For everyone's reference, the following is the content of Activity #6:
Nation notes that in order to be valid, comprehension questions should "measure reasonable comprehension" and not things that "a proficient native speaker would not remember from the text" (page 89). Look for a set of comprehension questions that you think have a low level of validity due to this. Comment on what kinds of things are asked and why they are inappropriate.
I am currently using a textbook called College Reading 1:English for Academic Success. On page 19, it includes a simplified text from an Introductory Psychology book--including five findings of the American Psychological Association. Then, on page 20, the students are asked to "restate the five conclusions in your own words."
While this may seem to be a reasonable task, try to imagine yourself standing in line at Walmart and you pick up the current edition of Reader's Digest (as opposed to Cosmopolitan!). You quickly find the lead article titled "10 Scams to Avoid." After skimming the article for about 3 minutes, you put the magazine back on the rack. Now, how many of those 10 scams could you recite without looking back at the article?
I'll bring the book to class this week, if anyone would like to see it.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Response to Activity #6
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in response to the question:
ReplyDelete"Now, how many of those 10 scams could you recite without looking back at the article?"
If I understand the point, it would be difficult to do recite the 10 scams in my own words? However, I was thinking if there were a keyword given to me for each bullet point and with the background knowledge of having read that scam article, I could probably give back some summaries in my own words. However, key to this is being given a keyword for me to expand on.