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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Perspectives : academic reading skills and practice / Marina Rozenberg.
Names: Rozenberg, Marina, author.
Description: Second edition. | Includes index.
Identifiers: Canadiana 20210346043 | ISBN 9780190160791 (softcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Reading (Higher education) | CSH: English language—Textbooks for
second language learners. | LCGFT: Textbooks.
Classification: LCC PE1128 .R688 2022 | DDC 428.64—dc23

Cover image: shunli zhao/Moment/Getty Images

Cover design: Laurie McGregor
Interior design: Laurie McGregor

Oxford University Press is committed to our environment.

Wherever possible, our books are printed on paper which comes from
responsible sources.

Printed and bound in Canada.

1 2 3 4 — 25 24 23 22
Contents
Scope and Sequence vi
How to Use the Book viii
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xii

PART ONE Academic Reading Skills

and Strategies
1 Smart Reading Strategies 3
Reading with Purpose 4
Interacting with the Text 5
Summarizing to Learn and Remember 5
Monitoring Your Readiness to Start the Assignment 6
Expanding Your Vocabulary 6

2 Smart Vocabulary Strategies 21

Identifying Terms and Their Definitions 22
Analyzing Word Parts 25
Guessing Meaning in Context 28
Ignoring Less Important Unfamiliar Words 30
Paraphrasing 33
Integrating the Strategies 34

3 Main Ideas and Supporting Details 37

Distinguishing between Main Ideas and Supporting Details 38
Identifying an Implied Main Idea 41
Distinguishing between Major and Minor Supporting Details 44
Summarizing 45
Identifying Organizational Patterns 46
Studying Graphical Information 49
Integrating the Skills 52

4 Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 56

Assessing Valid and Invalid Inferences 58
Distinguishing between Facts and Opinions 63
Learning about Informed Opinions 64
iv Contents

Identifying Biased Opinions 67

Integrating the Skills   72

5 Assessing an Argument 76
Identifying the Purpose of a Text 77
Identifying the Audience 83
Assessing Online Sources 87
Identifying Techniques of Persuasion 87
Assessing an Argument’s Support and Logic 91

PART TWO Cross-Disciplinary Readings

6 Surveillance 99
Coronavirus Tracking Apps: Normalizing Surveillance
During States of Emergency (Public Health) 100
Facial Recognition in 2020: Can Tech Giants Stop Its
Regulation? (Computer Sciences) 104
House Arrest, Electronic Monitoring, and Global
Positioning Systems (Criminology) 109

7 Race and Racism 116

Race (Anthropology) 117
The DNA Olympics—Jamaicans Win Sprinting “Genetic
Lottery”—and Why We Should All Care (Sport Sciences) 120
Covid-19 Is Killing Black People Unequally—Don’t Be
Surprised (Health Care) 126

8 Living with Nature 133

The Nature Antidote (Environmental Studies, Health
Studies) 134
Why Japan Took the Nuclear Risk (Resource Management) 137
Staying Power (Electrical Engineering) 142

9 Transportation 150
Traffic Jam (Urban Studies) 152
People Movers (Transportation Studies, Sustainability
Studies) 157
What Will It Take for Humans to Trust Self-Driving Cars?
(Technology) 161

10 Ethnocentrism 167
Prejudice (Psychology) 168
The Self-Reference Criterion: A Major Obstacle (Marketing) 174
 Contents v

Not Only Whites: Racial Priming Effect for Black Faces in

Black People (Psychology, Policing) 178

11 Cancer 188
Cancer Cells: Growing Out of Control (Biology) 189
Diet and Cancer Prevention (Health Sciences) 192
What Happens When You Live? (Health Studies) 197

12 Gender Equality 204

Women in International Marketing (Marketing) 205
The Global Glass Ceiling: Why Empowering Women Is
Good for Business (Foreign Policy, Economics) 211
Breaking the Cycle: Incarcerated Indigenous Women and
the Need for a Holistic Approach to Mental Wellness
(Indigenous Studies) 217

13 Culture 223
Culture and the Self (Psychology) 224
Uncovering the Role of Culture in Learning, Development,
and Education (Education) 230
Managing Conflict (Communication Studies) 236

Appendix: Word Parts 244

Index 246
Credits 248
About the Author 250
SCOPE and SEQUENCE
PART ONE Academic Reading Skills and Strategies
Reading Skills Readings Vocabulary

Reading with purpose • “Status and Role” air formally

Reading Strategies

Interacting with the text • “Groupthink” breach morale

UNIT 1 Smart

Summarizing to learn and • “Learned Helplessness versus Personal Control” breed oblige
remember constraint reluctant
Monitoring your readiness to start contrary resignation
the assignment counterparts script
Expanding your vocabulary elite sensible
facilitate spontaneous
flawed totalitarianism
Identifying terms and their • “Variety in Curing Practices” accommodation mollify
definitions aggravates non-assertion
Analyzing word parts antiseptics omniscient
Guessing meaning in context assertion omnivorous
Ignoring less important unfamiliar avoidance ostracism
words chronic pan-national
Paraphrasing circulate passive
Smart Vocabulary Strategies

circumference aggression
conflict ritual placebo effect
customize reverse
deprived revolve
UNIT 2

despise ruminate
direct aggression shaman
disparities soothing
divert staggering
dull stub
equivocate subconscious
escalatory spiral subtitle
of conflict synchronize
evolve trivial
familiarize tyrannical
hinder uttered
induces venom
irretrievable veracity
jibe verify
Distinguishing between main • “Languages” imply
Supporting Details

ideas and supporting details • “Urbanization in Canada” infer

UNIT 3 Main

Identifying an implied main idea • “The Geography of Happiness”

Ideas and

Distinguishing between major and

minor supporting details
Summarizing
Identifying organizational patterns
Studying graphical information
Integrating the skills
Assessing valid and invalid • “Drug Addicts Should Be Sent to Isolated bias
Inferences, Facts,
and Opinions

inferences Work Camps” explicit

Distinguishing between facts and fact
UNIT 4

opinions implicit
Learning a out informed opinions infer
Identifying biased opinions opinion
Integrating the skills

Identifying the purpose of a text • “Canadians Becoming More Bilingual, ad hominem

UNIT 5 Assessing

Identifying the audience Linguistically Diverse, Census Data Shows” bandwagon

an Argument

Assessing online sources • “Speak English, s’il vous plait!” misleading

Identifying techniques of • “What’s in a Name?” analogy
persuasion • “Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales Machine” overgeneralization
Assessing an argument’s support • “Warnings about Online Shopping” oversimplification
and logic • “Product Research and Purchase”
• “Against Designer Babies”
PART T WO Cross-Disciplinary Readings
Readings Disciplines Vocabulary

• “Coronavirus Tracking Apps” Public Health accountable deployed metrics

Surveillance

centralized eligible mitigate

compliance impacted pretrial
UNIT 6

• “Facial Recognition in 2020” Computer Sciences

confinement inveterate sophisticated
• “House Arrest, Electronic controversy is dispatched sovereign
Monitoring, and Global Criminology decentralized liberties undermine
Positioning Systems”

• “Race” Anthropology acute distorted leveraging

UNIT 7 Race
and Racism

ancestors elimination persists

biodiversity fibre prejudice
• “The DNA Olympics” Sport Sciences
chronic hierarchy racialism
colonial intervene racism
• “Covid-19 Is Killing Black People devised level playing field speculative
Health Care
Unequally” tangible
Environmental Studies conservation looped recession
UNIT 8 Living

• “The Nature Antidote”

with Nature

Health Studies fatigue magnitude resumed

frontier neural surge
• “Why Japan Took the Nuclear
Resource Management halt plunged thrived
Risk”
infrastructure prescribe utilities
linear quantify
• “Staying Power” Electrical Engineering
reactor
algorithm lure stakeholders
Ethnocentrism Transportation

• “Traffic Jam” Urban Studies

conglomerate offset subsidies
UNIT 9

Transportation Studies distinctive outfits venture

• “People Movers” diverted prevailing viable
Sustainability Studies
emissions recruitment wary
• “What Will It Take for Humans to gauge respondents woes
Technology
Trust Self-Driving Cars?”
acumen blatant paradigm
• “Prejudice” Psychology
aftermath disparage precipitous
UNIT 10

anticipate foe stemming from

• “The Self-Reference Criterion” Marketing arbitrarily impede stimuli
aspect implicit triggers
Psychology biased
• “Not Only Whites”
Policing

• “Cancer Cells” Biology abdominal disrupt pesticides

accumulating fibre prototype
UNIT 11
Cancer

adequately isolated secrete

• “Diet and Cancer Prevention” Health Sciences
chronic modification standardized
consumption nutrients swelled
• “What Happens When You Live?” Health Studies diagnosed obtained utilizing
displacing originate
• “Women in International auditing Indigenous progressive
UNIT 12 Gender

Marketing
Marketing” compensation innate reactive
comprehensive inquiry sex-selective
Equality

Foreign Policy
• “The Global Glass Ceiling” deficiencies levers stripping
Economics
dictates maternal substance
dynamics myths sustainable
• “Breaking the Cycle” Indigenous Studies fetal prevailing traumatic
handful

• “Culture and the Self” Psychology accommodating drawing on self-restraint

anthropology embed socialized
UNIT 13
Culture

• “Uncovering the Role of Culture attributes inclined subject

in Learning, Development, and Education bound place a premium superiors
Education” conceptions on trump
confrontation plunged underpinnings
• “Managing Conflict” Communication Studies disputes reluctant utilize
How to Use the Book
The second edition of Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice helps students master the essential
reading skills and strategies needed to manage the demands of post-secondary education. It provides a wide
range of engaging, authentic, cross-disciplinary reading texts for refining and practising those skills.

PART ONE contains five units that help students

develop the academic reading strategies and vocabulary
necessary for success in post-secondary studies.
PART ONE
Academic Reading Skills and Strategies

PART TWO PART TWO provides a wealth of engaging, authentic

Cross-Disciplinary Readings cross-disciplinary reading texts for refining and practicing
academic reading skills. Each unit in Part Two presents
three texts from different academic disciplines that are
connected by a unifying theme. Accompanying activities
engage students in analyzing, comparing, assessing, and
synthesizing content from these varied sources.

Smart
1 Reading
Strategies
This unit presents an overview of these reading strategies:
1. Reading with purpose
UNIT GOALS Identifying goals at the beginning
of each unit engages students with the strategies,
2. Interacting with the text
3. Summarizing to learn and remember
4. Monitoring your readiness to start the assignment
5. Expanding your vocabulary highlights the skills to be mastered, and increases
students’ learning success.

PREPARE TO LEARN Warm Up activities elicit

students’ prior knowledge and build initial awareness
prior to encountering the reading strategies.
Reading is probably the most common activity that you, as a college or university
student, engage in: you read to prepare for classes, tests, presentations, and papers.
Reading provides the basis for your academic success, and therefore it makes sense
to think about the following questions: How does a successful student read? What
reading strategies does he or she use?
1. Look at the pictures above and discuss the differences between the ways in which
the two students read.
 Some ideas in a paragraph are more important than others; without them the paragraph
simply falls apart, just as the tree is not really a tree if we cut off all its branches. If,
however, we omit the less importantWhat is one
ideas in adistinct feature
paragraph, of aas
such GIS?
examples and specific
details, the paragraph will still hold,a)although it will
It can depict not in
spaces besmall
as clear
and and
largeinformative.
scales.
Something similar happens to a tree b) in It
thecanfall when
draw it shedsspaces
changing its leaves: its branches
but keep are
track of the boundaries they had.
c) It is
visible, but the tree looks naked without the
d)leaves.
able to represent
rich
It challenges
spatialThe
green foliage.
our idea
datatree
withoutHow to Use the Book
losesassigning
of regions asparagraph
some of boundaries.
having no needs
boundaries.
ix
its richness and substance without the Likewise, a well-written
main ideas and a variety of supporting
B. As details
seen into beparagraphs
the complete. above, the location of the main idea in a paragraph
This unit explores the organizationvaries.ofAlthough
main ideas manyand supporting
paragraphs details
start with the in a idea—this is a convention
main
paragraph. that most writing instructors expect in your papers—some paragraphs will have
the main idea at the end, in the middle, or both at the beginning and at the end.
The diagrams below represent the location of main ideas in a paragraph. Match
STRATEGY ACQUISITION Students encounter Distinguishing between Main Ideas each one to a paragraph above.

and practice 4 to 5 essential reading strategies in and28Supporting Paragraph

Perspectives:Details
Academic Reading Skills and Practice
Paragraph

each unit. When you read complex academic material, breaking down a paragraph or a section
Main idea opens a paragraph Supporting details

Supporting details explain the main idea Main idea as a summary or conclusion
of a reading into main ideas and supporting details is a useful way of processing
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT Strategies are
104
information. It is impossible to remember everything you read, but you can improve
Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice
Paragraph Guessing Meaning in Context
Paragraph
retention of key concepts by focusing on main ideas, whether you are drawing up an
introduced in logical sequence, ensuring7. students
What may the writer mean by sayingoutline of a textHow
that the coronavirus or
is simply
performative political agent” (para. 8)? Mark all answers that apply.
“a many reviewing the
of the words
disruptive Main pointsdomentally.
below
idea you know? Introduction
The paragraph below demonstrates how main ideas differ from supporting
Supporting details
details.
Main idea, especially after a connector
a) The virus cannot be easily controlled by governments.
acquire new reading skills with each unit.b) The virus can make governments adoptRead certainitpolicies.
ostracism
and answer the questions stub ruminate
that follow. Each sentence
Main idea paraphrased
despise dull
is numbered make ithinder
tocontrast
of
c) The virus can encourage creating new easy toparties.
political identify Probably
and refernot to. many, because these words are not used very often
d) The virus can make governments feel powerless in the face of pandemic.
in everyday
Supporting detailsspeech or
writing. Looking at each word on its own, you have no clues to help you work out its
8. Mark the inferences as valid (V) or invalid (I).
meaning. However, if you
see see the words in context, you should be able to guess their
To review making

Identifying an Implied Main Ideaa similar

inferences,
a) Providing
Pandemics, like Covid-19, will1become a part
a regular meaningful one-sentence
of our life because Unit 4, page 57.definition of any academic discipline is a real
of climate change. meanings because you are assisted by the following context clues: words with
challenge. In the case of human geography, however, the American geographer
2
b) meaning
There is a concern that tracking technologies will undermine (synonyms), words with a contrasting meaning (antonyms), examples, and
personal
Charles Gritzner has suggested aStudy
other general details in the thefollowing
text that paragraph.
useful definition in the formWhat is itsclosely
of three main idea?
related
privacy and security. suggest the meaning of a target word. To notice
questions: “What is where, why there, and why care?” (Gritzner, 2002). 3Every exercise
9. and
Assess the credibility of the article. Who published it? What is the make
domain? Canuse
we of context clues, you must carefully read not only the sentence that
trust the author? in human geography, containsregardless of
the targetEasterwhich
word, buttheme
also it sentences
the highlights,before
beginsand with the spatial
after.
Island, in the Pacific Ocean, was settled by the seventh century
question: “where?” 4Then, once the basic environmental, regional, and spatial facts are
and possibly as early as the fifth century; the first settlers were likely
known, the geographer focuses on understanding, or explaining, “why there?” 5Finally,
the third part ofActivity 3 Polynesians.
Vocabulary They arrived at an island with few species of plants and
the question—“why animals care?”—draws attention to for
and limited opportunities thefishing,
pragmatic nature
but with considerable areas
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning To review
of human
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary geography:
if necessary. A. Thegeographic
following of facts
passage matter
woodland.
vocabulary because
discusses
Their diet they
social reflect
exclusion
consisted and
and
of affect
contains
sweet human
all the
potatoes (anwords listedto
easy crop
strategies,
1. sophisticated (para. 1):
life. This is true of any
6 geographic
in the box above. fact,
cultivate)
including whether
After
using and it ischoose
reading,
chicken.something
The the as seemingly
correct
considerable word mundane
to
amount complete eachavailable
of free time of the
word parts and

2. deployed (para. 1): sentences that follow

allowed
guessing the
meaningthetext. You
Easter might need
Islanders to change
to engage the form
in elaborate of the
rituals word
and to fit
construct
the grammarUnit huge
of stone
thesee
in context, statues, called the moai. Agricultural activities, cooking food,
sentence.
2, pages 25
3. centralized (para. 2): cremating the dead, and building canoes required the removal of some
and 27.

