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DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE USACANADIAN FORCES LANGUAGE SCHOOL

TEXT TYPOLOGY AND PASSAGE RATING

FOR READING SKILL Presenters:JAMES DIRGIN – Director, Proficiency Standards BranchJANA VASILJ-BEGOVIC - FL Standards Officer

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SCOPE AND AIM OF PRESENTATION

• TO INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT AND BACKGROUND OF TEXT TYPOLOGY AND PASSAGE RATING FOR READING SKILL

• TO INTRODUCE PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF TEXT TYPOLOGY AND PASSAGE RATING BY USING TEXT MODES AND STANAG DESCRIPTORS

• TO DISCUSS AREAS OF USAGE THROUGH SAMPLE PASSAGES

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RATING A TEXT

HOW DO WE RATE A TEXT?1- ASSIGN AN INTUITIVE RATING BASED ON

EXPERIENCE

2- APPLY TO CONFIRM:i) STANAG/ILR ii) TEXT MODESiii) TARGET LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE

3- FINALIZE THE RATING – READY TO EXPLAIN WHY NOT ABOVE OR BELOW THE ASSIGNED RATING (BRACKETING)

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MAIN PRINCIPLES OF TEXT RATING

• Each Passage Contains Multiple Levels of Language

• Each Passage Has Core and Peripheral Elements

• Some Passages Have More Than One Core Level (+)

• Need to Look For Both the “Forest and The Trees”

• Need to Triangulate Text from All Three Directions WRITER , READER , and TARGET LANGUAGE

SPECIFICS

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THE TRIANGULATION PROCESSOF PASSAGE RATING

ILR /STANAGLEVELS

MODESDOCUMENT

TARGETLANGUAGE

TEXTLEVEL

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STANAG/ILR AND TEXT MODES

STANAG/ILR READING DESCRIPTORS FOCUS ON…

FUNCTIONALITY OF A NON-NATIVE READER HOW WELL A NON-NATIVE CAN PROCESS A TEXT THE CONTENT AREAS OF TEXTS

TEXT MODES FOCUS ON …

WRITER’S PURPOSE IN AUTHENTIC TEXTS RATING TEXTS FROM AN IN-LANGUAGE (BY, FOR, IN

NATIVE LANGUAGE) PERSPECTIVE COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSE OF THE WRITER

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ILR-STANAG LEVELS / TEXT MODES

TEXT MODES TEXT TYPES

CLIFFORD’S Special Purpose Mode – L5 Highly appropriate words/phrases, Unique Structures

Highly idiosyncratic, culturally dense texts

CHILD’S Projective Mode – L4 Unpredictable turns of thought, Read Beyond the Lines

Opinion pieces on highly abstract concepts, literary pieces

CHILD’S Evaluative Mode – L3 Suasion, Hypothesis, Reading Between the Lines

Editorial pieces, technical reports

CHILD’S Instructive Mode – L2 Facts are Conveyed for Informative Purposes, Details (news)

News from the media

CHILD’S Orientation Mode – L1 Loosely ordered, Simple, Highly Predictable Information

Announcements, notices

CLIFFORD’S Formulaic /Lowe’s Enumerative Mode– L0+ Isolated Words/Phrases - Contextual and Visual Support

Short texts, such as lists, weather forecasts

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CHANGES IN APPROACHES

IN THE 60S AND 70S

(READER’S ACCURACY)

IN THE 80s, 90s AND NOW

(AUTHOR’S PURPOSE-MESSAGE TO READER)

READING IS PERCEIVED

AS A PASSIVE SKILL

READING IS PERCEIVED AS

ACTIVE - COMMUNICATIVE

LIMITED USE OF

AUTHENTIC TEXTS

EXTENSIVE USE OF

AUTHENTIC TEXTS

“BOTTOM-UP” (WORKING THROUGH SUFFIX, WORD, etc…), JUST LIKE A NON-NATIVE OR STUDENT WOULD READ

“TOP-DOWN” PROCESSING (GLOBAL MEANING), JUST LIKE A NATIVE READER WOULD READ

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WHY DO WE RATE A TEXT?AREAS OF USAGE

•ASSESSMENT

•TEST DEVELOPMENT Formal/Informal

Formative/Summative

Text and Task Selection• CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

• TEACHING Classroom Activities

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STANAG READING TRISECTIONLEVEL 1

