Diaz College

City of Tanjay

AY: 2020-2021
Second Semester

English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Unit I
Module I: Developing your Vocabulary

Prepared by: Ms. Jeannyrose Goyha

UNIT I: READING AND ANALYZING ACADEMIC TEXT

Do you like to read? What do you like to read? Are you fond of reading academic
texts? Have you ever been required to analyze academic texts? This unit will focus on
reading and analyzing academic texts.

There are four macro skills in English language acquisition: listening, reading,
writing, and speaking. These language skills are further categorized as the
receptive skills and the productive skills. Listening and reading are receptive skills,
and writing and speaking are productive skills. Receptive skills have to do with how
you interpret what your senses received, and productive skills allow you to produce
something that you want to communicate to others. Other people, in turn, will
interpret what you have produced.
This unit aims to develop your reading skills. The modules in this unit are designed in
such a way that you understand the basics of a text first before you proceed to
writing and critiquing, which will be tackled in the next unit. To start, you will get to
expand your vocabulary through different strategies such as analysis of word
structures and use of context clues. Then, you will learn how to look at reading texts
from the author’s point of view such as what the author’s purpose is, who the
intended audience is, and what the author’s tone is.
You will also learn to recognize statements that can be confusingly hard to
determine whether they are facts or opinions. You will be familiarized with
sound reasoning and the tricky fallacies that can be found in reasoning. You
will also get to analyze the author’s arguments depending on the factors that
influenced him or her to have such a stand.

Furthermore, you will apply critical reading skills in academic and

professional
contexts, which are important skills especially if you will be reading journal
articles. You will also look at how sources are cited, so that you can cite them
properly in your own written text.

Last, you will have an overview of important documents relevant in

workplaces by reading job-related documents such as advertisements, cover
letters, resumes, and sample interview questions.

Aren’t these exciting? Are you ready? Let’s start!

Learning Outcomes for the Unit

• Acquire knowledge of appropriate reading strategies for better

understanding of academic texts; and

• Produce a detailed abstract or summary of information gathered

after reading various academic texts.
Module I: Developing Your Vocabulary

At the end of this module, I can:

1. Identify terminologies used in academic texts from various

disciplines;

2. Recognize the meaning of a word using context clues;

3. Identify the meaning of a word through an analysis of its

structure; and

4. Give examples of words with denotative and connotative

meaning.
Academic Texts

As you move from one grade level to the next, you probably noticed
how your textbooks change. Your preschool textbooks had large-
sized fonts and were filled with colorful pictures, remember? Now,
your high school textbooks are mostly text and have smaller fonts
and fewer pictures. Aside from these elements, the vocabulary has
changed as well—from one- to two-syllable words in your early
grades to three- to five-syllable words as you move to senior high
school. You are able to cope with these changes in your reading
materials because you have indeed matured as a reader.
Aids in Developing Your Vocabulary

Your vocabulary bank is the determining factor for the improvement

of your reading speed and comprehension. If you encounter a word
you don’t understand, you would normally pause to think about it;
this temporary pause affects your reading speed and comprehension
of the text.
Thus, to enhance your comprehension, you should
consciously continue to improve your vocabulary.
Context Clues

Using context clues to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word is a

strategy to improve one’s reading skill. When you encounter an
unfamiliar word in a reading passage, stopping to read just to open a
dictionary to find the meaning of that word will reduce your reading
speed. It will cause you to unnecessarily read and reread some parts of
the passage just to comprehend what you are reading.

Context clues are the words or sentences surrounding the unfamiliar

word that give hints on its meaning.
See how much you already know in effectively using context clues by guessing the meaning
of the following underlined words. Write your answers on the blanks.
1. Carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, and rice may contribute to weight gain.
___________________________________________________________
2. When the storm subsided, the residents came out to clean the mess on their yard.
___________________________________________________________
3. Grace had no choice but to acquiesce to the orders of her boss; otherwise, she might get fired.
___________________________________________________________
4. A theory is futile when it is not practiced.
___________________________________________________________
5. A hushed and mournful milieu dawned inside the church as relatives viewed the deceased
politician for the last time.
___________________________________________________________

Check your answers by referring to the dictionary. If you were able to guess all the words
accurately, then you already have the skill of looking for context clues to find the meaning of
unfamiliar words. The next topics in this module present the different types of context clues
and how authors use them when writing academic texts. These context clues are example clues,
synonym clues, antonym clues, and general clues.

Note: No need to answer this activity.

Example Clues

Example clues are easy to spot. First, the author will mention a word
and then give examples that either describe or explain it. Words or
phrases that signal example clues include such as, like, for example, for
instance, and as an illustration.

Reread the first sentence in the previous activity:

Carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, and rice may contribute to weight

gain.

This sentence gives examples of carbohydrates: pasta, bread, and rice.

From the given examples of carbohydrates, we can derive that
carbohydrates are food that contain starch.
Synonym or Definition Clues

In synonym or definition clues, the meaning of an unfamiliar word is

given in the sentence if a similar word is also used to make the
meaning clearer. Signal words for synonym clues are or, in other
words, that is, by this we mean, that is to say, and also known as.

Read the following example:

Caught in an epiphany, that is, a sudden, strong, and clear realization,

I suddenly knew how to solve my dilemma.