4. decentralized (para. 2): trees on the island, but most of the deforestation was carried out for the
5. undermine (para. 7): Why do we seek approval from others and Rejection, social exclusion
why does it hurt so much when they reject us? must be the same or
6. sovereign (para. 8): close in meaning to
UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 7 Kipling Williams has conducted a great deal of
“ostracism.”
Reading 2 Computer Sciences research on social exclusion and ostracism, and
There is a contrast
he and his colleagues have found that not only is between “people we like”
Facial Recognition in 2020: Can Tech Giants
2. Try to get into a positive mindset regarding your successfulStop completion
Its Regulation? of the it painful when other adults choose not to play a and “people we despise,”
so “despise” must mean
assignment. Hard work leads to effective results, so prepare Civil to do someactivists
liberties serious warn that the powerful technology, which
Vocabulary cyber ball game with us, it is also painful just to
dislike.
HIGH-INTEREST READINGS
Pay attention
work and you will complete your assignment successfully. identifies people by matching a picture or video of a person’s face to to these words watch others be rejected from the online game
databases of photos, can be used to passively spy on people without and write Stubbing your toe is an
(Wesselmann et al., 2009). We feel pain when we
any reasonable suspicion or their consent. Many of these leaders don’t
them in your example of physical pain.
3. To ensure that you are reading with purpose, start by analyzing
Contemporary reading texts from the assignment
just want to regulate facial recognition tech—they want to ban or pause
are rejected by the people we like. Incredibly, it is painful even when we are rejected by
vocabulary
notebook: A pain reliever such as
task on page 6. its use completely. groups of peoplelibertieswe despise (Gonsalkorale and Williams, 2007). In an extensive review acetaminophen dulls pain,
across disciplines motivate and
a) What term (specific to the subject you are studying in this By assignment)
Shirin Ghaffary do you
of the literature regarding
impacted social and physical pain, Geoff MacDonald and Mark Leary i.e., reduces or makes
some of the same brain mechanisms that signal physical pain (e.g., something (e.g., pain) less
metrics
(2005) suggest that
need to understand in order to write the paragraph? 1 Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who rarely agree on anything, UNIT accountable
are in Surveillance 105 intense.
engage students. stubbing
agreement on limiting law enforcement agencies’ ability to surveil Americans your
with this toe) are also activated by social pain (e.g., not being invited to a party).
mitigate
controversy “Ruminate” must be
technology, citing concerns that the unchecked use of facial recognition In fact,could
taking
lead a pain reliever such as acetaminophen dulls the social pain of rejection
to the creation of an Orwellian surveillance state. Several cities, such as
1 similar to “relive something
and exclusion just as it does physical pain (DeWall et al., 2011). It is interesting that we over and over again in our
b) Is it enough to use only the textbook passage to write a good paragraph
San Francisco, inOakland,
response and Somerville, Massachusetts banned police
use of the technology last year. A new federal bill was introduced inseldom ruminate about episodes of physical pain that we have experienced, but we minds”; perhaps a way of
to the assignment? If not, what additional information will you need to include?
that would severely restrict its use by federal law enforcement, requiring
2019
a thinking intensely about
frequently relive social pain over and over again in our minds, often reconstructing the
court order to track people for longer than three days. And some senators something.
argument or incident and replacing what we said with what we wish we had said. …
have discussed a far-reaching bill that would completely halt government
Some researchers suggest that the pain of social exclusion may be at the heart of what
UNIT Smart Reading
Shy people try Strategies
to avoid 15
use of the technology.
social interactions.
2 But the reality is that this technology already exists—it’s used to unlock
hinders shy and anxious people from engaging in social interactions. People with shy Their painful experience
c) What do you think social roles are? people’s iPhones, scan flight passengers’ faces instead of their tickets,
temperaments may learn to avoid social interaction because of the painful feelings they hinders, or makes it more
screen people attending musical concerts, and to monitor large crowds.
Its prevalence has created a delicate situation: proponents of thehave
difficult, for them to
7. Thetech, experienced
authors of theduring
text social
use an interactions
exampleinofthe past (Panksepp,
a hiring committee 2011).to illustrate the risks
such as law enforcement and technology manufacturers, downplay facial recognition’s interact with others.
of groupthink. There are many other situations in which groupthink occurs, some
power. They play up its potential to crack open cold criminal cases or reunite missing
children with their families.
3 much more serious than others. Could each of the following be considered an
Meanwhile, opponents warn of how quickly the powerful tech’s use could spiral

example of groupthink? Why or why not? What other examples did you come up
out of control. For instance, they point to China, where the technology is regularly
used to surveil citizens. The solution may be somewhere in between—there are
READING with while reading?
cases when use of this tech can do good, especially if it’s carefully regulated and the
communities impacted by it are in control of how it’s used. But right now, that looks
The first two paragraphs in the following reading selection have been annotated for a) the Nazi movement
like an ideal scenario that we’re still far from achieving. “What we really need to do as
a society is sort through what are the beneficial uses of this technology and what are
you as an example of how you should interact with a text. Read the rest of the text and b) a high school clique of the most popular students
the accompanying harms—and see if there are any roles for its use right now,” Barry
continue to mark it up. c) a recreational softball team
Friedman, faculty director of NYU Law’s Policing Project, a research institute that studies
policing practices, told Recode. Rolling out government use of facial recognition the
• Highlight the terms you need to know and their definitions. d) other:
right way, tech policy leaders and civil liberties advocates say, will involve a sweeping set
• Underline the main point of each paragraph and circle important examples. of regulations that democratize input on how these technologies are used.

• Mark anything you are unclear about with question marks. The daily use
Discussion
• Make notes in the margins if an idea in the text reminds you of4 something
The most famous in examples
your of law enforcement’s use of facial recognition in the
own experience. Review
suspected shooter at the Capital Gazette newspaper offices. theis, asdiscussion
US are the extreme ones—such as when police in Maryland used it to identify the
But the reality many topic presented before Reading 2: What are the problems As a part of the process
• Guess and/or look up unfamiliar vocabulary. as one in four police departments across the US can accessassociated
facial recognitionwith decision making when the group of decision makers all tend to think
according of reading with purpose,
to the Center of Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law. And at least for now, you should have been
it’s often in more routine criminal investigations. Some law enforcement agencies are in a similar way? What should be done to help committees at work or school make thinking about how the
Reading
simply worried that sharing more information about the use of facial recognition will
spark backlash, Daniel Castro, vice president of the DC-based tech policy think tank,
good decisions? Use the excerpt on groupthink from Baumeister and Bushman’s Social text would help you
script: movie scenario? plan?
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), told Recode. Psychology and Human Nature (3rd ed.) and your own ideas in your discussion. to participate in the
Status and Role 5
What does the writer mean by age little
roles?
Much of the fear about facial recognition technology is because the public knows
about how it’s used, or whether it’s been effective in reducing crime. In absence ofIn small groups, or as part of a class debate, share your opinions on the discussion discussion.

1 Throughout a lifetime of establishing identities, we act parts inany the question. What
kind of systemic federal regulation or permitting process—the little we know is from
game of life by
stories, interviews, public reports, and investigative reports about its prevalence. And
does the text sayWITH
INTERACT about similar
THE thinking
TEXT of group members?learn
Students
apply multiple What canand
my examples of
playing out scripts organized in the form of normative social expectations
even police called roles,
departments that are forthright about how they use the technology often
occupation roles:
you conclude about ways to prevent groupthink?
which are attached to social positions, or statuses. These roles include don’t collect or share any tangible metrics about its effectiveness. Friedman said that
gender roles,
with better data, the public might haveclerk/customer in
a better understanding of the true value of facial
methods of interacting with texts, providing them with skills
age roles, occupation roles, and a multiplicity of others. a bank
recognition technology, and if it’s worth the risks.
2 On the one hand, roles provide scripts that permit and oblige us to behave in certain Activityessential
3 for their future academic success.
ways. For example, at a party everyone can say, “It’s getting late; I’ve 1got to go to sleep”—
non-democratic, dictatorial state, based on the novel 1984 by George Orwell

except the host. On the other hand, roles can be thought of in a more dynamic fashion, You have learned that people involved in groupthink fail to express personal opinions
as expectations that emerge in the give and take of social interaction. For example, a openly; in fact, they may even lose their sense of personal control as they are swayed
student reports that during an exam he was passed a note by his friend sitting in the How would I by the will of the group as a whole. The next reading, taken from a psychology
next seat requesting “help” for a particular question. Terrified that the instructor might behave in this textbook, explores the issue of the loss of personal control. There are a number of
notice the interaction, the student attempted to resolve the dilemma by eating the note, situation?
questions following the text; you will be given a limited amount of time (determined
mercifully “very short and written on a small piece of paper” (Albas and Albas, 2005).
by your instructor) to answer them. Use this opportunity to try out one of the answer-
completion strategies (A or B) on page 5. You will also practise making a brief summary
outline of the text.

PRACTICE and APPLY Abundant activities in each PRE-READING

16 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice
unit provide students with opportunities to practice and 1. Preview the text: study the title, figure, picture, and italicized terms, and then read
the first paragraph.
perfect each reading skill strategically and successfully READING
2. Based on your preview, make predictions about the text’s contents before reading
before, during, and after reading the texts. 1. With a partner, experiment with the two different answer-completion strategies
the complete article.
recommended when you have limited time to read and respond. You can review
a) Explain the idea of learned
18 helplessness in your
Perspectives: own words.
Academic Reading Skills and Practice
these strategies on page 5.
b) Do you think that having a great variety of products to choose from in a
Student 1: Having previewed the text, read
(see itthe
in picture
its entirety. Interact with it while
Interacting with up-to-date cross-disciplinary academic supermarket makes shopping more or less stressful
reading. Then POST-READING
complete the questions following the text.
on page 17)?
c) How might the idea of abundant choice be related to the topic of personal
texts provides students with valuable real-life practice. control? Student 2: Having previewed the text, go to the questions. Study each question and
Comprehension
then look for the answer in the text. While reading, interact with the text.
1. The dogs in Seligman’s experiment did not try to escape further shocks because
Students 1 and 2: After completing the questions, compare your answers and check
(1 point)
them with your instructor for accuracy. Put your score in the blank on page 19
a) thecomprehension
after the post-reading harness was fitted too tightly
questions. around
Share yourtheir bodies. about the
thoughts
b) theypoints
positive and/or negative felt they
of could not control
the strategy the situation.
you used.
c) it was pointless to try to escape from something that was inevitable.
2. Use the same textd)annotation
the hurdle was placed too
strategies thathigh.
you used in Activities 1 and 2 to
interact with the text.
2. Seligman’s experiment with dogs demonstrates that (1 point)
a) it is always useful to learn how to escape from a difficult situation.
Reading b) repeated electric shocks cause helplessness in animals.
c) lack of control over traumatic happenings makes dogs feel helpless.
Learned Helplessness
d) peopleversus
and dogsPersonal Control
behave differently in similar situations.
1 In studying how3. we interact
Which withanour
is NOT environment,
example social-cognitive
of an environment psychologists
where individuals may feel that they
emphasize our sensehave of personal
little or nocontrol—whether
personal control? (1we learn to see ourselves as
point)
controlling or controlled by our environment. People who feel helpless and oppressed
a) Living in a nursing home with strict rules
 informational terms. Instead of bringing together different views and information,
committees often narrow their focus to what they have in common. Information is lost
rather than gained.
136 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice
x How to Use the Book Source: R.F. Baumeister and B. Bushman, Social Psychology and Human Nature, 3rd ed. (Wadsworth Cengage, 2014),
pp. 524–526.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Complete the passage based on paragraph 1.
POST-READING
It Vocabulary
has been intuitively sensed that being in nature brings health benefits. Now,
1. While
these reading,
intuitions have you
beenmay haveby
proved not recognized some of the. following words. Some Enter any new words
you could guess in context, and others you had to look up in the dictionary. Now, into your personal
2. Underline
matchthe supporting
each word withdetails for the main idea in paragraph 1.
its definition.
vocabulary notebook.
Make this a habit every
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY Vocabulary activities such as time you encounter new
3. Underline
Wordthe main idea of paragraph 3. Then paraphrase the two supporting
Definition vocabulary; you will not
guessing meaning from context, recognizing synonyms, detailsa)fortotalitarianism
this idea below.
(para. 1) express opinions publicly be reminded after every
and understanding word usage follow key reading passages. b) flawed (para. 1) practical, useful reading.

c) air (para. 2) a political regime with only one party that has
complete power and control over the people
d) reluctant (para. 2) defective; problematic
e) contrary (para. 3) unwilling
f) elite (para. 3) belonging to an upper social level
4. What inference
g) sensiblecould be made on the basisdifferent,
(para. 4) of this against
study result: “Around the world,
something
national parks alone improve visitors’ mental health to the tune of benefits worth
anComprehension
estimated $6 trillion” (textbox)?
20 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice a) 1.People
a) Doaround
the authors describe
the world havegroupthink
to spend in paragraph
around 1 in a positive
$6 trillion or national
to attend a negative
parks.light?
b) If people with mental health issues had to get medical help, it would have cost
$6 trillion. Instead, they get help from nature.
Discussion
c) The costs of maintaining national
DISCUSSIONS Speaking parks activities
for the benefit of people
offer studentswith valuable
mental
Discuss your results with your partner. Did you feel comfortable using the answer- health b) Highlight
issues arethe words $6
around in the paragraph that support your answer to question a.
trillion.
completion strategy you were assigned? Did you have enough time to complete the d)2.TheWhat
opportunities
estimated $6 trillion
to develop
spent on parkall
oral communication
improvements
skills while
may cause groupthink? Circle that apply. is a large amount of money.
questions? Would you follow your strategy in the future, or would you prefer to try the sharing and comparing strategies, knowledge, and insights.
strategy your partner used? 5. What a) people’s
does Carolwish to be polite
Campbell implyand pleasant
about with each
the modern other in Shetland when she
lifestyle
b) people’s
says that unwillingness
“Until just a generation to get
ago,into conflicts population lived a very active life
Shetland’s
Summarizing to Learn and Remember c) people’s
as fishermen anddesire to have
crofters eating anaenjoyable
simple diettime withon
based each other kale, and oily fish”
potatoes,
(para.d)6)?people’s need to be liked by group members
Create a basic summary to help reinforce your learning. The previous activity included
comprehension questions, but many reading tasks will not include a set of questions3. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). If false, correct the statement.
or a specific assignment. You will still be expected to understand and remember
6. Complete theMembers following of chart
a groupsummarizing
experiencing groupthink
study resultstruly agreethe
about with each other.
benefits of
the material, and creating a text summary outline can help. Review the section on
nature for health around the world. They are not in the same order as in the text.
summarizing on page 5, and then complete a simple point-form summary of the text
“Learned Helplessness versus Personal Control.” Study name or place Benefit/action
Schoolchildren have more brain connections related to
• personal
TAKING controlSummarizing
NOTES definition: activities reinforce the habit working memory and attention.

of outlining key points, so students have a clear idea of Los Angeles

what• they
learned helplessnessand
remember chart:what needs to be reviewed.
Regular park visits make children more resilient.

• Experiments on learned helplessness and personal control: Patients with diabetes, anxiety, and depression improve as they
spend time outdoors.
dogs: Park Rx America
prison:
nursing home:
• study of people in democratic and non-democratic societies

The Teacher’s Resource Website

• effects of too much choice in the West: Logout
The password-protected teacher resource website for
Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice offers
additional reading activities, vocabulary lists, answer keys,
and teacher notes.

TEACHING NOTES Practical strategies for using

HOME TEACHING NOTES ANSWER KEYS ADDITIONAL READINGS VOCABULARY LISTS
the book and ideas for extension activities to reach
your teaching goals

ANSWER KEY Downloadable Answer Key files

for all 13 units in the text

ADDITIONAL READINGS Extra reading excerpts

from different academic disciplines that can be
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. used for additional practice or as test material

Contact Us © 2023 OUP Canada. All rights reserved VOCABULARY LISTS Vocabulary list for each reading
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the OUP Canada editorial staff, especially Nicola Balfour, for
sensitive guidance, informed advice, and amazing expertise, which made working on
the second edition of this book a great experience. I also want to thank instructors and
students who used the book in their classrooms and whose feedback was essential in
creating the second edition.
—Marina Rozenberg

Oxford University Press Canada would like to express appreciation to the EAP
instructors who graciously offered feedback on Perspectives at various stages of the
development process. The following reviewers shared their valuable insights with the
author and editorial department:

David Balchin Royal Roads University

Cynthia Eden University of Guelph
Tatiana Galetcaia University of Manitoba
Bill Hodges University of Guelph
Nicholas Jennings Capilano University
Kristibeth Kelly Fanshawe College
Nataliya Kharchenko University of Manitoba
Yuliya Miakisheva York University
Mark David Nell University of Guelph
Carolyn Nesbitt-Larking Western University
David S. Rayo Western University
Leda Reaume Douglas College
Shawna Shulman Ryerson University International College
Introduction
Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice, second edition, will put you on
the path to the challenging but satisfying world of post-secondary studies. Reading is
fundamental to your academic career: you read to prepare for classes and exams and to
write papers. Academic reading expands your horizons as a well-educated individual,
and Perspectives will help you to achieve that. Quite often during their studies, students
are comfortable with the texts they encounter in their major discipline but find they
lack a basic understanding of fields that are outside their major. In modern academia,
where experts from different disciplines collaborate, a good reader should be able to
look at an issue across a range of disciplines—that is the idea behind this book. For
instance, if you are studying biology, you will certainly come across the topic of the
origin of cancer and its treatments from the point of view of a biologist, but most likely
not be exposed to an engineer’s view of cancer as a mechanical problem in the human
body or to a cancer survivor’s perspective that emphasizes the psychological burdens of
fighting and surviving the disease. To bridge the gap between disciplines, Perspectives
offers three reading selections per reading unit, centred around one theme.
Part 1 of the book presents essential academic reading skills and strategies. These
are the tools that enable you to read effectively and efficiently. Part 1 contains five units
covering the following topics:
• Smart reading strategies
• Smart vocabulary strategies
• Main ideas and supporting details
• Inferences, facts, and opinions
• Assessing an argument
Academic reading strategies, such as making connections between your instructor’s
assignment and the text, annotating the text, making predictions, and summarizing
the text, will set you on the course of active engagement with your reading material.
The ability to differentiate between main ideas and supporting details is useful when
outlining the text in preparation for a paper or oral presentation. Understanding how
main points are supported by and connected to details, and learning to infer main
points that are sometimes implicit, aid in seeing the bigger picture of what you are
reading. The units on inferences, facts, and opinions, and assessing an argument will
contribute to your becoming a critical and careful reader: you will learn to judge
whether an issue is presented objectively and whether or not an argument is adequately
supported. In other words, you will learn not to accept ideas in print at face value, but
rather to assess them critically.
A word on vocabulary learning: research shows that no matter what reading
strategies you use, the critical element for success is the number of words in your
active vocabulary. Therefore, Perspectives places a specific emphasis on vocabulary
development. The target words that are highlighted in the readings are found on the
NAWL (New Academic Word List), NGSL (New General Service List), or BSL (Business
 Introduction xiii

Service List) vocabulary lists. Unit 2 offers instruction and practice in vocabulary
strategies, such as keeping a personal vocabulary notebook, recognizing terms and
their definitions, guessing words in context using word part knowledge, and ignoring
less important unfamiliar words while reading. You will have the opportunity to put
these strategies into practice in Part 2 of the book, where each selection concludes with
an academic vocabulary exercise, and your teacher may offer you additional practice
from the book’s online resources.
Part 2 of Perspectives provides a wealth of reading selections that allow you to
apply the skills and strategies taught in Part 1. There are eight themed units with
three reading selections; each reading is followed by comprehension and vocabulary
questions. At the end of each unit, there is a Unit Reflection and Synthesis section.
Here, you are asked to assess the common ground between the three selections as
well as the ideas that make each selection unique. This activity sharpens your critical
and analytical thinking. This section involves sharing of ideas—many of the questions
may have more than one answer, and group work on these questions will lend some
fascinating and unexpected perspectives to you and your classmates. My hope is that
you will be able to see how the topics in the book connect to your life: your studies,
your future career, and maybe even your personal and social identity. Therefore, I
have selected interesting and relevant texts, many of them about modern Canadian
or North American realities. You will encounter readings from a variety of sources—
many of them are excerpted from textbooks, but you will also find materials from
sources including academic journal articles and newspapers.
It is my hope that you will find Perspectives thought-provoking and practical as
a resource for your academic progress. I also wish that the book will inspire you to
read and think critically beyond a prescribed, conventional formula and develop an
informed, multi-faceted approach to academic issues. Enjoy!
—Marina Rozenberg
PART ONE
Academic Reading Skills and Strategies
 Smart
1 Reading
Strategies
This unit presents an overview of these reading strategies:
1. Reading with purpose
2. Interacting with the text
3. Summarizing to learn and remember
4. Monitoring your readiness to start the assignment
5. Expanding your vocabulary

Reading is probably the most common activity that you, as a college or university
student, engage in: you read to prepare for classes, tests, presentations, and papers.
Reading provides the basis for your academic success, and therefore it makes sense
to think about the following questions: How does a successful student read? What
reading strategies does he or she use?
1. Look at the pictures above and discuss the differences between the ways in which
the two students read.
4 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. Imagine reading a novel, a biography, a magazine, or a blog—anything that you

would enjoy reading in your leisure time. How is the process of reading this type of
text similar to and different from reading a textbook for class?
3. In the chart below, fill in the similarities and differences between the process of
reading purely for enjoyment and the process of reading an assigned textbook
chapter for class.

