Scanning Skill

SCANNING AND  UNDERSTANDING NOUN  CLAUSES

Objectives ;

1.       To find the specific information

2.       To locate the source of information

A.      SCANNING  TO  FIND  SPECIFIC  INFORMATION

Scanning is another reading skill, besides skimming, that is very important .Unlike skimming, scanning helps you to find specific pieces of information. It is a skill that you can use when you want to know information a text contains and when you want to find answers to specific questions you have about the subject.

The scanning skill involves questions that refer to detailed informatiom such as who, what, which, why, etc.Besidesthe scanning skill, this unit also deals with questions asking for implied details.this means that the information is not always stated in the text, but it is drawn from conclusion.

GRAMMAR POINTS

WH-Questions is one type of question that mostly needs to be answered by using scanning skills. Below are the review on WH – Questions

WH –Questions

WH –questions	Examples	Answers	Notes
Who	Who made that painting	Picasso did	Asking for a subject/person
Who(m)	Who(m)did  you see yesterday ?	I saw Tom	Asking for an object/person
What	What made you cry ? What do you wear everyday ?	The onion I wear a uniform	Asking for subject/things Or objects /things
Whose	Whose pen do you borrow?	Yours	Asking for a possession
When	When did you meet him ?	I met him last week	Asking for time
Where	Where will you have a meeting?	On Wednesday	Asking for a place
Why	Why did you go to Jakarta?	I wanted to buy a radio	Asking for a reason
Which	Which do you want ?	The red one	Asking  for a choice
How	How did she dance ? How much does it cost ? How long does it take ? How far is it ? How many people are there ?	Beautifully Fifty dollars Half an hour Ten Km Around twenty	Asking for manner/prices/distance/length/ Quantity / Etc.

B.      LOCATING THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION

SAMPLE  PASSAGE

          Art clokey has been delighting children with his animationtechniques since 1953.He uses a technique called stop-motion in which he films caly figures, stop the filming, and then repositions the figures to continue the film.When the film is completed, his clay figures move around to act out his stories.Perhaps, the best known of Clokwy’s tridimensonal animated characters is “ Gumby” , a little green slab clay who has been around since 1956.

1.       Where in the passage does the author mention the first appearance of the clay figure known as Gumby ?

a.       Lines 1 – 2

b.      Lines 2 – 4

c.       Lines 3 – 4

d.      Lines  5 – 7

Exercise 1

Read the passage below, and answer the questons that follow

          Dissolved oxygen analysis measures the amount of gaseous oxygen (O2) dissolved in an aqueous solution.Oxygen gets into water by diffusion from the surrounding air, by aeration(rapid movement) , and as a waste product  of photosynthesis.

          Total dissolved gas concentrations in water should not exceed 110 percent. Concentration above this level can be harmful to aquatic life. Fish in waters containing excessive dissolved gasses may suffer from ‘gas bubble disease’ however, this is a very rare occurence.

          Adequate dissolved oxygen is necessary for good water quality.Oxygen is a necessary element to all forms of life. Natural stream purification processes require adequate oxygen levels in water drop below 5.0 mg/l, aquatic life is put under stress.The lower the concentration, the greater the stress.Oxygen levels that remain below 1-2 mg/l for a few hours can result in large fish kills.

Where in the passage does the writer

1.       Discuss how water gets oxygen ?

2.       Mention the negative effect off too much dissolved gasses ?

3.       Explain the importance of oxygen in the water ?

4.       Mention what may have impact on stress

MATERI  2

SKIMMING

Objectives :

1.       To find the topic of the passage

2.       To find the topic sentences and the controlling ideas

3.       To get the main and supporting ideas of the passage

4.       To understand Noun Phrases

Skimming

          It is not always necessary to read every word of a passage. Your purpose for reading something determines how closely you should read it. Once you know wjat your purpose is, skimming is a valuable procedure. Skimming through a passage involvs reading very fast in order to recognize main ideas and supporting details while skipping (not reading ) parts that are not relevant to your reading purpose. It can save you time in deciding what or what not to read. In getting the general content of the passage, and in finding the author’s maint point without having to deal with details. The way you read the morning newspaper, for example , is quite different from the way you read an assignment for a class.

