LEITURA E REDAÇÃO EM LÍNGUA INGLESA conteúdo online 2017

Prévia do material em texto

Lesson 1, introduction 
 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Define what ‘Reading’ is; 
2. recognize your role as a reader; 
3. discuss the purposes of reading. 
 
I would like to ask you a very simple, straightforward question: 
What is reading? 
 
There is not a simple answer for this question although reading is considered, at a first glance, a concrete 
observable /əbˈzɜr·və·bəl/ task which employs certain functions and faculties proper to human beings in 
general. 
 
In fact, reading is a complex activity, which can be developed in multiple ways, depending on its purposes. 
Kern (2000) presents a definition of “literacy”, which brings the notions we believe to be essential for the 
understanding of reading as a social act. 
For Richard Kern, "literacy" in a second language means much more than the separate abilities to read and 
write; rather, it is a complex concept of familiarity /fəˌmɪl.iˈer.ə.t̬i, -ˈær-/, with language and its use in context-
primarily written language, but by extension also spoken communication. It requires "a broader discourse 
competence that involves the ability to interpret and critically evaluate a wide variety of written and spoken 
texts" (p. 2). 
 
It covers cultural pragmatic (realistic) knowledge and linguistic awareness as well as basic knowledge of lexis 
and grammatical structure. It is promoted through an interaction of reading and writing activities, and through 
the discussion of language in use in communicative contexts. And according to Kern, literacy provides a 
unifying, overarching1 concept describing what it is that he is trying to achieve in language teaching, and what 
it is that will enable second language learners to function adequately in a literate foreign society. 
Kern states that literacy in a second language involves a competence to interpret and critically evaluate a large 
variety of written and spoken texts in cultural, pragmatic and interactional contexts. 
I expect that the process of reading may reveal readers who perform an active role and that recognize that 
they are responsible to build meanings in communicative contexts. They should also have the ability to 
understand cultural differences and be able to function adequately in a literate foreign society. 
 
Kern (2000) presents a definition of “literacy”, which brings the notions we believe to be essential for the 
understanding of reading as a social act. 
 
For Richard Kern, "literacy" in a second language means much more than the separate abilities to read and 
write; rather, it is a complex concept of familiarity with language and its use in context-primarily written 
language, but by extension also spoken communication. It requires "a broader discourse competence that 
involves the ability to interpret and critically evaluate a wide variety of written and spoken texts" (p. 2). 
 
Kern states that literacy in a second language involves a competence to interpret and critically evaluate a large 
variety of written and spoken texts in cultural, pragmatic and interactional contexts. 
 
I expect that the process of reading may reveal readers who perform an active role and that recognize that 
they are responsible to build meanings in communicative contexts. They should also have the ability to 
understand cultural differences and be able to function adequately in a literate foreign society. 
 
 
1 /ˌoʊ.vɚˈɑːr.tʃɪŋ/ (formal) very important, because it includes or influences many things 
But do not forget that, as an efficient reader, you should be able to do that in an autonomous /ɑːˈtɑː.nə.məs/ 
way. 
 
What about your role as a reader? 
Let’s consider that each reader owns knowledge and previous experiences which are employed to build new 
meanings when reading new texts. 
As a consequence, we can infer /ɪnˈfɜr/ that when a group of people read a text, this reading may convey 
different interpretations. They have different interpretations from the same text due to their individual 
knowledge and experiences, but it is crucial that these interpretations have a determined logical inner line 
found either in the text or in the context. 
 
You should understand, then, that your role as a reader is determined either by your purposes to read a text or 
by the previous knowledge of the information you are going to find in it. 
 
When the author starts writing a text, he/she assumes that the reader may either know very little about what 
he/she is going to read or that the reader has sufficient information to interact with the text. 
 
> In the first case, authors give a lot of details about what they are writing; 
> In the second, they can give implicit information because they expect the reader to be well informed about 
the subject they are writing about. They expect readers to behave in an active way using the knowledge they 
have to fill up the gaps in relation to the text. 
 
In the research entitled Reading for understanding: toward a research and development program in 
reading comprehension (SNOW-p.13), the author states that, 
 
“a reader must have a wide range of capacities and abilities. These qualities include cognitive capacities (e.g., 
attention, memory, critical analytic ability), motivation (a purpose for reading, an interest in the content being 
read, self-efficacy /ˈef.ɪ.kə.si, ˈef.ə.-/ as a reader and various types of knowledge – vocabulary, domain 
/doʊˈmeɪn, də-/ and topic knowledge, linguistic and discourse knowledge, knowledge of specific 
comprehension strategies). 
 
Of course, the specific cognitive, motivational, and linguistic capacities as well as the knowledge base called 
on in any act of reading comprehension depend on the texts in use and the specific activity in which one is 
engaged”. 
 
In general, readers may have two main purposes to read: 
reading for entertainment or… reading to get some information. 
 
• Within these two purposes, it is possible to have more specific ones. 
• What is important for you to perceive is that when you read something, it does not matter what, you 
build meaning or you obtain some information. 
 
What are the purposes of reading? 
Look at the symbols below and think about the meanings you produce while you read them: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It happens when you are reading a magazine and you just look at the words of an ad, quickly, without paying 
close attention to it. Doing so you still have an implicit purpose to read. 
 
You can read even when you do not want to. 
 
You can read to entertain yourself for some minutes, or as a pastime while you wait for the bus or walk around. 
Although, you do not have a predetermined /ˌpriː.dɪˈtɝː.mɪnd/ intention to read, and the action of reading is not 
conscious, when you are standing at the bus stop, looking at a billboard, you will still build meaning or get 
information. 
 
At school, the purposes of reading are established by teachers. Your purposes will probably be to study for a 
test, to write an article, to answer questions about a text, to reach conclusions about a specific subject, to find 
relevant information, to know about the results of a research, to make summaries. 
You know that you will be evaluated for your ability of building meanings or getting information. This ability will 
determine if you can be considered a good reader or not. 
 
To reach your purposes of reading and be considered good readers, next class, you will study about the most 
common textual genres /ˈʒɑ̃ːn.rəz/. You will also analyze the processing of texts during the reading act and 
finally what you can and cannot do as readers. 
 
Bibliographical /ˌbɪb.li.əˈɡræf.ɪ.kəl/ References: 
 
SNOW, Catherine E. “Reading for understanding: toward a research and development program in reading 
comprehension”. Pittsburgh: RAND, 2002 in LAPKOSKI, G. Leitura em Língua Inglesa-Textos Literários (a ser 
publicado) 
 
KERN, R. Literacy and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 
 
 
 
Next class: 
 The most common textual genres; 
 the analysis of the processing of texts; 
 the behavior of an efficient reader. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In this class, you were able to: 
 Understand what “Reading” is; 
 recognize your role as a reader; 
 discuss the purposes of reading. 
 
Lesson 2, Reading: a psycholinguist process to promote knowledge and a proficient reader. 
 
Goals: 1. Recognize the most common textual genres; 
2. Study the analysis of text processing; 
3. Discuss the behavior of an efficient reader. 
 
What are text genres? /ˈʒɑːn.rəz/ 
It is not an easy task to give a single definition for text genres. 
 
According to Swales (1990) the term ‘genre’ is frequently used to make reference to the different categories of 
discourse. The author himself thinks that the concept ‘genre’ is a fuzzy [not clear] one. 
I want to make sure that we are employing the same concepts, that is why I will discuss the differences 
between text genre, text structure and text processing. 
Please, be aware that I do not intend to give you conclusive definitions but concepts which will guide our 
considerations from now on. 
 
Whenever we talk about genres, we will be referring to classifications such as: 
Fiction, for example ‘Alice’s adventures in wonderland’. 
Non-fiction, that is writing about things that are true. 
Fables /ˈfeɪ.bəlz/, e.g. ‘The Rabbit and the Turtle’. 
Fairy tales → Sleeping Beauty 
Comic strips→ 
 
 
 
 
Plays → Cats. 
 
Whenever we talk about text structure, we will be making references to patterns which are established in the 
relation between ideas such as: 
• Temporal order 
Example: In 2007, Rowling described her religious background in an interview with the Dutch newspaper 
the Volkskrant. 
I was officially raised in the Church of England, but I was actually more of a freak in my family. We didn't talk 
about religion in our home. My father didn't believe in anything, neither did my sister. My mother would 
incidentally visit the church, but mostly during Christmas. And I was immensely curious. From when I was 13, 
14 I went to church alone. I found it very interesting what was being said there, and I believed in it. 
When I went to university, I became more critical. I got more annoyed with the smugness1 of religious people 
and I went to church less and less. Now I'm at the point where I started: yes, I believe. And yes, I go to the 
church. A Protestant /ˈprɑː.t̬ə.stənt/ church here in Edinburgh. My husband is also raised Protestant, but he 
comes from a very strict Scottish group. One where they couldn't sing and talk. 
Chronological order 
Example: Our initial model has two components: (1) a pairwise2 classifier between events, and (2) a global 
constraint satisfaction layer that maximizes the confidence scores from the classifier. 
 