Reading for enjoyment Reading a textbook chapter

Similarities

Differences

You have probably found more differences than similarities. Although it is possible
that you enjoy reading your textbook as much—or almost as much—as what you read
in your leisure time, when you read academic material for class, you do many things
that you do not do when reading purely for enjoyment. That is because your goals
in these two activities are different: with the book, magazine, or website, you may
be reading for personal interest, but with the academic assignment, your goal is to
understand and remember the ideas in the textbook for future use.
Study the five smart academic reading strategies discussed on the following pages.
You will work on each of these strategies in more detail in the reading activities that
follow.

Reading with Purpose

Often your academic reading will be connected to a specific assignment or a set of
questions. The way you read will depend on what you are expected to do with the
information after you’ve read it. Therefore, you should always keep the purpose in
mind while reading.
If you’ve been given an assignment that requires you to write a paragraph or
participate in a discussion related to the reading material, analyze the assignment to
which your reading is connected before starting to read. Ask yourself what you already
know about the topic and what information you’ll need to take from the reading to
help you complete the assignment.
If the assigned text is followed by vocabulary, comprehension, or discussion
questions, you have different reading options depending on the context.
• If you are reading at home, take the time to read slowly and carefully, using all
the smart reading strategies discussed in this unit. Then answer the questions
following the text.
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 5

• For an in-class reading assignment or an exam, you will often be given limited
time to read and answer the questions. In that case, choose one of two answer-
completion strategies: Sometimes you will
be assigned reading
A. Preview the text, read the whole text, and then approach the questions. This material that isn’t
strategy gives some readers more confidence in answering the questions connected to a specific
assignment or set
because they start with the “big picture” of what the text is about. of questions. In this
B. Preview the text, and then go straight to the questions. Work your way through case, before and while
the relevant parts of the text to locate information to answer each specific you read, you may
question. This strategy might save you time—when reading, you can narrow think about the types
of questions that an
your focus to the information needed to answer each question. instructor may ask
based on the reading
Both methods for answering questions can be effective, so experiment with both material and try to
and see which one works best for you. answer these questions.

Interacting with the Text

Actively interacting with a text will help you process and retain the information you
read. Tips for interacting with the text:
• Preview before reading. To preview a text, look at the title, section headings, and
visuals, and read the first paragraph. You may also find it helpful to read the last
paragraph. Study any other prominent features that a text contains (subtitle,
author’s credentials, textboxes, charts, italicized key words, or words in bold).
• Make predictions before and while reading. You may find it helpful to write
questions or predictions in the margins.
• Make notes in the margins. These could be about the text’s key points or topics,
some unclear ideas, or any ideas from your own experience or knowledge associated
with the topic.
• Underline, highlight, or circle key terms, main ideas, and important supporting
details.
• Try to guess unfamiliar words in context. Verify your guesses and look up unclear
key words in an English-English dictionary.

Summarizing to Learn and Remember

Instructors do not test students on every reading task they assign. Rather, they may
expect students to take responsibility for learning the material on their own and to
integrate this material into a major assignment, such as an essay, an exam, or a class
discussion. Therefore, you should monitor your own learning, and one way to do that
is to summarize the text by creating an outline of key points.
Get into the habit of creating simple text summaries. Mentally or in writing,
summarize the main points after you finish reading. You do not have to write a full-
length text summary each time you read. Simply compose a bullet-point outline that
describes the key points. Your text annotations, done as a part of your interaction with
the text, will make summarizing easier.
6 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

When creating a simple point-form summary, try not to look back at the text—
work from memory. If you have unfilled blanks after you have worked through the
whole summary, go back to the text to check for any points you are not sure about.
Your outline of key points will help you see which ideas from the text you remember
perfectly well and which you need to review. Ultimately, summarizing helps you to
learn and remember the material.

Monitoring Your Readiness to

Start the Assignment
Approach your reading assignment, like all of your assignments, with a positive
attitude and confidence that you can complete it successfully. An optimistic mindset
and self-confidence regarding a task will help you to handle the task successfully.
Concentrate on your assignment fully. Eliminate distractions from your working
space and make sure you allocate a sufficient amount of time to your task.

Expanding Your Vocabulary

You’ll learn more about smart vocabulary strategies in Unit 2. Before we get to those
specific strategies, there are two techniques for expanding your vocabulary that every
EAP student should practise.
• Start a personal vocabulary notebook where you will write down new words and
their meanings. The words may come from your English class, from your other
classes, or from any source of English you encounter: newspapers, TV, books,
conversations. Review your word lists several times a week.
• Read extensively. In addition to your academic reading assignments, read English
magazines, websites, and books for fun.
Practise these smart reading strategies and effective study habits as you read the
following passages and complete the pre- and post-reading activities that accompany
each one.

Activity 1
The passage on page 7 is from a sociology textbook. Imagine that, based on this passage,
your sociology instructor has given you the following assignment: Write a paragraph
defining the term social role. Include your own example of a social role and explain
what expectations we may have of a person in this social role. How do these expectations
influence social interactions?

PRE-READING
1. Monitor your readiness to start the assignment:
a) Are you sitting in a quiet, comfortable place?
b) Are you physically comfortable (not hungry, for example)?
c) Have you allocated enough time (at least 45 minutes) for this assignment?
d) Have you turned off your TV, computer, and phone?
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 7

2. Try to get into a positive mindset regarding your successful completion of the
assignment. Hard work leads to effective results, so prepare to do some serious
work and you will complete your assignment successfully.

3. To ensure that you are reading with purpose, start by analyzing the assignment
task on page 6.
a) What term (specific to the subject you are studying in this assignment) do you
need to understand in order to write the paragraph?

b) Is it enough to use only the textbook passage to write a good paragraph in response
to the assignment? If not, what additional information will you need to include?

c) What do you think social roles are?

READING
The first two paragraphs in the following reading selection have been annotated for
you as an example of how you should interact with a text. Read the rest of the text and
continue to mark it up.
• Highlight the terms you need to know and their definitions.
• Underline the main point of each paragraph and circle important examples.
• Mark anything you are unclear about with question marks.
• Make notes in the margins if an idea in the text reminds you of something in your
own experience.
• Guess and/or look up unfamiliar vocabulary.

Reading
script: movie scenario? plan?
Status and Role What does the writer mean by age roles?
1 Throughout a lifetime of establishing identities, we act parts in the game of life by
my examples of
playing out scripts organized in the form of normative social expectations called roles,
occupation roles:
which are attached to social positions, or statuses. These roles include gender roles, clerk/customer in
age roles, occupation roles, and a multiplicity of others. a bank
2 On the one hand, roles provide scripts that permit and oblige us to behave in certain
ways. For example, at a party everyone can say, “It’s getting late; I’ve got to go to sleep”—
except the host. On the other hand, roles can be thought of in a more dynamic fashion,
as expectations that emerge in the give and take of social interaction. For example, a
student reports that during an exam he was passed a note by his friend sitting in the How would I
next seat requesting “help” for a particular question. Terrified that the instructor might behave in this
notice the interaction, the student attempted to resolve the dilemma by eating the note, situation?
mercifully “very short and written on a small piece of paper” (Albas and Albas, 2005).
8 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3 Thus, role enactment, or role-playing, can be viewed either structurally, in terms of

fixed expectations, or interactionally, as dynamic and developmental. In other words, we
can view social behaviour as the learned performance of scripts that follow agreed-on
rules or as negotiated arrangements that people work out with one another to solve
unique problems of spontaneous interactions.
4 What is the use of studying the concepts of roles? As agreed-to expectations for
behaviour, roles generally facilitate interaction in society. We don’t realize just how
dependent we are on role expectations to coordinate our acts with others until those
expectations are violated. Similarly, in order to play roles, we need to know the identities
of others as well as our own. Roles may also polarize and distance people from one
another. The expectations that persons may hold of others can work as barriers to both
communication and socialization. We need to understand roles in order to avoid being
unwitting1 slaves to them.
5 Consider an example of how roles work. The American sociologist Harold Garfinkel
(1997) believed that we could best understand the constraints of social structure by
breaking the hidden rules. To do this, he instructed his university students to return
to their homes and behave in ways that breached the normal expectations of their
family lives: by acting as if they were boarders and their parents were the landlords.
Students were to be extremely polite, addressing their parents formally as “Mr” and
“Mrs” and speaking only when spoken to. Approximately 80 percent of students who
actually went through with the experiment reported that their parents were stupefied,
shocked, and embarrassed. Many worried that their children had “lost their minds”—that
the pressures of school, work, and everyday life had “gotten to them.” Others thought
their children were being mean, inconsiderate, and impolite. In short, parents couldn’t
make sense of this rule-breaking behaviour.
Source: L. Tepperman and J. Curtis, Principles of Sociology: Canadian Perspectives, 2nd ed. (Oxford UP Canada, 2009), p. 82.

1 not aware of what you are doing or of the situation you are involved in

POST-READING
Vocabulary
1. While reading, you may have been puzzled by some or all of the following words.
Some of the words you could guess in context—more about guessing in context in
Unit 2—and others you had to look up in the dictionary. Now, match each word
with its definition.

Word Definition
a) script (para. 1) in a way suitable for official occasions
b) oblige (para. 2) to help; to make something easier
c) spontaneous (para. 3) a set of words or actions prepared in advance
d) facilitate (para. 4) to break; to violate
e) constraint (para. 5) make us do something
f) breach (para. 5) happening on the spot, without a plan
g) formally (para. 5) restriction, limitation
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 9

2. Start a personal vocabulary notebook; enter any new words from the reading and
their definitions. Continue filling your notebook with new vocabulary and review
your word lists several times a week. Bring your notebook to class: your instructor
may want to check your progress.

Vocabulary
Word Part of speech Dictionary definition Example sentence from dictionary

Comprehension
1. In the example of the student who received a note in the middle of an exam (para. 2),
a) he behaves according to the social expectations of his friend.
b) he relies on a set script to help him to resolve a conflict in a predictable manner.
c) he helps his friend with the difficult questions.
d) he reacts spontaneously, based on his understanding of his instructor’s
expectations of a good student.

2. What are the two perspectives on role enactment?

and

3. The purpose of studying roles is

a) to create barriers in social interactions.
b) to avoid following them blindly.
c) to violate social expectations.
d) to develop dynamic and spontaneous arrangements.

4. Garfinkel’s experiment was designed to prove that

a) social roles are disrupted in the families of students and their parents.
b) most students comply with the expectations of their professors.
c) social structures are based on certain rules of behaviour.
d) polite behaviour can sometimes cause problems in communication with parents.
5. The author includes several examples of social roles in the passage. Fill in the chart
below with expectations related to the social roles listed. Use ideas from the text or
from your own experience. Use the notes you made in the margins. The first role
has been explained for you.

Role Expectations
Student in an exam Does not cheat
A friend
A young adult living at home with parents
A nurse (an example of an occupation role)
10 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Paragraph Writing
As part of the process of reading with purpose, think about how the information in
the text helps to complete your assignment. Look at the task again: Write a paragraph
defining the term social role. Include your own example of a social role and explain
what expectations we may have of a person in this social role. How do these expectations
influence social interactions?
1. You have found examples of social roles in the text. Now think of your own example
of a social role and list the expectations you may have of a person in this role.

Role:

Expectations:

2. How can the role you chose be viewed in terms of fixed expectations and how can
it be viewed as dynamic and developmental? How do expectations about this role
facilitate social interaction and how do these expectations create barriers between
individuals? Explain.

3. Now you are ready to write a paragraph to complete the task. After you have
finished writing, share your paragraph with a classmate.

Activity 2
The next reading explores the dangers of social interactions in which people rely too
heavily on predetermined scripts or expectations rather than expressing their own
individuality. (You have just learned about scripts in the first reading.)
After reading this text, you will participate in a discussion on the following topic:
What are the problems associated with decision making when the group of decision
makers all tend to think in a similar way? What should be done to help committees at
work or school make good decisions? Use the excerpt on groupthink from Baumeister
and Bushman’s Social Psychology and Human Nature (3rd ed.) and your own ideas in
your discussion.

PRE-READING
A. Read with purpose. Before you start reading, analyze the topic of the discussion.
1. Have you ever been a part of a decision-making committee (at your school or
workplace, or in your community)? Was the work of your committee effective?
2. In order to complete the task above, which key term do you need to know?
3. What is your initial response to the discussion topic? Can you predict why
problems might arise if decision makers do not express different views?
4. While reading the text, notice the definition of the key term mentioned in the
discussion topic. Keep in mind your discussion topic and highlight the relevant
information as you are reading.
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 11

B. Interact with the text.

1. Preview the text. Remember that your preview should include any of the
following elements the text contains: title, subtitle, author’s credentials, section
headings, textboxes, images, charts, italicized key words or words in bold, and
the first and last paragraphs.
2. Based on your preview of the text below, make predictions about its contents
before reading it in its entirety. Answer the following questions:
a) Locate the source for this text. Can the reader trust the source?
b) What is groupthink?
c) Why do you think the authors call committees foolish?

READING
While reading, continue to make predictions about ideas in the text. The questions and
comments in the margins of the text will help you.
Continue annotating the text as demonstrated in Activity 1.

Reading
Groupthink
1 The term groupthink was borrowed from novelist George Orwell, who used it in How are groupthink
his novel about totalitarianism called 1984. The term refers to the tendency of group and totalitarianism
connected?
members to think alike. Social psychologists use it specifically to mean a style of
thought in which the group clings to a shared but flawed or mistaken view of the world
rather than being open to learning the truth. In decision making, groupthink means that
the group sticks to its preferred course of action, refusing to consider alternatives fairly
and refusing to recognize the dangers or flaws in its plan.
2 The roots of groupthink probably lie in the desire to get along. Members of a group Does this sound like any
do not want to spend all their time arguing, nor do they want the other members to of my experiences as a
group member?
dislike them. They most enjoy being together and working together when they all agree.
12 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

In principle, a group will have the most information if people bring diverse viewpoints
and air conflicting opinions, but such discussions can be difficult and unpleasant. Hence,
people become reluctant to criticize the group, attack its basic beliefs, or question each
other. This creates the illusion that everyone is in agreement.
3 Several aspects of a situation make groupthink more likely. First, the group tends Examples of
to be fairly similar and cohesive to start with (and then becomes more so as a result of groups with these
characteristics?
groupthink). That is, the members of the group share many views and ideas in common,
Examples of
and they tend to get along well with each other. Second, a strong, directive leader movies or books
makes groupthink more likely. Third, the group may be isolated in some sense from that show
others, so that it is not exposed to disturbing facts or contrary views. Fourth, the group groupthink in
practice?
may have high self-esteem, regarding itself as a superior, elite collection of people who
do not need to worry about what outsiders think or want.

Foolish committees
4 Most organizations rely on committees to study issues and make decisions. This
approach is based on an eminently sensible principle: it may be hard for a single
person to know all sides of an issue and all aspects of a problem. By bringing together
a group of people with different knowledge and different viewpoints, the outcome
can be improved. Ideally, each person contributes something different, the group
members respect each other’s opinions, and the committee can achieve a broad level
of wisdom and understanding that is above and beyond what anyone working alone
could accomplish.
5 But ask anyone with extensive experience whether committees generally achieve Does my
high levels of wisdom and understanding. Most likely, the answer will be a laugh or a roll experience
confirm the
of the eyes. What goes wrong? authors’
6 Careful laboratory studies of group decisions have begun to reveal the problems prediction?
that cause committees to fail to live up to their promise. One important factor is that
members of a committee want to get along with each other, so they focus more on
what they have in common than on their different perspectives. These pressures toward
group harmony end up stifling the free exchange of information.
7 In one set of studies, the experimenter told a group of participants to decide which Why did they
of two job candidates should be hired. Each member of the group was given some choose Baker?
information about the two candidates. There were seven reasons to hire Anderson and
only four reasons to hire Baker, and the group had all of the reasons—so, logically, the
committee should have chosen Anderson. Yet, most groups ended up choosing Baker,
who was objectively the poorer candidate.
8 The roots of the wrong decision lay in how the information was distributed. The
researchers gave each member of the group the same four reasons for choosing Baker,
but they gave each person only one of the reasons for choosing Anderson. Each person
got a different reason for choosing Anderson, so if the committee members managed
to pool their knowledge, they would realize that there were more reasons to hire
Anderson. After all, that is how committees are supposed to work, by bringing together
all the different information that the various members have.
9 But they didn’t manage to pool their information. Instead of talking about all seven How does this
different reasons for hiring Anderson, they mainly talked about the four reasons for demonstrate the
negative effects
hiring Baker. That is, their group discussion focused on what they all knew in common, of groupthink?
rather than on the unique information each person had.
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 13

10 Thus, a committee can end up being less than the sum of its parts, even in purely
informational terms. Instead of bringing together different views and information,
committees often narrow their focus to what they have in common. Information is lost
rather than gained.
Source: R.F. Baumeister and B. Bushman, Social Psychology and Human Nature, 3rd ed. (Wadsworth Cengage, 2014),
pp. 524–526.

POST-READING
Vocabulary
1. While reading, you may have not recognized some of the following words. Some Enter any new words
you could guess in context, and others you had to look up in the dictionary. Now, into your personal
vocabulary notebook.
match each word with its definition. Make this a habit every
time you encounter new
Word Definition vocabulary; you will not
a) totalitarianism (para. 1) express opinions publicly be reminded after every
reading.
b) flawed (para. 1) practical, useful
c) air (para. 2)  political regime with only one party that has
a
complete power and control over the people
d) reluctant (para. 2) defective; problematic
e) contrary (para. 3) unwilling
f) elite (para. 3) belonging to an upper social level
g) sensible (para. 4) different, against something

Comprehension
1. a) Do the authors describe groupthink in paragraph 1 in a positive or a negative
light?

b) Highlight the words in the paragraph that support your answer to question a.

2. What may cause groupthink? Circle all that apply.

a) people’s wish to be polite and pleasant with each other
b) people’s unwillingness to get into conflicts
c) people’s desire to have an enjoyable time with each other
d) people’s need to be liked by group members

3. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). If false, correct the statement.

Members of a group experiencing groupthink truly agree with each other.

14 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. Paragraph 3 describes four characteristics of groups that are more likely to engage
in groupthink. Each is marked by a connector (First, Second, etc.). Match each of
the following examples with one of the characteristics from paragraph 3.

