Academic Achievement
1
Text 1-1
1.1 1.2
Academic Achievement
This unit will help you: use your prior knowledge to help you understand what you are reading; practice reading for a specific purpose; make decisions about the relevance of a text in terms of reading purpose; read selectively in order to use appropriate information from the text.
• • • •
The topic of this unit concerns factors that may lead to improvement in academic performance among students. It is based on three major research projects carried out in the United States.
The influence of class size on academic achievement (157–159)
Task 1: Predicting text content
Think about what factors can have an influence on the academic achievement of the students in a school, college, or university. Look at the following list of possible influences and rate the ideas on a scale of 1–5 (1 = very little influence, 5 = very strong influence). Influence on academic performance Resources available (e.g., computers, laboratories, textbooks) Teacher level (qualifications, experience, etc.) Student motivation Rating
1.3
Add and rate some of your own ideas. Then compare your list and ratings with a partner.
Focus task
Your reason for reading Text 1-1 is to get some background information to help you write the following essay.
English for academic study 18
Academic Achievement
1
Task 2: Reading for a purpose
2.1 Look carefully at the title of Text 1-1. Do you think that the text will be useful for writing an assignment about academic achievement? Share your conclusions with another student. Read the introduction to Text 1-1 (lines 1–66). As you read, try to make up your mind about how useful this text might be for your purpose. When you have finished reading, circle and complete the following sentence.
2.2
Task 3: Reading selectively
3.1 Read the subheading (lines 67–68) and think about your own opinion on the issue. Do you think that smaller class sizes help to improve academic performance?
Text 1-1
1.1 1.2
Academic Achievement
This unit will help you: use your prior knowledge to help you understand what you are reading; practice reading for a specific purpose; make decisions about the relevance of a text in terms of reading purpose; read selectively in order to use appropriate information from the text.
• • • •
The topic of this unit concerns factors that may lead to improvement in academic performance among students. It is based on three major research projects carried out in the United States.
The influence of class size on academic achievement (157–159)
Task 1: Predicting text content
Think about what factors can have an influence on the academic achievement of the students in a school, college, or university. Look at the following list of possible influences and rate the ideas on a scale of 1–5 (1 = very little influence, 5 = very strong influence). Influence on academic performance Resources available (e.g., computers, laboratories, textbooks) Teacher level (qualifications, experience, etc.) Student motivation Rating
1.3
Add and rate some of your own ideas. Then compare your list and ratings with a partner.
Focus task
Your reason for reading Text 1-1 is to get some background information to help you write the following essay.
English for academic study 18
Academic Achievement
1
Task 2: Reading for a purpose
2.1 Look carefully at the title of Text 1-1. Do you think that the text will be useful for writing an assignment about academic achievement? Share your conclusions with another student. Read the introduction to Text 1-1 (lines 1–66). As you read, try to make up your mind about how useful this text might be for your purpose. When you have finished reading, circle and complete the following sentence.
2.2
Task 3: Reading selectively
3.1 Read the subheading (lines 67–68) and think about your own opinion on the issue. Do you think that smaller class sizes help to improve academic performance?