Students who make wrong guesses are first given some clues as to the
correct answer and then given another chance before the next part of the
text is displayed. At stage one, they would have been told that inferencing
without context is nearly impossible, but that the origin of the text and the
word ‘giant’ might be some help. After the second display, their attention is
focused on the words ‘animal’, ‘mythical’, and ‘deep-sea’. Next, the text is
displayed down to ‘his time’, mentioning a ‘pulpy mass’ and ‘arms radiating
from its centre’, which hint very obviously at squids and octopuses. No
information rules out the latter, so that either is an acceptable answer.
Finally, the whole extract is displayed, confirming any correct hypotheses
the student may have constructed.
Example 2 One frequent source of misunderstanding for my students has been wrong
interpretations of anaphorical reference. I try to deal with this by choosing
texts such as the one below which contain some difficulties in this respect. I
present them in segments, and ask for the reference item corresponding to
the anaphor. In normal classes of twenty students this procedure is inconvenient,
in that some students don’t have time to think things out, and some
don’t ask for explanations. Also, in such classes, this type of exercise cannot
be practised as often as some students would need.
But the implementation of this type of exercise on computer is quite
simple. A question is asked after each segment of the text. After a first
incorrect answer, a hint at the correct solution is provided, and an explanation
is supplied after a second incorrect attempt. Furthermore, throughout
the exercise students have access to a dictionary.
Blame the medium, not the message
There are two ways to fight a mosquito-borne disease. One is to
develop a vaccine or drug; the other is to try to break the life cycle of the
disease by dealing with the mosquito. Most of the money spent on
research into malaria, yellow fever and the like goes on the medical
approach. Yet the other way seems more promising.
(Question: What exactly is this ‘other way’?)
It was, after all, the
draining of mosquito-infested swamps, not drugs, that rid Europe of
malaria.
The protozoan parasites that cause malaria are adept at evolving
resistance to each drug that is thrown at them; most vaccines would be
just as easily evaded.
(Question: ‘Just as easily’ as what?)
Example 3 The next kind of exercise focuses on the student’s ability to predict and
anticipate the content of a text. The student is first informed of the aim of
the activity and of the difficulty of processing open-ended answers. Then
some text is displayed with a corresponding question. If the question is
answered correctly, the student is given more text to read and asked to
check whether his or her predictions matched it. The student may then
proceed to read the next part of the extract. If the answer is not rated as
correct, i.e., if it does not hold one of the expected keywords, the student is
given a clue to the correct answer and allowed to try again. On a second
incorrect attempt, an explanation is provided before the complete extract is
displayed