• CONTENT: Very simple connected material; short notes;

announcements; highly predictable descriptions of people,

places and things; brief explanations of geography,

government and currency systems simplified for non-natives;

short instructions/directions (application forms, maps, menus,

directories, brochures, simple schedules)

• TASK: Understand the main idea; find some specific details;

guess meaning of unfamiliar words from context

• ACCURACY: Understands the basic meaning of simple

texts using high frequency language; may misunderstand even

some simple texts

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVEL 1 TEXTS

•ORIENTATION MODE

•BOUND TO EXTERNAL WORLD

•FACTUAL AND PUBLIC CONTENT

•SIMPLE VOCABULARY AND STRUCTURE

•ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

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SAMPLE LEVEL 1 TEXT

FRIENDS OF EXPERIMENTAL FARM TO HOLDANNUAL MEETING Friends of the Central Experimental Farm will holdits annual general meeting Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m.in the Sir John Carling Building on the CentralExperimental Farm. Guest speaker will be Clive Doucet. Public iswelcome. For information call Friends of the Farm at230-3276.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVEL 1+ TEXTS

•MIXED TEXT MODES/ORIENTATIONAL & INSTRUCTIVE

•INFORMATION PACKING

•COMBINED GENERIC/TOPIC SPECIFIC VOCABULARY

•COMPOUND SENTENCES

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SAMPLE STANAG LEVEL 1+ TEXT

Public invited on nature walk

At 9 a.m. today, the public is invited to anature walk in the lower portion of HattonCanyon. The walk is sponsored by theHatton Canyon Coalition.In addition to the 21/2 hour hike, there willbe a discussion of the uses of Hatton Canyon– a freeway or a public watershed park.Participants will also visit the MontereyRegional Park District’s newlyacquired 34-acre parcel.Anyone interested in this event should meetat the northeast corner of the Albertson’sparking lot, next to the Union 76 gas stationon Carmel Rancho Boulevard. For moreinformation, call Gary Tate at 659-5381.

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STANAG READING TRISECTIONLEVEL 2

• CONTENT: Concrete, factual, predictable texts; descriptions

of persons, places and things; narration of current, past and future

events; news items describing frequently recurring events; simple

technical material for the general reader

• TASK: Locate and understand the main idea and details;

answer factual questions about texts

• ACCURACY: Can read uncomplicated but authentic prose on

familiar subjects that are normally presented in a predictable

sequence that aids the reader in understanding. May be slow and

misunderstand some information.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVEL 2 TEXTS

• INSTRUCTIVE/CONVEYS FACTUAL INFO• MOSTLY NEWS-MEDIA CONTENT• ANONYMOUS AUTHOR/SHAPING STARTS• COHESIVE DISCOURSE• TOPIC-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY• MULTIPLE TIMEFRAMES

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SAMPLE STANAG LEVEL 2 TEXT

Nine adventurers gave up comfort and convenience to travel Canada by canoefor three months for a reality TV series, TONY LOFARO reports. Bob Abrames is a changed man after living like a modern-day Canadian voyageur and travelling through the heart of the country by canoe. Mr. Abrames and eight other people, ranging in age from 25 to 52, were participants in a new historical TV- documentary series that charted their progress over three months as they lived and travelled pretty much like--the voyageurs of an earlier era. The six men and three women were cut off from the comforts of modern civilization, lived simply on soup, peas and bread and travelled up to 80 kilometres a day by birchbark canoe. "What an incredible trip, I can't even tell you," said Mr. Abrames, 52, a motivational speaker and former travel agent from Ottawa, who yesterday finished the three-month canoe trip that covered 2,500 kilometres from Lachine, Que., to Fort Gibraltar, near Winnipeg for the series Destination Nor'Ouest. He said the journey, which began May 29, was an incredible outdoor experience, taught him about survival and also gave him a new appreciation of the beauty of Canada's wilderness. The avid outdoorsman said he was able to endure because he thrived on the challenge of pitting himself against the elements.