First: Second: Third: Fourth:

a) The student council in a Toronto all-boys private school consists solely of
students who come from White upper-middle-class Anglo-Saxon families who
have been in Canada for many generations.
b) The board of a large financial consulting company includes wealthy brokers who
see themselves as more successful and privileged than the average Canadian.
They are well connected to people in power and are confident that even if they
break a few rules, they will not be caught or punished.
c) A group of college students is working on a project for their business course.
Michael is the first to share his views with the group and to offer suggestions
on how they should proceed with the project, even recommending who should
complete specific tasks. Soon, all group members fall in line with Michael’s
instructions.
d) Jessy and his friends grew up in the inner city in a neighbourhood ridden with
poverty, drugs, and crime. Most of their family members joined gangs at a young
age and, although they have witnessed gang violence, these boys are convinced
that being gang members is the only way to live their lives.

5. The authors present two different views on the effectiveness of committees. Fill in
the following diagrams contrasting ideal and real committees.

Ideal committee

People in the committee express different

knowledge and different viewpoints.
The committee can achieve a broad level
of wisdom and understanding.

Real committee

The committee
People want to
has a narrow focus
agree with each
of the situation;
other.
information is lost.

6. In the study described in paragraphs 7 to 9, what happened as a result of the group

members’ wish to get along with each other?
a) They chose to hire the best candidate.
b) They focused on the knowledge they all shared.
c) Each participant was given the same four reasons for choosing Baker, but the
researchers gave each person only one of the reasons for choosing Anderson.
d) The group as a whole benefited from the unique information that each member
contributed.
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 15

7. The authors of the text use an example of a hiring committee to illustrate the risks
of groupthink. There are many other situations in which groupthink occurs, some
much more serious than others. Could each of the following be considered an
example of groupthink? Why or why not? What other examples did you come up
with while reading?
a) the Nazi movement
b) a high school clique of the most popular students
c) a recreational softball team
d) other:

Discussion
Review the discussion topic presented before Reading 2: What are the problems As a part of the process
associated with decision making when the group of decision makers all tend to think of reading with purpose,
you should have been
in a similar way? What should be done to help committees at work or school make thinking about how the
good decisions? Use the excerpt on groupthink from Baumeister and Bushman’s Social text would help you
Psychology and Human Nature (3rd ed.) and your own ideas in your discussion. to participate in the
In small groups, or as part of a class debate, share your opinions on the discussion discussion.

question. What does the text say about similar thinking of group members? What can
you conclude about ways to prevent groupthink?

Activity 3
You have learned that people involved in groupthink fail to express personal opinions
openly; in fact, they may even lose their sense of personal control as they are swayed
by the will of the group as a whole. The next reading, taken from a psychology
textbook, explores the issue of the loss of personal control. There are a number of
questions following the text; you will be given a limited amount of time (determined
by your instructor) to answer them. Use this opportunity to try out one of the answer-
completion strategies (A or B) on page 5. You will also practise making a brief summary
outline of the text.

PRE-READING
1. Preview the text: study the title, figure, picture, and italicized terms, and then read
the first paragraph.

2. Based on your preview, make predictions about the text’s contents before reading
the complete article.
a) Explain the idea of learned helplessness in your own words.
b) Do you think that having a great variety of products to choose from in a
supermarket makes shopping more or less stressful (see the picture on page 17)?
c) How might the idea of abundant choice be related to the topic of personal
control?
16 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

READING
1. With a partner, experiment with the two different answer-completion strategies
recommended when you have limited time to read and respond. You can review
these strategies on page 5.
Student 1: Having previewed the text, read it in its entirety. Interact with it while
reading. Then complete the questions following the text.
Student 2: Having previewed the text, go to the questions. Study each question and
then look for the answer in the text. While reading, interact with the text.
Students 1 and 2: After completing the questions, compare your answers and check
them with your instructor for accuracy. Put your score in the blank on page 19
after the post-reading comprehension questions. Share your thoughts about the
positive and/or negative points of the strategy you used.

2. Use the same text annotation strategies that you used in Activities 1 and 2 to
interact with the text.

Reading
Learned Helplessness versus Personal Control
1 In studying how we interact with our environment, social-cognitive psychologists
emphasize our sense of personal control—whether we learn to see ourselves as
controlling or controlled by our environment. People who feel helpless and oppressed
often perceive control as external. This perception then deepens their feelings of
resignation, as experimenter Martin Seligman (1975, 1991) found. Dogs strapped in
a harness1 and given repeated [electric] shocks, with no opportunity to avoid them,
learned a sense of helplessness. Later placed in another situation where they could
escape the punishment by simply leaping a hurdle, the dogs cowered as if without
hope. In contrast, animals able to escape the first shocks learned personal control and
easily escaped the shocks in the new situation.
2 It’s not just animals. When repeatedly faced with traumatic events over which they
have no control, people come to feel helpless, hopeless, and depressed. Psychologists
call this passive resignation learned helplessness (Figure 1.1).

Negative experiences that one has no control over

Feeling out of control

Sense of overall helplessness

FIGURE 1 .1 Learned helplessness

People can become accustomed to feeling helpless, and therefore acting helpless, when
they continually experience negative situations in which they cannot exert control.

1 a set of leather strips for controlling an animal’s ability to move

 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 17

Abundant consumer choice

3 Part of the shock we feel in an unfamiliar culture comes from a diminished sense
of control when unsure how others will respond (Triandis, 1994). Similarly, people
given little control over their world in prisons, factories, colleges, and nursing homes
experience lower morale and increased stress. Measures that increase control—allowing
prisoners to move chairs and control room lights and the TV, having workers participate
in decision making, offering nursing home patients choices about their environment—
noticeably improve health and morale (Humphrey et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2010).
When Gallup pollsters asked workers whether they were allowed to personalize their
workspace, those who said they could were 55 percent more likely to report high work
engagement (Krueger & Killham, 2006).
4 In one famous study of nursing home patients, 93 percent of those encouraged to
exert more control became more alert, active, and happy (Rodin, 1986). As researcher
Ellen Langer (1983, p. 291) concluded, “Perceived control is basic to human functioning.”
No wonder so many people like their iPads and DVRs, which give them control of the
content and timing of their entertainment.
5 The verdict of these studies is reassuring: under conditions of personal freedom
and empowerment, people thrive. Small wonder that the citizens of stable democracies
report higher levels of happiness, and others have become happier with democratization
(Inglehart, 1990, 2009; Ott, 2010). Shortly before the democratic revolution in the
former East Germany, psychologists Gabriele Oettingen and Martin Seligman (1990)
studied the telltale body language of working-class men in East and West Berlin bars.
Compared with their counterparts on the other side of the Wall, the empowered West
Berliners much more often laughed, sat upright rather than slumped, and had upward-
rather than downward-turned mouths.
6 Some freedom and control is better than none, notes Barry Schwartz (2000, 2004). But
does ever-increasing choice breed ever-happier lives? Actually not. Schwartz notes that the
“excess of freedom” in today’s Western cultures contributes to decreasing life satisfaction,
increased depression, and sometimes decisional paralysis. Increased consumer choices,
as when buying a car or phone, are not an unmixed blessing. After choosing among 30
brands of jam or chocolate, people express less satisfaction than those choosing among a
half-dozen options (Iyengar & Lepper, 2000). In the middle of the last century, an average
supermarket carried 3750 items, notes Sheena Iyengar (2010), while today’s Walmart
and other big-box stores offer more than 100 000, and Amazon offers 24 million books
and millions of other products. This tyranny of choice brings information overload and a
greater likelihood that we will feel regret over some of the unchosen options.
Source: D. Myers, Psychology, 10th ed. (Worth, 2012), pp. 538–539.
18 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

POST-READING
Comprehension
1. The dogs in Seligman’s experiment did not try to escape further shocks because
(1 point)
a) the harness was fitted too tightly around their bodies.
b) they felt they could not control the situation.
c) it was pointless to try to escape from something that was inevitable.
d) the hurdle was placed too high.

2. Seligman’s experiment with dogs demonstrates that (1 point)

a) it is always useful to learn how to escape from a difficult situation.
b) repeated electric shocks cause helplessness in animals.
c) lack of control over traumatic happenings makes dogs feel helpless.
d) people and dogs behave differently in similar situations.

3. Which is NOT an example of an environment where individuals may feel that they
have little or no personal control? (1 point)
a) Living in a nursing home with strict rules
b) Working in an autocratically managed factory
c) Studying in a liberal college
d) Arriving in a country with a very different culture

4. Allowing prisoners to move chairs in their rooms may (1 point)

a) make them feel less helpless.
b) boost their physical strength significantly.
c) increase success chances in their rehabilitation process.
d) increase the control of guards over the prisoners.

5. Allowing workers to personalize their workspace in a car manufacturing factory

may result in (1 point)
a) control over production processes.
b) great satisfaction in work.
c) ineffective human resources management.
d) increased work engagement.
6. The reader may conclude from paragraph 5 that (1 point)
a) democracies offer a sense of freedom and empowerment.
b) under democratic governments, most people feel very happy.
c) West Germany was less democratic than East Germany.
d) people had a better time in the bar in East Berlin than in West Berlin.
 UNIT Smart Reading Strategies 19

7. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false). (1 point each)

I ncreasing the number of product options always results in increasing
consumer satisfaction.
 reedom of choice in modern Western cultures does not have any negative
F
consequences.

8. What are the negative effects of the “tyranny of choice” (para. 6)? (1 point)

9. Choose the best meaning of the word in the text. (0.5 point each word)
a) resignation (para. 1)
i) helplessness
ii) oppression
iii) personal control
iv) quitting a job
b) morale (para. 3)
i) goodness
ii) participation
iii) fairness
iv) confidence
c) counterparts (para. 5)
i) friends
ii) city residents
iii) people of the same position in a different place
iv) opponents
d) breed (para. 6)
i) grow
ii) create
iii) species
iv) diminish

10. Based on your understanding of the text, give your own example of each of the
following:
a) a situation in which a person learns to be helpless (0.5 point)

b) a situation or an item that gives more control to a person, thus helping to

overcome a sense of helplessness (0.5 point)

Your score: /12

20 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Discussion
Discuss your results with your partner. Did you feel comfortable using the answer-
completion strategy you were assigned? Did you have enough time to complete the
questions? Would you follow your strategy in the future, or would you prefer to try the
strategy your partner used?

Summarizing to Learn and Remember

Create a basic summary to help reinforce your learning. The previous activity included
comprehension questions, but many reading tasks will not include a set of questions
or a specific assignment. You will still be expected to understand and remember
the material, and creating a text summary outline can help. Review the section on
summarizing on page 5, and then complete a simple point-form summary of the text
“Learned Helplessness versus Personal Control.”

• personal control definition:

• learned helplessness chart:

• Experiments on learned helplessness and personal control:

dogs:
prison:
nursing home:

• study of people in democratic and non-democratic societies

• effects of too much choice in the West:

 Smart
2 Vocabulary
Strategies
This unit focuses on these strategies to improve vocabulary:
1. Identifying terms and their definitions
2. Analyzing word parts
3. Guessing meaning in context
4. Ignoring less important unfamiliar words

Answer these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. Study the picture above. What are the essential building blocks required to
construct a house? How is building a house similar to learning a new language?
2. What are your favourite strategies for expanding your English vocabulary?
22 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Do you always use a dictionary when encountering an unfamiliar word in a text?

Why or why not? What strategies, in addition to using a dictionary, do you use to
decipher unfamiliar words?

It is impossible to build a solid house without enough building materials. Similarly,

you cannot express yourself or understand others fully without a sufficient vocabulary.
Like the bricks that make up a house, words are the building blocks that make up
language. A strong vocabulary is essential to decoding ideas in reading. In fact, no
smart reading strategy, like those suggested in Unit 1, will help you read fluently and
accurately if your vocabulary is limited. An extensive vocabulary is a cornerstone of
reading, especially academic reading, which employs high-level vocabulary you cannot
learn simply by watching movies or participating in everyday conversations.
Unit 1 provides two simple but effective ways to expand your vocabulary: keep
a vocabulary notebook and read extensively. In your vocabulary notebook, write
down all the new words you encounter in your academic surroundings and review
your lists regularly. By reading in English as much as possible, you will engage with
new or unfamiliar vocabulary in various contexts, thereby improving your chances of
remembering them.
Even when you are armed with a strong vocabulary, you will continue to meet
unfamiliar words in your academic readings. This unit focuses on four strategies to
help you approach those unfamiliar words: identifying terms and their definitions,
analyzing word parts, guessing meaning in context, and ignoring less important
unfamiliar words.

Identifying Terms and Their Definitions

Study the following passage.

Some bacteria are “good,” aiding digestion and cleaning up waste, whereas others
are “bad,” causing infection. There are helpful forest fires, which clean out dangerous
accumulations of underbrush, and harmful ones, which threaten lives and property. In
the same way, some conflicts can be beneficial, or functional. They provide a way for
relationships to grow by solving the problem at hand. Other conflicts can be harmful, or
dysfunctional, causing pain and weakening a relationship.

Would you need a dictionary to determine the meaning of the phrases functional
conflict and dysfunctional conflict? Why or why not?
In many academic texts, writers use specialized words that have specific meanings
within their fields of study. These words are called terms. In introductory-level texts,
terms are usually explained to the reader, and so using a dictionary is unnecessary.
Often, terms are italicized or set in bold type. Their definitions are introduced with the
help of special expressions and/or punctuation (see the passage above).
In many cases, a regular college dictionary may not include precise definitions of
technical terms used in particular fields of study, so working through the definition
given in the text is more helpful than using a dictionary.
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 23

Activity 1
1. The passages below describe ways in which people deal with personal conflict. In
each passage, circle the key term and underline its definition. Highlight the words
and punctuation that signal each term and definition. The first is done for you.

a) The inability or unwillingness to express thoughts or feelings in a conflict is referred

to as non-assertion. Non-assertion can often come from a lack of confidence, but in
many cases, people lack the awareness or skill to use a more direct means of expression.

b) Non-assertion can take the form of avoidance or accommodation. Avoidance, i.e.,

choosing not to face a conflict, may take a physical form (steering clear of a friend after
having an argument) or a conversational form (changing the topic, joking, or denying
that a problem exists). Accommodation is defined as dealing with conflict by giving in,
putting the other’s needs ahead of one’s own.

c) Passive aggression, or the expression of dissatisfaction in a disguised manner, is

designed to punish another person without direct confrontation. An example of passive
aggression involves someone agreeing with you face to face but then showing a
different agenda behind your back—such as the teenager who says he’ll clean his room,
then doesn’t do so as a means of getting back at the parent who grounded him.

d) Whereas a non-asserter under-reacts, a directly aggressive communicator does

just the opposite. Direct aggression—lashing out to attack the source of displeasure
openly—can have a severe impact on the target.

e) Unlike a communicator with an aggressive message, an asserter does not attack the
other person. That is, in assertion a speaker’s statement expresses thoughts and feelings
clearly but without the intent to hurt another person. For example, “I get the idea that
you are mad at me” is an assertive statement as opposed to “You are always mad at me,”
which is an aggressive statement.

f) If both partners treat one another with matching hostility, one threat or insult leads
to another (in a so-called escalatory spiral of conflict). If the partners both withdraw
from one another instead of facing their problems, a complementary de-escalatory
spiral results, in which the satisfaction and vitality seep out of the relationship, leaving it
a shell of its former self.
24 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

g) When people have been in a relationship for some time, their communication often
develops into conflict rituals—unacknowledged but very real repeating patterns of
interlocking behaviour. An example of this is the following: A couple fights. One partner
leaves. The other accepts the blame and begs forgiveness. The first partner returns, and
a happy reunion takes place. Soon, they fight again.

2. Read the following scenarios. Based on your understanding of the terms used in
the passages above, match each term with the situation that best illustrates it.
a) non-assertion
b) avoidance
c) accommodation
d) passive aggression
e) direct aggression
f) assertion
g) escalatory spiral of conflict
h) conflict ritual
i. As often happens, Jane is unhappy with her friend Trish: Trish
does not return Jane’s calls and behaves as if she does not care about Jane.
Jane withdraws until Trish asks what’s wrong. “Nothing,” she replies. The
questioning persists until the problem is finally out in the open. The friends
then solve the issue and continue happily until the next problem arises, when
the pattern repeats itself.
ii. Twenty-five-year-old Jacob lives with his mother, who is controlling,
often preventing Jacob from spending time with his friends in the evenings.
Jacob is unable to express his dissatisfaction because he lacks confidence and
is afraid of his mother’s anger.
iii. Eli resents the fact that his wife is a perfectionist and likes their house
to be spotless. He has promised his wife he won’t leave his dirty socks on the
floor of the washroom, but he keeps breaking his promise.
iv. Feifei criticizes her colleague’s sloppy work on a project in front
of their boss and co-workers. She calls her colleague lazy, careless, and
incompetent in an attempt to ridicule and intimidate him.
v. Whenever Mirabel raises the topic of spending too much money on
eating out and clothes, her partner, Jack, jokes about it and tries to change the
subject.
vi. Chen is habitually late for meetings with his friend Alistair. Alistair
decides to discuss the problem directly without being confrontational. He
politely tells Chen that he is upset and feels disrespected when Chen is late.
vii. Cindy and Fatima work together. Cindy dislikes Fatima, saying that
she interferes in things that are not her business and that Fatima is bossy and
arrogant. Fatima answers back, accusing Cindy of having poor cooperation
skills and being unable to share work with others. They fight more and more,
and their relationship worsens.
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 25

viii. Samantha and Terry have been friends and neighbours for years.
Samantha has started travelling regularly for work and has been asking Terry
to water her plants, take care of her pets, and mow the lawn. She also expects
rides to and from the airport. Although Terry feels annoyed by Samantha’s
demands, she continues to do what is asked, wanting to be a good friend.

Analyzing Word Parts

Would you describe yourself as a bibliophile? Or, maybe, you happen to be a bibliophobe?
If you chose to attend post-secondary school, where reading is required for most
courses, and you signed up for a reading course, you are likely not a bibliophobe.
Confused? A close look at the parts making up these two words will help you to
understand their meanings. Biblio- is a word root that comes from the Greek, and
it means “book.” Phile and phobe are also of Greek origin, and they have opposite
meanings: “to love” and “to hate.” Therefore, a bibliophile is a person who loves reading,
looking at, and maybe collecting books, while a bibliophobe is someone who hates or
distrusts books.
Analyzing word parts is a smart vocabulary strategy. Many prefixes, roots, and
suffixes in English are found in numerous words, and so if you recognize one or more
word parts in an unfamiliar word, you can often make an educated guess about its
meaning. For example, if you know that the word bibliography means “a list of books,”
then you should remember that biblio- means “books.” Knowing the meaning of that
root will help you decode many other unfamiliar words (bibliophobe, bibliophile) with
the same root.

