In this unit you will: - read and analyse different genres - write definitions - listen to instructions - express your opinion, agreement or disagreement - study word formation - learn about referencing Discussion Questions 1. What kinds of texts do you read most? 2. Do you read fiction and/or non-fiction? 3. How would you define the word “Literature”? 4. Why do people study literature? Speaking Tip Statement of opinion * In my opinion/view, … * From my point of view… * Personally, I think/believe that ... * I would say that … * What I think is … (expression of opinion) * What I mean is… (clarification of misunderstanding) Agreement * Yes, I agree that X is .... * That is a good point. * I have come to the same conclusion in that... Disagreement * I am sorry to disagree with you, but… * Yes, but don't you think that X is … ? * I’m not convinced that … * I’m not sure if… * I can see what you mean, but … * * I am not so sure about that. * I must take issue with you on sample X, because..... Reading Reading Skills: Every text is written for a purpose and has an intended audience. This affects its format, style and language and characterises it as part of a ‘genre’. Let’s take the ‘genre’ of advertisements for example. The purpose of an advertisement is to persuade the reader to buy something. Therefore, the format is attractive with pictures and few words. The style is direct and persuasive and the language uses short, simple sentences with powerful vocabulary. Recognising these features of a genre can help set the context for reading. Furthermore, reading and analysing genres prepares the way for writing, giving you models to copy and extend. Many genres provide opportunities to practise specific reading skills such as identifying topic and supporting sentences. We can also use genres to study examples of cohesion. Cohesive devices are words that ‘glue together’ words in a sentence or sentences in a paragraph. Exercise 1: Read the following samples; try to identify their purpose, genre and style. What did you base your opinion on? Sample 1: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! and through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Sample 2: On August 16, 1968, I was handed a book written by a certain Abbe Vallet, Le Manuscrit de Dom Adson de Melk, traduit en francais d’apres l’edition de Dom J. Mabillon (Aux Presses de l’Abbaye de la Source, Paris, 1842). Supplemented by historical information that was actually quite scant, the book claimed to reproduce faithfully a fourteenth-century manuscript that, in its turn, had been found in the monastery of Melk by the great eighteenth-century man of learning, to whom we owe so much information about the history of the Benedictine order. The scholarly discovery (I mean mine, the third in chronological order) entertained me while I was in Prague, waiting for a dear friend. Six days later Soviet troops invaded that unhappy city. I managed, not without adventure, to reach the Austrian border at Linz, and from there I journeyed to Vienna, where I met my beloved, and together we sailed up the Danube. In a state of intellectual excitement, I read with fascination the terrible story of Adso of Melk, and I allowed myself to be so absorbed by it that, almost in a single burst of energy, I completed a translation, using some of those large notebooks from the Papeterie Joseph Gibert, in which it is so pleasant to write if you use a felt-tip pen. And as I was writing, we reached the vicinity of Melk, where, perched over a bend in the river, the handsome Stift stands to this day, after several restorations during the course of the centuries. As the reader must have guessed, in the monastery library I found no trace of Adson’s manuscript. Before we reached Salzburg, one tragic night in a little hotel on the shores of the Mondsee, my traveling-companionship was abruptly interrupted, and the person with whom I was traveling disappeared — taking Abbe Vallet’s book, not out of spite, but because of the abrupt and untidy way in which our relationship ended. So I was left with a number of manuscript notebooks in my hand, and a great emptiness in my heart. Sample 3: Books are not only powerful instruments to disseminate knowledge, but also agents of change. They are sources for joy and personal development as well as inspiration for freedom and democracy, to the extent that they even drive dictators to ban or destroy them. In order to understand better what reading books implies in Marcel Proust’s preface to John Ruskin’s “Sesame and Lilies”, I would like to offer first, as a context, some examples of books in the history of libraries and publishing. The library has been a popular topic in numerous fiction books. For example, in The Library of Babel (La biblioteca de Babel), the famous short story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, there exists a geometrical space or labyrinth with walls filled with books, including one with a magic and cabalistic content. On the other hand, in Auto da Fé, the novel written by Elias Canetti, a