The first is based on previous work (Mani et al / etˈɑːl/., 2006; Chambers et al., 2007) and the second is a novel 
contribution to event - classification. 
Example: 
My fellow Americans, the next time you feel a cold coming on, mark your calendar. Unless you start coughing 
up lots of green sputum3 or develop unusual symptoms – for example, a fever that does not respond to aspirin, 
acetaminophen /əˌsiː.t̬əˈmɪn.ə.fən/ (Tylenol /ˈtaɪ.lə.nɑːl/), or ibuprofen /ˌaɪ.bjuːˈproʊ.fᵊn/ (Advil, Motrin) – think 
twice about calling your doctor before two weeks have passed. 
 
1 the quality of looking or feeling too pleased about something you have done or achieved. 
2 Adverb in pairs 
3 /ˈspjuː.tə̬m/ specialized liquid from the passages in your body that go to the lungs 
What I do instead is, from the moment I feel the infection coming on, I drink lots of hot fluids, take 500 to 1,000 
milligrams of vitamin C four times a day, suck on a zinc lozenge every two waking hours, and mix half a 
teaspoon of tincture4 of Echinacea /ˌek.ɪˈneɪ.ʃə/, an immune-boosting herb, into juice or tea three times a day. 
Reliable studies show that these approaches reduce the severity and duration of colds. If you develop a 
persistent cough at the tail end of your cold, keep taking vitamin C and try an over-the-counter cough 
suppressant containing dextromethorphan. 
If we hope to preserve antibiotic effectiveness, it's up to us, the public, to convince doctors to prescribe these 
drugs only when they're necessary. This from-the-bottom-up approach is nothing new. Health consumers have 
taken the lead in showing doctors the value of fitness, nutrition, and alternative therapies. It's time we get 
serious about antibiotics. 
Whenever we talk about text types, we will refer to: 
Narrative texts – describe real or imaginary happenings which, to a certain extent, are linked to each other; 
 
Argumentative texts – texts which develop themselves by means of logical resources; 
 
Descriptive /dɪˈskrɪp.tɪv/ texts – description of reality or fiction which they are based on; 
 
Expository /ɪkˈspɑːzətɔːri/ texts – texts used to give information about something; 
 
Injunctive /ɪnˈdʒʌŋktɪv/ texts – express an order given by the author to the reader. 
What is text processing? 
It is absolutely necessary to consider the following models when we want to discuss text processing: 
A bottom-up reading model is a reading model that: 
• Emphasizes the written or printed text; 
• Points out that reading is driven by a process that results in meaning (or, in other words, reading is driven by 
text), and proceeds from part to whole. 
Here are some characteristics of a bottom-up approach to reading: 
 
Bottom-up models indicate that the reader needs to: 
• Identify letter features; 
• Link these features to recognize letters; 
• Combine letters to recognize spelling patterns; 
•Link spelling patterns to recognize words, and then proceed to sentence, paragraph and text-level processing. 
 
What is text processing? 
Top-down reading models suggest that processing of a text begins in the mind of the readers with: 
 
• Meaning-driven processes, or an assumption about the meaning of a text; 
• From this perspective, readers identify letters and words only to confirm their assumptions about the meaning 
of the text. 
The proponents5 generally agree that comprehension is the basis for decoding skills, not a singular result, 
and meaning is brought to print, not derived from print. 
 
Definition 
 
A top-down reading model is a reading model that: 
• Emphasizes what the reader brings to the text; 
• Points out reading is driven by meaning, and proceeds from whole to part. 
 
 
 
 
 
4 /ˈtɪŋk.tʃɚ/ a medicine that consists of a mixture of alcohol and a small amount of a drug 
5 Proponent /prəˈpoʊnənt/ proponent (of something) (formal) a person who supports an idea or course of action. synonym 
advocate 
An interactive model 
An interactive reading model is able to combine the valid insights of bottom-up and top-down models. It takes 
into account the strong points of the bottom-up and top-down models, and tries to avoid the criticisms posed 
against each, making it one of the most promising approaches to the theory of reading today. 
 
Definition 
An interactive reading model is a reading model that proposes the interaction of bottom-up and top-down 
processes simultaneously throughout the reading process. 
 
See further references links in www.sil.org/lingualinks. 
 
The behavior of an efficient reader 
We think that an efficient reader should use a think-aloud procedure to identify relations between certain types 
of reading strategies and successful or unsuccessful second language reading. 
The successful reader, for example, keeps the meaning of the passage in mind while reading,read in broad 
phrases, skips inconsequential or less important words, and has a positive self-concept6 as a reader. 
The unsuccessful reader on the other hand, loses the meaning of the sentences when decoded, read in short 
phrases, ponders over inconsequential words, seldom skips words as unimportant, and has a negative self-
concept. 
 
The behavior of an efficient reader 
We can conclude that less effective readers often have misconceptions about the reading process, fail to 
monitor their comprehension, underutilize /ˌʌn.dɚˈjuː.t̬ᵊl.aɪz/ effective reading strategies, and employ fewer 
reading strategies when reading. 
Skilled readers, on the other hand, know and use many different strategies in coming to terms with text. They 
employ both "bottom-up" and "top-down" reading strategies, use a wider range of strategies and apply them 
more frequently. Thus, they employ metacognitive knowledge and identify when and how comprehension and 
monitoring processes should be applied. 
 
Bibliographical References: 
SOARES, MAGDA. Letramento: um tema em três gêneros. Autêntica, Belo Horizonte, 2000. 2. Ed 
 
What comes next class: 
 
 How to organize a paragraph; 
 How to use the ‘present simple’ and ‘adverbs’ to describe your routine. 
 
 
 
 
 
Summary of the class: 
 
In this class, you were able to: 
 
 Recognize the most common textual genres; 
 Study the analysis of text processing; 
 Discuss the behavior of an efficient reader. 
 
 
 
 
 
6 One's self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity, self-perspective or self-structure) is a collection of beliefs about 
oneself that includes elements such as academic performance, gender identity, sexual identity, and racial identity. Generally, self-
concept embodies the answer to "Who am I? 
Lesson 3: Description of a Paragraph, its Organization and the Use of the Present Simple to Describe 
Routine Actions 
 
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Organize a paragraph; 
2. know how to use the present simple and adverbs to describe his / her routine. 
 
How to organize a paragraph? 
If you think you do not write well, and that writing compositions or essays is something that only the 
gifted ones can, let me tell you that you are completely wrong. 
There are some strategies you can use which will help you to develop your writing skills. 
 
Take a look at the paragraph below. 
(1) José1 is a very busy student. (2) He studies History at State University and he also studies 
English. (3) During the day, he goes to classes. (4) At night, he works in the bookstore. (5) On the 
weekends, he volunteers at the children´s hospital. (6) José doesn´t rest! 
 
Sentence (1) is a topic sentence. It covers all the information in the paragraph. Sentences (2), (3), (4), 
and (5) are supporting sentences. They give facts and descriptions. Supporting sentences are clearly 
linked to the topic sentence. Sentence (6) is a concluding sentence. This sentence summarizes the 
paragraph. 
 
Paragraphs should contain ideas, thoughts and clear purposes. It is important to ask yourself what 
the main objective of the paragraph is. Is the paragraph expanding previous ideas? 
Is this stating something again? Is this describing? Is this comparing? Is this contrasting2? You have 
to clarify what your real purpose is. 
 
Present simple 
There are seven basic uses of the simple present tense. We use it for: 
1. Permanent truths: Summer follows spring. 
2. ‘The present period’ (= ‘this is the situation at present’): My sister works in a bank. 
3. Habitual actions: I get up at 7. 
4. Future references (for timetables, etc.): The concert begins at 7.30 next Friday evening. 
5. Observations and declarations: I love you / It says here that… 
6. Instructions: First you weigh the ingredients. 
7. Commentaries: Becker serves to Lendi. 
 
In this lesson, if you take a look at the previous functions, you will able to realize that the one we are 
using in the organization of the paragraph about José is the description of habitual actions. 
We can notice that in the paragraph, verbs in the present simple vary in form in the third person 
singular. 
Example: 
> He studies History at State University and he also studies English. 
> During the day, he goes to classes. 
 
1 /hoʊˈzeɪ/ 
2 /kənˈtræstɪŋ/ 
> At night, he works in the bookstore. 
> On weekends, he volunteers at the children´s hospitals. 
 
