text analysis - week 1

8/12/2019 Text Analysis - Week 1

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Text analysisWeek 1

Feb. 2014


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Week 1 teachers copy

1

Contents

1.1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

1.2 & 1.3 .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Texts .................................................................................................................................................... 6

Stress ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Stress (redacted version) ................................................................................................................ 7

Stress (summary) .......................................................................................................................... 8

Weather and Climate ...................................................................................................................... 9

Weather and Climate (sample redacted) ...................................................................................... 10Weather and Climate (sample summary) ................................................................................... 11

Stress (paragraphs 1-3) ................................................................................................................. 12

Stress (paragraphs 1-3 ID new words) ..................................................................................... 12

Stress (paragraphs 1-3 ID collocations) ...................................................................................... 13

Stress (paragraphs 1-3 technical &. non-technical language) ................................................... 15

Stress (notes combined) ............................................................................................................... 16

Weather and Climate (notes combined)....................................................................................... 18

References: ....................................................................................................................................... 20


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1.1

The first stage in the process of paraphrase, and pre-requisite of comprehension, is to identify mainideas contained within a text. If basic writing conventions are adhered to, extensive texts will be

composed of paragraphs which contain one central idea which in turn is likely to be found within apredictable part of a paragraph (topic sentence). Thus, a strategic approach to understanding a textcan be adopted by simply identifying these ideas, and deleting all unnecessary information. If these

main ideas are then transcribed into students notes, a preliminary step in (rudimentary) note -takingcan be taken.

Aims:

To understand the construction of paragraphs. To practice identifying key concepts in extensive texts To practice summarizing by deletion of unnecessary elements To take simple notes from a written text.

Secondary aims:

Teacher to get an idea of students level of comprehension Potentially increase reading speed by encouraging learners that reading every word is not

necessary to comprehend a text.

Outcomes:

Students will be able to transcribe only the main ideas of a text into a table.


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Suggested procedure:

Introduction: Required texts: Stress/ Stress (redacted)/ Stress (summary)

Explain to students that the exercise helps them prepare for summarizing a text. Ask students to count how many paragraphs there are in the demonstration text and confirm

that students know that each paragraph contains only one main idea which is usually to befound in one sentence.

Demonstrate this by showing the demo text followed by the redacted version, drawing attentionto the fact that most of the ideas are concentrated within one sentence.

Sometimes, the reader may find more than that which is in the topic sentence worthy of retainingand you might wish to point out a few examples in the redacted version where some informationthat is not in the topic sentence remains visible.This means that to some extent there is room for individual preference regarding exactly whatconstitutes key information, but students should be encouraged to be discriminating, retaining notmuch more than 20% of a text in their practice.

Finally, reveal the table into which the remaining text has been transcribed, to show theintended product of this process.

Student practice: Required text: Weather and Climate

Hand out text. Ask students to work in pairs and cross out the words that they think are notneeded for them to understand the core information in a text.

Ask students to sit in a circle and share openly what they think the central ideas are for eachparagraph with the aim of reaching a consensus.

Homework: Required text: Weather and Climate

Students transcribe remaining text into a table in their note-books for homework. Ask students to bring their tables to the next class.

END OF LESSON 1


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1.2 & 1.3

Another important stage in note taking is recording vocabulary in ways that it can be used to informfuture writing. A critical, organised approach to vocabulary identification and recording can enable

students to access and employ vocabulary efficiently.

Aims

Identify collocations Understand the difference between technical language and non-technical language Repurpose a text Engage in self/peer assessment

Outcomes

Students will think critically about vocabulary in order to categorise it meaningfully in preparationfor future use.

Suggested procedure

ReviewRequired texts: Weather and Climate (sample redacted) & Weather and

Climate (sample summary)

Ask students to review the notes from the day before. Beam up the sample redacted text and the sample summary and ask students to compare

their own notes with the samples.

