Written communicative competence

Written
communicative
competence
MONTSE IRUN CHAVARRIA
MIRUN@DAL.UDL.CAT

Index
(c) Montse Irun
 Reading
 Definition
 components
 Writing

Reading
Written Communicative Competence - Montse Irun

What is reading?
 Define reading
 Which texts do students
read in class and at home?
 What do they do with the
readings?

Reading is not just
knowing the words; it
isn’t a lineal process
or an accumulation
of meaning. It isn’t just
a way of finding
information.

What is reading?

Writer’s
meaning
Visual
signal
Reader’s
knowledge
Reader’s
reconstruction
Visual
information

What do effective readers do?
 have a clear purpose in reading;
 read silently;
 read phrase by phrase, rather than word by
word;
 concentrate on the important bits, skim the rest,
and skip the insignificant parts;

What do effective readers do?
 use different speeds and strategies for
different reading tasks;
 perceive the information in the target
language rather than mentally translate;
 guess the meaning of new words from the
context, or ignore them;
 use background information to help
understand the text.

Three mechanisms
Bottom-up processing
Top – down processing
Interactional processing

Bottom up processing

Discourses
Sentences/
Phrases
Words
Morphemes
Phonemes
Linguistic
knowledge is used.
The Bottom-up Model

Bottom – up processing
 Starting from sounds
and letters to make
meaning
 Identify words and
structures
 Focus on vocabulary,
grammar, organization
 Can include text
features such as title,
subtitles, text types

Discourses
Sentences/
Phrases
Words
Morphemes
Phonemes
Linguistic Knowledge
&
Background
Knowledge
The Top-down Model

Top down processing (schema theory)
 Comprehension
resides in the reader
 Reader uses
background
knowledge and
makes predictions
 Teacher focus is on
meaning-
generating
activities (Anderson 2008)
Written Communicative Competence - Montse
Irun

Interactive processing

Discourses
Sentences/
Phrases
Words
Morphemes
Phonemes
Schemata to be
activated
the schema of
language;
the schema of
content;
the schema of forms
The Interactive Model

Top down or bottom up?
1. Schema building to
activate background
knowledge
2. Pre-teaching new
vocabulary words
3. Help students
comprehend
discourse structures
4. Underline a grammar
structure or verb tense
5. Skip over vocabulary
words you don’t know
6. Write the number of a
paragraph where you
find the answer

Intensive and extensive reading

The nature of reading
Reading aloud Silent reading
Manner Utterance of every
word
Silent
Speed Usually slow Usually fast
Purpose Usually to share
information
Usually to get information
Skills
involved
Pronunciation and
intonation
Skimming, scanning, predicting; Guessing
unknown words; Understanding details;
Understanding relations between sentences and
between paragraphs; Understanding references;
Understanding inferences
Activity
type
Collective activity Individual activity
Manageme
nt in the
classroom
Easy to manage as it
can be observed and
heard
Difficult to manage as teachers cannot
see what is going on in the students’
minds

Teaching versus testing

Comprehension vs. strategy development?

Selecting appropriate reading
materials

What’s on the menu?

Ja saps que els lacumols de la matèria estan units en
sòlids i líquids i cal donar energia per separar-los. Els
lacumols estan formats per lacus units fortament i
també cal donar energia per separar-los.
També saps que tot està format per lacumols; o per
cums o per grans estructures de molts lacus units
fortament entre ells. I per separar les seves càrregues,
també cal energia.
Si relaciones totes aquestes afirmacions entendràs com
es produeix la unió entre els lacus, és a dir, l’enllaç.
COM S’UNEIXEN ELS LACUS?
Reading and understanding a text

Stages
pre-reading
while-reading
post-reading

Pre reading activities
Identification
of the purpose for
reading
Knowledge
about the topic
Activation
of previous
knowledge
Text
Structure
Author
Title / Images
Why are we reading this text?

Pre-reading
activities
predicting
setting the
scene
skimming

Setting the scene
getting
students familiar
with the cultural
and social
background
knowledge
relevant to the
reading text

Skimming
reading quickly to get the gist, i.e.
the main idea of the text.
Some suggestions:
 Ask general questions.
“Why did the writer write the article?”
 Were your guesses correct?

While-reading activities
Focus on the process of understanding rather than the
result of reading.
 Scanning
 Information transfer activities
 Reading comprehension questions
 Understanding references
 Making inferences

Activities while reading
 Keeping questions in mind
 Taking notes
 Filling in a graphic
organizer
 Monitoring comprehension
 Developing fluency
Written Communicative Competence - Montse
Irun

Scanning
Reading to locate specific
information.
The reader has something in his
mind and he or she should
ignore the irrelevant
parts when reading.

Information transfer activities using
transition devices
Transition device: A way to transfer information from one form to
another, e.g. From a text to visual form.
Input Transition
Device
Output
Used to make information in text form
effectively processed and retained.

Examples of using transition
devices
Example
 Read the following passage and complete the table, which
compares the two earthquakes.