See more examples about the Present Simple 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Adverbs are also of great help to establish routines. In the paragraph about José, adverbial 
expressions such as during the day, on the weekends or at night come together with verbs in the 
present simple to highlight the description of habitual actions. 
 
Adverbs of time tell us when something happens: 
Every day, this week, on Mondays, at 5 o’clock, in the morning, etc. 
On Mondays, she goes to school by car. 
 
Adverbs of frequency can also help you describe routines: 
always, almost always, generally, usually, normally, frequently, often, sometimes, hardly ever, 
seldom, ever, never, etc. 
> The dog seldom sleeps in the house. 
 
Bibliographical References: 
 
• GRANT, Hilary. Grammar Connection: structure through content. Boston: Thomson Heinle, 2008. 
 
• ALEXANDER, L. G. Longman English Grammar Practice. New York: Longman, 1990. 
 
Next class: 
Some reading strategies; 
the concepts of pre-reading, reading and post-reading. 
 
In this class, you were able to: 
To organize a paragraph; 
learn how to use the ‘present simple’ and ‘adverbs’ to describe your routine. 
rest. 
Aula 4: Estabelecer as relações entre as estratégias do texto, níveis de leitura e 
propósitos de leitura 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Know about reading strategies; 
2. understand that there are different levels of reading; 
3. deepen the concept of “top-down” and “bottom-up”. 
 
How to use some reading strategies 
In this lesson, we are going to study some reading strategies. These reading strategies will help you to comprehend the 
text without searching for the meaning of the words all the time. 
Remember that you should not use the dictionary so often. Use the dictionary only to clarify your doubts. 
 
How to use some reading strategies 
In general, 50% of the words in a text are not crucial for the understanding of the general meaning. Observe the 
sentence below: 
A Alemanha XXXX exemplo de XXXXXXX pacífica XXXXX diferentes XXXXX e culturas. 
So which sentence would best explain the sentence above? 
a) A Alemanha é um país que não aceita bem os estrangeiros. 
b) A Alemanha é um país onde pessoas de origens distintas convivem pacificamente. 
You know the right answer is (b), don´t you? 
 
Now you are going to read about some reading strategies: 
 
Prediction 
When you use this strategy, you are able to create hypotheses1 about the themes you are going to read about in the 
texts. Afterwards, when you read the texts, you can agree or modify your first impressions about them. 
When you use this strategy, you are mentally preparing yourself for the reading. Try to understand the title of the text, 
if there is one, or search for any other visual clues because they generally function as a summary of the text. 
 
Previous knowledge 
The process of comprehension of a text also depends on the experiences the reader has had before in life. These 
experiences will influence the way the reader sees the world and how much of these experiences he is going to use 
while developing his expectations towards what he is going to read. 
 
Genre 
When you identify the genre, your reading becomes easier. For example, if you are reading a sewing machine 
manual withinstructions of how to use it, you do not expect to find words such as “onion” or “tomato”. These words 
are likely to be found in a recipe. 
Each kind of text presents characteristics and communicative purposes that make them easy to be identified; the 
reader knows what he is searching for before reading the text. 
Let's consider some of the most common genres: jokes (funny stories), classified ads, news articles, letters, cards, 
diaries, e-mails, interviews, forms, cartoons, game instructions, lyrics, lists, menus, maps, manuals, short stories, 
small dialogues, messages, recipes, reports, labels, reference texts (dictionaries). 
 
Visuals 
Elements such as titles, dates, subtitles, illustrations, photos, diagrams, charts, bold types, quotation marks, different 
types of letters, etc. are important to help the reader to make inferences and logical deductions. 
 
 
 
 
1 (haɪˈpɑːθ.ə.siːz) 
Guessing 
During the process of a text comprehension written in foreign language, the reader should try to understand all 
unknown words in the context they are employed. Then, we should consider: 
 The text subject; everything the reader knows about the subject; grammatical relations. 
 
Guessing (Adivinhar, deduzir, interpretar significados) 
• Partes do texto que o leitor já compreendeu; 
• O que está implícito no texto; 
• As palavras e frases vizinhas. 
É importante lembrar que, para compreender uma palavra, não é necessário saber sua tradução. 
 
Repeated words 
To recognize the words which are repeated in the text can very often help the reader understand it. 
 
Key words 
These specific words are generally associated to the subject which is being discussed in the text. 
 
Discourse markers 
These words are used to connect ideas or to mark the discourse in a text when you want to exemplify, contrast, 
compare, add or complement ideas, point out consequences and results, give emphasis or show causes, summarize or 
generalize, establish conditions or hypotheses, set time relations. 
 
How to use some reading strategies –NOUNS 
Nominal2 groups 
Nouns are often used as part of large nominal groups. Nominal groups are groups of words that provide more 
information about people, places or concepts. “The Depression era” is an example of a nominal group because it 
includes more information than just the 'thing' itself: Depression classifies the particular era. 
Nominal groups are important because they typically provide the content in a text (what something is about); in 
academic writing, this content can be very sophisticated, abstract, and complex. Some examples of nominal groups are 
“the major policy priority”, “the rate of economic growth”. 
 
Affixes 
The knowledge of the process of word formation can help readers to deduce meanings. In general, prefixes have the 
function to alter the word meanings while suffixes determine grammatical classes. A lot of affixes have either Greek or 
Latin origin, being this way transparent words. 
 
Contextual Reference 
There are words and expressions which are used to link ideas in a given context to promote cohesion and coherence. 
These words can refer to a word or idea previously mentioned in other parts of the text to avoid repetition. They can be 
personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, some relative pronouns, etc. 
 I have five English books and these Spanish ones. 
 The boy who spoke is my friend. 
 
 
 
 
2 [ˈnɑː.mə.nᵊl] 
Cognates3 
Researchers who study first and second language acquisition have found that students benefit from 
cognate awareness. Cognate awareness is the ability to use cognates in a primary language as a tool for 
understanding a second language. Children can be taught to use cognates as early as preschool. 
As students move up the grade levels, they can be introduced to more sophisticated cognates and to 
cognates that have multiple meanings in both languages, although some of those meanings may not 
overlap. 
An example: 
1 – Making an argument: expressing a point of view and supporting it with facts and evidences. 
2 – Argument: I'm tired of having arguments with my wife. [angry discussion] 
 
Dictionary Use 
The dictionary must be used as the last resource, that is, only if the word is a key word, if it does not make part of your 
previous knowledge, if it is not a cognate, if it cannot be deduced from context or if it has multiple meanings. 
 
Different levels of reading 
We have three levels of reading: pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. 
The pre-reading: 
Activate the previous knowledge of the students in relation to the knowledge of the world: exploit the title, drawings, 
graphs, figures, author, source, lexical items (Once upon a time), textual organization, the purposes. 
The reading: 
It is a phase in which the student has to project his knowledge of the world and textual organization in the systemic 
elements of the text. It is important for the student to know how to use strategies to link one information to another, to 
establish cohesive bonds and to employ inference strategies. 
The post-reading: 
It is a level in which the main focus is based on the relationship of the student's world with the author's ideas. 
 
The bottom-up and the top-down 
There are two ways to access a text: The top-down and the bottom-up processes. 
In the top-down, we direct our attention to the general issues of the text, such as the theme, the main ideas of the text, 
the purpose of the writer. 
There are two ways to access a text: The top-down and the bottom-up processes. 
This kind of descendent processing is a nonlinear/ non-linear approach which makes intensive use of deduction related 
to non-visual information which goes from a macrostructure to a microstructure and from function to form. 
 
The bottom-up and the top-down 
In the bottom-up process, we direct our attention to the details we find in the text, that is, we use the structural 
elements in the text such as vocabulary and syntax to understand what we want. 
The processing is ascendant (bottom-up) and makes use of linear and inductive information. This approach builds the 
meaning through the analysis and synthesis of the meaning of the parts. 
 
Bibliographical reference: 
FERRO, J. Around the world. Curitiba: IBPEX, 2006. 
 
 
3 [ˈkɑːɡ.neɪts] 
Next class: 
• The difference between text gender and text types; 
• how to organize a narrative; 
 
 
 
 
In this class, you were able to: 
 
• Know about reading strategies; 
• understand that there are different levels of reading; 
• deepen the concept of ‘top-down” and “bottom-up”. 
 