Activity 2
This exercise will give you an idea of how helpful knowing word parts can be. Each Comprehensive lists of
group of words contains the same word part, the meaning of which is given. Make common roots, prefixes,
and suffixes and their
an educated guess about the definition of each word, based on the context in the meanings can be
example sentences. Then complete each chart by writing down another word that found on many English
includes the same word part and adding your own definition along with an example language learning
websites. Search online
sentence. for word parts and
meanings or prefixes,
1. The prefix sub- means “under.” suffixes, and root words.

Word Definition Example

subconscious Some advertisements work on us at a
subconscious level, so we do not notice
their effects.
subtitle The subtitle explained the subject of the book
in more detail.

Your word:
26 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. The prefix omni- means “all.”

Word Definition Example

omniscient Many religions believe in an omniscient being.

omnivorous Black bears are omnivorous: they eat berries

and hunt small animals.

Your word:

3. The prefix circum-/circul- means “around.”

Word Definition Example

circumference The circumference of this auditorium is 100
metres.

circulate The bad news circulated quickly throughout

the office, upsetting everyone.

Your word:

4. The root volve means “turn” or “roll.”

Word Definition Example

evolve Life on planet Earth has been evolving for
millions of years.

revolve Earth revolves around the sun.

Your word:

5. The root vert/vers means “turn.”

Word Definition Example

reverse The government succeeded in reversing the
economic downturn.

divert The course of the river was diverted to create

a dry area in order to construct a dam.

Your word:
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 27

6. The root chron means “time.”

Word Definition Example

chronic This experienced nurse prefers working with
patients who suffer from chronic diseases
because she is able to build long-lasting
relationships with them.
synchronize In group swimming competitions, it is
important that team members synchronize
every movement.

Your word:

7. The root ver means “true.”

Word Definition Example

veracity The judge doubted the veracity of the
witness’s testimony.

verify Before bringing the customer a particular

model of camera, the salesperson had to
verify that the camera was in stock.

Your word:

8. The suffix -ize means “to make something have a certain quality.”

Word Definition Example

customize If you buy this house now, while it is still under
construction, we can customize the colours,
bathroom fixtures, and kitchen cabinets for you.

familiarize The public library has a course to familiarize

seniors with Internet tools.

Your word:

The appendix on page 244 contains a concise list of word parts that you should
familiarize yourself with.
28 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Guessing Meaning in Context

How many of the words below do you know?

ostracism stub ruminate despise dull hinder

Probably not many, because these words are not used very often in everyday speech or
writing. Looking at each word on its own, you have no clues to help you work out its
meaning. However, if you see the words in context, you should be able to guess their
meanings because you are assisted by the following context clues: words with a similar
meaning (synonyms), words with a contrasting meaning (antonyms), examples, and
other general details in the text that suggest the meaning of a target word. To notice
and make use of context clues, you must carefully read not only the sentence that
contains the target word, but also the sentences before and after.

Activity 3
A. The following passage discusses social exclusion and contains all the words listed
in the box above. After reading, choose the correct word to complete each of the
sentences that follow the text. You might need to change the form of the word to fit
the grammar of the sentence.

Why do we seek approval from others and Rejection, social exclusion

why does it hurt so much when they reject us? must be the same or
close in meaning to
Kipling Williams has conducted a great deal of
“ostracism.”
research on social exclusion and ostracism, and
There is a contrast
he and his colleagues have found that not only is between “people we like”
it painful when other adults choose not to play a and “people we despise,”
cyber ball game with us, it is also painful just to so “despise” must mean
dislike.
watch others be rejected from the online game
Stubbing your toe is an
(Wesselmann et al., 2009). We feel pain when we
example of physical pain.
are rejected by the people we like. Incredibly, it is painful even when we are rejected by
A pain reliever such as
groups of people we despise (Gonsalkorale and Williams, 2007). In an extensive review acetaminophen dulls pain,
of the literature regarding social and physical pain, Geoff MacDonald and Mark Leary i.e., reduces or makes
(2005) suggest that some of the same brain mechanisms that signal physical pain (e.g., something (e.g., pain) less
intense.
stubbing your toe) are also activated by social pain (e.g., not being invited to a party).
“Ruminate” must be
In fact, taking a pain reliever such as acetaminophen dulls the social pain of rejection
similar to “relive something
and exclusion just as it does physical pain (DeWall et al., 2011). It is interesting that we over and over again in our
seldom ruminate about episodes of physical pain that we have experienced, but we minds”; perhaps a way of
frequently relive social pain over and over again in our minds, often reconstructing the thinking intensely about
something.
argument or incident and replacing what we said with what we wish we had said. …
Shy people try to avoid
Some researchers suggest that the pain of social exclusion may be at the heart of what social interactions.
hinders shy and anxious people from engaging in social interactions. People with shy Their painful experience
temperaments may learn to avoid social interaction because of the painful feelings they hinders, or makes it more
difficult, for them to
have experienced during social interactions in the past (Panksepp, 2011).
interact with others.
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 29

1. After a few glasses of wine, we sat on the porch, watching the sunset and Remember that many
words mean different
about the meaning of life. things in different
contexts. For instance,
2. I my toe when I was moving the new furniture. It was very stub can mean “to hurt
painful. your toe by hitting it
against something
hard.” Stub can also
3. A few years ago, two brothers committed a horrible murder. Since then the whole mean “a short piece of
family has suffered social . a cigarette, pencil, etc.,
when the rest of it has
been used,” as in a pencil
4. His inability to speak English fluently Juan from finding stub, or a ticket stub.
a well-paying job in sales.

5. After she was mugged, Joan thought she would never feel safe again; only time
helped the shock of the trauma.

6. Benny himself after he cowardly watched the struggling

kitten drown instead of diving into the river to save it.

Although context clues are helpful when decoding unfamiliar words, they work only if
the reader approaches the text armed with an extensive vocabulary. In addition, even if
you guess the meaning of the word correctly, it generally will not stay in your memory
for long. To retain new words, you need to actively learn their forms and meanings,
enter them into your vocabulary notebook, and review them regularly.
B. Select the best meaning of the italicized word or phrase in each sentence or passage.
Use context clues.

1. We decide who we are on the basis of how others react to us. Deprived of
communication with others, we would have no sense of identity.
a) without b) enjoying c) reacting to
2. We spend a staggering amount of time communicating with others. For example,
college students spend approximately 13 hours a day engaged in some type of
interpersonal communication.
a) small b) astonishing c) reasonable

3. He could not speak but uttered only weird cries.

a) kept silent b) suppressed c) made a sound

4. Imagine that a friend says “I’m sorry” after showing up two hours late for a pre-
arranged meeting. There are several possible “meanings” that this expression
might have: a genuine apology, an insincere attempt to defuse your anger, or even
a sarcastic jibe.
a) request for forgiveness b) insult c) smile

5. Disputes over apparently trivial subjects, such as who will take out the garbage
or whether we will play tennis or swim, are important. We are arguing about the
nature of our relationship: who is in control? How important are we to each other?
a) essential b) fascinating c) of little importance
30 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. Sometimes, after a fight between friends, further explanation can clear up the
confusion, and an apology can mollify another person’s hurt feelings.
a) reduce b) intensify c) trigger

7. When you decline an unwanted invitation by saying “I can’t make it,” you probably
want to create the impression that the decision is really beyond your control. (If
your goal were to be perfectly clear, you might say, “I don’t want to get together. In
fact, I’d rather do almost anything than accept your invitation.”) In fact, we often
equivocate precisely because we want to hide our true thoughts and feelings.
a) speak clearly
b) insult others
c) use ambiguous language

8. There are other times when talking too much actually aggravates a problem. In
one study, college roommates revealed that thinking and talking about conflicts
actually increase relational problems.
a) solves b) makes worse c) reduces

9. Even the most tyrannical, demanding, by-the-book boss might show an occasional
flash of humanity.
a) gentle b) clever c) controlling

10. We sometimes wish that we could go back in time, erasing words or acts and
replacing them with better alternatives. Unfortunately, such reversal is impossible.
Words said and deeds done are irretrievable.
a) regrettable
b) preventable
c) impossible to take back

Ignoring Less Important Unfamiliar Words

In the previous activities you have learned to use different clues—definition markers,
word parts, context signals—to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words in a text.
The last piece of advice in this chapter is, strangely, to learn when to overlook certain
unfamiliar words when reading. In some cases, the reader might understand the text
well enough even if it contains some unknown words.
Study the following example:

It is important to remember that other people will have perspectives different from
yours; it is critical that you understand and respect those perspectives. Many of the
problems among people exist or are exacerbated because one group of people is
ignorant or intolerant of the perspectives of others.

• What does the writer encourage the reader to do?

• What happens if people are ignorant of the perspectives of others?
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 31

If you can answer these questions, you understand the gist of the passage. You
might not have known what exacerbated means, but this did not prevent you from
understanding the main idea. Here, we see that some words are less important than
others in making up the meaning: you have to know what perspective, respect, and
ignorant mean, but the definition of exacerbated is not as important. Therefore, to
ignore the word and continue reading may be the best strategy, especially when readers
are under time pressure or unable to look up new words in the dictionary, specifically
in a test situation. Before you decide to ignore an unfamiliar word, read the entire
passage and ensure that you feel confident in your understanding without knowing the
meaning of that specific word.
Even if you understand the passage without using a dictionary, if you have the
opportunity, look up the word in question. Then write the word in your vocabulary
notebook—after all, your goal is to expand your English vocabulary, and the not-
so-important word in one passage becomes very important in another. (By the way,
exacerbate means “to make something worse.”)

Activity 4
The following passages contain words that may be unfamiliar to you. Cross them out.
Then try to answer the questions, ignoring the unfamiliar vocabulary.

1. Alternative media sources are small organizations, not connected to large

corporations, and they offer alternative views to those found in mainstream sources. They
may provide points of view that advocate a specific social perspective or political leaning.

a) Why are some media sources considered “alternative”?

b) Is it possible for alternative media sources to influence social or political events?

2. Because of modern communications technology, the amount of information

available to us about world issues has increased exponentially, often making it difficult
to determine what is true.

What difficulty has modern communications technology created? Why?

32 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Facts are indisputable truths: knowledge that is certain, concrete, and incontestable.
They can be verified by accurate observation and measurement; for example, the types
and amounts of chemicals found in a lake.

a) Which statements do we call “facts”? Explain in your own words.

b) Why is the following statement a fact? “The level of asbestos in the lake was
measured at 18 to 37 million fibres per litre.”

4. Polling companies ask people questions to determine their beliefs or opinions about
a particular issue. When the opinions of a small number of people have been obtained,
the information is extrapolated to represent the opinions of a much larger group of
people.

How do polling companies determine the opinions of large groups of people?

5. In the 1950s, when DDT (a chemical insecticide) was in wide use, birds were
negatively affected. As they accumulated greater levels of DDT in their tissues, some
birds began laying eggs with very thin shells. DDT was interfering with their production
of calcium carbonate, a mineral necessary for sturdy eggshells. As a result, fewer eggs
than normal were surviving the incubation period, and many birds faced extinction.

a) What happened to some birds’ eggs in the 1950s?

b) Why did some birds face extinction in the 1950s?

6. Rachel Carson, a biologist and writer who studied the effects of exposure to DDT,
died of cancer in 1964, before she could see the banning of DDT. In 1980, she was
posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour
in the US.

a) Why did Rachel Carson get a medal?

b) Was Rachel Carson alive when the president awarded her a medal?
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 33

Paraphrasing
Having expansive vocabulary is a foundational, though not the only, step toward
paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is stating somebody else’s ideas in different words.
Academic tradition requires that you paraphrase rather than quote most of the
content in your presentations or essays. Paraphrasing shows how well you understand
somebody else’s ideas and how effectively you incorporate them into your work to
achieve your own goals. Paraphrasing is always accompanied by a citation, that is, the
reference to the original source of the information.
Study several paraphrasing techniques below and find the differences between the
original sentence and its paraphrased version.

Original sentence: “It is interesting that we seldom ruminate about episodes of

physical pain that we have experienced, but we frequently relive social pain over
and over again in our minds” (Adler et al.).

1. Use synonyms.

It is a curious fact that we rarely think about periods of bodily pain that we have
lived through, yet we often go through social hurt again and again in our thoughts
(Adler et al.).

2. Change the order of the ideas in the sentence.

Although in our thoughts we often relive pain caused by our social circle, we rarely
dwell on periods of physical pain that we went through (Adler et al.).

3. Break longer sentences into shorter ones, or combine short sentences into one
longer sentence.

It is a curious fact that we rarely think about periods of bodily pain that we have
lived through. However, we often go through social hurt again and again in our
thoughts” (Adler et al.).

4. Change word forms and change grammar as needed.

Going through the physically painful events in our memories is rare, yet thinking
again and again about pain caused by social interactions is quite common (Adler
et al.).

5. Switch between active and passive voice.

Physical pain is rarely thought about, but pain caused by social interactions is
common to be dwelt upon (Adler et al.).

6. Use as many of the above techniques as you can in your paraphrase.

Going through the physically painful events in our memories is rare. However,
thinking again and again about pain caused by social interactions is quite common
(Adler et al.).
34 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Integrating the Strategies

Activity 5
Read the following excerpt from an anthropology textbook. Then answer the questions.
Use all the smart vocabulary strategies you learned in this unit:
• Identifying terms and their definitions
• Analyzing word parts
• Guessing meaning in context
• Ignoring less important unfamiliar words

Reading
Variety in Curing Practices
1 When we are faced with a mild disease, illness, or injury, we
often take care of the treatment for ourselves. For example, for
a cold we might take over-the-counter medication; for a cut, we
might use commercial bandages and antiseptics. We might also
resort to home remedies or folk cures recommended by a member
of our family or our community. On your grandmother’s assurance
that “it has always been done that way,” you may swallow some vile
cough syrup she has concocted or some soothing chicken soup
she has prepared with care. Frequently, we find that these home remedies are effective—if
only through the placebo effect (i.e., feeling a physical change after taking a treatment,
because of a belief in the treatment, even though it has no actual medical benefits)—and
we do not need to venture far beyond our home for a cure. Families are often our frontline,
our fortitude, our foundation in health care regardless of the cultures in which we live.
2 When we feel that treatment requires more than home remedies, we will seek outside
help from someone with advanced knowledge of our condition. If we are part of a culture
that relies on traditional knowledge, we might appeal to a medicine woman or man or
a shaman (male or female) for assistance. To a Western observer, traditional curative
measures may seem no more effective than a home remedy; yet traditional cures can
be highly effective for reasons not often considered in Western medicine. Marilyn Walker
(2003), for example, notes that shamanistic music used in Siberia induces altered states
of consciousness, allowing the shaman to access the patient’s unconscious as well as
various forces (spirits) in the transcendental world(s). Other cultures use similar ceremonial
activities to mediate inner and outer worlds and thus rebalance the patient in these worlds.
3 In other cases, even trained medical practitioners may not be able to help. For
example, if you are bitten by a black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) in a remote area,
you may not be able to find medical assistance before it is too late. The venom of the
black mamba is full of neurotoxins that quickly shut down voluntary and autonomic
nerve functions such as those that control breathing. If left without treatment, an adult
who is bitten will generally die within an hour; even with treatment, small children never
survive a black mamba bite. What can anyone do for the patient if there is no hope of
finding antivenom and medical evacuation to a hospital in time? They can comfort the
victim as he or she dies and hope that coma or death will come before the worst of the
 UNIT Smart Vocabulary Strategies 35

symptoms can manifest. This is a horrific and, in some sense, extreme example, but
similarly hopeless situations may arise after a traffic accident or when a patient is in the
final stages of an incurable disease.
4 Sometimes—all too often in some places—the treatment a patient seeks may depend
on his or her financial resources rather than the severity of the condition. Medical
treatment can be very expensive, and the harsh reality is that class and geopolitical
disparities affect an individual’s access to and quality of treatment.
5 The reality of such disparities is clear when we examine the various statistics on HIV/
AIDS generated by national and pan-national organizations. Consider that in excess of
95 percent of all new infections of HIV/AIDS occur in countries commonly classified as A black mamba
“developing” and that at least 50 percent of these infections are in women. Consider
also that the number of childhood cases being reported is increasing, not only among
children born to infected mothers but also among children forced to work in the sex
trade. Indeed, we can wonder what “development” can mean to communities where
so many people are dead or dying of this disease. Socioeconomic disparity is also a
significant factor in HIV transmission in more affluent Western nation-states. In Canada,
rates of transmission are highest in Indigenous communities, where many live in what
could be considered “developing” conditions. Health Canada (2010) estimates that
between 6 and 12 percent of HIV/AIDS infections occur in Indigenous people, while
Indigenous people make up only 3.3 percent of the Canadian population.
Source: E. Schultz, R. Lavenda, and R. Dods, Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, 2nd Canadian
ed. (Oxford UP, 2012), pp. 230–232.

1. Explain the meaning of the following words from the text. Do not use a dictionary.
In small groups, discuss your answers and the strategies you used to reach them.

a) antiseptics (para. 1):

b) soothing (para. 1):

c) placebo effect (para. 1):

d) shaman (para. 2):

e) induces (para. 2):

f) venom (para. 3):

g) disparities (para. 4):

h) pan-national (para. 5):

2. a) What example of a home remedy does the text give?

a) Give an example of a home remedy used by your family.

3. What is an example of geopolitical disparity in people’s access to medical care?

36 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). If false, correct the statement.

It is only in developing countries that people are at great risk of being
infected with HIV/AIDS.

