Understanding paragraphs

WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH
A paragraph is  an organization of a group of sentences. These sentences develop one main  idea. A paragraph should have three essential parts. These are topic sentence, supportingsentences and a concluding sentence. Apart from these three important parts, a paragraph should also have minor details.

• THE TOPIC SENTENCE

The topic sentence:

• is the most general sentence in the paragraph; all the sentences that follow it are less general, more specific
• states the purpose of the paragraph for the audience
• is the most important sentence in the paragraph. It covers all of the ideas in the paragraph
• aims to limit the topic in one or two points

TIPS ON WRITING EFFECTIVE TOPIC SENTENCES

Writing a successful topic sentence is the first step to an effective paragraph. If you keep a few tips in your mind you can succeed it.

1. A topic sentence cannot be a simple statement of fact because when you write a fact you will not be able to find ways to support the topic sentence and thus, you will not develop your paragraph.
2. A topic sentence should not be too general. Otherwise, you will have difficulty in choosing which points to focus on. If you write a general sentence, it means that you will write all the points about your topic and this will cause a big problem when writing a paragraph Your topic sentence should be more specific, so you can find the points you will develop easily.
3. Try to avoid using personal opinions. Do not start with “I like” or “I feel”.
4. You should also keep in mind to avoid telling everything in the topic sentence because your readers will loose interest.

Weak topic sentences	Better topic sentences
I like cats better than dogs ( you cannot develop and support this sentence)	Cats make better pets than dogs ( You claim something ,so you can explain this sentence and tell your readers why cats are better than pets
Everyone knows that octopus is a fish (This is a fact. You cannot develop it or discuss about it)	Most people consider octopus a devil fish; however this creature has incredible powers. ( you can explain the powers and expand the sentence)
My friend and I are living in an apartment (This is a fact. You cannot develop it or discuss about it)	Since my friend and I moved to an apartment, we have experienced several problems ( you can explain the problems)
I do not like English (You cannot develop it or discuss about it.)	Learning English is very difficult in several points. ( You can state the difficulties you face when learning English)

• SUPPORTING SENTENCES

After you have written your topic sentence, you have to develop your paragraph with your supporting sentences. They come after your topic sentence and they form the body part of your paragraph. Supporting sentences should “support” your main idea that you have stated in your topic sentence. It is good to use 3 to 8 supporting sentences. To find supporting details you can follow several steps to help you:

1. Ask questions to topic sentence (Why?  How?)
2. You can use facts and statistics
3. Using examples and personal experiences can also help you

Examples:

1. It is very difficult to be alone in a foreign country.

Questions: Why? In what ways?  How do you know?

1. There are unusual superstitions in my country about death.

Questions: What are they? In what ways are they unusual?

The answers you give to these questions will help you find the supporting sentences and details.

MINOR DETAILS
Minor details are the sentences that are used to support and explain your supporting sentences in a more detailed way. After you write your sentences you should also try to add minor details for supporting sentences. When you do this, your paragraph will be more elegant and worth reading. You can use the methods we have talked about in supporting sentences part for your minor details.

CONCLUDING SENTENCE
This sentence does not have to take place in every paragraph, but if you include it in your paragraph, you will have something complete in your hand. Concluding sentence is generally the last sentence of your paragraph. What you should do here is to summarize the topic sentence and the main points you have talked about in the development part of your paragraph. Try to avoid using the same words you have used in the topic sentence. Restate the topic sentence by using different words conveying the same meaning and sum up the important points.

The Defferencess of Skimming and Scanning.

What Is Skimming?

Skimming is one of the tools you can use to read more in less time.Skimming refers to looking only for the general or main ideas, and works best with non-fiction (or factual) material. With skimming, your overall understanding is reduced because you don’t read everything. You read only what is important to your purpose. Skimming takes place while reading and allows you to look for details in addition to the main ideas.

What Is Scanning?

Scanning is another useful tool for speeding up your reading. Unlike skimming, when scanning, you look only for a specific fact or piece of information without reading everything. You scan when you look for your favorite show listed in the cable guide, for your friend’s phone number in a telephone book, and for the sports scores in the newspaper. For scanning to be successful, you need to understand how your material is structured as well as comprehend what you read so you can locate the specific information you need. Scanning also allows you to find details and other information in a hurry.

Strategies for Developing Reading Skills

Using Reading Strategies

Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end. When they do this, students are relying exclusively on their linguistic knowledge, a bottom-up strategy. One of the most important functions of the language instructor, then, is to help students move past this idea and use top-down strategies as they do in their native language.

Effective language instructors show students how they can adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation.

Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include

• Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection
• Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check comprehension; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content
• Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions
• Guessing from context: using prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as clues to the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up
• Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text

Instructors can help students learn when and how to use reading strategies in several ways.

• By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing, predicting, skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they begin to read word by word.
• By allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating class time to these activities indicates their importance and value.
• By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps students learn to guess meaning from context.
• By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice of strategies.