Allow students to self-assess/ peer-assess. Discuss differences/ learner difficulties

Introduction &walk-through

Required texts: Stress (paragraphs 1- 3 ID new words + collocations +technical & non-technical language + notes combined )

As this section is quite an extensive input session, it can be broken into stages, or used as anindividual/group note-taking exercise

Text: Stress (paragraphs 1-3) Beam up the text and initiate a discussion in pairs about what else students can learn from

this text besides general meaning. Introduce/elicit the idea of using a text to improve vocabulary.

Text: Stress (paragraphs 1-3 - ID new words) Use the text to demonstrate a simple underline and extract procedure and invite students to

suggest problems with this way of recording vocabulary.

Text: Stress (paragraphs 1-3 - ID collocations) Use the text to demonstrate an approach to vocabulary learning based on identifying

collocates. Discuss the usefulness of this method. Further compare the 2 ways of organisingthis information.


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Text: Stress (paragraphs 1-3 - technical and non-technical language) Use the third example to demonstrate the difference between technical and non-technical

language. (Technical language = words which have specific meanings within a field, which inthis case is biology/medicine/physiology). Stress the importance that this vocabulary cannotbe substituted. Discuss further how you would recognise this kind of language (i.e. firstidentify the academic field or subject)

Text: Stress (paragraphs 1-3 - notes combined) Finally show the notes combined. Note that if the non-technical vocabulary is substituted in

the summary from yesterdays class, something approximating a real summary is achieved.

Note: this process is lengthy and can become quite tedious; useful for gaining mastery oflanguage within a field in a short period of time, but hardly practical on a day to day basis. Thewhole process can be shortened significantly by only analysing the vocabulary remaining after

deletion of non-essential vocabulary

PracticeRequired texts: Weather and Climate & Weather and Climate combined

notes

If time permits, this could be started in class 1.2, however it is unlikely that there will besufficient time to do anything significant with the text. As a homework exercise, this may also

prove a little daunting, so I suggest doing the main body of this exercise in the following class as

a group work exercise.

give out the text, Weather and Climate, again and ask students to:o ID technical (meteorological) and non-technical vocabularyo Find and organise collocationso Combine vocabulary lists with summary from class 1.2 homework o Compare with text Weather and Climate notes combined and self-assess

Supplementary exercise:

A supplementary exercise could be for students to be directed to the full report at: Blackboard\Course Materials\ Text Analysis \ Climate Indicators In order to evaluate the quality andacademic relevance of the source material.

( Signs of quality: recent, peer reviewed, produced by a government agency, all contributors arenamed, well-referenced)

END OF LESSON 2 & 3


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TextsStress

WHAT IS STRESS?

The term stress has been defined in several different ways. Sometimes the term is applied to stimulior events in our environment that make physical and emotional demands on us, and sometimes it isapplied to our emotional and physical reactions to such stimuli. In this discussion, we will refer tothe environmental stimuli or events as stressors and to emotional and physical reactions as stress.

Many sorts of events can be stressors, including disasters such as hurricanes or tornadoes, major lifeevents such as divorce or the loss of a job, and daily hassles such as having to wait in line at thesupermarket when you need to be somewhere else in ten minutes. What all these events have incommon is that they interfere with or threaten our accustomed way of life.

When we encounter such stressors, we must pull together our mental and physical resources inorder to deal with the challenge. How well we succeed in doing so will determine how serious a tollthe stress will take on our mental and physical well-being.

REACTING TO STRESSORS

The Canadian physiologist Hans Seyle has been the most influential researcher and writer on stress.Seyle has proposed that both humans and other animals react to any stressor in three stages,collectively known as the general adaptation syndrome. The first stage, when the person or animalfirst becomes aware of the stressor, is the alarm reaction. In this stage, the organism becomes highlyalert and aroused, energized by a burst of epinephrine. After the alarm reaction comes the stage ofresistance, as the organism tries to adapt to the stressful stimulus or to escape from it. If theseefforts are successful, the state of the organism returns to normal. If the organism cannot adapt tocontinuing stress, however, it enters a stage of exhaustion or collapse.