5. List any words that were unfamiliar to you but did not prevent you from
understanding the meaning of the text.

6. When paraphrasing, it is important to preserve the meaning of the original

material. It is also important to cite your source and not to copy chunks of sentences
from the original source. Watch for the problems in the attempted paraphrases
below. Mark them as good or bad paraphrases.
a) Original: “… we find that these home remedies are effective—if only through
the placebo effect (i.e., feeling a physical change after taking a treatment, because
of a belief in the treatment, even though it has no actual medical benefits) …”
(Schultz et al.).
Attempted paraphrase: These home cures seem effective to us, maybe only
because of the placebo effect, i.e., we feel a physical change after taking a
treatment because we believe in the treatment, although the treatment does not
actually work, Schultz et al. report.
Good/bad paraphrase. Why?
b) Original: “If we are part of a culture that relies on traditional knowledge, we
might appeal to a medicine woman or man or a shaman (male or female) for
assistance” (Schultz et al.).
Attempted paraphrase: In a culture based on traditional knowledge, we may
be liked and helped by a shaman person, male or female (Schultz et al.).
Good/bad paraphrase. Why?
c) Original: “To a Western observer, traditional curative measures may seem no
more effective than a home remedy; yet traditional cures can be highly effective
for reasons not often considered in Western medicine” (Schultz et al.).
Attempted paraphrase: A Westerner may think that traditional cures are
similar to home cures in their limited effectiveness. However, for reasons
overlooked by Western doctors, traditional cures may be very beneficial,
according to Schultz et al.
Good/bad paraphrase. Why?
d) Original: “In Canada, rates of [HIV] transmission are highest in Indigenous The Indigenous
communities, where many live in what could be considered ‘developing’ peoples living
in Canada are
conditions” (Schultz et al.). the original
Attempted paraphrase: Many members of Indigenous communities live in inhabitants of
the land. There
conditions like those in developing countries, and Indigenous communities are many cultural
have the highest rates of [HIV] infections. and language
groups among
Good/bad paraphrase. Why?
Indigenous
peoples.
 Main Ideas
3 and
Supporting
Details
This unit focuses on five reading skills:
1. Distinguishing between main ideas and supporting details
2. Identifying an implied main idea
3. Distinguishing between major and minor supporting details
4. Identifying organizational patterns
5. Studying graphical information
38 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

1. Study the picture on page 37. The mighty trunk of this beautiful old tree bears the
weight of many twisting branches—some thick, others thinner—filled out with
leaves. Compare the organization of ideas in a paragraph to the arrangement of
branches and leaves on this tree.
a) What are the essential parts of a tree? What are the essential parts of a paragraph?
b) Which parts are less important for the tree’s survival? Which parts are less
important in a paragraph?
2. How do you locate the main idea in a paragraph? Is the main idea always explicit
in a paragraph?
3. What do you know about organizational patterns of paragraphs?

Some ideas in a paragraph are more important than others; without them the paragraph
simply falls apart, just as the tree is not really a tree if we cut off all its branches. If,
however, we omit the less important ideas in a paragraph, such as examples and specific
details, the paragraph will still hold, although it will not be as clear and informative.
Something similar happens to a tree in the fall when it sheds its leaves: its branches are
visible, but the tree looks naked without the rich green foliage. The tree loses some of
its richness and substance without the leaves. Likewise, a well-written paragraph needs
main ideas and a variety of supporting details to be complete.
This unit explores the organization of main ideas and supporting details in a
paragraph.

Distinguishing between Main Ideas

and Supporting Details
When you read complex academic material, breaking down a paragraph or a section
of a reading into main ideas and supporting details is a useful way of processing
information. It is impossible to remember everything you read, but you can improve
retention of key concepts by focusing on main ideas, whether you are drawing up an
outline of a text or simply reviewing the points mentally.
The paragraph below demonstrates how main ideas differ from supporting details.
Read it and answer the questions that follow. Each sentence is numbered to make it
easy to identify and refer to.

1Providing a meaningful one-sentence definition of any academic discipline is a real

challenge. 2In the case of human geography, however, the American geographer
Charles Gritzner has suggested a useful definition in the form of three closely related
questions: “What is where, why there, and why care?” (Gritzner, 2002). 3Every exercise
in human geography, regardless of which theme it highlights, begins with the spatial
question: “where?” 4Then, once the basic environmental, regional, and spatial facts are
known, the geographer focuses on understanding, or explaining, “why there?” 5Finally,
the third part of the question—“why care?”—draws attention to the pragmatic nature
of human geography: geographic facts matter because they reflect and affect human
life. 6This is true of any geographic fact, whether it is something as seemingly mundane
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 39

as the distance between your home and the nearest convenience store or something
as far-reaching or serious as a drought or a civil war that causes farmers in Ethiopia to
lose all their crops.

1. Are all ideas in this paragraph equally important? Explain.

2. Underline the sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph.
3. Which sentences provide information to support—explain and give details about—
the main idea?
4. What is the role of the last sentence?
5. Provide your own example of a geographic fact, explaining “what is where,” “why
there,” and “why care.”

In the paragraph you’ve just read, you should have recognized the most essential
information was in the second sentence: the term human geography is defined by its
three elements. Sentences 3, 4, and 5 provide specific details related to each of the three
elements, and sentence 6 offers examples of geographic facts that impact people’s lives.
Both the main idea and the supporting details are necessary in this paragraph. Omit
the definition in sentence 2 and the paragraph loses its purpose; omit the explanation
and the examples and the paragraph loses its substance.
Without a main idea, the details the author provides will not make sense. To locate
the main idea, ignore a popular misconception that the main idea is always the first
sentence in a paragraph. In fact, it may be located at the beginning, at the end, or in the
middle of the paragraph. To identify a main idea, ask yourself, “What is the essential
message that I should take from this text?”

Activity 1
A. Practise locating main ideas in a paragraph. In each paragraph below, underline
the main-idea sentence(s) and answer the question following the paragraph.

1. Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) was undoubtedly the most influential of the map-
makers due to his ingenious idea of how to represent large geographical spaces on
paper. He tackled the crucial problem of projection: how to represent a sphere on a
flat surface. His answer was the famous 1569 Mercator projection, still used extensively
today. This projection, which showed the earth as a flat rectangle with a grid of latitude
and longitude lines, was enormously useful to sea travellers because a straight line on
the map was a course of constant compass bearing. By the early seventeenth century,
Mercator’s map had replaced all earlier charts used at sea.

Why is Mercator famous?

a) He invented the concept of maps.
b) He was a skillful navigator at sea.
c) He developed a new approach to map-making.
d) He put down geographical spaces on paper.
40 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. Certain early European maps known as “T-O” maps,1 created between Oriens

the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, clearly reflect medieval Christian values,
with Jerusalem placed at the centre of the world. Other maps from that place Asia
and time show terra incognita (unknown lands) to the south. Nineteenth-

Septentrio

Meridies
Tanais Nilus

Maremediterraneu
century European maps reflect the political and economic concerns of their
creators: colonial possessions, for example, are prominently displayed. These Evropa Aphrica
maps established the conventions that most of us take for granted today:
north at the top, 0° longitude running through Greenwich, England, and the
Occidens
map centred on either North America or Western Europe. These conventions
are totally arbitrary—and yet their influence is enormous, because in effect FIGURE 3.1 Example
they tell us that certain countries are world centres and others are outliers. of a T-O map
In sum, maps reflect the assumptions of their creators, and the viewer must
understand their subjective limitations.

1 Consisting of a T drawn within an O, these maps show the world as a circle divided by a T-shaped body of water.

Why does the author mention the fact that some early European maps represent the
space to the south of Europe as terra incognita?
a) To show that geographical knowledge of the map-makers at the time was limited
b) To show that maps rarely have subjective limitations
c) To show that the map-makers expressed their religious beliefs through the map
d) To show that maps are created based on their creators’ subjective views

3. A geographic information system (GIS)—a computer-based tool that combines

the storage, display, analysis, and mapping of spatially referenced data—has numerous
and varied applications. Biologists analyze the effect on wildlife of changing land-use
patterns. Geologists search for mineral deposits. Market analysts determine trade areas.
Defence analysts select sites for military installations. The common factor is that the data
involved are spatial. In brief, compared to traditional maps, a GIS achieves a whole new
range of mapping and analytical capabilities—additional ways of handling spatial data.

How are the capabilities of GISs different from those of traditional maps?
a) GISs enable a computer-based analysis of data.
b) GISs display spatial data.
c) GISs are made for biologists, whereas traditional maps have a general usage.
d) GISs do not map spatially referenced data.

4. Both GISs and traditional maps have spatial data at their core. They both display
geographical spaces, in small and large scales. However, a GIS challenges one of the
most basic geographic conventions, namely, the idea that regions are separated by
lines. Of course, we know that this is not the case, but the very act of drawing maps with
boundaries effectively creates both boundaries and the regions they circumscribe—it
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 41

misleads us into thinking of them as fixed realities. A GIS is much more capable than a
conventional map of depicting continuous spatial change, and thus requires users to
think about geographic worlds without precise boundaries.

What is one distinct feature of a GIS?

a) It can depict spaces in small and large scales.
b) It can draw changing spaces but keep track of the boundaries they had.
c) It is able to represent spatial data without assigning boundaries.
d) It challenges our idea of regions as having no boundaries.

B. As seen in the paragraphs above, the location of the main idea in a paragraph
varies. Although many paragraphs start with the main idea—this is a convention
that most writing instructors expect in your papers—some paragraphs will have
the main idea at the end, in the middle, or both at the beginning and at the end.
The diagrams below represent the location of main ideas in a paragraph. Match
each one to a paragraph above.

Paragraph Paragraph

Main idea opens a paragraph Supporting details

Supporting details explain the main idea Main idea as a summary or conclusion

Paragraph Paragraph

Main idea Introduction

Supporting details Main idea, especially after a connector

of contrast
Main idea paraphrased
Supporting details

Identifying an Implied Main Idea

Study the following paragraph. What is its main idea?

Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean, was settled by the seventh century
and possibly as early as the fifth century; the first settlers were likely
Polynesians. They arrived at an island with few species of plants and
animals and limited opportunities for fishing, but with considerable areas
of woodland. Their diet consisted of sweet potatoes (an easy crop to
cultivate) and chicken. The considerable amount of free time available
allowed the Easter Islanders to engage in elaborate rituals and construct
huge stone statues, called the moai. Agricultural activities, cooking food,
cremating the dead, and building canoes required the removal of some
trees on the island, but most of the deforestation was carried out for the
42 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

purpose of moving the statues. By about 1550, the population peaked at roughly 7000.
Deforestation, which would, over time, have led to soil erosion, reduced crop yields,
and caused a shortage of building materials for both homes and boats, probably was
complete by 1600. Without wood, Easter Islanders were unable even to build canoes to
catch porpoises (their principal source of protein) or to escape the remote island.

1. Can you locate one sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph?

2. What do you think is the purpose of telling the reader details of the Easter
Islanders’ way of life?

The example above demonstrates that some paragraphs do not contain a single
sentence that expresses the main idea. Yet, the reader can infer the main idea based infer: to reach an
on the supporting details provided. To do that, the reader should ask the following opinion or decide
that something is
questions: What is the overall purpose of the paragraph? What is the one common idea true on the basis
underlying the details? of information
Looking specifically at the details in the paragraph above, the reader must ask, that is available
Why does the writer tell us that there were considerable areas of woodland when
the Polynesians first arrived on Easter Island? Why does the writer tell us that many
activities of Easter Islanders, especially moai building, required a lot of wood? Answers
to these questions will lead to a conclusion about the main idea, which is implied in imply: to suggest
the text. that something
is true, without
3. What is the implied main idea in the paragraph you have just read? Look at your saying so directly

answer in question 2 above, compare the options below, and select the best answer.
a) Easter Island has a long and rich history.
b) Creating the moai statues demanded a lot of work and resources, especially
wood.
c) Easter Islanders were creative people but had problems obtaining food.
d) Easter Islanders destroyed their natural environment and way of life through
deforestation.

Activity 2
In the paragraphs on page 43, the main idea is implied. Study the supporting details
and ask yourself which details are most significant and how they are connected. Then
conclude what main point is implied in each paragraph.
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 43

1. Two facts about human impacts on climate are clear: humans are adding
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and an increase in global temperature is therefore
inevitable. But public understanding of these two incontrovertible facts is not helped by
what is best described as the politicization of climate science. Most notably, individuals
and organizations with a vested interest in the continued burning of fossil fuels (and
they are legion in today’s profit-oriented economy) have routinely questioned, even
rejected, these two facts. Consider the comments made by Chrysler’s chief economist
in 2007 to the effect that any climate change is a far-off risk of uncertain magnitude.
The publication of such comments suggests to many people that a legitimate scientific
debate continues about whether humans are adding greenhouse gases and whether
global warming is resulting.

Implied main idea:

2. In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, about 350 000 people
have been resettled away from the worst affected areas, but another 5.5 million remain.
For several years it was estimated that as many as 7000 people died and up to 3.5 million
suffered from diseases related to the release of radioactive material. More recently,
the National Research Centre for Radiation Medicine (NRCRM) based in Kiev, Ukraine
estimated around 5 million citizens of the former USSR, including 3 million in Ukraine,
have suffered as a result of Chernobyl, while in Belarus around 800 000 people were
registered as being affected by radiation following the disaster.

Implied main idea:

3. Animal domestication serves many purposes, providing foods such as meat and
milk (cows, pigs, sheep, goats), as well as draft animals (horses, donkeys, camels, oxen),
and pets (dogs, cats). Once domesticated, animals have often been moved from place
to place, both deliberately and accidentally. Whalers and sealers were probably the first
to introduce European rabbits into the Australian region, but the key arrival was in 1859,
when a few pairs were introduced into southeast Australia to provide so-called sport
for sheep-station owners. Following this introduction, rabbits spread rapidly across the
non-tropical parts of the continent, prompting a series of “unrelenting, devastating”
(Powell, 1976) rabbit plagues. Rabbits consume vegetation needed by sheep and remain
a problem today.

Implied main idea:

44 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Distinguishing between Major and

Minor Supporting Details
In many paragraphs, ideas can be categorized by their importance and level of
generality. You already know that main ideas are the most general and most important
within the paragraph. Among the supporting details, however, it is also possible to
distinguish between general and specific points. The more general supporting details
are called major details, and the more specific ones minor details.
Although not all paragraphs lend themselves to it, outlining main ideas, major
supporting details, and minor supporting details is a useful habit.
Outlining a text, as you learned in Unit 1, is a smart reading strategy. It forces the
reader to process the information, thereby facilitating learning and retention.

Activity 3
A. Read the paragraph and fill in the blanks in the outline below with the main idea
and major and minor supporting details. Some are already completed for you.

Fertility is high throughout tropical Africa—in several countries the total fertility rate1
(TFR) is between 6 and 7—but the national statistics mask some remarkable variations
within countries. For some areas, TFRs are as low as 2 to 5. Various explanations have
been offered for the fact that fertility rates in some areas are impaired (abnormally
low for the region). Four will be noted here. First, there are cultural variations in the
length of time a baby is breastfed; breastfeeding limits ovulation and often extends
the period of infertility following birth from about 2 months to 18 months. The second
cause of localized areas of low fertility is the impact of diseases such as gonorrhea
and syphilis, which can cause sterility and also tend to reduce the likelihood of sexual
intercourse. Poor nutrition is the third cause: fertility declines following famine and is
consistently low in areas experiencing chronic undernutrition. The fourth cause relates
to marriage. Although almost all women marry, and the age at first marriage is usually
in the mid-teens, there are exceptions. For example, among the Rendille of northern
Kenya, cultural practices result in one-third of the women not marrying until their mid-
thirties; and among nomadic pastoralists, periods of prolonged spousal separation are
not uncommon.

1 the average number of children a woman will have, assuming she has children at the prevailing age-specific rates

Main idea: TFRs within African countries vary greatly. Several factors influence
impaired fertility rates.

Major supporting detail 1:

Major supporting detail 2:

Minor supporting detail: examples of diseases: gonorrhea and syphilis

 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 45

Major supporting detail 3:

Major supporting detail 4:

Minor supporting detail: Some Rendille women marry in their mid-thirties.

Minor supporting detail:

B. Read the paragraph and fill in the blanks in the outline below with the main idea
and major and minor supporting details.

The total fertility rate for Germany (1.4) reflects an unprecedented trend in the former
East Germany, which appears to have come as close to a temporary suspension of
child-bearing as any large population in the human experience. Eastern Germans have
virtually stopped having children. The explanation is not an increase in abortions, which
have also fallen abruptly. One possible explanation is the trauma associated with the
transition from communism to capitalism, and specifically, concern about employment
opportunities for future generations in a region with high levels of unemployment. It
may be appropriate, then, to interpret the low fertility rate in Germany—actually a form
of demographic disorder—as one temporary outcome of the transition from the “old”
to the “new” political order. This suggestion appears to have some merit, as fertility also
declined between 1989 and 1993 by 20 percent in Poland, 25 percent in Bulgaria, 30
percent in Romania and Estonia, and 35 percent in Russia (The Economist, 1993: 54)

Main idea:

Major supporting detail:

Minor supporting detail 1:

Minor supporting detail 2:

Minor supporting detail 3:

Minor supporting detail 4:

Summarizing
Summarizing involves selecting the most important main ideas and supporting details You will practise
of the research source you have selected and paraphrasing them to integrate them into summarizing later
on in the unit.
your essay or presentation. To write an effective summary:
• Analyze the topic of your assignment. Keeping the topic in mind, read your source
closely, several times. Highlight the most important main ideas and supporting
details that you think you will need to include.
46 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

• Complete the following chart based on your reading of the source.

Working with a source

Notes of the main ideas and most important details (use the Source information (author, date, source)
key words method you learned in this textbook)

Paraphrase of the main points in sentence form Where could you use this information in
your essay: introduction/body/conclusion?

How exactly does this information help

you to write your essay?

• Decide how much of the information from the source to include in your When you use someone else’s
summary. This depends on the needs of your essay or presentation. words or ideas—quoted or
paraphrased—you must cite the
You might include one main point or a number of points, depending reference in two places: in the
on your instructor’s requirements and the scope of your assignment. text and in your Works Cited
You must include the source information (called in-text citation), and or References. Failure to credit
you should paraphrase the source material. If you decide to use the is plagiarism. Keep track of
your sources when conducting
author’s original words because they are important and powerful, then research. Two common citation
quote the author directly. Verbs of reporting are useful to integrate the styles your instructors may ask
author’s point of view in your essay. you to use are MLA and APA.

Identifying Organizational Patterns

Main ideas and supporting details are often organized in specific patterns, depending
on the writer’s purpose. For example, if the purpose is to show several effects of climate
change, the writer will probably state the goal in the main idea sentence and outline the
specific effects as supporting details. Certain words and phrases, including as a result
of, causes, because, and due to, will point to the fact that the organizational pattern of
this paragraph is cause-effect.
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 47

The following are the most common organizational patterns used in academic
writing. Often, a paragraph will have one central pattern, with elements of other
patterns supporting it.

Cause-effect: explores the causes and/or the effects of an event or state

Process: describes steps in a process, so that each step leads to the next one
Classification: divides items into groups
Definition: defines a term or concept
Comparison: describes similarities between items
Contrast: describes differences between items
Problem-solution: illustrates a problem and its solution
Description: describes an event, state, person, or item

Activity 4
Read the following paragraphs and identify which organizational patterns they follow.
Think about the writer’s purpose in each paragraph. Underline the words or phrases
that help you see the central pattern. Highlight the main idea. The first paragraph is
marked for you.
1. organizational pattern: definition

“Gaia” is the Greek name for the goddess of the Earth. Today the term is used to denote
a self-regulating system, with all components of the ecosphere—chemical, physical,
and biological systems—in a stable balance that keeps the planet habitable. This
remarkable concept was first introduced in a book by James Lovelock (1979). In brief,
Gaia is seen as a self-regulating entity that keeps the environment relatively constant
and comfortable for life; Earth and all life on it have evolved together as one.

