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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $76.95

Format:
Paperback
256 pp.
Approximately 40 full-colour photos, 8" x 10"

ISBN-13:
9780195447354

Publication date:
July 2012

Imprint: OUP Canada


Step Up to Academic Reading

Marina Rozenberg

Step Up to Academic Reading takes a skill-based approach, with each chapter focusing on a particular set of skills that are developed gradually, often progressing from sentences to paragraphs to longer passages. The book covers skills that are essential for success in the academic world - they teach the reader to approach an academic text in an engaged manner by analyzing the purpose of a text's publication, the opinions expressed by the author, and the ways in which opinions are expressed.

Typically, the students are requested to evaluate the quality of support for the ideas set forth by the author, and to form their own opinions on the issue. Students are taught that they should not read mechanically, processing the printed information merely for the sake of answering comprehension questions. Instead, they learn to employ a series of reading skills that will empower them to think critically about the way in which an argument is presented.

Chapter 5 is unique to this book, introducing a research article as a separate and important academic genre. Students are asked to consider an author's credentials, the disclosure of possible financial interests, a reference list, and other supporting information.

The final chapter integrates the skills through a series of texts, employing academic-style reading activities, such as constructing an outline of a text and summarizing a text. Here, as in other activities throughout the book, the students have to synthesize the information from two texts on a related topic and to contrast them.

Readership : Upper-intermediate to advanced ESL students preparing for academic studies at an English-speaking college or university.

1. Steps in the Reading Process
Step 1 - Preview and make predictions
Step 2 - Identify the topics and check your predictions
Step 3 - Read closely
Step 4 - React to the text
Vocabulary Step - Dictionary work and Word forms
2. Main Ideas and Supporting Details
Step 1 - Identify levels of specificity
Step 2 - Distinguish between main ideas, supporting details, organizational patterns, and possible irrelevant information in the text
Step 3 - Integrate the skills
Vocabulary Step - Guess words in context
3. Facts and Opinions
Step 1 - Differentiate between facts and opinions
Step 2 - Identify techniques of expressing opinions
Step 3 - Integrate the skills
Vocabulary Step - Multiple-meaning words
4. Purpose and Audience of the Text
Step 1 - Identify the tone of the writer
Step 2 - Identify the purpose of the text
Step 3 - Identify the genre and the audience of the text
Step 4 - Integrate the skills
Vocabulary Step - Summarize words
5. Research Article
Step 1 - Understand research article organization
Step 2 - Look for supporting information in a research article
Step 3 - Integrate the skills
Step 4 - Research vocabulary
6. Steps in Practice

Teacher's Resource: Step Up to Academic Reading Companion Site

Marina Rozenberg has been an instructor of academic English skills at Simon Fraser University (SFU) since 2008. Before that, she taught college-level academic English for 12 years in Israel. She has held a number of other positions in ESL instruction and has developed curricula for SFU's reading and vocabulary course, as well as for other courses.

Special Features

  • Academically focused content from a Canadian perspective.
  • Interesting yet challenging reading texts prepare students for post-secondary study.
  • Vocabulary section builds language skills, including dictionary skills.