LESSON 1: TEXT AS CONNECTED DISCOURSE

What is Discourse?
- a language above the sentence and language in use
- form of social practice in which language plays a central role.
- Origin comes from Latin “discursus” which denoted conversation
Types of Discourse
- Argument- to convince an audience that the writer or speaker is correct, using evidence
and reason.
- Narration- tells a story, often with emotion and empathy involved.
- Description- it relies on the five senses to help the audience visualize something.
- Exposition- is used to inform the audience
What is Text
- considered as written material, especially longer pieces of writing as in a book, a letter,
or a newspaper,
- it came from the Old French word textus which means “the scriptures”.
- It is made of signs and symbols systematized by grammar and organized
Characteristics of a Text (M.Jorgensen & Phillips 2002)
COHERENCE
- the connection of ideas at the paragraph level.
- concerned with how the sentences and paragraphs are linked together so that they
would express a single idea.
INTENTIONALITY
- the plan or purpose of the writer.
- A text must be written with a purpose whether that is to inform, persuade, or entertain.
INFORMATIVITY
- This quality of the text focuses on the amount of new information embedded in it.
ACCEPTABILITY
- refers to the veracity of the information provided.
SITUATIONALITY
- This simply refers to the socio-cultural appropriateness of the text and shall not be
offensive to any race, sex, religion, etc.
Functions of text or written Language
- Action -public signs, product labels, instructions, recipes, maps,
- Information - newspapers, magazines, research, and journals.
- Social Contract -letters, postcards, greeting cards.
- Entertainment -fiction books, poetry, drama, film subtitles, and games.

LESSON 2: EFFECTIVE READING STRATEGIES

"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from
them. When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols such as letters, punctuation
marks and spaces and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs
that communicate something to us.

BEFORE READING
- Prior Knowledge - a knowledge that you already had to understand something new, it
answers the question “What do you/I already know about this topic?”
- Making Predictions - It is about guessing or predicting what will happen next with
characters or events.
- Skimming & Scanning - It helps to find information easily and quickly, skimming is
finding what this book is all about while scanning is finding the important or specific
details,facts or information you want to know.
- Previewing - simply means looking over your reading material in order to become
familiar with its content before you actually begin reading it.
- Context Clues - Clues that good readers use to find the meaning of unknown words.

DURING READING
- Reflecting - It is about getting the deeper meaning from the meaning that can be
applied in life or in yourself.
- Questioning - We ask questions to clarify meaning and further our understanding of the
text.
- Understanding - understanding the meaning of what is written and interpreting it.

AFTER READING
- Reflecting - occurs both during and after reading, its is allowing you to reflect or recall
the key ideas you read after reading and to apply them in other reading and writing
situations.
- Extending the understanding of the text by critical or creative ways - Your critical
reading or understanding of a text and thinking about a text enables you to use it to
make your own arguments.
- Clarifying understanding of the text - It is a clarifying strategy about self-monitoring
and improving their reading comprehension skills. And also to clarify the meaning of the
texts clearly to the reader.

LESSON 3 : BRAINSTORMING

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a
specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.

7 WAYS OF BRAINSTORMING

1. Brainwriting
- A form of brainstorming in which participants write down ideas and pass them along to other
participants as inspiration for further ideas.

2. Online Brainstorming (brain-netting)

-Brain netting is an online brainstorming technique part of a broader initiative for remote team
communication. It aims to bring dispersed teams together for a brainstorming session using a
variety of conferencing and recording tools.

3. Step Ladder Technique

-The stepladder technique is a structured procedure designed to facilitate effective group

decision making. The goal is to ensure that the thoughts and ideas of all members are made
available to the group so that they can be considered while the group is reaching a decision.

4. Starbursting

-Starbursting is a systematic brainstorming method that focuses on asking questions rather than
immediately seeking answers to assess new ideas.

5. Round-robin brainstorming

-This technique involves going around a group, giving each person a chance to share an idea,
and building on the ideas of others.

6. Rapid ideation

-The purpose of rapid ideation is to produce an abundance of ideas in a short amount of time
unconstrained by judgements or perceived limitations.

7. Figuring storming

-This tactic involves putting yourself in the shoes of someone else to think about how they might
handle the situation. It can be effective because it challenges us to get away from our own
biases and perceptions.

LESSON 4 : GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

A graphic organizer is a visual tool used to organize information and thoughts, taking the form of
a chart, diagram, or mind map. It helps to clarify information, structure it, enhance
comprehension, promote critical thinking, encourage creativity, and enhance study skills.