2. organizational pattern:

The principal response to the fact of global warming and its probable consequences has
been an effort to implement policies that will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
Most notably, the UN-sponsored Kyoto Protocol established goals that, if met, were
expected to slow the rate of global warming. This Protocol, a legally binding agreement
to cut greenhouse gas emissions, was reached in 1997 by about 150 countries but only
came into force in early 2005 with most participating countries agreeing to reduce
emissions by a specific percentage.
48 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. organizational pattern:

There are many different opinions about the impact of human activities on the
environment. At one extreme are catastrophists, who view the current situation and
future prospects in totally negative terms. At the other extreme are cornucopians,1
who believe that the gravity of current problems has been greatly exaggerated and
that human ingenuity and technology will overcome the moderate problems that
do exist.

1 This term is derived from cornucopia, the magical “horn of plenty” in Greek mythology that provides its users with food and drink that
never end.

4. organizational pattern:

According to Fagan (2004), it is possible that the early civilization in Mesopotamia

was prompted by a period of reduced rainfall that began about 3800 BCE, causing
many farmers to abandon their fields and seek work in a few favoured locations where
irrigation was a practical possibility. Reduction in rainfall also obliged farmers in irrigated
areas to innovate and intensify, for example, by using draft animals for the first time. This
concentration of increasingly intensive grain production in a few advantaged areas may
then have encouraged urban growth and other characteristics of civilization.

5. organizational pattern:

In the course of history, our societies have been organized into several types. Feudalism
was a non-centralized system of governance and social and economic organization
that developed in Northern Europe over the centuries following the collapse of the
Roman Empire (c. 375). Under the feudal system, all land was owned by the king,
who effectively delegated control of it to his warrior lords (vassals) in return for their
military and political support. Peasants worked the land and were permitted to live
on the land in exchange for their labour. Capitalism was a new type of social and
economic organization that began to emerge as early as the late sixteenth century and
that was fully in place in many parts of Europe by the eighteenth century. Capitalism is
characterized by the transformation of labour into a commodity that can be bought and
sold, and the separation of the producer (the worker) from the means of production,
which are owned by the capitalist class. Today, capitalism is the dominant form of
economic and social organization. In the twentieth century, a number of societies
rejected capitalism in favour of socialism, a form of social and economic organization
based on common ownership of the means of production and distribution of products.
Socialism focuses on community, equality, the well-being of society as a whole, and the
vision of a classless society.
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 49

Studying Graphical Information

Many academic texts contain tables, graphs, or charts. These graphic elements are a
useful way of presenting information because they illustrate trends or specific details
related to a topic in a visually clear way. Providing a chart with statistical details is
often the most concise way to support main ideas in the text.
The first step in working with a chart, graph, or table is studying its title, which
explains what information is being illustrated. After looking at the title, read the
headings in the table or on the x- and y-axis of the graph. These will indicate how the
data is being illustrated and will often show the units of measurement in which the
statistics are expressed (people, millions of dollars, percentages, etc.). Think about the
main trends or key ideas the visual shows.
After reading the data contained in the chart, graph, or table, reflect on it by
drawing connections between the ideas in the text and the supporting information
presented in the chart. Doing so will help you form a full picture of the text.
Visual aids may reflect data at a fixed point in time or data changing with time.
Pie charts, tables, and bar graphs most often reflect data at a fixed point in time, while
linear graphs illustrate data changing over time.

Activity 5
Read the following text, study the chart accompanying it, and answer the questions.

Reading
Languages
1 Like many cultural variables—indeed, like culture itself— Language Number of native
language began as a single entity (or at most a few different speakers (millions)
ones) and diversified into many. Over the long period of English 1268
human life on earth, many languages have arisen and many Mandarin 1120
others have died out. During the past several hundred years, Hindi 637
however, a new language is a rarity while the disappearance Spanish 538
of a language is commonplace. Of the roughly 7000 distinct Arabic 274
languages (not counting minor dialects) that existed 400 Bengali 265
years ago, approximately 1000 have disappeared, leaving
Russian 258
about 6000 languages today. Many more may vanish over
Portuguese 252
the next few hundred years. Current estimates by UNESCO
Japanese 126
suggest that about 3000 languages are endangered and that
one language dies about every two weeks. None of these TABLE 3.1 Languages with more than
numbers are certain. For example, some sources put the 100 million native speakers, 2020
current number of languages at closer to 7000. Source: Ethnologue, “What Are the Top 200 Most Spoken
Languages?” Ethnologue: Languages of the World, https://www.
2 Most languages are spoken by relatively few people. ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200. Accessed 5 Jan. 2021.
Indeed, about 96 percent of the world’s population speaks
only 4 percent of the world’s languages. Table 3.1 identifies the nine languages spoken
that have more than 100 million native speakers. English has more native speakers than
any other language, with Mandarin ranking second. Different sources often suggest
50 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

different data on numbers of speakers because some sources focus on all speakers
rather than on native speakers; if this method of estimating is employed, then the
number of English speakers increases markedly from that noted in Table 3.1.
3 Languages die for two related reasons. First, a language with few speakers tends
to be associated with low social status and economic disadvantage, so those who do
speak it may not teach it to their children. In some cases this results in people choosing
to speak a different language associated with economic success and social progress.
Also, when a language has few speakers the specific reason for disappearance might
be a natural disaster, such as drought or the spread of disease. Second, because
globalization depends on communication between previously separate groups, it is
becoming essential for more and more people to speak a major language such as
English or Chinese. Already, a very few dominant languages effectively control global
economics, politics, and culture.

1. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

a) A language disappears almost every two weeks.
b) It is not exactly clear how many languages exist on Earth today.
c) Multiple languages in use today have evolved from one or two ancient languages.
d) In modern times, there is a tendency for languages to disappear.

2. Are the statistical details mentioned in paragraph 1 reflected in Table 3.1?

3. Complete the following sentence.

The main idea of paragraph 3 is

and the two major supporting details are

and

4. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

 able 3.1 supports the idea that a large portion of people on Earth speak
T
only a small fraction of world languages.

5. According to Table 3.1, how many people speak Portuguese as a native language?

6. Does the table describe data at a fixed point in time or data changing with time?

7. Does Table 3.1 show how many people speak English as their second language?
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 51

8. Give your own example or explanation of how a dominant language controls global
culture.

Activity 6
Read the following text, study the visual aids accompanying it, and answer the questions.

Reading
Urbanization in Canada
1 As in most of the world, urbanization is 40
continuing in Canada. Changes in total, urban,
35
and rural population between 1950 and 2000
and projected through to 2030 are shown in 30
Population (millions)

Table 3.2 and graphed in Figure 3.2. From 60.8

25
percent in 1950, Canada’s urban population for
2030 is projected to reach 87.2 percent. 20
Urban
2 The urban centres increasing most in 15
population are those located relatively close
to the US border, those attracting immigrants 10

both from elsewhere in Canada and from 5

Rural
overseas, and those with economies based on
manufacturing or services. Newfoundland and 0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Labrador is the only region in Canada that is
experiencing a declining urban population. FIGURE 3.2 Rural and urban populations, Canada,
3 The projected decrease in rural population 1950–2030
Source: Produced using data from United Nations Department of Economic and
is not simply a reflection of rural-to-urban Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision
migration but also indicates anticipated urban and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United Nations, esa.un.org/
unup. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.
sprawl and rural growth, so that locations and
households presently classified as rural will
have been enveloped by urban growth and
expansion, and thus be reclassified.

Year Total Urban Percentage Rural Percentage

population population urban population rural
1950 13 737 8 356 60.8 5 381 39.2
2000 30 769 24 429 79.4 6 340 20.6
2015 34 134 28 667 84.0 5 467 16.0
2030 36 980 32 251 87.2 4 729 12.8

TABLE 3.2 Canada: Total, urban, and rural population (000), 1950–2030
Source: Adapted from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population
Prospects: The 2002 Revision and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United Nations, esa.un.org/unup.
Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.
52 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

1. Compare Table 3.2 and Figure 3.2.

a) Do these charts reflect some identical data?
b) Why does the author choose to include both a table and a graph here?

2. According to paragraph 1, from 60.8 percent in 1950, the proportion of Canada’s

population living in urban areas in 2030 is projected to reach 87.2 percent.
Highlight the data described in this sentence on the relevant chart.

3. a) Is the information described in paragraph 2 reflected in either the table or the
graph?

b) Why do you think the population is increasing in cities close to the US border?

4. a) W hich paragraph of the text offers explanations for the trends illustrated in
the charts?

b) What are the causes of the projected decline in rural population?

Integrating the Skills

Use all the reading skills you learned in this unit:
• Distinguishing between main ideas and supporting details
• Identifying an implied main idea
• Distinguishing between major and minor supporting details
• Summarizing
• Identifying organizational patterns
• Studying graphical information

Activity 7
Read the following excerpt from a geography textbook. Then answer the questions.

Reading
The Geography of Happiness
1 An interesting recent focus is on the idea of happiness. Notoriously difficult to
measure, happiness is clearly related to, but different from, the idea of well-being.
Essentially, it is how we perceive ourselves, and thus cannot be measured objectively.
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 53

It is not unusual in some countries for surveys to be conducted that ask us, to put it
simply, whether we are very happy, just happy, or not so happy. There is even a regularly
updated World Database of Happiness housed in Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Those
who conduct these surveys and those who then interpret and publish their thoughts on
happiness are at the forefront of what The Economist (2006: 13) humorously described
as the “upstart science of happiness,” blending economics, psychology, and geography.
2 Two general points that emerge from this work are, not surprisingly, that the rich
report greater happiness than do the poor, and, perhaps surprisingly, that people in
affluent countries have not become happier as they have become richer. The latter
finding might be because: (1) for many people, happiness is having things that others
do not have, so as others become wealthier then the already wealthy become less
happy; (2) when people achieve a better standard of living they are unable to appreciate
its pleasures.
3 Of particular interest to human geographers is research that focuses on the
spatial distribution of happiness. The first world map of happiness at the country
scale, published in 2006, showed Denmark first, followed by Switzerland, Austria,
Iceland, Bahamas, Finland, Sweden, Bhutan, Brunei, and Canada. Least happy of the
178 countries included were Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Burundi
(Figure 3.3). There is a close relationship between happiness and measures of health,
prosperity, and education. These results are much as expected, and much of the interest
in this work is on the detailed differences between countries, on how happiness might
be more scientifically measured, and on whether or not individual responses reflect
reality. With this latter point in mind, a geography of happiness project has been set
up in Britain involving geography teachers travelling through Europe to determine how
happy people are and whether these informal surveys accord with the published data.

Happy Average Unhappy

FIGURE 3.3 World distribution of happiness

Source: W. Norton, Human Geography, 8th ed. (Oxford UP, 2013), pp. 319–320.
54 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

1. a) What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

i) A recent interest in measuring happiness points to the establishment of a
new science of happiness.
ii) Happiness and well-being are not the same thing.
iii) Some countries conduct surveys on happiness.
iv) There is a regularly updated database of information on the state of happiness
in different countries.
b) Is this main idea implied or explicit?

2. Reread paragraph 2 and mark the following statements with MI (main idea) or SD
(supporting details).
a)  eople wish to have things that others do not have, and this makes
P
them happy.
b)  e fact that rich people report greater happiness than poor people is
Th
not surprising.
c) People do not always appreciate a high standard of living.
d)  n one hand, rich people seem to be happier than poor people; on the
O
other hand, the level of happiness in rich countries does not rise with
increasing wealth.

3. What is the organizational pattern of paragraph 2?

a) classification
b) effect-cause
c) description
d) contrast

4. Study paragraph 3 and identify the main idea and the major and minor supporting
details. Use the prompt questions below the lines to help you.

Main idea:
Is there research on the connection between happiness and location?

Minor supporting detail 1:

Which countries are high on the scale of happiness?

Minor supporting detail 2:

Which countries are low on the scale of happiness?

Major supporting detail 1:

Is there a correlation between happiness and
indicators of social development of a country?

Major supporting detail 2:

What are some specific questions researchers have?

Minor supporting detail:

What has been done to verify the current data on
happiness?
 UNIT Main Ideas and Supporting Details 55

5. Study Figure 3.3 and answer the following questions.

a) Does the map, in general, support the idea expressed in the text that there is
a relationship between happiness and the measures of health, prosperity, and
education? Explain.

b) There are a number of countries shaded in grey on the map; however, there is
no grey on the happiness scale at the bottom. What do you think the grey areas
might represent?

c) Find your home country on the map. Where on the scale of happiness is it located?

Do you feel the map describes your home country correctly? Explain.

6. a) Assume that you have to give a presentation comparing the level of happiness For information
in your country and Canada. Which information from the article will you use to about summarizing,
see page 45.
summarize? Write your summary.

b) Compare your summary to the sample below.

According to Norton (2013), two main conclusions can be drawn from the
research on the geography of happiness. First, the wealthy are reportedly happier
than poor people. Second, when people in affluent countries become richer, they
do not automatically feel happier. Another important finding, unsurprisingly, is
that levels of happiness correlate with levels of education, health, and prosperity.
Let’s look at how these conclusions are reflected in the data about [your country]_
and Canada.
 Inferences,
4 Facts, and
Opinions
This unit explores these strategies to assess information:
1. Assessing valid and invalid inferences
2. Distinguishing between facts and opinions
3. Learning about informed opinions
4. Identifying biased opinions

Study the cartoon and check the statements that you agree with.
Th
 e teacher has asked the student to write the solution to a problem on the board.
The student spends a lot of time on the computer.
The teacher would like her students to read a lot.
The teacher never uses computers in her classroom.
Today, many children love using computers.
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 57

When assessing situations, in real life or in texts, we differentiate between several

kinds of information. Some information is explicitly expressed. For example, we see explicit: clear and easy
that the two characters in the cartoon are the teacher and the student, and the teacher to understand

is explaining that the chalkboard has no icons. The humour in the cartoon relies on
implicit information—the reader has to use clues to draw a conclusion, or inference, to implicit: suggested
understand the joke. You should be able to infer, based on the teacher’s response, what without being directly
expressed
the boy’s question or statement was. Although the cartoon does not explicitly tell you
to infer, or to make an
that the boy spends a lot of time on the computer, you can draw this inference based on
inference: to reach an
the clues provided: the boy is shocked that he has to write with chalk rather than click opinion or decide that
an icon, which is what he is used to doing. You can also infer, based on the poster next something is true on the
to the chalkboard, that the teacher would like her students to read a lot. basis of information that
is available
To make correct, or valid, inferences, you must assess all the clues carefully. If you
do not find sufficient clues to support your inference, the inference is probably incorrect,
or invalid. For example, the idea that the teacher never uses computer technology in
her class is an invalid inference; although the classroom has a chalkboard, which the
teacher is using at the moment, it is possible that the teacher does have computers that
she also uses.
Write down an example of an inference you have made in the last several days. It
could relate to your everyday life or studies. For example:
When my father walked into our apartment, I did not hear him unlocking the door. I must have
left the door unlocked after I came in from school.

In addition to thinking about information as implicit and explicit, we can categorize

information into facts and opinions. For instance, the idea that many children, like the
student in the cartoon, love computers is a fact that can be verified using objective fact: a piece of
evidence, such as a survey of a large group of children. In contrast, that children should information that can be
proved true by objective
not spend too much time on the computer is an opinion, a personal belief. People have evidence
different opinions on the same subject: some may think using computers is a great skill
opinion: a subjective
for children to master and should be pursued without any time limitation, while others belief in a person’s mind
will disagree. Both opinions are valid as long as they are backed up by solid evidence.
Write two sentences: one expressing a fact and the other an opinion. Make an effort
to come up with significant information in your sentences. Then read them to your
partner and let him or her guess which sentence is a fact and which is an opinion.

Fact:

Opinion:

Why do you think it is important to be able to make inferences from the information
you read? Why is it important to differentiate between facts and opinions?
This unit explores the following strategies in learning about inferences, facts, and
opinions: assessing valid and invalid inferences, distinguishing between facts and
opinions, learning about informed opinions, and identifying biased opinions.
58 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Assessing Valid and Invalid Inferences

Inferring information is a fundamental reading skill: a specific text is usually part of
a larger discourse—a part of a textbook or a discussion started earlier, for example—
and so the reader has to make inferences based on his or her knowledge outside that
particular text. In addition, the author usually does not explain every single connection
between ideas in a given text and expects the reader to make connections between
ideas independently.
Making valid inferences requires you to use logical reasoning, that is, the ability to
trace causes and effects. Also necessary are some general knowledge—the knowledge
of scientific, cultural, or historical facts or events, for example—and an awareness of
social context.

Activity 1
Study the following passages, note the remarks on the margins, and mark each
inference as V (valid) or I (invalid). The first passage is done for you.

Making inferences
1. Astronomers have found a new planet, the closest yet outside our solar system, from this passage
and just an astronomical stone’s throw away at four light years, raising the chances of requires knowledge
finding a habitable planet in Earth’s neighbourhood. of the scientific
term light year.

a) I  e newly found planet is geographically close to Earth. (Four light

Th
years refers to an astronomical distance, so the planet is definitely not
geographically close to Earth.)
b) I  e planet is habitable. (According to the text, this discovery improves
Th
the “chances of finding a habitable planet,” which indicates that this
planet is not habitable.)
c) V  stronomers have found planets outside our solar system before. (This
A
new planet is “the closest yet outside our solar system,” which means
that others have been found before.)

2. Researchers say the new planet is too close to its sun to support known forms of life,
with a surface temperature estimated at 1200°C. But previous studies suggest that when
one planet is discovered orbiting a sun, there are usually others in the same system.

a)  orms of life that are familiar to us cannot exist in temperatures of

F
1200°C.
b) It is a rare case when only one planet orbits its sun.
c) The extreme heat on the new planet is created by its closeness to the sun.
d) S cientists hope life is possible on one of the planets in the discussed
solar system.
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 59

3. Alpha Centauri is a three-star system consisting of two stars similar to our sun and a
faint red star called Proxima Centauri. The planet orbits Alpha Centauri B. Astronomers
have speculated about planets orbiting these suns since the 19th century but small
planets like this [recent discovery] are hard to find, and instruments have only recently
become sensitive enough to detect them.

a) Astronomers in the nineteenth century could see planets in other systems.

b) Astronomical instruments in the past were very primitive.
c) Astronomers today can detect a distant planet of a small size.
d)  ecently, there has been an advance in the development of sensitive
R
astronomical instruments.

4. A drug made from a plant known as “thunder god vine,” or lei gong tei, which has
been used in traditional Chinese medicine, wiped out pancreatic tumours in mice,
researchers said, and may soon be tested on humans.

a) Traditional Chinese medicine is rich in plants that cure cancer.

b) All drugs are made from plants.
c) There is hope that “thunder god vine” will help to fight cancer in humans.