1.The “top-down” process 
 
 1) is an inductive and linear process 
 2) makes us direct our attention to vocabulary 
 3) builds the meaning through analysis and synthesis 
 4) makes us use structural elements 
 5) is a non-linear and deductive process 
 
2. In the pre-reading level you: 
 
 1) activate the previous knowledge of the student. 
 2) are based on the relationship of the student´s world with the author´s ideas. 
 3) Link one information to the other 
 4) Establish cohesive bonds 
 5) Employ forms to understand the text 
 
3. Identify the word which does not refer to genre: 
 
 1) manual 
 2) lists 
 3) menus 
 4) scanning 
 5) maps 
 
Aula 5: The differences between text genre and text type 
 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Know the differences between text genres and text types; 
2. organize a narrative; 
3. integrate connectives and adverbs to narrative writings. 
 
Differences between text genres and text types 
In this class, you are going to understand somefurther differences between text genres and text types. 
You should know that genres are stable, historical and socially motivated textual forms which can be written or 
oral. Marcuschi (2002) says that: 
“Gêneros textuais podem ser entendidos como sistemas discursivos complexos, socialmente construídos pela 
linguagem, com padrões de organização facilmente identificáveis, e configurados pelo contexto sócio histórico 
que engendra as atividades comunicativas. Temos dois conhecimentos específicos de modelo textual: a) um 
conhecimento fundado em características textuais - aspectos léxicos, prosódicos, sintáticos e outros; b) 
conhecimento de modelos funcionais – que dizem respeito à função para a qual se destina o texto e 
considerando aspectos discursivos, socioculturais; rotinas em sentido estrito. ” 
 
Nowadays, a brand-new type of genre makes part of our lives. Bearing in mind the concept of genres as an 
open listing, we can recognize that besides the most common genres such as sermons, lessons, spontaneous 
conversations, conferences, we can find a list of new genres connected to digital communication. 
“Podemos dizer que o MSN Messenger, o e-mail, o blog, a homepage, entre outros, seriam, ao mesmo tempo, 
gêneros digitais e suportes ou meios de comunicação digital. 
 
O MSN Messenger, por exemplo, além de ser um programa de comunicação instantânea, que permite que 
duas ou mais pessoas possam conversar em tempo real na mesma página do site, também interpreta e 
reprocessa gêneros prévios de tradições orais, como uma conversa face a face, tornando-se, portanto, um 
diferente gênero. 
 
O mesmo acontece com o e-mail − bem como com outros meios assíncronos − que, embora possamos dizer 
que se trata de meio digital no qual circulam vários gêneros “epistolares” (memorando, carta, bilhete, ofício, 
propaganda, etc.), também pode ser entendido como um gênero específico associado a esse novo artefato, 
pois a velocidade na composição e na transmissão do texto, bem como os demais recursos tecnológicos 
inerentes ao suporte tornam-se fatores determinantes na caracterização e na diferenciação do gênero. 
Isso justifica o frequente intercâmbio entre atribuições e nomenclaturas dadas aos gêneros digitais, ora 
tratados como tais, ora como meios ou canais de comunicação digitais”. 
 
Text types are defined by the linguistic nature of its composition. They constitute discursive modes which are 
organized in the format of systematic structural sequences that incorporate the construction of genres. Text 
types and genres are not opposite concepts but complementary ones. 
 
Introduction 
Narrative 
sequence 
character 
 
When we narrate, we tell a story. A long time ago, we considered narratives as reports of past, present or 
future happenings. In this way, the narrative has a strong bond with temporality. As a means of facilitating 
comprehension by the reader, cohesive elements and proper verbal tenses are employed to emphasize the 
logical sequence of the narrated facts. 
For example, if a narrator starts a story with "Once upon a time", he/she is giving the first step in the direction 
of what will probably become a progression of happenings which can be told with verbs in the past (past 
simple, past continuous, past perfect, conditional etc.). 
In some cases, such story can also be told with verbs in the present (present simple, present continuous, 
present perfect, future etc.) 
Organizing a narrative 
It is important to observe that a narrative should have a theme, which may be implicit or explicit; there may be 
a pattern which portrays relevant scenes in a chronological way; lively details which describe places and 
characters as well as dialogues which bring the characters to life. 
It might have an established point of view, it is commonly narrated in the first-person singular – 
I. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the story is told by another character, but independently of whom is 
telling the story, it is mandatory that the voice chosen should be kept throughout the whole narrative. For 
example, if the story is told by a child, we must employ a childish style / vocabulary and keep it all through the 
narrative. 
 
A narrative generally follows the following pattern: 
• There may be a background information which will define the placement of the scene or happening; 
• the narration of the first or previous actions; 
• the narration of the next actions or the consequences of the previous ones; 
• the presentation of a final result or results. 
 
Let’s read an organizing narrative example: 
Pedro Miranda was born in Campinas on August 13th, 1975. He was educated at Escola das Nações Unidas 
and later at Unicamp, in Campinas. He left his hometown in 2000 with a degree in architecture. In March of the 
next year, he applied for, and obtained a post as a junior architect in a very important architecture firm. In 
2003, he met a fantastic girl called Carolina Borges at a friend’s party, and six months later they were married. 
They now live in São Paulo and have a pretty and intelligent daughter. 
 
Integrating connectives and adverbs 
We could see in the narrative example that we first underlined all verbs in the text, paying close attention to the 
verbal tense; then, we underlined all words and expressions which reveal the chronological order of events. 
 
Verbs: was born / was educated / left / applied for / obtained / met / were married. 
 
Words and expressions which mark the chronological order of events: on August 13th, 1975 / in 2000 / in 
March of the next year / In 2003 / six months later. 
 
Integrating connectives and adverbs 
Each written production involves organization as we have seen before. Narratives are no exception. Let’s take 
a look at the following narrative: 
It was not raining when I left home, but, as soon as I started walking to the subway station, I realized that I 
should have brought my raincoat and my wellington boots1. I stopped under a shelter and waited for ten 
minutes, and then I decided to run to the station. 
I knew I was already late to work and on that day, I would receive guests from France, and French people are 
snobs and do not like to be kept waiting. 
 
I knew I was already late to work and on that day, I would receive guests from France, and French people are 
snobs and do not like to be kept waiting. 
In the paragraph, we can get the necessary background information for the development of the story to be 
narrated. 
Let’s consider the use of the connectives and adverbial expressions because they contribute to the 
visualization of the whole situation: 
 
• When = Quando; 
• As soon as = Assim que; 
• Then = Depois; 
• On that day = Naquele dia. 
Then, let’s take a look at the verbal forms: 
 
1 noun UK /ˈwel.ɪŋ.tən/ US /ˈwel.ɪŋ.tən/ uk uk also wellington boot, uk informal wellie, us or australian english rubber boot 
= a waterproof boot that reaches almost to the knees 
• It was raining = past continuous; 
• Started walking = para indicar movimento no passado; 
• I realized, I stopped, I waited + simple past – para mostrar apenas a sequência de acontecimentos passados; 
• I would receive – conditional – seria inadequado usar o futuro em tal sentença. 
 
Bibliography 
 
• MARCHUSCHI, Luiz; DIONISIO, Angela Paiva. Fala e escrita. 1. ed., 1. reimp. — Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 
2007. 
 
• MARCHUSCHI, Luiz. Hipertexto e Gêneros digitais: nova forma de construção de sentido. São Paulo: 
Editora Cortez, 2005. 
 
• MARCHUSCHI, Luiz. Da fala para a escrita. São Paulo: Editora Cortez, 2002. 
 
Next class: 
• The concepts of productive and receptive vocabulary; 
• idiomatic expressions, words with multiple meanings, metaphor, meaning transfer, irony. 
 
In this class, you were able to: 
 
• Know the differences between text genres and texttypes; 
• organize a narrative; 
• integrate connectives and adverbs to narrative writings. 
 
1. Complete the paragraph, choosing the verbal sequences which would fill in the gaps: 
 
A thief ----------------into my house yesterday and stole a valuable ring. 
 1) broke 
 2) entered 
 3) stayed 
 4) reached 
 5) stopped 
2. I did not ------------------the jewel until this morning, so the police was not called until a little before lunch time. 
 1) lose 
 2) spend 
 3) miss 
 4) find 
 5) meet 
 
3. I blamed myself for not noticing the theft earlier, and I doubt if the police ---------------------- in arresting the 
thief and recovering the ring. 
 
 1) can 
 2) will succeed 
 3) will be able to 
 4) find 
 5) bring 
 
Lesson 6: Strategies to deal with vocabulary 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Know the differences between productive and receptive vocabulary; 
2. recognize the difficulties in the use of idiomatic expressions, words with multiple meanings, metaphor, meaning 
transfer, irony. [ˈaɪr.ni] 
 
The concepts of receptive and productive vocabulary 
In this class, it is very important to understand the differences between receptive and productive vocabulary. 
One of the broadest definitions we can apply to the knowledge of vocabulary is that you learn a word when you 
know its meaning. This definition, however, is too broad and too general. We feel we need more details, more 
specific definitions about vocabulary learning. 
You need to know, for example, when we speak about vocabulary, we refer either to the oral form (the one we 
use to speak and listen) and the written form (the one we use to write and read). Within these two forms the 
vocabulary can be receptive (in the listening and reading) and productive (in speaking and writing). 
Another important information about vocabulary knowledge is that, in general terms, the receptive vocabulary 
is larger than the productive one in any language. 
 