At 5:13 on the morning of April 18th, 1906, they city of San Francisco
was shaken by a terrible earthquake. A great part of the city was
destroyed and a large number of buildings were burnt. The umber of
people who lost their homes reached as many as 250 000. About 700
people died in the earthquake and the fires.
Another earthquake shook San Francisco on October 17th, 1989. It was
America’s second strongest earthquake and about 100 people were killed.
It happened in the evening as people were travelling home. A wide and
busy road, which was built like a bridge over another road, fell onto the
one below. Many people were killed in the cars, but a few lucky ones were
not hurt.
Luckily the 1989 earthquake did not happen in the centre of town but
about 50 kilometres away. In one part of the town a great may buildings
were destroyed. These buildings were over 50 years old, so they were not
strong enough. There were a lot of fires all over the city. The electricity
was cut of for several days too.

Time Date Location
Number of
people
killed
Damage
Earthquake
in 1906
Earthquake
in 1989

 A follow-up output
activity can be conducted
based on the results.
 “Which earthquake
caused more damage and
why?”

Reading comprehension
questions
 Questions for literal comprehension. (Answers directly and explicitly
available in the text)
 Questions involving reorganization or reinterpretation. (Require Ss to
obtain literal information from various parts of the text and put it
together or reinterpret it)
 Questions for inferences. (what is not explicitly stated but implied)
 Questions for evaluation or appreciation. (making a judgement
about the text in terms of what the writer is trying to convey)
 Questions for personal responses. (reader’s reaction to the content
of the text)

Normally we pose
questions to favour the
comprehension of a
text
But, be careful how to write
questions!

De cranta, un brosqui pidró las grascas y una murolla
nascró filotudamente. No lo ligaron lligamente, pero
no le sarretaron tan plam. Cuando el brosqui manijó
las grascas, la murolla drinó priscamente.
1- ¿Qué pidró el brosqui?
2- ¿Cómo nascó la murolla?
3- ¿Cómo lo sarretaron?
4- ¿Quién drinó?
Which is the interest of these
questions?

Understanding references
All natural language,
spoken or written, uses
referential word such
as pronouns to refers to
people or things
already mentioned
previously in the
context.

Making inferences
Making inferences means “reading between the
lines”, which requires the reader to use background
knowledge in order to infer the implied meaning of
the author.

What can you infer from the
following?
 Blandida is a country which has
every climatic condition known
to man.
 When she came into the room,
the large crowd grew silent.
 The painting had been in the
family for years, but sadly Bill
realised he would have to sell it.

Post-reading activities
should provide the students with
opportunities to relate what
they have read to what they
already know or what they feel.
should enable students to
produce language based on
what they have learned.

Discussion questions
 Do you think he was a good doctor?
 How do you think the young man felt?

Role Play
1. Act out the conversation between
the doctor and the young man.
2. Act out an interview between a
journalist and the doctor.

Which are the
writer’s reasons?
Which arguments
are useful for people
who don’t agree?
Which evidence
does the writer give?
Which is the idea
of the text?
Cooperative Reading

Putting it all together

Putting it all together
1. Read the text at the end of the handout.
2. With a partner or in a small group, select
two activities for either the pre-, during, or
post- reading portion of the lesson.
3. What activities would you choose? How
would you design each activity? What
would the students need to do to
complete these tasks? How long would
each task take to complete?

Main Ideas: Reading
 should focus on developing students’
reading skills and strategies rather than
testing students’ reading comprehension.
 is an interactive process.
 is divided into 3 stages: pre-reading,
while-reading, and post-reading activities.

Writing

Writing
 Why do people write?
 Which type of text?
 Who do they write to?
 How do people write?

Steps in writing

What is the writing process?
Writing an essay takes time.
Writing is often referred to as a process.
There are several steps:
 Pre-Writing
 Organizing
 Drafting
 Revising and Editing
 Handing in a Final Copy

Pre-Writing
Before writing, you will need to
 brainstorm or generate ideas for
your topic
 choose a topic to write on
 focus in on central ideas

Organizing
Making an outline can help you organize what you want
to write.
Essay Outline
I. Introduction Thesis: _____________________
II. Body 1. Topic Sentence: _____________ - supporting ideas
2. Topic Sentence: ____________ - supporting ideas
3. Topic Sentence: ____________ - supporting ideas
III. Conclusion

Drafting
Start writing your rough draft.
 Don’t worry about writing the ‘perfect’ paper
the first time.
 Your goal is to develop and support the ideas listed in
your outline.
 Don’t focus on spelling and grammar.

Revising and Editing
Content and
Organization
Spelling,
Grammar,
Punctuation,
etc.
Revision Editing

The Final Copy
Some guidelines:
 word-processed
 all new paragraphs indented / separated
 DIN A4 white paper
 double spaced, size 12 font
 margins on all sides
 appropriate layout

After reading / watching / speaking …
 Which type of writing? To whom? What for?
 What is the meaning / intention / purpose of
the text?
 Evaluation - regulation of the composition
Role writer

My reasons against are …
My idea is that…
My reasons for are …
I may convince someone by telling him/her
that…
The evidence I would give is that …
Planning an argumentative essay

Evaluation criteria Yes R No
How could you improve
it?
1. The ideas are rellevant to the
problem
2. Evidence is given to support
opinion.
3. Both sides of the
argumentation are provided
4. Language is fluent
5. Language is accurate and
appropriate
6. The text is well organised
Evaluation

Written communicative competence

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