The word epiphany is defined as “a sudden, strong, and clear

realization” with the signal words that is as a hint.
Antonym or Contrast Clues

In antonym or contrast clues, the meaning of an unfamiliar word is

given in the sentence if an opposite word is used to suggest the
meaning. Signal words for antonym clues are but, however, on the other
hand, nevertheless, yet, and in contrast.

Read the following example:

Jogging long distances exacerbates the pain in my feet. However,

soaking my feet in warm water after jogging feels relaxing and
soothing.

The second sentence gives you a clue that the word

exacerbate must mean “to aggravate”
or “increase the pain” because of the signal word however, which
signifies the opposite.
General Clues

Making sense of a word’s meaning by largely depending on your

common sense requires you to use your knowledge and experience.
The more you read, the more you will know. And the more you know,
the stronger your capability to figure out things based on what you
already know.

Example:
Paul knew he just made a cultural faux pas when he kissed the
Muslim woman on the cheek and he was met with a dead, stunned
stare!

In this sentence, how do we know that faux pas could mean

committing some mistakes?
Reflect on the following questions:

1. What’s your prior knowledge on Muslim culture?

2. Based on what you know, what does a “dead, stunned stare”
mean?

Here’s the explanation. If you have prior knowledge about the

Muslim culture, you would know that it is conservative—there should
be no physical contact between people of the opposite gender. Thus,
you will think that faux pas refers to committing a mistake or an
unacceptable action. The “dead, stunned stare” is an indicator that
the action of kissing is not acceptable based on your prior knowledge
and that this expression is a mark of a displeased
behavior or reaction.
Word Structure

You should be able to analyze word structure so that you will

understand many English words. A word in the English language may
have three parts: the prefix, the root word, and the suffix.

The parts of a word in English have meanings based on their origin,

which could be Latin, Greek, and French, to name a few. Here, we
shall look at some examples.
Word Structure

Prefixes

Pre means “before” and fix means “to attach.” Prefix means “to attach
before a word.” Prefixes have meanings, and understanding their meanings
can help you in figuring out the meaning of the word with the prefix. There
are negative prefixes that imply the opposite of the root word such as un-,
non-, in-, and dis-. There are also prefixes that show location such as tele-,
sub-, inter-, and trans-. Other prefixes can show numbers or amounts such
as mono-, bi-, multi-, and deca-.

See the following table for examples:

Negative Words Words That Tell Words That Connote
Location Numbers
unhappy, nonfat, subterranean, monolingual, bicycle,
incorrect, disappeared international, multifaceted, decagon
transatlantic
Word Structure

Suffixes

Suffixes usually change a word from one form or part of speech (e.g., noun, verb,
and adjective) to another form. A verb can become a noun when you add a suffix,
for example. Adding the suffix may not change the meaning of the root word, but
it helps change the form of the word to make it suitable to its usage in a sentence.
For example, the word memory is a noun. How do you turn this word into an
adjective or a verb? You do so by changing its suffix. So, if you will turn the noun
memory into an adjective, it will become memorable; if you will turn it into a
verb, it will become memorize.

Look at the following table for possible suffixes that turn words into other
forms.
Noun Suffixes Verb Suffixes Adjective Suffixes
-ance, -dom, -hood, -ity, -ize, -ify, -ate, -en -ful, -ous, -ious, -ate, -y, -al,
-ive, -ment, -ness, -ship, -ic, -ish, -ive, -able, -ible,
-tion, -tude, -er, -ist -less, -ed
Word Structure

Root Words

Many think that root words are easy to spot. This is true only if the root
words are of modern English. Examples of root words in modern English
are aim in aimless, love in unloved, joy in joyful, and happy in happiness.
However, there are many root words in English that originated from Latin,
Greek, and other languages. Root words
from these languages may be hard to spot; but if you know many of these
root words, it will be a lot easier for you to dissect the words and get their
meanings.
Denotation and Connotation

When you say denotation, you are referring to the real meaning of a word.
When you say connotation, you are referring to the implied meaning of a
word. For example, the denotative meaning of the word snake is “a cold,
scaly reptile.” However, it may have a connotative meaning, which is
“betrayal, evil, or danger.” The words fat, chubby, and obese have the same
denotative meaning—“excess flabby tissue.” However, when you use them
with their connotative meaning, saying that someone is fat may be taken
offensively; therefore, you use the term chubby to somehow imply that the
person is still cute in spite of being a “little” fat. Obese, on the other hand,
would refer to someone with a medical condition characterized by excess
fat in the body.
Essential Learning

Improving your vocabulary increases your chance of understanding

academic texts properly and quickly. You can use mobile applications as
tools to improve your vocabulary. Download these applications such as
dictionary, thesaurus, and games to your smartphone or tablet computer.

Another way of improving your vocabulary is to use context clues. There

are several types of context clues such as example clues, synonym clues,
antonym clues, and general clues. These clues help you guess the
meaning of an unfamiliar word while reading, so that you don’t have to
stop and open a dictionary.
You can also improve your vocabulary by understanding word parts. You
can know word meanings based on the meaning of the prefix, the root
word, and the suffix. Word meanings may be either denotative or
connotative in nature. The denotative meaning of a word refers to its
exact meaning. But a word may also have a connotative meaning, that is,
the meaning of the word is based on the cultural or emotional context of
a group or particular place.