A.      Topic of the passage

A Topic is the general idea of a paragraph or a passage. It tells the readers what a paragraph or a passage is about. The topic of a passage is usually stataed in the first sentence, although other positions are also possible . However, sometimes the topic is not stated in the passage at all, but is implied.

Sample Passages

a.       Topic stated at  the first sentence

Veterinery medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease , disorder and injury in animals. The scope of veterinery medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both domesticated and wild, with a wide range of conditions which can affect different species.

b.      Topic stated at the last sentence

One technique to help with this is to consiously look into one of the listener’s eyes and then move to the other eyes. Going back and forth between the two makes your eyes appear to sparkle. Another trick is to imagine a letter “T” on the listener;s face, with the cross bar being an imaginary line across the eye brows ad the vertical line coming down the center of the nose. Keep your eyes scanning that “T” zone . This is usually called ‘eye contanct “.

c.       Topic Implied

In its broadcast, general sense, it is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. In its narrow, technical sense , it is the formal process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs, and values from one generation to another, e.g. instruction in schools.

The topic of the text is education

B.      Topic sentences

A Paragraph usually tells about one topic. Often one sentence is the topic sentence. It tells the topic and themain idea of the paragraph. It sums up the ideas of the other sentences, which give details about the main idea. However, the topic sentence may not be stated but implied, so we must draw a conclusion from the paragraph to obtain its topic sentence.

a.Topic sentence at the beggining

                Rice is the only major grain crop that is grown almost exclusively as human food. There have been a series of remarkable genetic advances that have made it possible to cultivate high-yield varieties, which are resistant to disease and insect pests. Because rice constitutes half the diet of 1.6 billion people, another 400 million people rely on it between one – forurth and one – half of their diet , these advances have deterned disasters which otherwise would have left millions of people severely underfed.

b.Topic sentence in the middle

Within the animalworld, populations change all the time. Changes in the animal population depend on many factors.These include the rate of production of young, and the number of young that survive through the breeding stage.

c.Topic sentence at the end.

By the year 2009, a vaccine againts the common cold will have been developed.By the same year, the first human will have been successfully doned. By the same year 2014, parents will be able to create designer children.Genetic therapy will be able to manipulate genes for abilities, intelligence, and hair, eye, and skin color. By 2020, most diseases will be able to be  diagnosed and treated at home,and by 2030, cancer and heart disease will have benn wiped out. These are just a few examples of medical miracles that are expected in the new few decades.

d.Topic entence implied

Immunization can significantly reduce the microprganisms thought to cause cavities. The federal Drug Administration needs to approve the vaccine before it can be sold to the public. Consequently, the vaccine will have to undergo a three –year trial period.

A topic sentene is not a statement of a fact. Therfore, the following statements of facts cannot be a topic sentence.

·         Bogor has Botanical Garden and Safari garden

·         Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia

·         Indonesia declared its independence on August 17th

Exercise

European agriculture underwent a number of significant changes during the middle ages. Tools including the scythe and plow werw improved from classical versions, a three field system of crop rotation was invented , and the mold board plow and wheeled plow were increasingly used. Draft  horses were bred and increasingly used What animals as a working animal in many parts of Europe, while oxen continued to be used for this purpose metal horseshoes were widely adopted. Much of Europe had low population densities during this period, to which extensive farming was well suited. In parts of Southern Europe , more intensive farming combined techniques continued fro classical Roman agiculture and those transferred from Islamic regions. In the late middle ages, the use of manure as fertilizer inceased, which in turn decreased the necessity of regular following of fields.

1.       Which is the topic sentence of the above passage ?

a.       The first sentence

b.      The third sentence

c.       The last sentence

2.       What are the controlling ideas ?

a.       A number of significant changes

b.      Many parts of Europe

c.       Regular fallowing of fields

3.       The topic sentence shows a statement of ....

a.       Opinion

b.      Intent

c.       Intent and opinion

4.       The scythe (line 2 ) is ....

a.       A change

b.      A tool

c.       A version

5.       What animals were used as working animals ?

a.       Horses

b.      Both horses and oxen

c.       Oxen

6.       What was invented during the middle ages ?

a.       Classical versions

b.      A 3 field – system

c.       Crop rotation

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