Different types of Graphic Organizer

 ● Star: The star graphic organizer is a visual tool used to categorize and display
information in a clear and concise manner.
● Spider: A spider graphic organizer also known as radial diagram is a visual tool for
organizing information. It has a central idea with lines or spokes that represent related
subtopics or details.
● Fish bone; The fishbone graphic organizer, also known as an Ishikawa diagram, is a
tool used to identify the potential causes of a problem. It's shaped like a fish skeleton
with the problem being the head and the possible causes being represented as bones.
● Tree: Tree graphic organizer is a visual tool for organizing information hierarchically It
uses a tree-like structure with the main idea represented as the trunk and branches
representing subtopics, categories, or details.
● Chain of events; A chain of events, a graphic organizer is a tool that visually displays
the sequence of events in a story or process, it using boxes or steps connected in the
order they occur.
● Flow chart: A flow chart is a graphic organizer that visually displays the steps or
decisions in a process using symbols and arrows
● Venn diagram: it is a type of graphic organizer that uses overlapping circles to show the
relationships between two or more sets of information. The overlap between the circles
represents items that are common to two or more sets.
● T-chart diagram: A T-chart is a type of graphic organizer that is used to compare and
contrast two items or concepts. It consists of two columns with a horizontal line dividing
the chart into two sections. The left column lists the characteristics of one item or
concept, while the right column lists the characteristics of the other item or concept.
● Decision-making diagram: A Decision-Making Diagram is a graphic tool used to
analyze problems and identify solutions by visually representing the steps in the
decision-making process.
● Cause and effect Diagram: The cause and effect diagram, also known as the fishbone
or Ishikawa diagram, visually represents a problem and its potential causes to identify
the root cause of a problem.
● Pie Charts: Pie chart is a circular graph that displays data as sections proportional to
their contribution to the whole. The sections are labeled and can have different colors for
easy identification and comparison.
● Story maps: Story Map is a tool used for planning and structuring a story by organizing
its key elements, such as characters, setting, events, and their relationships. It helps
writers ensure a clear structure for their story.
● Character traits: A Character Traits graphic organizer is a visual tool used to analyze
and interpret the traits of a character in a story, including their actions and impact on the
plot. It provides a structured way to organize the evidence and make inferences about
the character's personality and motivations.

LESSON 5 : SENTENCE AND TOPIC OUTLINE

OUTLINE
An outline is a tool used to organize written ideas about a topic or thesis into a logical order.
Outlines arrange major topics, subtopics, and supporting details.

TYPES OF OUTLINE

TOPIC OUTLINE - A topic outline is a list of words and phrases. It arranges your ideas
hierarchically (showing which are main and which are sub-points). A topic outline allows writers
to organize the topics of a paper quickly without going into details.

Example:

I. Family Problems

A. Custodial: Non-custodial Conflicts

B. Extended Family

C. Adolescent's Age

SENTENCE OUTLINE - A sentence outline is a list of complete sentences. Each sentence,

instead of simply identifying a mini-topic, is like a mini-thesis statement about that mini-topic. A
sentence outline allows writers to crystallize ideas by summarizing a paragraph’s point or a
major sub-point in a paragraph in one clear sentence.

Example :

The small business owner needs to know where the business will be located.

A. A poor location can start a small business into bankruptcy.

B. A very good location can help even a mediocre business stay afloat.

FORMS OF OUTLINE

Alphanumeric Outlines
This is the most common type of outline used and is usually instantly recognizable to most
people. The formatting follows these characters, in this order:

Level 1: Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc.)

Level 2: Capitalized Letters (A, B, C, D, E, etc.)

Level 3: Arabic Numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)

Level 4: Lowercase Letters (a, b, c, d, e, etc.)

Example :

Compile resume

A. List relevant coursework

B. List work experience
C. List volunteer experience
1. Tutor at foreign language summer camp
2. Counselor for suicide prevention hotline

Decimal Outlines
The decimal outline follows the same levels of indentation when formatting to indicate the
hierarchy of ideas/points as the alphanumeric outline. The added benefit of decimal notation,
however, is that it clearly shows, through the decimal breakdown, how each progressive level
relates to the larger whole.

Example:

1.1. Chronic diseases

1.1.1. Heart Diseases
1.1.2. Cancer
1.1.3. Diabetes
1.2. Seasonal illnesses

Micro and Macro Outlines

The indentation/formatting of a micro (full sentence) or macro (topic) outline is essentially the
same as alphanumeric/decimal outlines. The difference between micro and macro outlines lies
in the specificity and depth of the content.

Micro Outlines focus on the “micro,” the drilled-down specific details of the essay’s content.
They are particularly useful when the topic you are discussing is complex in nature. When
creating a micro outline, it can also be useful to insert the quotations you plan to include in the
essay (with citations) and subsequent analyses of quotes. Taking this extra step helps ensure
that you have enough support for your ideas, as well as reminding writers to actually analyze
and discuss quotations, rather than simply inserting quotes and moving on

Macro Outlines, in contrast, focus on the “big picture” of an essay’s main points and support by
using short phrases or keywords to indicate the focus and content at each level of the essay’s
development. A macro outline is useful when writing about a variety of ideas and issues where
the ordering of points is more flexible.