The concepts of receptive and productive vocabulary 
In the text below, written by Maria Auxiliadora Bezerra, you will have a brief summary of concepts linked to 
receptive and productive vocabulary that although meant to Portuguese classes are very valuable to any 
Language classes: 
Textual production requires, among other items, a vocabulary selection which is adequate to the explored 
subject, to the typology of the text, and to its degree of formality. For the proficient writer, this may not cause 
any difficulty. However, to the learner it might become a great problem, mainly because of the treatment that is 
usually given to the text on Portuguese classes of basic teaching. 
Ignoring the psycho-sociolinguistic nature of the text interferes in the student learning. In this way, the student 
begins to write based on oral language patterns (which belongs to the student’s background). The problems in 
the diversified uses of lexical units seem to reveal a non-construction of cognitive patterns related to textual 
forms and linguistic uses, associated to the non-use of learning strategies, helping the progress of the 
receptive vocabulary to the productive vocabulary. 
 
The concepts of receptive and productive vocabulary 
INFERENCE 
You have to agree that knowing a word goes beyond the idea of only knowing the word and its meanings. Let’s 
go back to the issue of knowing what a word means. It is important to know how to recognize a word while we 
are reading a text. 
 
For example, the word matter belongs to the English lexicon while the word sprechen [do alemão→ falar] 
does not. This is an important step. Another step is to know that the word matter means assunto, questão, ou 
importar, etc. But just knowing the meanings taken from the dictionary does not guarantee the comprehension 
of the word in the varied contexts it may appear. 
 
Difficult or unknown vocabulary 
When we think of vocabulary which it is difficult, we should also think that in our native language we do not 
have a precise knowledge of a 100% of the vocabulary we find in an academic text. Every text has lexical 
items which represent a certain number of unknown words which can be difficult or not. 
 
 
Difficult or unknown vocabulary 
Here are some lexical items which generally bring some difficulty to the readers: 
• Idiomatic Expressions 
They are lexical items composed by many words which have a specific meaning when kept together. 
 
Example: When my sister tells her stories, she drives me crazy! 
(Quando minha irmã conta suas histórias, ela me deixa maluca!) 
 
• Idiomatic Expressions 
Se tentarmos traduzir a frase com sentido usual das palavras, ela perderá todo o sentido e teríamos uma 
tradução como esta: “Quando minha irmã conta suas histórias ela dirige meu louco!”. 
 
Words with multiple meanings 
Words with multiple meanings also pose a problem for readers. They demand that readers be conscious that 
there are many possibilities of meanings and choose the written meaning for a certain context. These words 
are area, random, face, comfort, among others. 
 
Meaning transfer 
Meaning transfer happens when we use a word that originally does not belong to a specific area. 
When I use the expression ‘galloping inflation’ [ˈɡæl.əpɪŋ], it means that inflation is increasing. This is an 
example of a metaphor. 
 
Let’s read about the Metaphor Cognitive Theory: 
Nos últimos anos, porém, com o advento da Linguística Cognitiva, a investigação desses dois processos 
figurativos (metáfora e metonímia) sofreu uma verdadeira revolução. Essa revolução foi inaugurada com a 
publicação da obra Metaphors We Live By (1980) de George Lakoff e Michael Johnson. Nessa obra, os 
autores propõem uma inovadora teoria sobre a metáfora que, nos últimos anos, vem ganhando espaço no 
cenário da Linguística Cognitiva. 
A teoria proposta por Lakoff & Johnson ficou conhecida como a TEORIA COGNITIVA DA METÁFORA, que 
postula que metáforas e metonímias não são apenas figuras de linguagem, como afirmavam os estudos 
tradicionais sobre os fenômenos linguísticos; ao contrário, estão além da linguagem e da literatura. Essa 
teoria concebe a metáfora e a metonímia1 como autênticos mecanismos cognitivos. Nesse sentido, elas 
pertencem ao pensamento, ou melhor, pertencem à cognição humana. 
Essa nova abordagem sobre os processos metafórico e metonímico permitiu à Linguística Cognitiva postular 
que o pensamento humano é corporificado, metafórico e majoritariamente inconsciente. O nosso pensamento 
 
1 Metonímia 
 
A metonímia consiste em empregar um termo no lugar de outro, havendo entre ambos estreita afinidade ou relação de sentido. 
Observe os exemplos abaixo: 
 
1 - Autor pela obra: Gosto de ler Machado de Assis. (= Gosto de ler a obra literária de Machado de Assis.) 
 
2 - Inventor pelo invento: Édson ilumina o mundo. (= As lâmpadas iluminam o mundo.) 
 
3 - Símbolo pelo objeto simbolizado: Não te afastes da cruz. (= Não te afastes da religião.) 
 
4 - Lugar pelo produto do lugar: Fumei um saboroso havana. (= Fumei um saboroso charuto.) 
 
5 - Efeito pela causa: Sócrates bebeu a morte. (= Sócrates tomou veneno.) 
é corporificado, pois estruturamos o nosso conhecimento sobre as coisas do mundo partindo de nossa própria 
experiência corporal. 
Nosso pensamento é metafórico, uma vez que organizamos o nosso conhecimento sobre domínios mais 
abstratos através de nosso entendimento sobre domínios mais concretos. O nosso pensamento é 
inconsciente, porque não nos damos conta de todas as operações cognitivas acionadas para processar a 
construção de um dado sentido em um determinado contexto. 
As projeções metafóricas, as projeções metonímicas e as analogias empregadas na construção de sentidos 
são realizadas inconscientemente pela mente humana,determinando o caráter inconsciente de nosso 
pensamento. (Fernandes & Guedes) 
 
Bibliography 
 
 
BEZERRA, M. A. Dificuldades no uso adequado de vocabulário em textos escolares escritos. in Revista de 
Letras, nº 21 - Vol 1 / 2 – jan. / dez. 1999, UFPB. 
 
 
FERNANDES, G & GUEDES, L. Metáfora: um instrumento de compreensão para o ensino da leitura. 
Instrumento: R. Est. Pesq. Educ. Juiz de Fora, v. 13, n. 1, jan. / jun. 2001. 
 
• Next class: 
The degrees of formality and informality in writing; 
how to write letters and e-mails using formal and informal language; 
the most common expressions employed in different letters and e-mails. 
 
• In this class, you were able to: 
 
Know the differences between productive and receptive vocabulary; 
recognize the difficulties in the use of idiomatic expressions, words with multiple meanings, metaphor, meaning 
transfer, irony. 
 
1.Everyone had a good time at the ball. 
1) Todos jogaram bola. 
 2) Todos gastaram seu tempo no jogo de bola. 
 3) Todos se divertiram no baile. 
 4) Jogar bola é bom para todos. 
 5) O jogo de bola levou um bom tempo. 
2.Policemen in Japan do not carry any arms. 
 1) A polícia no Japão é carregada de armas. 
 2) Os policiais do Japão carregam as pessoas nos braços. 
 3) A polícia do Japão não carrega os bandidos feridos. 
 4) Os policiais no Japão não tatuam seus braços. 
 5) Os policiais no Japão não portam armas. 
3.I have to replace these batteries or my m.p.5 won´t work. 
1) Eu tenho que recolocar a bateria do meu carro. 
2) Eu tenho que trocar a bateria do meu Formula 5. 
3) Eu tenho que colocar pilhas no meu m.p.5. 
 4) Eu tenho que trocar as pilhas do meu m.p.5 ou ele não vai tocar. 
 5) Eu tenho que trazer pilhas novas pro meu carro. 
 
Lesson 7, aspects of formality and informality in writing 
 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Know how to write letters and e-mails using formal and informal language; 
2. recognize the most common expressions employed in different letters and e-mails; 
3. establish the degrees of formality and informality in writing. 
 
Formal and informal writing 
 
In this class, it is very important to understand the differences between formal and informal language in writing. 
 
A scale from informal to formal language 
Informality attempts to mirror the spoken language. It is most obvious in the encoded informality of SMS 
messages or e-mails which use many spoken language forms and where rules of grammar and capitalization1 
are often ignored. 
 
These informal aspects occur when we are using the technology to communicate fast. At the other end of this 
scale of informality – formality - there are the pieces of "polished" written work which may go into a student 
portfolio for evaluation, for example. 
 