Literature Nobel Prize laureate, the main character has an obsessive and eventually tragic relationship with his enormous library. Among the non-fiction books dealing with the same motif, The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel, a renowned historian on books and reading, contains a serious study of famous libraries, from the biblical Babel and Alexandria to modern days, exploring the histories and anecdotes of book collections as well as their collectors, including a detailed description of his own library in France. There are also many novels whose plots are based on either real or imaginary books. Writing Referencing Skills: Oxford and Harvard are two most often used systems of referencing in academia. You will find more information here: http://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing http://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/c.php?g=325241&p=2177430 both last accessed on 9.7.2019 Exercise 2: Connect the comments with the appropriate referencing samples. A. In a non-integral reference, the author’s surname and the date of publication are put in brackets. B. When a publication has more than two authors, only the surname of the first author is given, followed by et al. C. For a quotation, it is usual to give a page number in addition to the date. D. A number of sources by different authors can be listed in non-integral references. E. In an integral reference the author’s surname is used as an element of the sentence. 1. Bygate (1987) points out that spoken text is generally grammatically simpler than written text. 2. Many studies find that MFA programs are the single biggest factor for helping first-time writers publish their work. (Clarke, 2004; Owen, 2006; Kamoe 2008). 3. Jones argues that "People who read literary fiction are proven to be able to sympathize with others more easily" (85). 4. Menand et al. (2002) characterize language as "a social weapon" - this is accepted by many linguists. 5. In the end, it was found that students who watch television instead of reading develop much smaller vocabularies. (Hoffer & Grace, 2008, p.50). Exercise 3: Reporting verbs in citing: Complete the table with the reporting verbs below according to similarity of meaning and then find synonyms to the reporting verbs in bold above. discuss point at describe state indicate say speculate on claim highlight hint at stress argue demonstrate illustrate identify consider underline define point out talk about characterize emphasize show suggest More information on reporting verbs: McCarthy, M. and O’Dell, F. (2008) Academic Vocabulary in Use (chapter 32); Cambridge University Press Exercise 4: Transform the sentences in Exercise 2 using the beginnings given. 1. Spoken text is… 2. Clarke (2004) hints at… 3. Jones puts forward… 4. Menand’s… 5. Hoffer and Grace (2008, p.50) find students… Grammar – Reported Speech In academic texts we usually use reporting verbs in the present tense, but when we use a reporting verb in the past, we need to remember about the tense shift (Reported Speech), i.e., imagine your professor in a lecture says: “Spoken language is usually less formal than the written language.” When you report it to your friend who didn’t attend the lecture, you would say: “The professor claimed that spoken language was usually less formal than the written language.” “English will become a lingua franca within the next 20 years” (Brown, 1980) In 1980, Brown claimed that English would become a lingua franca… Changes when reporting the past: Present simple – past simple Present continuous – past continuous Past simple – past perfect Past continuous – past perfect continuous Present perfect – past perfect Past perfect – same Will, can, must, may, should – would, could, had to, might, should (have) First conditional – second / second – third Next, last, yesterday, tomorrow, now, here – following/next, previous, the day before, the next/following day, then, there Exercise 5: Rewrite the sentences below. 1. Next year will bring even more unemployed. He maintained that… 2. Last year our scientists did considerable research in The Antarctic. He announced… 3. Women have been overtaking men in managerial positions for decades. She responded… 4. Why don’t you call them? They could help. She asked… 5. Early results indicate that the government will be returned to power. The 2010 results indicated … 6. Age group identification is a good predictor of responses to status threat. In our study, we found that… More information on Reported Speech: Murphy, R. (2004), English Grammar in Use, chapters 47&48, Cambridge University Press Defining/non-defining relative clauses Exercise 6: Look at the following literary terms and match them to the definitions below. AUTHORIAL INTRUSION / PLOT / IMAGERY / NARRATOR / STANZA / EPILOGUE 1. A unit into which lines of poetry are divided is called a…. 2. Words and phrases that vividly recreate a sound, sight, smell, touch, or taste for the reader by appealing to the senses are referred to as... 3. A person who tells the story in a literary text is a ... 