Teacher’s Guide
Unit 1: Study Skills
1.1 Listening
It seems clear that students who join universities from high schools are often faced with new
demands while undertaking their academic studies. They are usually required to work on their
own and meet these demands if they have to become successful in the university studies. This
means that they need to be equipped with skills and strategies which will enable them not only to
gain knowledge in their specific fields of study but also to display this knowledge as and when
necessary. The aim of this Unit, therefore, is to help students develop the skills and strategies
that they need in order to become independent learners. Accordingly, the Unit focuses mainly on
taking notes from lectures and making notes from reading.
Activity 1.1.1: A short survey
Students first work individually and indicate their choices in the table. Then, in pairs, they tell
each other whether or not they are going to try the habits that they have not developed already
and give reasons for their decisions. This will be followed by whole class discussion in which
some students tell the class their choices and the reasons for their choices. The instructor and
other students may react to the choices made and the reasons given.
Activity 1.1.2: Pre-listening
In groups students discuss their answers to the first four questions and then one student in each
group will report the results of the discussion to the class.
- Lecture: a talk or speech given to a group of people to teach them about a particular
subject. - A lecturer is a university instructor or professor who gives lectures.
For questions 3 and 4 students tell each other whatever experiences they have had before.
2 - Vocabulary: Check if students know any of the words. Then provide the meanings.
transient: not lasting long; passing quickly as in speech
distractions: things that make it difficult to pay attention or concentrate during
listening
verbatim: word for word; writing down exactly as spoken
cue: a signal (such as a word, a phrase or a gesture) that indicates something important;
a hint
discriminating: recognizing differences; selecting
Activity 1.1.3: While-listening - Let students listen to the talk once. Read the text at normal speech rate – not too slow, not too
fast – making pauses as necessary. Tell students that they do not need to take notes to
complete this activity but that they need to concentrate while listening. As they listen, they
write the letter of the correct answer against the items in column A. Allow students to look at
the table for about two minutes before they listen.
At the end of the first listening, students check their answers with those of their partners. Then
check answers at the whole class level.
Answers: - d 2. e 3. a 4. c 5. b
- Students listen to the talk once again and take detailed notes while listening. Before they
listen, pay their attention to the notes given about how to take notes. Emphasize that they do not
need to use complete sentences in taking notes. Also give them examples of some abbreviations
and symbols and point out that students can abbreviate words in their own ways as long as they
know what words their abbreviations stand for. Let students look at the questions for one minute
before you read the text.
At the end of the lecture, students sit in groups of three and compare their notes. Then, they write
answers to the questions individually.
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Answers to the questions: - The speaker says that the talk will focus on:
factors that make lecture note taking a challenging task;
preparations students need to make before the lecture;
what they need to focus on during taking notes; and
how best they can use their notes after the lecture. - Difficult to control the speed of spoken language, unlike reading.
- In their lecturing style, speed and method.
- To be able to sort out the notes later.
- By providing cues (tone, voice, gestures), repeating main points or using diagrams.
- The notes are likely to be incomprehensible.
Activity 1.1.4: Paragraph writing
Individually, students take some two or three minutes, think about the problems they have in
taking lecture notes and write down points which they will use to write a paragraph. Let them
organize their points and write the first draft of the paragraph. They exchange their paragraphs
and get comments from their peers. They then write a second draft which the instructor will
collect for further feedback.
1.2 Grammar focus: Ways of giving advice
This section is meant for students to practice some of the ways of giving advice. Let students pay
attention to the notes given. Elicit from students other ways of giving advice which they know.
You can also add some yourself.
Activity 1.2.1
This activity is just for students to practice the correct forms of the three ways of giving advice,
namely,’ should’, ‘ought to’ and ‘had better’. So it should be done quickly.
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Activity 1.2.2
In pairs, students take turns and complete the dialogue by giving and receiving advice. The
advice given may vary in each case but Insist that students should use the different modals they
practiced in activity 1.2.1. One or two pairs may act out the dialogue in front of the class before
the activity begins.
1.3 Reading for study
Activity 1.3.1
Let students think about the first three questions individually and then discuss them in groups of
three or four. Group representatives will then report the results of their discussions to the class.
Accept ideas from three or four representatives and hold the discussion at the whole class level.
For question four (vocabulary), first, ask if students know these words and then provide the
meanings yourself.
Activity 1.3.2 - Students read the text silently in class and answer the different questions in writing on the
basis of the information in the text. Ask some students to read their answers to the class and
make sure that students have the right answers to all the questions. Give additional explanations
where necessary.
Answers
a. Reading is one major way through which students gather information and gain
knowledge in their fields of study and that they have to do a huge amount of reading in
order to succeed in their studies.
b. Reading is the main way of accessing academic debate in all fields of study. Through
reading students in various disciplines can discover the fundamental and essential aspects
of a subject, its basic assumptions, the facts upon which it is built and how these are
examined.
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c. Glancing, for example, through a newspaper only to pick out the main news items and
ignoring the details, reading in detail for academic study, scanning a text to pick out some
specific information.
d. Our ways of reading vary according to our purposes for reading.
e. The two types of students are different in that the former view reading negatively while
latter look at reading positively.
f. The writers mean that others believe that reading is something that can be done without
any thought and effort. - Students should support their answers with evidence from the text.
a. true b. false c. false d. false e. true f. false - Explain to the students what reference means, using a few examples of your own. Let
students do the activity, first, individually and then compare their answers with those of their
partners. - reading
- gathering ideas and information and assimilating them into your own view of the world
- the fundamentals and essential aspects of a subject, its basic assumptions and the facts
upon which it is built - glancing through a newspaper to pick out the main news items and reading for study
- new students’
- Guessing the meanings of words and phrases
Students work individually and guess the meanings of the words and phrases as used in the text.
Then in groups of three they discuss both their answers and how they were able to arrive at the
meanings. Ask some students to tell the class the meanings and the clues they used to arrive at
the meanings. Discuss the answers with the class and explain how textual clues can be used to
guess meanings.
- Completing a summary of the reading text using appropriate notes.
Tell students what is meant by summarizing a text and how it can be done. Then emphasize that
summarising is a very important academic skill that students have to develop to be successful in
their university study. This is so particularly for doing course assignments and answering
examination questions.
Summary
Reading seems to be the main way to access information that you need in your field of study. It
is therefore a very useful skill to develop in order to succeed in your university study. It is also
through reading that academic disciplines prepare students for their future careers. One major
objective of reading at university or college is to gather ideas and information and to make them
part of your own world view, and then express that view when necessary. This means that
students need to put the necessary effort into reading and make the best out of their reading
experiences in order to be successful in their university studies. It is also important to note that
the approach to reading varies according to the purpose for reading, and there are different ways
of tackling reading based on both what is to be read and the particular task to be accomplished.
Thus, to make the best use of their reading, students need to further develop their reading skill in
addition to using the abilities that they already possess when they come to university.
1.4 Grammar focus
Activity 1.4.2 - played
- have cleaned
- have just read
- met
- has ever visited
- bought
- have changed; started; had; have expanded
- has become; took; was; has changed