Seyle developed his model of the general adaptation syndrome as a result of research with rats andother animals. In rats, certain stressors, such as painful tail-pulling, consistently lead to the samesorts of stress reactions. In humans, however, it is harder to predict what will be stressful to aparticular person at a particular time. Whether a particular stimulus will be stressful depends on theperson's subjective appraisal of that stimulus. How threatening is it? How well have I handled thissort of thing in the past? How well will I be able to handle it this time? For one person, being calledupon to give a talk in front of a class is a highly stressful stimulus that will immediately produce such

elements of an alarm reaction as a pounding heart and a dry mouth. For another person, beingcalled on to give a talk is not threatening at all, but facing a dead-line to complete a term paper isextremely stressful. In humans, more-over, the specific stress reaction is likely to vary widely; somestressful situations give rise predominantly to emotions of fear, some to anger, some to helplessnessand depression

Source:Seal, B. (1997). Academic encounters (Reading, study skills, and writing). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. (Cited in Emam, A., 2011)


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Stress (redacted version)

WHAT IS STRESS?




REACTING TO STRESSORS

The Canadian physiologist Hans Seyle has been the most influential researcher and writer on stress.Seyle has proposed that both humans and other animals react to any stressor in three stages,collectively known as the general adaptation syndrome. The first stage, when the person or animalfirst becomes aware of the stressor, is the alarm reaction. In this stage, the organism becomes highlyalert and aroused, energized by a burst of epinephrine. After the alarm reaction comes the stage ofresistance, as the organism tries to adapt to the stressful stimulus or to escape from it. If theseefforts are successful, the state of the organism returns to normal. If the organism cannot adapt to

continuing stress, however, it enters a stage of exhaustion or collapse.

Seyle developed his model of the general adaptation syndrome as a result of research with rats andother animals. In rats, certain stressors, such as painful tail-pulling, consistently lead to the samesorts of stress reactions. In humans, however, it is harder to predict what will be stressful to aparticular person at a particular time. Whether a particular stimulus will be stressful depends on theperson's subjective appraisal of that stimulus. How threatening is it? How well have I handled thissort of thing in the past? How well will I be able to handle it this time? For one person, being calledupon to give a talk in front of a class is a highly stressful stimulus that will immediately produce suchelements of an alarm reaction as a pounding heart and a dry mouth. For another person, beingcalled on to give a talk is not threatening at all, but facing a dead-line to complete a term paper isextremely stressful. In humans, more-over, the specific stress reaction is likely to vary widely; somestressful situations give rise predominantly to emotions of fear, some to anger, some to helplessnessand depression


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Stress (summary)

5 paragraphs = 5 main ideas

1Define: environmental stimuli = stressors; emotional and physical reactions =stress

What is stress?

2 Many events can be stressors, they interfere with our way of life

3When we encounter stressors we must deal with the challenge; how well we dealwith the challenge will determine our well-being

4Hans Seyle proposed animals react to stressors in 3 stages:Alarm, resistance, exhaustion / collapse Reac

ting

to

stressors5 In rats, stressors lead to same stress reactions; in humans, its harder to predict reactions vary widely


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Weather and Climate

eather is the state of the atmosphere at any given time and place. Most of the weatherthat affects people, agriculture, and ecosystems takes place in the lower layer of the

atmosphere, the troposphere. Familiar aspects of weather include temperature,precipitation, clouds, and wind. Severe weather conditions include hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards,and droughts.

Climate is the long-term average of the weather in a given place. While the weather can change inminutes or hours, a change in climate is something that develops over longer periods of decades tocenturies. Climate is defined not only by average temperature and precipitation, but also by thetype, frequency, duration, and intensity of weather events such as heat waves, cold spells, storms,floods, and droughts. Weather can vary widely, and extreme events occur naturally, but averageconditions tend to remain stable unless the Earth experiences a force that can shift the climate. At

various times in the Earths history, the climate has changed in response to forces such as largevolcanic eruptions, changes in greenhouse gas concentrations, and shifts in the Earths orbit aroundthe sun.

The average temperature at the surface of the Earth has been increasing over the past century,primarily because human activities are adding large quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tothe atmosphere. Unusually warm days and nights have also become more common in some places.Generally, warmer surface temperatures lead to an increase in evaporation from the oceans andland, leading to an increase in globally averaged precipitation. However, while some regions can getmore precipitation, shifting storm patterns and increased evaporation can cause some areas toexperience more severe droughts than they have in the past. Scientific studies also indicate thatextreme weather events such as storms, floods, and hurricanes are likely to become more intense.However, because these extremes already vary naturally, it may be difficult over short time periodsto distinguish whether changes in their intensity and frequency can be attributed to lager climatetrends caused by human influences.

Climate variations can directly or indirectly affect many aspects of society in both positive anddisruptive ways. For example, warmer average temperatures reduce heating costs and improveconditions for growing some crops; yet extreme heat can increase illnesses and deaths amongvulnerable populations and damage some crops. Precipitation can replenish water supplies and sup-port agriculture, but intense storms can damage property, cause loss of life and population

displacement, and temporarily disrupt essential services such as transportation,telecommunications, energy, and water supplies.

Source:

Bell, G., Comiso, J., Luber, G., et al. (2012) Climate Change Indicators in the United States .Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. (p.23)

Available at: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.html

W
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.html


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Weather and Climate (sample redacted)

eather is the state of the atmosphere at any given time and place. Most of the weatherthat affects people, agriculture, and ecosystems takes place in the lower layer of the

atmosphere, the troposphere. Familiar aspects of weather include temperature,precipitation, clouds, and wind. Severe weather conditions include hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards,and droughts.

Climate is the long-term average of the weather in a given place. While the weather can change inminutes or hours, a change in climate is something that develops over longer periods of decades tocenturies. Climate is defined not only by average temperature and precipitation, but also by thetype, frequency, duration, and intensity of weather events such as heat waves, cold spells, storms,floods, and droughts. Weather can vary widely, and extreme events occur naturally, but averageconditions tend to remain stable unless the Earth experiences a force that can shift the climate. At

various times in the Earths history, the climate has changed in response to forces such as largevolcanic eruptions, changes in greenhouse gas concentrations, and shifts in the Earths orbit aroundthe sun.

The average temperature at the surface of the Earth has been increasing over the past century,primarily because human activities are adding large quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tothe atmosphere. Unusually warm days and nights have also become more common in some places.Generally, warmer surface temperatures lead to an increase in evaporation from the oceans andland, leading to an increase in globally averaged precipitation. However, while some regions can getmore precipitation, shifting storm patterns and increased evaporation can cause some areas toexperience more severe droughts than they have in the past. Scientific studies also indicate thatextreme weather events such as storms, floods, and hurricanes are likely to become more intense.However, because these extremes already vary naturally, it may be difficult over short time periodsto distinguish whether changes in their intensity and frequency can be attributed to larger climatetrends caused by human influences.

Climate variations can directly or indirectly affect many aspects of society in both positive anddisruptive ways. For example, warmer average temperatures reduce heating costs and improveconditions for growing some crops; yet extreme heat can increase illnesses and deaths amongvulnerable populations and damage some crops. Precipitation can replenish water supplies and sup-port agriculture, but intense storms can damage property, cause loss of life and population

displacement, and temporarily disrupt essential services such as transportation,telecommunications, energy, and water supplies.

W


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Weather and Climate (sample summary)

4 paragraphs= 4 main ideas

1 Weather is the state of the atmosphere (troposphere).2 Climate is the long term (decades or centuries) average of the weather. Tends to remain stable

unless the Earth experiences a force that can shift the climate.

3 The temperature of the earth is increasing because of human activities. Extreme weatherevents are likely to become more intense.

4 Climate variations affect society in positive and disruptive ways.


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Stress (paragraphs 1-3)

WHAT IS STRESS?




Stress (paragraphs 1-3 ID new words)

WHAT IS STRESS?

The term stress has been defined in several different ways. Sometimes the term is applied to stimulior events in our environment that make physical and emotional demands on us, and sometimes it isapplied to our emotional and physical reactions to such stimuli. In this discussion, we will refer to

the environmental stimuli or events as stressors and to emotional and physical reactions as stress.



Stress, stimuli, stressors, hassles, interfere, accustomed, encounter, determine, toll, well-being


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Stress (paragraphs 1-3 ID collocations)

Paragraph 1


Define + termApply + term + to

Make demands on someone

Emotional reactionsPhysical reactions

Refer to (n) as (n) Emotional demandsPhysical demands

Reactions to stimuli Environmental stimuli

Reorganised notes:

Reactions Term Demands stimuli

Emotional _______Physical _______

_______to stimuli

The _______Define the _______Apply the _______

Make _______on someoneEmotional _______Physical _______

Reactions to _______Environmental _______

Refer

______ to (n) as (n)

Paragraph 2


Life hassles Job

Way of _______Major _____ events

Daily __________ The loss of a _______

Way of life

Our _______Threaten our _____Interfere with our _____Our accustomed _______


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Paragraph 3


Stressors resources toll

_______ stressors Pull together our ________Mental _________Physical _________

Take a ______ on + (n)

Well-being

Mental _________Physical ________


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Stress (paragraphs 1-3 technical &. non-technical language)

The term stress has been defined in several different ways. Sometimes the term is applied to stimulior events in our environment that make physical and emotional demands on us, and sometimes it is

applied to our emotional and physical reactions to such stimuli. In this discussion, we will refer tothe environmental stimuli or events as stressors and to emotional and physical reactions as stress.



Technical Non-technical

aragraph1

StressStressorsPhysicalEmotionalDemands

ReactionsStimuli

Term = wordDefine = means

ara2

StressorsHurricanestornadoes

Events = thingsDisasters = catastrophic eventsDivorce = separationthe loss of a job = unemploymenthassles = irritationswait in line = queueinterfere with = get in the way ofthreaten = pose a danger toway of life = how we live

ara3

StressorsMental

Encounter = meetresources = capacitiestake a toll = damagewell -being = happiness


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Stress (notes combined)

Technical Non-technical Collocations meaning

aragraph1

StressStressorsPhysicalEmotionalDemandsReactions

Stimuli

Term = wordDefine = means

Reactions Term Demands stimuli Refer

Emotional _______Physical _______ _______tostimuli

The _______Definethe _______Applythe _______

Make _______onsomeoneEmotional _______Physical _______

Reactions to _______Environmental _______

______ to(n) as (n) Define: environmental

stimuli = stressors;emotional and physical

reactions = stress

aragraph2

StressorsHurricanestornadoes

Events = thingsDisasters = catastrophic eventsDivorce = separationthe loss of a job = unemploymenthassles = irritationswait in line = queueinterfere with = disruptthreaten = pose a danger toway of life = day-to-day lives

Life hassles Job Way of life

Way of _______Major _____events

Daily __________

The lossof a _______

Our _______Threaten our _____Interfere with our _____Our accustomed _______

Many events can bestressors, they interferewith our way of life

aragraph3

Stressors

Mental

Encounter = come up against

Deal with = cope withChallenge = difficultiesresources = capacitiestake a toll = damagewell-being = general health andhappiness

Stressors resources toll Well-being

_______stressors

Pull together our ________Mental _____Physical _____

Take a ______ on +(n)

Mental ____Physical ___

When we encounterstressors we must deal withthe challenge; how well wedeal with the challenge willdetermine our well-being


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Weather and Climate (notes combined)Technical

(meteorological)Non-technical Collocations Summary

Paragraph1

WeatherAtmosphereEcosystemsAtmospherePrecipitationCloudsWindconditionsHurricanes/TornadoesBlizzardsDroughts

State = condition Agriculture = farmingLayer = strata

The atmosphere Any given weather

The state of _____The lower layer of ___

______ time ______ place

_____ takes placeAspects of _____Severe _____ conditions

Weather is thestate of theatmosphere

(troposphere).

Paragraph2

ClimateAverageTemperaturePrecipitationHeat wavesCold spellsStormsFloodsDroughtsExtremeConditions

Volcanic eruptionsGreenhouse gasEarths orbit

Decades = tens ofyearsCenturies = hundredsof yearsType = kindDuration = how long itcontinuesIntensity = how strongVary = changeOccur = happenTends to = usually

Remains = staysStable = unchangingExperiences a force =is affected by s.thShift = change

Average A given Weather Change

Long term _____ _____conditions

_____place

_____ canchange _____ events _____ can vary

Weather can _____A _____ in climate _____ in response to _____ in concentrations

Heat Cold Vary/ various Events _____ waves _____

spells _____ widelyWeather can _____various times

Weather _____Extreme _____

Climate Volcanic Gas EarthShift the _____

A change in _____

The _____changed

_____eruptions

Greenhouse _____ _____concentrations

_____s history _____ experiences aforce _____s orbit

Climate is the longterm (decades or

centuries) averageof the weather.Tends to remainstable unless the

Earth experiences aforce that can shift

the climate.


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Paragraph3

SurfaceGreenhouseAtmosphereEvaporationprecipitationStorm patternsExtreme weatherDroughtsStormsFloodsHurricanesClimate trends

Century = 100 years orsoPrimarily = mainlyHuman activities =human influencesRegions = areasShifting = changingIndicate = suggestMore intense =strongerVary = changeDistinguish = tell thedifferenceIntensity = strengthbe attributed to = canbe blamed on

Average The Earth Temperature Human _____

temperature _____

precipitation

The surface of _____

Average _____Increasing _____Surface _____

_____activities _____influences

Gases Increase in Shifting Drought

Heat-trapping _____

Greenhouse

_____

_____evaporation _____

precipitationIncreasedevaporation

_____ patterns Experience _____Severe _____

Climate Changes Vary Weather _____ trends Attribute _____

to _____ naturally Extreme _____

_____ events

The temperature ofthe earth is

increasing becauseof human activities.

Extreme weather

events are likely tobecome moreintense.

Paragraph4

ConditionsPrecipitation

Variations = changesDisruptive = negativeCrops = foodVulnerable populations = peopleat riskDamage = do harm toReplenish = refill

Property = buildingsCause loss of life = killPopulation displacement =migrationDisrupt = interferewith

Climate affect Ways Crops

_____ variations Directly _____Indirectly _____

Positive _____Disruptive _____

Conditions forgrowing _____Damage _____

Population Supplies Services Extreme

Vulnerable _____ _____

displacement

Replenish _____Water _____

Disrupt _____Essential _____

_____ heat

Intense _____ storms

Climate variationsaffect society in

positive anddisruptive ways.


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References:

Bell, G., Comiso, J., Luber, G., et al. (2012) Climate Change Indicators in the United States .Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. (p.23)

Available at: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.html

Emam, A., (2011) (citing Seal, B., 1997). Cross-linguistic Summary Protocols, Journal of LanguageTeaching and Research , 2.1, (p. 216-228)

Available at: http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jltr/article/download/0105596604/2163
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.htmlhttp://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jltr/article/download/0105596604/2163http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jltr/article/download/0105596604/2163http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jltr/article/download/0105596604/2163http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jltr/article/download/0105596604/2163http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/download.html

text analysis - week 1

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