EMAIL 
luv to see you next week 
but i cant make thursday, 
what about fri or 
 
 
Chat 
- Tom, why are you looking so pessimistic about this issue? 
- The more you know the more it hurts… 
- In my opinion, the more you know the better… 
- You don’t tell others “secrets” that friends have told you, NO MATTER WHAT. 
 
forum discussions 
I thought it was very interesting that you brought this up Veronica, because I must admit that I got so caught up 
in the story, that thinking of its possibilities in class never crossed my mind. 
 
“published” text assignments 
 
During a lifetime we meet hundreds, if not thousands of people that will have some effect on us. We might see 
some of those people only on the street for a second or two while others become true friends. 
 
Still, there are some people in our lives that have been a big part of us for ages, and most people are lucky to 
have them in their lives for a very long time. 
 
Questions of Genre and Suitability 
We have so far discussed text genres in terms of degrees of formality and informality. We also need to be 
aware of suitability within this same scale. Native speakers of a language will more easily and automatically 
adjust language to suit degrees of formality, but non-native speakers need not only to learn new vocabulary, 
but also be given guidance on the appropriate use of new words. 
We had an example of a lower secondary pupil who innocently wrote to his class contact in Australia, "When I 
woke up this morning, I felt like shit". This caused an angry response from the class teacher in Australia and 
nearly torpedoed2 a whole e-mailing project. 
 
 
1 [ no plural ] the use of capital letters 
2 /tɔːrˈpiː.doʊd/ informal destroyed 
We also need to be sensitive to others' reactions to our use of language, especially in giving response, for 
example in a forum discussion or e-mail exchange. The lack of the visual signals which are a natural part of a 
face to face exchange makes this particularly important, since comments which are intended to be brief may 
be interpreted as brusque or hurtful. 
 
For example, in a face to face discussion we might say something like "Yes, but what about......?" 
In a written response situation, this may need to be wrapped up in the form of "This is a very good idea, 
 but have you also considered.... " 
 
Sample Business Letter 
 3519 Front Street 
 Ms. Betty Johnson 
 Accounts Payable 
 The Cooking Store 
 765 
 68534 
 
 Dear Ms. Johnson: 
 It has come to my attention that your company, The Cooking Store, has not been paying their invoices on time 
for the past three months. 
In order to encourage our customers to pay for their invoices before the due date, we have implemented a 
discount model where we'll give you 2% off your invoice if you pay us within 10 days of receiving the invoice. 
 I hope that everything is going well for you and your company. You are one of our biggest customers, and we 
appreciate your business. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at (555) 555-5555. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 Signature 
 Bob Powers 
 Accounts Receivable 
 
 
How to Write a Letter 
 The art of writing a letter takes practice knowledge about proper form and the ability to put into words your 
feelings, thoughts, and/or ideas. If you learn the basic parts of a letter, it will help you to create letters for a 
variety of occasions. 
 
Parts of the Letter 
 
• Your address 
At the top of your letter, you will put your address, so the reader will know where to send their reply to. 
• Date 
Put the date on which the letter was written in the format Month, Day, Year. i.e. June, 8, 2010. 
• Inside Address 
 The inside address is only required for a business letter and will include the address of the person 
 you are writing to along with the name of the recipient, their title and company name. If you are 
 not sure who the letter should be addressed to either leave it blank or try to put in a title, i.e. 
 "Director of Human Resources". 
• The Greeting 
 The greeting will address the individual that the letter is being sent to. This is usually completed in 
 the form of "Dear Clara" or "Hey Sofia", for less formal letters. 
• The Introductory Paragraph 
 The first paragraph will generally outline the purpose for the letter and the reason for sending the letter. 
This can address any issues that are outstanding and is used to set the tone for the entire rest of the 
letter. 
• The Body 
 The body of the letter will expand upon the introductory paragraph and the individual can extend their 
thoughts and feelings further when it comes to the letter. 
• The body of the letter can be anywhere from multiple pages for personal letters, to one page or two 
 pages for most business letters and other types of proposals. 
• The Closing 
 In the closing of the letter, the individual will close the letter and finish any thoughts that have beenmentioned. 
• The closing of the letter comes in various forms from yours truly, for those individuals that are 
 familiar with one another, to a traditional sincerely which is a versatile closing that can be used in a 
 variety of letters detailing many situations. 
 
• The Presentation of the Letter 
 The presentation of the letter can be hand-written for less formal letters that are addressed to friends 
and family members, especially thank-you letters. In the case that you have illegible handwriting, you 
 may want to consider typing the letter in these cases, although proper etiquette dictates against this 
type of behavior. 
• Formal letters which are written on behalf of businesses to or professional contacts should remain 
typewritten and grammatical and spelling error free. These types of letters should be legible and 
professional and therefore typing the letter is one of the most effective ways to ensure that the letter 
demonstrates a professional appearance through the entire course of the letter, thereby creating a 
positive impression on the recipient of the letter. 
• As well as outward3 presentation, it is important to determine the tone which will be written in the letter, 
including a professional tone or a tone that will be taken with friends or family members in a more 
informal setting. Read through the letter once it has been completed to ensure that the tone remains 
the same. The tone can be adjusted based on the language which is used through the letter, as well as 
the greetings (familiar as opposed to formal). 
 
Bibliography 
 http://www.letterwritingguide.com/busi nessletter.htm 
 
- Next class: 
• Identification of what is root, prefix and suffix; 
• the recognition of false cognates; 
• syntax as a resource to find meanings. 
 
- In this class, you were able to: 
• Know how to write letters and e-mails using formal and informal language; 
• recognize the most common expressions employed in different letters and e-mails; 
• establish the degrees of formality and informality in writing. 
 
 
 
3 obvious and easy to see. 
Lesson 8, identification and use of morphological and syntactical clues to recognize words 
 
By the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Identify what root, prefix and suffix are; 
2. recognize false cognates; 
3. use syntax as a resource to find meanings. 
 
In this lesson, we are going to study the following lists with some common Latin roots: 
 
Latin root Basic meaning Example words 
-dict- To say Contradict, dictate, diction, edict1, predict 
-duc- To lead, bring, take Deduce, produce, reduce 
-gress- To walk Digress2, progress, transgress 
-ject- To throw Eject, inject, interject (interrupt), project, reject, subject 
-pel- To drive Compel, dispel3, impel4, repel 
-pend- To hang Append, depend, impend5, pendant, pendulum 
-port- To carry Comport, deport, export, import, report, support 
-scrib-, - script To write Describe, description, prescribe, prescription, subscribe, 
subscription, transcribe, transcription 
-tract- To pull, drag, draw Attract, contract, detract6, protract, retract, traction 
-vert- To turn Convert, divert, invert, revert 
 
From the example words in the previous table, it is easy to see how roots combine with prefixes to form new 
words. For example, the root -tract-, meaning “to pull,” can combine with a number of prefixes, including de- 
and re-. Detract means literally “to pull away” (de-, “away, off”) and retract means literally “to pull back” (re-, 
“again, back”). 
 
Latin prefix Basic meaning Example words 
Co- Together Coauthor, coedit, coheir 
De- Away, off, generally indicates 
reversal or removal in English 
Deactivate, debone, defrost, decompress, deplane 
(disembark) 
Dis- Not, not any Disbelief, discomfort, discredit, disrepair (a broken 
or damaged state), disrespect 
Inter- Between, among International, interfaith, intertwine7, intercellular, 
interject 
Non- Not Nonessential, nonmetallic, nonresident, 
nonviolence, nonskid8 / anti-skid, nonstop 
Post- After Postdate, postwar, postnasal, postnatal 
/ˌpoʊstˈneɪ.t̬ᵊl/ 
Pre- Before Preconceive, preexist, premeditate, predispose, 
prepossess, prepay 
Re- Again; back, backward Rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun, rewrite 
Sub- Under Submarine, subsoil, subway, subhuman, 
substandard 
Trans- Across, beyond, through Transatlantic, transpolar 
 
1 /ˈiː.dɪkt/ US formal an official order, especially one that is given in a forceful and unfair way = decreto 
2 verb UK /daɪˈɡres/ US to move away from the main subject you are writing or talking about and to write or talk about something else. 
3 to remove fears, doubts, and false ideas, usually by proving them wrong or unnecessary 
4 to make someone feel that they must do something 
5 to be about to happen 
6 to make something seem less good, attractive, or important 
7 to twist or be twisted together, or to be connected so as to be difficult to separate 
8 designed to reduce or prevent skidding. 
Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. 
Here are examples of some important English suffixes that come from Latin: 
 
Latin 
suffix 
Basic meaning Example words 
-able, -
ible 
forms adjectives and means 
“capable or worthy of” 
likable, flexible 
-ation forms nouns from verbs creation, civilization, automation, speculation, information 
-fy, -ify forms verbs and means “to make or 
cause to become” 
purify, acidify, humidify 
-ment forms nouns from verbs entertainment, amazement, statement, banishment 
-ty, -ity forms nouns from adjectives subtlety9, certainty, cruelty, frailty, loyalty, royalty; eccentricity, 
electricity, peculiarity, similarity, technicality 
 
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0907036.html#ixzz1g33VpfJP 
 
Here is a list of false cognates. Take a look at them! 
 
