Getting Ready
Conceptualizing
Visualizing
Identifying
Reading
Glossing
Understanding
Reading More
Surfing
Structuring
Memorizing
In this step, the reader is consciously or subconsciously calling up previous knowledge either about the reading category or the topic itself.
At this point, it is likely that the reader only knows the topic or perhaps the title, and so if the reader knows that the text is a page from a telephone book, it is fairly logical to assume that it will be names of people or institutions, their addresses and telephone numbers. If the text is a biography, the reader starts to call up other biographies and thus anticipate, birthdates, family information, etc. The assumptions may become more specific if the title is known. If the topic is one the reader is familiar with (as is generally the case when s/he selects the reading but not guaranteed with an assigned reading), a process of brainstorming takes place. What does one already know about the topic and/or what might one assume. Later the actual reading process will be an ongoing test of these preconceptions or assumptions.
For example:
In an effort to help bridge comprehension of otherwise unknown vocabulary and/or concepts, the workbook provides images that are related to the text. For example, here is a link that enables the reader visualize the textbook German for Reading Knowledge.
This step provides sources and/or an historical background note to the text and its author. This step not only helps the reader to place a text (and as a result perhaps better conceptualize it before beginning to read), but also provides her/him with information for further, independent reading.
For example:
German for Reading Knowledge, Editions 1-3 by Hubert Jannach (Boston: Heinle, 1961, 1971, 1980); Editions 4 and 5 by the late Hubert Jannach and Richard Alan Korb (Boston: Heinle, 1998, 2004). Professor Jannach taught German language and literature at Princeton University. Professor Korb teaches German language at Columbia University and is responsible for this website. Contact him at [email protected]
In this step, the reader is getting the gist of the text as an early stage, that is, without reading the text word-for word. This organizing task helps to establish the reason for reading or the purpose of the text. It's a logical follow-up to the conceptualizing step, since here the reader takes a first look and asks: does the text fulfill my preconception or assumption. Often one looks at lead in sentences to find out what kind of text it is. This step is a lot like reading the jacket cover of a book to help decide if one wants to read the book.
For example, taking a quick look at the title "Getting ready, getting set and Reading: A Multi-Entry Online Workbook to accompany German for Reading Knowledge 5th Edition" and the text overall decide whether the text asks the reader
1. to choose one of the publications over the other
or
2. to supplement the one of the publications with the other.
If #1 is the case, which publication is being promoted?
If #2 is the case, which publication is the supplement?
This step entails locating specific information in a text without reading the text word-for-word. Here the process of identifying main ideas, characters, settings, and events begins. Locating names or dates in the text is an organizational step that provides a somewhat more in-depth look at when events take place, or who the main characters are. In the process of identifying these basic factors a new set of assumptions arises, and again, only a further, even more in-depth reading can help the reader to prove or disprove these assumptions.
For example:
Without reading the text, "Getting ready, getting set and Reading: A Multi-Entry Online Workbook to accompany German for Reading Knowledge 5th Edition" in detail, identify which paragraphs provide information about which of the two publications, and ascertain what the three chief components of the workbook are. Are these the only components?
Getting ready, Getting set, and Reading |
German for Reading Knowledge |
|
| #1 | ||
| #2 | ||
| #3 | ||
| #4 |
| Getting ready, Getting set, and Reading | |
| #1 | |
| #2 | |
| #3 | |
| other |
Reading
Glossing
New or text-specific words that are not recognizable cognates or which have not occurred in the Grundwortschatz, and which the reader is likely to need to look up, in order to maintain the comprehensible flow of the reading and make regular, good, and confident guesses, are glossed in the text.
For example: click on each of the highlighted German words in the text opposite. For each word, the German and an English equivalent are given. Gender and plural of nouns and forms of strong verbs are also supplied. For a pop-up box with the entire set of glosses from A to Z for a specific reading, click on this glossing link in the menu.
Understanding
These are comprehension questions with immediate feedback to reinforce the reader's progress. The activities vary from reading to reading and include, true/false, multiple choice, matching, fill-ins, or short answer.
For example:
T/F German for Reading Knowledge Edition 5 was published in 2004.
T/F Getting Reading, Getting Set, Reading is available in hardback and paperback editions.
Readers looking for a complete list of words glossed in a reading text will find the link in the workbook menu:
a. Understanding
b. Glossing
c. Visualizing
d. Scanning
Reading More
Surfing
To read more about German for Reading Knowledge 5th Edition, click here: GfRK5/Heinle&Heinle
GfRK5/Review
Grundwortschatz