Evaluation of Chapter 6

General Information and Layout of the Chapter

Topic / Reading / Writing Skills / Writing Practice
Gender / Reading 1-Males and Females: What’s the Difference? / The Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
  • block
  • point by point
Comparison-and-Contrast Indicators / Writing a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
Reading 2-Society and the Sexes

Topic

Is the topic likely to be of interest to the students?

  • The topic is likely to be of interest as the students will be able to relate. Because they are all girls, they should feel comfortable discussing issues of gender. It is important to maintain control of discussions as talks about gender could lead to conversations that are considered culturally inappropriate.

Are both readings likely to be of interest?

  • The first reading is likely to be of more interest to the students because it discusses general differences. It also contains some surprising information that the students should find interesting. The second is less likely to be of interest as it relates to a number of different societies, some of which the students are unlikely to relate to.

Are students likely to relate to the topic?

  • Students will definitely be able to relate to the topic. As teenage girls, they are acutely aware of, and have shown interest in discussing, the topic of men and women. They should be able to relate it to their own experiences, compare those with the experiences of family members, and broaden the topic by discussing the portrayal of men and women in television shows from abroad.

Is the topic appropriate in terms of sophistication and culture?

  • The topic does discuss some historical views of men and women, means of communication, and language use. These are sophisticated enough for the level of the students and provide topics that the students will be able to discuss. It is also culturally appropriate as it is fairly general. There may be some issues with the second reading as it discusses men and women in different cultures, but again it is a non-judgmental piece and therefore should be fine with direction from the teacher.

Pre-reading

In what way are the students asked to engage prior to reading?

  • The chapter begins with five Yes/No questions about men and women and students are asked to guess the correct answer. These questions are repeated at the end of the chapter so that students can check what they have learned. This is followed by discussion questions and a categorizing activity. Students are asked to both retrieve prior knowledge and make guesses about what they will learn. The discussion questions require more critical thinking and lend themselves to debate.

Is the pre-reading offered in the book sufficient to engage students with the topic?

  • Because this is a topic that the students are likely to find quite fun, it might be nice to have a lighter pre-reading just to get them excited. The pre-reading provided will engage them on a more academic level, but teachers may want to use a short video to get students interested.

Readings

Are the readings an appropriate length?

  • The readings are considerably longer than readings the students did in the previous level. However, they are appropriate to prepare the students for the reading demands of the mainstream program. Because of the length, it should be noted that students may feel overwhelmed, and it may serve them well to divide the readings into chunks.

Does the language of the readings match the level of the students?

  • Like the length, then language is considerably more difficult than the previous level but appropriate for preparing students for mainstream. The book does provide some glossary terms, but it will be important for students to be reminded that they do not need to understand every single word. Again, breaking the reading into chunks with discussions around meaning can help overcome frustrations that the students may experience with the language.

Is the organization of the readings easy to follow?

  • The organization of the readings is very clear. The type is sufficiently large and well-spaced. The paragraphs are indented and the lines are clearly numbered. Glossaries are clearly provided with some of the most difficult vocabulary.

Do the readings provide clear examples of the writing structure introduced in the chapter?

  • The writing organization follows the essay organization guide in the writing section of the chapter, but the writing is not overly formulaic which will help challenge students to understand organization in a more authentic context.

Vocabulary Activities

How are students asked to engage with the vocabulary?

  • For both readings, students are asked to guess the meaning of certain words and phrases by using the context. These are likely to be difficult for the students. Furthermore, with Reading 1, the students are given information on the collocations of the word ‘status’, read about and find compound adjectives, and then write sentences using compound adjectives. Reading 2 asks them to find and then make adjective noun pairings and then use those for a gap fill. These activities, while providing some information on the language, really just require students to return to the reading and skim for the answers.

Does the chapter cover appropriate vocabulary?