 Actually (adv) - na verdade ..., o fato é que 
... 
 Adept (n) - especialista, profundo 
conhecedor 
 Agenda (n) - pauta do dia, pauta para 
discussões 
 Amass (v) - acumular, juntar 
 Anticipate (v) - prever; aguardar, ficar na 
expectativa 
 Aplication (n) - inscrição, registro, uso 
 Appointment (n) - hora marcada, 
compromisso profissional 
 Appreciation (n) - gratidão, reconhecimento 
 Argument (n) - discussão, bate boca 
 Assist (v) - ajudar, dar suporte 
 Assume (v) - presumir, aceitar como 
verdadeiro 
 Attend (v) - assistir, participar de 
 Audience (n) - platéia, público 
 Balcony (n) - sacada 
 Baton /bəˈtɑn/ (n) - batuta (música), 
cassetete 
 Beef (n) - carne de gado 
 Cafeteria (n) - refeitório tipo universitário ou 
industrial 
 Camera (n) - máquina fotográfica 
 Carton (n) - caixa de papelão, pacote de 
cigarros (200) 
 Casualty (n) - baixa (morte fruto de acidente 
ou guerra), fatalidade 
 Cigar (n) - charuto 
 Collar (n) - gola, colarinho, coleira 
 College (n) - faculdade, ensino de 3º grau 
 Commodity (n) - artigo, mercadoria 
 
9 /ˈsʌt̬.l̩.t̬i/ approving [ no plural ] the quality of being subtle 
 Competition (n) - concorrência 
 Comprehensive (adj) - abrangente, amplo, 
extenso 
 Compromise (v) - entrar em acordo, fazer 
concessão 
 Contest (n) - competição, concurso 
 Convenient (adj) - prático 
 Costume (n) - fantasia (roupa) 
 Data (n) - dados (números, informações) 
 Deception (n) - logro, fraude, o ato de 
enganar 
 Defendant (n) - réu, acusado 
 Design (v, n) - projetar, criar; projeto, estilo 
 Editor (n) - redator 
 Educated (adj) - instruído, com alto grau de 
escolaridade 
 Emission (n) - descarga (de gases, etc.) 
 Enroll (v) - inscrever-se, alistar-se, registrar-
se Eventually (adv) - finalmente, 
consequentemente 
 Exciting (adj) - empolgante 
 Exit (n, v) - saída, sair 
 Expert (n) - especialista, perito 
 Exquisite (adj.) - belo, refinado 
 Fabric (n) - tecido 
 Genial (adj) - afável, aprazível, friendly and 
pleasant, jovial 
 Graduate program (n) - Curso de pós-
graduação 
 Gratuity (n) - gratificação, gorjeta 
 Grip (v) - agarrar firme 
 Hazard (n,v) - risco, arriscar 
 Idiom (n) - expressão idiomática, linguajar 
 Income tax return (n) - declaração de 
imposto de renda 
 Ingenuity (n) - engenhosidade 
 Injury (n) - ferimento 
 Inscription (n) - gravação em relevo (sobre 
pedra, metal, etc.) 
 Intend (v) - pretender, ter intenção 
 Intoxication (n) - embriaguez, efeito de 
drogas 
 Jar (n) - pote 
 Journal (n) - periódico, revista 
especializada 
 Lamp (n) - luminária 
 Large (adj) - grande, espaçoso 
 Lecture (n) - palestra, aula 
 Legend (n) - lenda 
 Library (n) - biblioteca 
 Location (n) - localização 
 Lunch (n) – almoço 
 Magazine (n) - revista 
 Mayor (n) - prefeito 
 Medicine (n) - remédio, medicina 
 Moisture (n) - umidade 
 Motel (n) - hotel de beira de estrada 
 Office (n) - escritório 
 Parents (n) - pais 
 Particular (adj) - específico, exato 
 Pasta (n) - massa (alimento) 
 Policy (n) - política (diretrizes) 
 Port (n) - porto 
 Prejudice (n) - preconceito 
 Prescribe (v) - receitar 
 Preservative (n) - conservante 
 Pretend (v) - fingir 
 Private (adj) – particular, privado 
 Procure (v) - conseguir, adquirir 
 Propaganda (n) - divulgação de ideias/fatos 
com intuito de manipular 
 Pull (v) - puxar 
 Push (v) – empurrar 
 Range (v) - variar, cobrir 
 Realize (v) - notar, perceber, dar-se conta, 
conceber uma ideia 
 Recipient (n) - recebedor, agraciado 
 Record (v, n) - gravar, disco, gravação, 
registro 
 Refrigerant /rəˈfrijərənt/ (n) - substância 
refrigerante usada em aparelhos 
 Requirement (n) - requisito 
 Resume (v) - retomar, reiniciar 
 Résumé (n) - curriculum vitae, currículo 
 Retired (adj) – aposentado 
 Senior (n) - idoso 
 Service (n) - atendimento 
 Stranger (n) - desconhecido 
 Stupid (adj) - burro 
 Support (v) – apoiar, sustentar, dar respaldo 
a 
 Tax (n) - imposto 
 Trainer (n) - preparador físico 
 Turn (n, v) - vez, volta, curva; virar, girar 
 Vegetables (n) - verduras, legumes 
 
 
 
Now you are going to check some grammatical tips that help you find meanings of the words more easily: 
1- Adjective order in English may be a little fuzzy10. But, in general, adjectives before nouns: 
A beautiful blond and intelligent girl. 
 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
General 
opinion 
Specific 
opinion Size Shape Age Color Origin Material type purpose 
 
Transitive and intransitive verbs often cause confusion. 
Let's begin with a simple definition: 
 
Transitive verb 
Notice that transitive verbs always take objects. You will always be able to ask a question beginning with 
'What' or 'Whom'. 
 
Examples: I took my books to class.; We played chess last night. 
 
 
10 informal not clear 
Transitive verbs take direct objects. The vast majority of verbs in English are transitive. 
Examples: I paid the bill last week. – What did you pay? 
She studies Russian. – What does she study? 
 
Intransitive Verb 
Intransitive verbs do not take direct objects. 
 
Examples: 
Peter's situation improved. 
They slept peacefully. 
 
You can recognize that a verb is intransitive because it does not have a passive form. 
 
Examples: 
Jack sits in the corner when he reads. 
NOT The corner is sat when Jack reads. 
 
Peter arrived early. 
NOT Early was arrived Peter. 
 
Transitive AND Intransitive 
Some verbs with multiple meanings are transitive or intransitive depending on their usage. 
 
The verb 'run' is a good example. When used in the sense of physical exercise, 'run' is intransitive: 
Helen ran every weekend when she was at college. 
 
BUT 
'Run' used in the sense of managing a company is transitive.: 
Jennifer runs TMX Inc. 
 
Phrasal Verbs 
A phrasal verb consists of two or three words that when used together have a different meaning from the 
individual words which form them. 
 
Take a look at the chart below: 
Come back = returned 
(He came back home yesterday!) 
 
Catch on = become popular 
(Easter medicine catches on with western doctors.) 
 
Bibliography 
https://www.infoplease.com/arts-entertainment/writing-and-language/latin-roots-prefixes-and-
suffixes#ixzz1g33VpfJP 
 
• Next class: 
Recognize grammatical elements which help in the comprehension of texts; study cohesion and coherence. 
 
• In this class, you were able to: 
Identify what root, prefix and suffix are; recognize false cognates; use syntax as a resource to find meanings. 
 
Lesson 9, cohesion and coherence in reading 
 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Recognize grammatical elements which help in the comprehension of texts; 
2. study cohesion and coherence. 
 
In this lesson, you will learn that being aware of the structure of the sentence in English can help you recognize 
the grammatical class an unknown word belongs to. If you find a sentence which is difficult to be understood, 
try to identify the types of words. 
 
Let’s read the example below 
“The extraordinary jewelers carved extremely beautiful ornaments from jade.” 
 
To understand the sentence above, you need to identify the following elements: 
1. Where is the verb? 
2. What is the subject of this verb? 
3. Does this verb ask for a complement? Yes? No? Which one? 
4. What is the function of the other words in the sentence? 
 