When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language.

Reading to Learn

Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in multiple ways.

• Reading to learn the language: Reading material is language input. By giving students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic contexts. Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the elements of the language work together to convey meaning.
• Reading for content information: Students' purpose for reading in their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content information in the language classroom gives students both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading.
• Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and worldviews of the people whose language they are studying. When students have access to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and monolithic cultural stereotypes begin to break down.

When reading to learn, students need to follow four basic steps:

1. Figure out the purpose for reading. Activate background knowledge of the topic in order to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate reading strategies.
2. Attend to the parts of the text that are relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the rest. This selectivity enables students to focus on specific items in the input and reduces the amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory.
3. Select strategies that are appropriate to the reading task and use them flexibly and interactively. Students' comprehension improves and their confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up skills simultaneously to construct meaning.
4. Check comprehension while reading and when the reading task is completed. Monitoring comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension failures, helping them learn to use alternate strategies.

How to impprove your reading skill ?

• Have a clear focus for your reading. Set your reading goals.
• Survey the text before you spend the time and effort involved in detailed reading.
• Scan and skim to select the text for detailed reading.
• Scan and skim after detailed reading to reinforce your understanding.
• Use a form of note taking whilst reading in detail, to keep you concentrating, aid understanding and provide you with a record of your reading.
• Using clear reading goals and a variety of reading skills is more important than increasing your reading speed.
• To improve your reading speed, don't increase the speed of the eye across the page, but increase the number of words the eye recognises in a single fixation.

How to Teach reading skill ?

Strategies for Developing Reading Skills

Using Reading Strategies
Language instructors are often frustrated by the fact that students do not automatically transfer the strategies they use when reading in their native language to reading in a language they are learning. Instead, they seem to think reading means starting at the beginning and going word by word, stopping to look up every unknown vocabulary item, until they reach the end. When they do this, students are relying exclusivelyon their linguistic knowledge, a bottom-up strategy. One of the most important functions of the language instructor, then, is to help students move past this idea and use top-down strategies as they do in their native language.

Effective language instructors show students how they can adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to each reading situation.
Strategies that can help students read more quickly and effectively include

Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection

Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions about content and vocabulary and check

comprehension; using knowledge of the text type and purpose to make predictions about discourse structure; using knowledge about the author to make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content
Skimming and scanning: using a quick survey of the text to get the main idea, identify text structure, confirm or question predictions

Guessing from context: using prior knowledge of the subject and the ideas in the text as cluesto the meanings of unknown words, instead of stopping to look them up
Paraphrasing: stopping at the end of a section to check comprehension by restating the information and ideas in the text. Instructors can help students learnwhen and how to use reading strategies in several ways.

By modeling the strategies aloud, talking through the processes of previewing, predicting, skimming and scanning, and paraphrasing. This shows students how the strategies work and how much they can know about a text before they begin to read word by word.

By allowing time in class for group and individual previewing and predicting activities as preparation for in-class or out-of-class reading. Allocating classtime to these activities indicates their importance and value.
By using cloze (fill in the blank) exercises to review vocabulary items. This helps students learnto guess meaning from context.

By encouraging students to talk about what strategies they think will help them approach a reading assignment, and then talking after reading about what strategies they actually used. This helps students develop flexibility in their choice of strategies.
When language learners use reading strategies, they find that they can control the reading experience, and they gain confidence in their ability to read the language.

Reading to Learn
Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level becauseit supports learning in multiple ways.
Reading to learnthe language: Reading material is language input. By giving students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic contexts. Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the elementsof the language work together to convey meaning.

Reading for content information: Students' purpose for reading in their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well. Reading for content information in the language classroom gives students both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading.

Reading for cultural knowledge and awareness: Reading everyday materials that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestylesand worldviews of the people whose language they are studying. When students have access to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and monolithic cultural stereotypes begin to break down.

When reading to learn, students need to follow four basic steps:
1. Figure out the purpose for reading. Activate background knowledge of the topic in order to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate reading strategies.
2. Attend to the parts of the text that are relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the rest. This selectivity enablesstudents to focus on specific items in the input and reduces the amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory.
3. Select strategies that are appropriate to the reading task and use them flexibly and interactively. Students' comprehension improves and their confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up skills simultaneously to construct meaning.
4. Check comprehension while reading and when the reading task is completed. Monitoring comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension failures, helping them learnto use alternate strategies.

What is reading?

Reading is an active skill. It constantly involves guessing, predicting, checking, and asking oneself questions (Francoise Grellet,, 1981.). In line with this view, Vacca,et all., (1991)stated that in reading  a reader tries to understand ideas that a writwr has put it in a text. Reading in this prosses involves decoding and comprehension process. Decoding process means the process of saying words into anrepresentation similar to oral language eitjer silently or aloud, whereas comprehension process in the process of understanding the representation.