  • This is one of the books major downfalls. The vocabulary covered in the ‘Vocabulary in Context’ sections is not particularly useful as much of it is rarely used words and expressions. Because this section is multiple choice, it is important for the teacher to talk the students through the answers, how they could be found, and what strategies can be employed in the future. It would be more useful to use the readings to demonstrate words from the frequently used and academic word lists, and to then recycle these through class activities.

Does the chapter adequately cover vocabulary strategies?

  • No guidance is given for vocabulary in context. It is important then that the teachers devise ways to guide the students in these activities and help build strategies for guessing. The vocabulary building activity on compound adjectives with Reading 1 does provide a brief description of how compound adjectives are formed, but no guidance is provided with Reading 2 when students are asked to create adjective noun pairings. This is a high level book, and it is unknown if these skills are guided more sufficiently in previous levels of the book as the series is not used in any other level.

Does the chapter provide guidance for the continued use of vocabulary strategies?

  • No. As stated above, the chapter provides little guidance in the use of strategies for the purposes of the activities, and no guidance for use of strategies in a different context.

Is vocabulary recycled?

  • No. The teachers’ manual does provide some guidance to reviewing vocabulary in the lesson following the vocabulary activities, including keeping a record of new vocabulary. However, as stated above, the vocabulary that is pointed out in the chapter is likely to be of little use to the students and therefore recycling of those particular expressions does not have much use.

Reading Comprehension

How are students asked to engage with the reading and show comprehension?

  • Looking for Main Ideas: In Reading 1, students answer a series of 4 questions about main ides of certain paragraphs. In Reading 2, students categorize a series of statements as either being a main idea or a supporting idea.
  • Skimming and Scanning for Detail: In Reading 1, students complete 10 multiple choice questions about the reading. In Reading 2, this activity takes the form of a gap fill.
  • Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions: In Reading 1, students are given a series of statements and asked to circle the ones that can be inferred from the reading. In Reading 2, students categorize a series of statements as either a fact or an inference.

Does the chapter adequately cover reading comprehension strategies?

  • No guidance is given on finding main ideas. The chapter does remind students to read quickly for the skimming and scanning activity, but then left largely on their own for the inferencing activity. This is a high level book, and it is unknown if these skills are guided more sufficiently in previous levels of the book as the series is not used in any other level.

Are students asked to explain cognitive processes relating to comprehension? (i.e.-how they arrive at their answers)

  • Students are not asked to do this in the chapter, so it is the responsibility of the teacher to lead students in that discussion. It is important that this type of discussion is included as it is likely to help students better understand the learning strategies and employ them.

Does the chapter provide guidance for the continued use of reading comprehension strategies?

  • No. As stated above, the chapter provides little guidance in the use of strategies for the purposes of the activities, and no guidance for use of strategies in a different context.

Discussion

Are discussion questions clearly stated?

  • Some of the discussion questions are overly long and contain a number of individual questions. It might make it clearer for the students if the questions were shorter or broken down into individual questions. However, the language of the questions themselves is appropriate.

Do discussion questions provide adequate opportunities for students to interact?

  • Some of the questions will work better than others. Many of the questions do not refer directly back to facts from the readings, and this is useful because students are relying more on their own synthesis of the information and their own knowledge to answer questions. This promotes more thinking and discussion. Those that refer back to facts from the reading are likely to send the students back to the readings looking for answers rather than thinking things through. However, the questions are broad enough to provide room for multiple interpretations and ideas while being specific enough to guide the students thinking.

Are discussion questions clearly related to the readings?

  • Yes. The topics of the discussion questions relate directly to the topic of the readings. As mentioned above, this is often just a connection of topic, but at times the questions relate back to specific facts from the readings.

Critical Thinking

Are critical thinking questions clearly stated?

  • As with the discussion questions, some of the critical thinking questions seem overly long and are made of multiple questions. The language itself is appropriate but the format might benefit from simplification.

Do critical thinking questions provide adequate opportunities for students to interact?

