into the profession if
of low intelligence, but it is all too easy, even for people of above-average intelligence, to stagnate intellectually - and that means to deteriorate intellectually. A teacher must be quick to adapt himself to any situation, however improbable and able to improvise, if necessary at less than a
moment’s notice. (Here I should stress that I use ‘he’ and ‘his’ throughout the book simply as a matter of convention and convenience.)
6. On the other hand, a teacher must be capable of infinite patience. This, I may
say, is largely a matter of self-discipline and self-training; we are none of us born like that. He must be pretty resilient; teaching makes great demands on nervous energy. And he should be able to take in his stride the innumerable petty irritations any adult dealing with children has to endure.
7. Finally, I think a teacher should have the kind of mind which always wants
to go on learning. Teaching is a job at which one will never be perfect; there is always something more to learn about it. There are three principal objects of study: the subject, or subjects, which the teacher is teaching; the methods by which they can best be taught to the particular pupils in the classes he is teaching; and - by far the most important - the children, young people, or adults to whom they are to be taught. The two cardinal principles of British education today are that education is education of the whole person, and that it is best acquired through full and active co-operation between two persons, the teacher and the learner. Notice how the text is structured. Paragraph 1 asks a question and paragraphs 2 - 7 answer it.
Question What are the desirable personal qualities in a teacher? paragraph 1
Answer Quality 1. personality should be pleasantly live and attractive paragraph 2
Quality 2. essential to have a genuine capacity for sympathy paragraph 3 Quality 3. essential to be both intellectually and morally honest paragraph 4 Quality 4. must remain mentally alert paragraph 5 Quality 5. must be capable of infinite patience paragraph 6 Quality 6. should have the kind of mind which always wants to go on learning
paragraph 7
Exercise 11
3.2. Understanding conceptual meaning
You will be able to increase both your speed of reading and your comprehension if you can recognise some of the rhetorical functions that the writer is using. Writers use language, for example, to analyse, to describe, to report, to define, to instruct, to classify, to compare, to give examples, to explain, to give reasons, to argue and discuss and to draw conclusions. To understand the text it is necessary to understand what the writer's purpose is. Examples The following paragraph describes a building: The largest building, in the very centre of the town, is boarded up completely and leans so far to the right that it seems bound to collapse at any minute. The house is very old. There is about it a curious, cracked look that is very puzzling until you suddenly realize that at one time, and long ago, the right side of the front porch had been painted, and part of the wall - but the painting was left unfinished and one portion of the house is darker and dingier than the other. The building looks completely deserted. Nevertheless, on the second floor there is one window