Some possible answers for these questions would be: 
 
• Where is the verb? → Words which end in –ed can be very commonly classified as verbs. We can 
assume that carved is the verb of the sentence. 
• What is the subject of this verb? → As you know, the natural order of sentences in English is SVO 
(subject-verb-object), so the subject must be The extraordinary jewelers. 
• Does this verb ask for a complement? Yes? No? Which one? → To answer question number 3, you 
should know the meaning of the verb. Check the word in the dictionary and find out that carved means 
entalhar or esculpir. Well, if someone carved, he/she carved something. This thing is the complement 
of the verb, so what comes after the verb is the object. 
 
There are other clues that can indicate the function of words in the sentence: 
• identify the nouns in the sentence. If you look at the words, you will see the endings may vary, some of 
them end in y, others in s. The ending s, for example, may suggest the words jewelers and ornaments 
may be in the plural. 
• perceive the word extraordinary, which is in the group of the words on the left of the verb, seem to 
modify jewelers, which is a noun, and must probably be an adjective. 
• Notice that in the group on the right we have several words. The first is extremely. As you know the 
ending –ly is characteristic of adverbs, even if you do not know the meaning of the word, you can 
perceive that it modifies the term which follows, in this sentence, beautiful, which is a well-known 
adjective. If it is an adjective, all we have to do is to find the noun, ornaments. 
 
Techniques to achieve cohesion 
• To achieve cohesion, the link of one sentence to the next, consider the following techniques: 
• Repetition. In sentence B (the second of any two sentences), repeat a word from sentence A. 
• Synonym. If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish to repeat. This 
strategy is called 'elegant variation.' 
• Antonym. Using the 'opposite' word, an antonym, can alsocreate sentence cohesion, since in 
language antonyms actually share more elements of meaning than you might imagine. 
• Pro-forms. Use a pronoun, pro-verb1, or another pro-form to make explicit reference back to a form 
mentioned earlier. 
• Collocation. Use a commonly paired or expected or highly probable word to connect one sentence to 
another. 
• Enumeration. Use overt [explicit] markers of sequence to highlight the connection between ideas. This 
system has many advantages: (a) it can link ideas that are otherwise completely unconnected, (b) it 
looks formal and distinctive, and (c) it promotes a second method of sentence cohesion, discussed in 
(7) below. 
• Parallelism. Repeat a sentence structure. This technique is the oldest, most overlooked [neglected], 
but probably the most elegant method of creating cohesion. 
• Transitions. Use a conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with particular logical 
relationships. 
 
Techniques to achieve cohesion 
Transitions: 
• Identity. Indicates sameness. → that is, that is to say, in other words, ... 
• Opposition. Indicates a contrast. → but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, though, although, whereas, in 
contrast, rather, ... 
• Addition. Indicates continuation. → and, too, also, furthermore, moreover, in addition, besides, in the 
same way, again, another, similarly, a similar, the same, ... 
• Cause and effect. → therefore, so, consequently, as a consequence, thus, as a result, hence, it follows 
that, because, since, for, ... 
• Indefinites Indicates a logical connection of an unspecified type. → in fact, indeed, now, ... 
• Concession Indicates a willingness to consider the other side. → admittedly, I admit, true, I grant, of 
course, naturally, some believe, some people believe, it has been claimed that, once it was believed, 
there are those who would say, ... 
• Exemplification Indicates a shift from a more general or abstract idea to a more specific or concrete 
idea. → for example, for instance, after all, an illustration of, even, indeed, in fact, it is true, of course, 
specifically, to be specific, that is, to illustrate, truly, ... 
 
Bibliography 
• http://papyr.com/ hypertextbooks/ comp1 /coherent. htm 
• TANSKANEN, Sanna•Kaisa. Collaborating towards Coherence: Lexical cohesion in English Discourse. 
Philadelphia: John Benjamins,2006. 
• NAVRATILOVA, Dontcheva et al. Coherence and Cohesion in Spoken and Written Discourse. 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 
 
Next class: 
• How to write argumentative paragraphs; 
• how to keep a logical coherence of thought, employing the main connectors. 
In this class, you were able to: 
• Recognize grammatical elements which help in the comprehension of texts; 
• study cohesion and coherence. 
 
The logical links between the ideas of a text guarantee its coherence. 
 
 
 
1 a word that can substitute for a verb or verb phrase, as do in They never attend board meetings, but we do regularly. 
Lesson 10, the writing of argumentative paragraphs 
 
At the end of lesson, the student should be able to: 
 
1. Know how to write argumentative paragraphs; 
2. know how to keep a logical coherence of thought, employing the main connectors. 
 
Paragraph Unity 
To achieve paragraph unity, a writer must ensure two things only. First, the paragraph must have a single 
generalization that serves as the focus of attention, that is, a topic sentence. Secondly, a writer must control 
the content of every other sentence in the paragraph's body such that (a) it contains more specific information 
than the topic sentence and (b) it maintains the same focus of attention as the topic sentence. 
This generalization about paragraph structure holds true for the essay in particular. The two major exceptions 
to this formula for paragraph unity are found in fiction (where paragraph boundaries serve other functions, such 
as indicating when a new speaker is talking in1 a story) and in journalism (where paragraphs are especially 
short to promote 'visual' ease by creating white space). 
The purpose of argumentative writing is to influence the reader, or audience. When you write a persuasive 
paragraph or composition, you want your audience to accept an idea, to take some sort of action, or both. The 
following paragraph is an example of argumentative writing: 
 
Although many people complain about modern technology, it has made the world a better place. (2) The 
function of technology is to provide scientific, efficient ways of doing things. (3) Modern technology makes it 
possible for farmers to produce increasing amounts of food. (4) Every day, in hospitals around the world, lives 
are saved through devices made possible by technology. (5) Millions of people earn their livelihoods because 
of such inventions as the airplane, the automobile, and the computer. (6) Because of technology, people today 
do not have to labor as hard as people used to. (7) Contrary to the claims of its detractors2, modern technology 
has benefited the world greatly. 
 
• Sentence number (1) is the topic sentence. It states the opinion that the writer wants the audience to accept. 
 •Sentence number (2) supports the opinion expressed in the topic sentence. 
 • From sentence number (3) to sentence number (6), the writer gives reasons to support his or her opinion. 
 • Sentence number (7) is a concluding sentence. 
 
O propósito do parágrafo argumentativo é o de influenciar o leitor ou a sua audiência. Quando você escreve 
um parágrafo ou texto argumentativo, você deseja que sua audiência aceite uma ideia e parta para algum tipo 
de ação. 
 
No parágrafo sobre a tecnologia, a frase (1) é a frase-tópico. O autor escreve que embora muitas pessoas 
reclamem, a tecnologia tornou o nosso mundo um lugar melhor. 
A frase (2) vai dar suporte a esta ideia quando o escritor escreve que a função da tecnologia é oferecer 
maneiras científicas eficientes de fazer coisas. 
Da frase (3) à frase (6), o escritor mostra razões que apoiam suas ideias: como os fazendeiros podem 
melhorar suas colheitas, como vidas são salvas nos hospitais, como a invenção do avião, do 
automóvel, do computador ajudaram milhões de pessoas a ganhar suas vidas, a tecnologia facilita o trabalho 
das pessoas. 
A frase (7) conclui que a tecnologia moderna tem contribuído positivamente para transformar o mundo. 
 
 
1 Falando 
2 /dɪˈtræk.tɚ/ someone who criticizes something or someone, often unfairly. 
Limiting the topics 
When you write a paragraph, you must keep in mind that the main idea must be preserved and that the 
paragraph should be as specific as possible. We must avoid generalizations. For example, it is more 
appropriate to write a paragraph about a specific sport, such as soccer, than to write a paragraph about games 
in general. 
 
Let's take a look at these general ideas and choose the limiting subject: 
a - Games: Olympics, Gymnastics, Soccer 
b - Reading: Romeo and Juliet, Literature. Books 
c - California Tourist Attractions: Museums, Beaches, Disneyland 
d - Relatives: Nephews. Cousins, My Grandfather 
e - Work: Cleaning House, Mental, Physical 
 
The best answers are: 
1- soccer 
2- Romeo and Juliet 
3- Disneyland 
4- my grandfather 
5- cleaning house 
 
Main connectors 
The employment of connectors is very important to keep the notion of sequence and unity to the paragraph. 
Here are some connectors you may use more commonly in your paragraphs: 
 
1 - To start supporting sentences - First, first of all, firstly, to start with, to begin with. 
2 - To continue the supporting sentences - Second, secondly, in the second place, the second aspect, 
next, also, besides, in addition to. 
3 - To conclude the supporting sentences - In conclusion, in brief,