  • Yes. Unlike the discussion questions which ask fairly general questions relating to broad ideas about the topic, the critical thinking questions push students to take those general ideas and apply them in a number of different contexts. This provides solid starting points for students to push their thinking outside the immediate confines of the readings and classroom. Some of these questions are also a bit more controversial and thus useful in sparking debate.

Do critical thinking questions provide appropriate prompts in terms of sophistication and culture?

  • As they stand, the questions are appropriate in terms of level. They are also culturally appropriate, but it should be noted that some refer to more controversial topics and thus the teacher should be prepared to direct the discussion in the most appropriate direction.

Writing Skills

Does the chapter provide a clear explanation and description of the essay type?

  • Yes. This chapter covers comparison-and-contrast essays. The chapter provides an explanation of the essay type, how to find comparable items, how to direct the comparison, and how to write the thesis. It provides a table of an example comparison between universities and connects this to the description of the thesis.

Does the chapter provide a clear explanation and description of the essay organization?

  • Yes. The book outlines two methods of organizing a comparison-and-contrast essay: block and point-by-point. It describes each and then provides an example outline. This is useful as it contains actual information for a proposed essay rather than just headings. However, it might be useful to provide the students with a more visual representation of the outline or perhaps even a color coded one.

Does the chapter provide guidance for appropriate essay language?

  • The chapter does a good job of providing some specific language that is useful/necessary to writing a comparison-and-contrast essay. A table of indicators is included, and this is a useful reference for students to use later when writing.

Does the chapter provide sufficient recycling of writing concepts through activities?

  • There are several activities provided in the writing section which provide useful recycling of writing concepts. The first asks students to find comparison and contrast indicators in the reading. This is useful both for recycling the indicators provided and in connecting the writing section to the organization of the readings (with which the students would be familiar at this point). The second activity simply asks students to think of two comparable items for a number of categories. This activity may be useful if these categories are to be used in future writing, and can assist in directing a discussion about how to choose the subjects being compared (as this can be a difficult thing for students to grasp initially). The final activity asks students to use the comparison and contrast indicators to connect two sentences. Though this activity IS useful to showing students the structure associated with the use of these expressions, the activity is NOT authentic and thus the skill being practiced may not translate well into student produced writing.

Does the chapter provide sufficient models of the writing to be done?

  • As mentioned previously, both readings provide models of the writing to be done. The writing section also provides a model essay which is accompanied by questions about the parts of the essay and the essay specific language covered previously. The writing model is less authentic than the readings, and it may be useful to have the students answer a series of similar questions about the readings as well. It may also be useful to have the students create essay outlines of the readings and model essay to help them better understand the process from outline to essay.

Is there a clear process and connection between the analysis of writing samples and the requirement of students producing writing?

  • The chapter is not as successful at this stage. After analyzing models, students are given a two page set of directions to write their own essays. Many of the steps refer to the writing resource guide at the back of the book, and this is useful in reminding students of the resource and encouraging them to use it. They are also directed back to the outlines provided for the two types of essay organization. However, the gap between looking at completed model essays and writing a new essay is still fairly wide and may be difficult for students to bridge.

Does the chapter provide sufficiently scaffolding for production activities?

  • No. As mentioned above, the only production activity students are given is that of writing an entire essay. This includes choosing a topic, brainstorming ideas, pre-writing, writing drafts, editing, and creating a final draft. It would be more useful for students to move into production is a more structured and scaffolded manner. Perhaps students are given the topic and information and allowed to focus on outlining and essay organization. Or the class brainstorms ideas as a whole. It could also work to have students provide the information and then have the class work on outlining and organizing in groups or all together.

Does the chapter provide sufficient guidance through the writing process?

  • The chapter does refer students to the writing resources at the back of the book to aid them with draft writing and editing. This is a skill that is likely to require a high level of guidance from the teacher, and it is likely that in this particular culture, the teacher will have to be involved in the editing process. Peer editing is unlikely to work as these students are hesitant to critique each other, and self-editing is unlikely to work as students still struggle with sentence level grammar.