 

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVEL 2+ TEXTS

• MIXED TEXT MODES ( INSTRUCTIVE & EVALUATIVE)

• TYPES OF L2+ TEXTS:

i) FACTUAL INFORMATION PLUS ABSTRACT CONCEPTS

ii) FACTUAL EVENTS WITH DIFFICULT TOPIC/LEXICON

iii) FACTUAL EVENTS THAT HAVE A “TWIST”

• COMBINED CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT VOCABULARY

• TARGETING “MORE EDUCATED” NEWS READER

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SAMPLE LEVEL 2+ TEXT

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) --A budding movement to ban smoking in more than8,000 restaurants and bars around Pittsburgh has been snuffed out by, of all things, an anti-smoking law.County health officials who had been considering the ban discovered that a state lawrestricting smoking blocks an outright ban. In fact, the state law has been used to stamp outsmoking bans in a half dozen communities."We asked the question, 'Do we have the authority to do this and if we do, do we want to dosomething?' The answer is we don't have the option. End of story," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health DepartmentBars, restaurants with room for fewer than 75 people, tobacco stores and factories andwarehouses are exempt. Generally, the law created some smoke free areas, which helpedclear the air.But the state law also prohibits county or municipal officials, except in Philadelphia, frompassing new bans on smoking unless they had one on the books before 1988.Pittsburgh's ordinance, though in effect before 1988, is not a ban. Rather, it's similar to thestate law, requiring restaurants with room for at least 50 people to have nonsmoking areas.Across the country, 31 states have similar laws preventing local governments from banningsmoking, according to the American Lung Association. A growing number of cities andstates ban indoor smoking.

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SAMPLE LEVEL 2+ TEXT

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) --A xxxxxx movement to xxxxxx smoking in morethan 8,000 restaurants and bars around Pittsburgh has been xxxxxx, xxxxxx, an anti-smoking law.County health officials who had been considering the ban discovered that a state lawrestricting smoking blocks an xxxxxx. In fact, the state law has been used to xxxxxxsmoking bans in a half dozen communities."We asked the question, 'Do we have the authority to do this and if we do, do we want to

dosomething?' The answer is we don't have the option. xxxxxx," said Dr. Bruce Dixon,director of the Allegheny County Health DepartmentBars, restaurants with room for fewer than 75 people, tobacco stores and factories andwarehouses are xxxxxx. Generally, the law created some smoke free areas, which

helpedclear the air.But the state law also prohibits county or municipal officials, except in Philadelphia, frompassing new bans on smoking unless they had one on the books before 1988.Pittsburgh'sordinance, though in effect before 1988, is not a ban. Rather, it's similar to the state law, requiring restaurants with room for at least 50 people to have nonsmoking areas.Across the country, 31 states have similar laws preventing local governments from

banningsmoking, according to the American Lung Association. A growing number of cities and states ban indoor smoking.

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STANAG READING TRISECTIONLEVEL 3

• CONTENT: Authentic written material on general and professional subjects; news,

informational and editorial items in major periodicals for educated native readers;

material in professional specialty; abstract concepts on topics such as economics,

culture, science.

• TASK: Understand hypothesis, supported opinion, argumentation, clarification,

various forms of elaboration; relate ideas, understand implicit information;

distinguish between various stylistic levels; recognize humour, emotional

overtones.

• ACCURACY: Misreading is rare. Cannot always comprehend texts with

unusually complex structure, low frequency idioms or a high degree of cultural

knowledge embedded in the language.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVEL 3 TEXTS

Evaluative Mode Opinion or Editorial Pieces Social/Cultural/Political Issues Author Present through Personal Views Abstract and Concrete Lexicon Abstract Linguistic Formulations in Complex

Sentences Extended Discourse

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SAMPLE LEVEL 3 TEXTFor Craig Meriweather, born into what he wryly calls the equestrian class, his book “The Class System in America”, is in some measure self-examination as well as social criticism. “I came to imagine,” he writes, “that I was born to ride in triumph, and others were born to stand smiling in the streets and waive their hats.”“There’s an element of exorcism in my examination of the topic,” he said in a telephone interview from his office at Carter’s magazine. “Like many other people, I’m not immune to the seductions of money and wealth. So if questions of money and celebrity become secondary, become like superstition, if money isn’t a hard wall of fact, then I’m freed to be more contemplative.According to Mr. Meriweather, America’s wealth-equals-worth formula is the root of its social and economic ills. “I don’t know how to get out of this dilemma because I’m not an economist or a politician,” he said, “but I do know…we’re going to need more humor than is now evident.” “Americans, Mr. Meriweather suggests, would do well to look at money as commodity, “like pork bellies”. Beyond this, he has few answers. The writer’s role, he says, “is one of commentary and observation, and not trying to save the country.”

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THANK YOU!

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS?