246. Extensive reading activities

246. Extensive reading activities

Extensive Reading (ER) is the process of reading longer easier texts for an extended period of time without a breakdown of comprehension, feeling overwhelmed, or the need to take breaks. It stands in contrast to intensive or academic reading, which is focused on a close reading of dense shorter texts, typically not read for pleasure. Though used as a teaching strategy to promote second-language development, ER also applies to free voluntary reading and recreational reading both in and out of the classroom. ER is based on the assumption that we learn to read by reading.
Implementation of ER is often referred to as Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) or free voluntary reading; and is used in both the first- (L1) and second-language (L2) classroom to promote reading fluency and comprehension.[1] In addition to fluency and comprehension, ER has other numerous benefits for both first- and second-language learners, such as greater grammar and vocabulary knowledge, increase in background knowledge, and greater language confidence and motivation

247. The definition of reading strategies.

Reading strategies often refer to an intelligent and efficient read. It is considered an essential skill that gives the knowledge to look at the world with a fresh perspective and broaden our horizons.
Learning to read is an essential activity in school as students have to read and complete assignments across all the subjects.
Every human being needs to read well as it is a desired skill in whatever activity you do in the professional world. Looking at a press release, creating files, documents, and project plans, conducting meetings, making business plans, etc. requires a person to read effectually.

248. How application letter differs from other types of letters.

First to know about application (didn’t mention here application for school or some organization. So let it be.) which basic means to apply for something or we can say it is an official request for something. An application could be like leave application, for a job , interview etc.
Letter- A letter is generally a written message from one party to another containing information.
Formal letter- It is a letter that is written in the formal language with a specific format for business or any official purpose. In general terms, this is for professional communication. This is why it is also referred as a business letter. A formal letter could be anything a letter of inquiry, a letter of request or a letter of complaint.

249. The definition of a persuasive writing.

Persuasive writing intends to convince readers to believe in an idea or opinion and to do an action. Many writings such as criticisms, reviews, reaction papers, editorials, proposals, advertisements, and brochures use different ways of persuasion to influence readers. Persuasive writing can also be used in indoctrination.
It is a form of non-fiction writing the writer uses to develop logical arguments, making use of carefully chosen words and phrases. But, it's believed that fiction writing should also be persuasive.
Presenting strong evidence, such as facts and statistics, statements of expert authorities, and research findings, establishes credibility and authenticity. Readers will more likely be convinced to side with the writer's position or agree with their opinion if it is backed up by verifiable evidence. Concrete, relevant, and reasonable examples or anecdotes can enhance the writer's idea or opinion. They can be based on observations or from the writer's personal experience. Accurate, current, and balanced information adds to the credibility of persuasive writing. The writer does not only present evidence that favors their ideas, but they also acknowledge some evidence that opposes their own. In the writing, though, their ideas would be sounder.

250. The ways to write a cause and effect essay.

The cause-and-effect writing process requires critical thinking and an orderly cause-and-effect essay outline. Follow these six steps to write a cause-and-effect paper.

1. Brainstorm Essay Topics.
Coming up with a good cause-and-effect topic involves observing the world and speculating about possible causes for what you see. Consider natural phenomena, social and cultural movements, or the development of ideas. Or perhaps you'll write a cause-and-effect essay about a work of literature, highlighting the interconnectedness of characters, settings, and events.

2. Establish a Thesis.
Your thesis statement can highlight a single cause-and-effect relationship, or it can also show how one event causes multiple effects. You can also explore how a phenomenon has multiple causes.

3. Arrange Your Main Points Into Body Paragraphs.
Each of your body paragraphs should provide a specific illustration of why your thesis is true. Outline your entire essay to ensure that every paragraph explores a different facet of the relationship between your subject and its causes.

4. Write a First Draft.
Using your thesis statement and your body paragraph ideas, craft the first draft of your essay. You should be making a specific argument about how one person, thing, idea, or event affects another one. Use clear topic sentences and transition words to keep each body paragraph anchored to your thesis.

5. Review Your Work for Clarity and Logic.
Ask yourself the following questions: Do I present a clear point of view? Do my examples show how one event caused another? Are my transitions and topic sentences clear and informative? Have I convincingly argued my point?

6. Write a Final Draft.
After giving your work an honest self-assessment, re-draft your essay with an eye toward a final product. If you haven't already written a conclusion, now is the time to do so. Remember that a cause-and-effect essay depends on your critical thinking and your ability to express your logic in writing. If you've done those things well, you probably have a very convincing essay on your hands.

251. Explain the usage of compare and contrast in writing

First choose whether you want to compare seemingly disparate subjects, contrast seemingly similar subjects, or compare and contrast subjects. Once you have decided on a topic, introduce it with an engaging opening paragraph. Your thesis should come at the end of the introduction, and it should establish the subjects you will compare, contrast, or both as well as state what can be learned from doing so.
The body of the essay can be organized in one of two ways: by subject or by individual points. The organizing strategy that you choose will depend on, as always, your audience and your purpose. You may also consider your particular approach to the subjects as well as the nature of the subjects themselves; some subjects might better lend themselves to one structure or the other. Make sure to use comparison and contrast phrases to cue the reader to the ways in which you are analyzing the relationship between the subjects.

252. The definition and the role of an assessment report in academic research paper writing.

An assessment evaluates a person or an organization using a series of questions. The answers are used to calculate a score, categorization or another type of outcome that provides value for the respondent.

There are many types of assessments, categorized by industry, objectives, methodology, etc. Have a look at this guide to select the right assessment tool for your business.

An assessment report will give respondents clear insights into their profile, company or situation and provide relevant recommendations.

This is made possible by formulas and calculations behind the preset questions in the assessment. They will turn the answers into tangible results, presented in the assessment report in the form of text, numbers, graphs, charts and other representations.

253. The definition and the role of a survey report in academic research paper writing.

A survey report is a type of academic writing that uses research to provide information about a topic. It involves questions that are formulated based on the research objective, to be answered by respondents and later analyzed using appropriate data analysis methods. Survey reports involve report writing which is a very important element of the survey research process.
To be able to disseminate the information from the survey, you need to have good writing skills. Without good writing skills, the survey report is at risk of being misrepresented or not explained well. When this happens, the objective of the survey is not achieved, for it is the aim of survey reports to present the survey data in a manner that is engaging and understandable to various readers.

254. The definition and the role of a proposal report.

A proposal report is a written document that wants to convince the reader to take a specific action. In a basic form, a proposal is a document that aims to convince the reader to implement a proposed plan or authorize a proposed project. Most companies rely on effective Proposal report writing to ensure the success of their operations and the acquisition of new contracts. The author attempts to persuade the reader that the proposed plan or project is worthwhile (worth the time, energy, and expense require to implement or carry out), that the author is the best candidate for carrying out the idea, and that it will result in intangible benefits.

255. The usage of tenses in different types of writing.

Verb tenses alert readers when a certain event or action takes place. However, in academic writing, tense usage goes beyond the simple representation of chronology. Tense choice also indicates the degree of generality intended and discloses an author’s attitude towards the idea/theory that is being reported.

To gain insight into tense usage in academic writing, a typical academic paper can be divided into its most common framework and grammar usage can be molded according to the typical framework used in the particular subject area. This article will primarily explore and expand on the general usage of tenses in quantitative and scientific studies.

The introduction expresses background information, which is generally accepted as facts in a particular subject area. The relevance of the study also needs to be stated; along with this, a brief outline of the author’s opinion is also expressed. This section is generally written in the present tense considering its contents—presentation of accepted facts and current opinion of the facts and theories being reported.

Methods Section
The Methods section describes the processes that were followed to arrive at a certain conclusion. Considering these processes generally take place before the arrival at a conclusion, the Methods are usually written in the simple past tense. Additionally, the passive voice is abundantly used in this section.

256. The role of the parts of a narrative writing (introduction, main body, conclusion)

Plot is an element of literature that explains what happens in a story. Stories often have a clear beginning, middle and end, which can also be called the introduction, body and conclusion, respectively. Each event in a story has a purpose, which might be to show relationships or create conflict between characters. By outlining the parts of a story, students might be better able to identify conflict or the meaning of the narrative.
Introduction
The introduction, more formally referred to as the exposition, is the beginning of the story. During this stage of the plot, the narrator introduces the setting and characters. The author might also introduce the main conflict in the exposition. The exposition is important because it gives the reader necessary background information, which might give insight to a character’s personality. If you drew a plot diagram, which often looks like a pyramid, the introduction would be found at the bottom left of the pyramid.

Body
The body accounts for the bulk of a story, and it includes a few stages of the plot. The rising action, found at the ascending line on the left side of a plot diagram, draws readers into a story and develops the conflict between characters. Just as the side of a pyramid rises to a point at the top, the rising action continues to build until the peak, known as the climax. The climax, often seen as the most suspenseful or exciting part of a story, is the turning point. The falling action follows, represented by the descending line on the right side of the plot diagram. During the falling action, conflict might begin to resolve, or you might see a change in characters, such as catharsis or development that leads the characters into a new way of thinking.

Conclusion
The conclusion of a story, often called the resolution or denouement, is represented by the bottom of the pyramid on the right side. During the conclusion, loose ends are tied up and the conflict is resolved.

Variations
Many stories have clear-cut plots that follow a simple pyramid shape, but other stories might have a slightly different structure. The dramatic, or progressive, plot is one that follows the pyramid diagram and tells events in the story in chronological order. Episodic plots, also in chronological order, have several little pyramids, with rising action leading to a climax in each event. Parallel plots weave two separate story lines together, which are often linked with a central character or theme. Flashbacks or nonlinear stories tell events out of order, but they also have an introduction to set up characters or conflict. This introduction is followed by the body, in which incidents occur out of sequence but ultimately lead to a climax. The ending might take the reader back to the present moment and wrap up the story.

257. The structure of a "for and against essay".

“For and Against” essay is basically a “pros and cons essay/advantages and disadvantages essay” where students need to talk about the arguments from both sides and write a summary. The structure is the following:

Introduction — saying what the topic is about, highlighting the current views on the topic (without stating your opinion)
Body Argument(s) in favour — providing reasons, examples, facts
Body Argument(s) against — providing reasons, examples, facts
Conclusion — stating your opinion either directly or indirectly and providing a balanced view of the topic
This is what the simplest version looks like. However, depending on the level of language competency of your students you can choose to ask them to provide 2/3 arguments for each body paragraph.

In the input session, when presenting the structure of the essay, it’s best to work on sample essays that can easily be found on the Internet. I have been using this one and it has been very illuminating for the students. Working on sample essays gives students a chance to grasp the general point and not to get confused when working on the hometask.

It is a good idea to write a short sample essay in class as well, on the topic of your choice (in my classroom the students are always writing the first piece in pairs to help each other and generate ideas for speculation), so that you can monitor and see how confident the students feel about the new material.

258. Difference and importance of extensive reading and intensive reading in learning a foreign language.

Extensive vs intensive readingExtensive means covering a substantial area and so, extensive reading refers to that type of reading in which students read and refer to large quantities of material, chosen by themselves. As against, intensive refers to in-depth or concentrated. Therefore, intensive reading means that type of reading in which the material has to be read carefully and thoroughly, to get specific details.

Reading is the means to study something, wherein the reader looks at the words, symbol and characters of the material so as to comprehend its meaning. Extensive reading and Intensive Reading are the two common approaches to language learning.

Basically, an ideal reading program combines both the approaches, wherein intensive reading can be used to acquaint new language and extensive reading can be helpful in spreading awareness of that language. Let’s move further to know the difference between extensive and intensive reading.

259. Types of authentic reading

Authentic reading materials come in many forms, and before you pick up that hefty Cervantes, you’ll have to start with smaller texts.

Academic types: newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, editorials and opinion pieces, essays, papers, textbooks, reference materials
Job-related types: business cards, letters, messages, emails, memos, reports, schedules, financial documents, directories
Personal types: blogs, personal letters, personal emails, invitations, greeting cards, bus/train/boat schedules, menus, posters, recipes, advertisements, cartoons, works of literature
And don’t forget videos! While videos are authentic listening material, what if you provide subtitles or a script? Then the videos become authentic reading material, and your students can work on two skills at once.

In short, any type of realia with writing is authentic reading material!

260. The main points to consider when writing a research paper.

A research paper is a type of academic writing that provides an in-depth analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a single topic, based on empirical evidence. Research papers are similar to analytical essays, except that research papers emphasize the use of statistical data and preexisting research, along with a strict code for citations.

Research papers are a bedrock of modern science and the most effective way to share information across a wide network. However, most people are familiar with research papers from school; college courses often use them to test a student’s knowledge of a particular area or their research skills in general.

Considering their gravity, research papers favor formal, even bland language that strips the writing of any bias. Researchers state their findings plainly and with corresponding evidence so that other researchers can consequently use the paper in their own research.

Keep in mind that writing a research paper is different from writing a research proposal. Essentially, research proposals are to acquire the funding needed to get the data to write a research paper.