4. A sequence of events inside a story where/in which each event affects the next through the principle of cause-and-effect is called a ... 5. An occasion when/on which the author penning the story, poem or prose steps away from the text and speaks out to the reader is what we call ... 6. What/The thing that acts as the afterword once the last chapter is over is ... Source: https://literary-devices.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki seen on 10.7.2019 (adapted) Exercise 7: Look at the yellow phrases of the two sentences below. What is the difference in the way they define the subject? A person, which can be a child or an adult individual, is a human being conditioned by the culture. A person who tells the story in a literary text is a narrator. Exercise 8: Identify the mistakes in the following sentences. 1. The study is written by Edward Arthur Thompson who was professor of classicism and medieval studies in the University of Nottingham. 2. Smog was a possible factor because of what the virus expanded so quickly. 3. I chose this part about conquering Europe by Attila who was known as “Scourge of God”. 4. Recent research shows, that there is evidence of a neurological basis for ADHD. 5. This allows us to focus on that what is particular for every client. 6. It gave rise to every “Fado” what we have now. More information on defining/non-defining relative clauses: Paterson, K. and Wedge, R. (2013) Oxford Grammar for EAP (chapter 5), Oxford University Press Vocabulary Tip: Remember one thing: you know more English than you think you do! If you are not sure what the word is, try to identify what "type" of word you need to find. Also, try thinking of "usual" prefixes and suffixes. For example, an adjective needs the suffix "ive" or the prefix "de". This can also be done with nouns and verbs. It is good practice to start thinking about "what category of word?" and "positive or negative?" Is it a positive noun (competitiveness) or a negative adjective (unfriendly). What word do you know that would make sense in the place of the unknown word in this sentence? By using context clues and structural analysis you can determine the meaning of many unfamiliar words. Vocabulary Exercise 9: Word Formation – Use the words in capitals to form a word that fits in the gap. You will need different parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb); and the negative form 5 times. Plagiarism – Issues of Academic Integrity Plagiarism (from the Latin plagiare, "to kidnap") is the practice of claiming, or implying, original authorship of (or incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one's own without adequate 1)________________ KNOW. Unlike cases of forgery, in which the 2)__________________ AUTHENTIC of the writing, document, or some other kind of object, itself is in question, plagiarism is concerned with the issue of false attribution. Plagiarism can also occur 3)________________ CONSCIOUS; in some cultures certain forms of plagiarism are accepted because the concept can be interpreted differently. Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic 4)________________ HONEST or academic fraud. Some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic contexts claim that they plagiarized 5)________________ INTENTION, by failing to include quotations or give the appropriate citation. While plagiarism in scholarship and journalism has a centuries-old history, the 6)________________ DEVELOP of the Internet, where articles appear as electronic text, has made the physical act of copying the work of others much easier, simply by copying and pasting text from one web page to another. In the academic world, plagiarism by students is a very serious offense that can result in punishments such as a failing grade on the particular 7)________________ ASSIGN (typically at the high school level), or a failing grade for the course (typically at the college or university level). Repetition in student projects or paper topics between academic terms and years provides students with ample resources from which to plagiarize. Many students feel pressured to get papers done well and quickly, and with the 8)________________ ACCESS of new technology (the Internet), it is quite possible for students to plagiarize by copying and pasting information from another source. This type of plagiarism is often easily detected by teachers for several reasons. First, students' choice of source is frequently 9)________________ ORIGIN as well; instructors may receive the same passage copied from a popular source (such as Wikipedia) from several students. Second, it is often easy to tell whether or not a student is using his or her own "voice." Third, students may choose sources that are 10)____________________ PROPER, off-topic, or even wrong. Fourth, many universities now use plagiarism detection software. These means should inspire students to avoid plagiarizing, thus maintaining academic integrity. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki last seen on 23.2.2022