5. Biometrics is the science of humans’ physiological or behavioural characteristics, Making inferences

and it is being used to develop technology that recognizes and matches unique from this passage
requires some previous
patterns in fingerprints, faces and eyes and even sweat glands1 and buttock pressure. As knowledge of how
technologies advance, the use of biometrics in everyday life is shifting from traditional fingerprinting is used
law enforcement and government security to a host of more consumer-friendly by law enforcement,
i.e., police.
applications. For example, BIOPTid Inc. created a device that users can hook up to their
computers and mobile electronics to replace passwords for Internet logins and banking.
The cube reads a personal sweat gland barcode to verify identity from the moisture on
a user’s fingertip. “With one touch, you can log right into your social networking site,
right onto your page. You can instantly purchase something without having a credit
card or form of ID,” says the representative of the company.

1 organs in a person’s body that produce sweat

a)  iometrics may help to identify a person who committed a crime and

B
left fingerprints on the scene.
b) Online bank accounts might be at risk for fraudulent activity.
c) Human sweat contains characteristics that are unique to each person.
60 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

d)  e invention of the BIOPTid device will completely replace passwords

Th
in the future.
e)  ore people will use Internet banking services or social networking
M
sites with the spread of biometric identification.

Making inferences
6. The simplest way to stick to your calorie intake goals is to track what you eat, but from this passage,
and most
how many calories are hiding in that spinach salad anyway? MealSnap is a fun new
texts, requires
application released this year that lets you track your calories simply by snapping a understanding
picture of your plate. The app analyzes the food it detects in the photo and produces a a social context
calorie estimate. … The app runs rather slowly, the calories are just estimates, it costs $3 and values, such
as the idea that
to download and it’s only available on iPhone. But the fun factor may make you more
one should watch
inclined to use it and help you keep a rough idea of your calorie intake. one’s caloric
intake and be slim.

a) MealSnap ensures that a person does not overeat.

b) MealSnap helps to control one’s caloric intake.
c) The application has a few disadvantages.
d)  e creators of MealSnap developed their product knowing that many
Th
people watch their weight.

Activity 2
Read the passages below. Each is followed by an invalid inference or inferences.
Explain why the inference is invalid and write a valid inference related to the same
idea. Remember that to make a valid inference, you must find sufficient support in the
text to back up that inference.

Text A

Openness, probably the most important [design]

feature [of human language], is the ability to
talk about the same experiences from different
perspectives, using different words and various
grammatical constructions. This feature allows
people to conceptualize, label, and discuss the
same experience in different ways. Thus no
single human interpretation of an experience is
necessarily more correct in every respect than
all others. To understand how truly significant
the feature of openness is to communication,
compare our spoken language to the vocal
communication systems (or call systems)
of monkeys and apes. Whereas our language allows us to endlessly combine and
recombine elements of our experiences in new and various ways, the possibilities of
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 61

meaning are much more limited when it comes to call systems. Primates have several
calls, all of which are appropriate to specific situations: when the animal is in the
presence of food; when it is in danger or pain; when it wants to show friendly interest
or the desire for company; when it wants to mark its location; and so on. Each call is
appropriate in only one situation, and primates cannot combine one call with another
to express more complex messages.

Invalid inference: Because their communication system is limited, primates do not

develop social relations with other members of the group.

Why invalid?

Valid inference:

Text B

Sociolinguist Deborah Tannen (1990) has gained much popular attention

in the media with her study of speech patterns of men and women in
the United States. Tannen focusses on typical male and female styles
of discourse, arguing that men and women use language for different
reasons: men tend to use language as a competitive weapon in public
settings, whereas women tend to use language as a way of building
closeness in private settings. Tannen shows what happens when men and
women each assume that their rules are the only rules without realizing
that the other gender may be defining appropriate language use from a
different perspective. For example, when a husband and wife get home
from work at the end of the day, she may be eager to talk while he is just
as eager to remain silent. She may interpret his silence as a sign of distance or coldness
and be hurt. He, in contrast, may be weary of the day’s verbal combat and resent his
wife’s attempts at conversation, not because he is rejecting her personally but because
he believes he has a right to remain silent.

Invalid inference: Deborah Tannen discovered the primary reason why couples have
marital problems.

Why invalid?

Valid inference:
62 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Text C

Anthropologist Colin Turnbull worked among the Mbuti of the northeastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) for many years. He discovered that these people,
who live all their lives in a dense forest, have no experience of distance greater than a
few feet and are therefore not accustomed to taking distance into consideration when
estimating the size of an object in the visual field. Turnbull took one of his informants,1
Kenge, on a trip that brought them out of the forest and into a game park. For the first
time in his life, Kenge faced vast, rolling grasslands. Kenge’s response to this experience
was dramatic: “When Kenge topped the rise, he stopped dead. Every smallest sign of
mirth2 suddenly left his face. He opened his mouth but could say nothing. He moved
his head and eyes slowly and unbelievingly” (Turnbull 1961: 251). When Kenge finally
saw the far-off animals grazing on the plain, he asked Turnbull what insects they were.
When told that they were buffalo, Kenge laughed and accused Turnbull of lying. Then
he strained to see better and inquired what kind of buffalo could be so small. Later,
when Turnbull pointed out a fishing boat on the lake, Kenge scoffed at him and insisted
it was a piece of floating wood.

1 a person from whom an anthropologist obtains information about local culture

2 happiness

Invalid inference: Kenge had never seen a buffalo before.

Why invalid?

Valid inference:
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 63

Distinguishing between Facts and Opinions

The main distinction between facts and opinions is that a fact can be supported by
solid, objective evidence, while an opinion cannot be proved true or false conclusively
by objective evidence. An opinion is subjective, a belief that might be true for one
person but false in the eyes of another.
It is important to distinguish between facts and opinions because doing so will
help the reader to critically evaluate the text. A competent reader assesses the support
that writers present for their ideas to decide whether the writers are stating facts or
opinions.
We state facts and express opinions on a daily basis. Newspaper items describing
current events might include both facts and opinions. Academic textbooks and articles
also include both facts (hard data objectively proven by research) and opinions (the
authors’ predictions or subjective comments).

Activity 3
Read each passage, along with the remarks in the margins. Mark the statements
following each passage F (fact) or O (opinion).

Text A

Suicide is contagious among youth for at least two years, a new study shows: when This passage came
children commit suicide, their school peers are more likely to consider or attempt from a newspaper. A
newspaper report may
suicide, the study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, concluded.
include both facts and
Dr. Ian Colman, Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Epidemiology and senior opinions, although
author of the study, said the results were “shocking” and should influence the way traditionally a reporter
school boards handle grief counselling. Colman studied the results of a decade-long should not express a
personal opinion but
Statistics Canada survey of more than 20 000 children 12 to 17 years old; he found 12- report the events from
and 13-year-olds exposed to suicide are five times more likely to “seriously consider a neutral perspective.
attempting suicide.” Colman said counselling should be schoolwide, rather than for the
“closest friends or immediate classmates or team members,” and available long-term,
not just for a few months.

1. I f a child commits suicide, his or her peers are more likely to consider
doing the same.
2. The results of Colman’s research are shocking.
3. The Statistics Canada survey lasted 10 years.
4. Post-suicide school counselling should last longer than a few months.
64 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Text B

To some people, the mention of globalization inspires visions of the global village—a This passage
world where every person is linked by the latest high-technology communications from a social
studies textbook
systems and where free trade and the efficient operation of the world’s economy lists several
contribute to growing wealth for all. To others, globalization is the reason a local factory interpretations
shuts down, only to reopen thousands of kilometres away in a country with cheaper of globalization.
Each
labour, poor labour practices (for example, child labour and no tolerance of labour
interpretation
unions), and weaker environmental laws. To critics, globalization means the destruction is unique to a
of local cultures and the weakening of traditional religious beliefs, only to be replaced certain group of
by a homogenized (blended into a uniform state), largely American-dominated culture. people. In other
words, they
have different
opinions about
1. Globalization ensures people have more opportunity to accumulate wealth. globalization.

2. Some companies exploit child labour.

3. Some factories are relocated to countries where production costs are low.
4. Local cultures are eroded by the global dominance of American culture.

Text C

The Greek philosopher Aristotle thought everything on Earth was made from four Scientific
elements—earth, air, fire, and water. This four-element theory existed for more than theories can also
be opinions if
2000 years. Although it is true that basic substances, called elements, comprise all
they have not
objects and living things on Earth, Aristotle was wrong about the specific elements he been proven
chose and the idea of what an element is. He could not know that an element is matter by objective
made up entirely of atoms with the same atomic number—the same number of protons1 evidence. Notice
how opinions
in the nucleus of an atom. We have identified more than 100 elements, and earth, air, about chemical
fire, and water are not among them. The three most abundant elements in the Earth’s elements have
crust are oxygen, silicon, and aluminum. changed in the
course of history.
1 positively charged particles

1. Everything around us is made up of elements.

2. Aristotle considered earth, air, fire, and water elements.
3. There are at least 100 elements.
4. Aristotle’s thinking was simplistic.

Learning about Informed Opinions

Opinions are different from facts in that they reflect subjective beliefs, not objective
truths. However, this does not detract from the validity of opinions. Opinions
supported by solid evidence can be considered valid: we call them informed opinions.
In your textbooks and lectures, you will often encounter informed opinions. Usually,
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 65

an academic’s goal is to verify an opinion by studying a problem and finding evidence

to support the opinion. As a student, you are expected to have a perspective on the
subject matter you study and to demonstrate that your opinion is well considered and
valid. In other words, you will be encouraged to produce informed opinions.
Sometimes it is impossible to find objective, empirical support for an opinion. In
that case, other kinds of support for an informed opinion may be acceptable.

Kinds of Support for an Informed Opinion

• Research results: may include statistics or may be simply a statement of fact
• Statistical data: information shown in numbers; may or may not be connected to
a research project
• Expert opinions: the opinion of an expert in a relevant field can be used to support
an informed opinion
• Logical reasoning: used to trace rational connections between causes and effects
• Relevant examples and anecdotes: used to illustrate a situation with examples or
stories from other people’s experiences
• Personal experience: not all personal experiences will support an informed
opinion; they are generally not considered appropriate in academic texts

Activity 4
Read each passage and underline the opinion expressed. Then decide which types
of support are used to make the opinion informed, highlighting the relevant words
and phrases.

Text A

Francesca Gino and her colleagues (2010) randomly assigned female students to one
of two groups to perform a series of very difficult puzzles while wearing sunglasses.
The first group believed they were wearing authentic designer sunglasses, while the
second group believed the sunglasses they wore were designer knock-offs.1 Actually,
all participants wore authentic designer sunglasses while completing the puzzles. The
participants were told they would be rewarded for the number of puzzles they solved
and that the investigators were using the honour system—participants would tally up
their own scores and submit them. In fact, the experimenters tracked the number
of puzzles each participant solved and the number each claimed to have solved. As
predicted, participants lied about their performance, reporting more solved puzzles
than they actually completed. The surprising finding was that significantly more
participants in the “fake sunglasses” group cheated (71 percent) compared to the
participants in the “authentic sunglasses” group (30 percent). … Francesca Gino and her
colleagues conclude that there are negative consequences of wearing designer knock-
offs, including a greater likelihood of behaving dishonestly …

1 cheap versions of expensive, brand-name items

Support:
66 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Text B

One of the foundational insights provided by sociology is that our lived realities
are constructed socially. We become human through a social process, and our
understanding of the world is forever framed by these social experiences. For example,
a new friend offers to give us a ride home. When we approach her car in the parking lot,
we do not simply register the fact that here is a vehicle with four wheels and an engine.
Rather, we immediately and unconsciously run through a whole gamut of socially
constructed meanings—meanings embedded in patterns of social inequality. The age,
make, and upkeep of the car are all instantly noted. That our new friend drives a brand-
new, sparkling BMW evokes a whole range of social reactions and connections that are
quite different from those we would experience if a rusty, dented Toyota Corolla were
sitting there.

Support:

Text C

Social stratification—the hierarchical arrangement of individuals based upon wealth,

power, and prestige—is an issue in Canadian society.
I grew up in one of the many postwar suburban developments that sprang up as
the federal government provided low-cost housing to ex-soldiers. The subdivision was
filled with streets of families living in similar economic circumstances. Social class was
apparently a non-issue. However, when asked in a first-year sociology course to find out
my social class, reality revealed its complexities. From my mother’s viewpoint, we were
“working-class,” while my father embraced the North American ideal of classlessness—
we were “middle-class.” For my mother, a war bride who grew up in hard-scrabble
working-class London, England, being a member of the working class was a statement
of pride—we worked for a living and didn’t rely on others. For my father, being a member
of the middle class reflected Canada’s openness—here everyone was equal and had the
same opportunity to advance.
Class was an issue—even within my own family.

—Ann Duffy

Support:

Text D

Despite public beliefs about the random nature of violence, sociologists have known
for decades that the risks of becoming a victim of crime are anything but random. Like
disease, accidents, and other kinds of negative life events, violence seems more likely to
afflict some of us than others.
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 67

Sociological researchers have been able to document the “social structure of

violence” through large-scale studies that ask a representative sample of the population
about crimes they may have experienced during some defined period of time (e.g.,
the previous six months or the previous year). These studies allow the researchers to
compare the profiles of victims and non-victims and therefore to identify the factors
that seem to be associated with the risk of becoming a victim of violence.
The most recent such Canadian study was conducted by Statistics Canada in
2014. … Among the findings relating to the differential risk of violent victimization are
the following:
• Younger Canadians were more likely than older Canadians to become victims of
violence. …
• Women recorded a higher rate (85 incidents per 1000 women) than men (67 per
1000).
• Drug use, binge drinking, and the frequency of evening activities were associated
with the risk of violent victimization.
• People with mental health problems recorded a rate of violent victimization more
than four times higher than people who assessed their mental health as excellent or
very good.
• People who suffered childhood maltreatment were more likely to be victims of a
violent crime.

Support:

Identifying Biased Opinions

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines bias as “a strong feeling in favour
of or against one group of people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair
judgement.”
This definition clearly illustrates the difference between an informed opinion and
a biased opinion: while a writer presents credible support for an informed opinion
and may be willing to consider the opposite point of view, he or she presents a one-
sided argument in the case of a biased argument. The holder of a biased opinion is not
willing to consider the disadvantages of or alternatives to his or her point of view. A
critical reader should be able to identify biased opinions.
All writers bring a certain point of view or perspective to their texts, often
stemming from their political, cultural, or ideological backgrounds. All writing is
influenced by the writer’s point of view. Here we are assessing writers’ bias, which goes
beyond a point of view or perspective. When identifying bias, the reader’s concern is
whether the writer’s approach is unfair, misleading, unsupported, or illogical.
Consider the following texts and answer the questions that follow.
68 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Text A

“Offensive.” “Grotesque.” “Revolting.” “Repugnant.” “Repulsive.” These are the words most
commonly heard these days regarding the prospect of human cloning. Such reactions
one hears both from the man or woman in the street and from the intellectuals, from
believers and atheists, from humanists and scientists. Even Dolly’s1 creator, Dr. Wilmot,
has said he “would find it offensive” to clone a human being. People are repelled by
many aspects of human cloning: The prospect of mass production of human beings,
with large numbers of look-alikes, compromised in their individuality; the idea of
father-son or mother-daughter twins; the bizarre prospects of a woman giving birth
to a genetic copy of herself, her spouse, or even her deceased father or mother; the
creation of embryonic genetic duplicates of oneself, to be frozen away in case of later
need for homologous organ transplantation; the narcissism of those who would clone
themselves, the arrogance of others who think they know who deserves to be cloned
or which genotype any child-to-be should be thrilled to receive; the Frankensteinian2
hubris to create human life and increasingly to control its destiny; man playing at being
God. Almost no one sees any compelling reason for human cloning; almost everyone
anticipates its possible misuses and abuses. Many feel oppressed by the sense that there
is nothing we can do to prevent it from happening. This makes the prospect all the
more revolting.

1 the first mammal, a sheep, to be cloned from an adult cell in 1996

2 Frankenstein is a fictional scientist who created a monster.

1. What is the author’s opinion about human cloning?

2. Which adjectives does the author use to describe human cloning? Underline them
in the text.

3. Whose opinion, in addition to Dr. Wilmot’s, does the author mention to support
his argument?

4. Does the author discuss the advantages of human cloning?

The author of the text holds a very strong opinion against human cloning. He uses
emotionally loaded language to express his extreme opposition. He draws grim pictures
of the future, such as a woman giving birth to a genetic copy of her deceased father. The
author refers to the “prospect of mass production of human beings,” suggesting that
this is an inevitable future.
However, defenders of human cloning would probably support the growing
of tissues or organs for transplantations in case of organ failure, rather than “mass
production.” This and other potential advantages of human cloning are ignored by the
author. Also, the author confidently cites the opinions of “almost everyone” to suggest
it is obvious to all that human cloning is a bad idea. Yet, to say that “almost everyone”
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 69

is against the idea is a sweeping generalization. Indeed, there are those who defend
human cloning.
To identify bias, ask the following questions:
• What type of support, if any, is provided for the opinion?
• Does the author consider the disadvantages of the favoured point of view?
• Does the author consider an alternative to the favoured point of view?
• Does the choice of vocabulary indicate extreme emotional engagement masking
the lack of factual support?
• Does the choice of vocabulary indicate generalizations?
Compare the previous text with the one below. It comes from an online fact sheet
written by the National Human Genome Research Institute, an American government
agency. Do you think the author is biased?

Text B

What are the potential applications of therapeutic cloning?

Researchers hope to use embryonic stem cells, which have the unique ability
to generate virtually all types of cells in an organism, to grow healthy tissues in the
laboratory that can be used to replace injured or diseased tissues. In addition, it may be
possible to learn more about the molecular causes of disease by studying embryonic
stem cell lines from cloned embryos derived from the cells of animals or humans with
different diseases. Finally, differentiated tissues derived from embryonic stem cells are
excellent tools to test new therapeutic drugs.

What are some of the ethical issues related to cloning?

Gene cloning is a carefully regulated technique that is largely accepted today and
used routinely in many labs worldwide. However, both reproductive and therapeutic
cloning raise important ethical issues, especially as related to the potential use of these
techniques in humans.
Reproductive cloning would present the potential of creating a human that is
genetically identical to another person who has previously existed or who still exists.
This may conflict with long-standing religious and societal values about human dignity,
possibly infringing upon principles of individual freedom, identity and autonomy. However,
some argue that reproductive cloning could help sterile couples fulfill their dream of
parenthood. Others see human cloning as a way to avoid passing on a deleterious gene
that runs in the family without having to undergo embryo screening or embryo selection.
Therapeutic cloning, while offering the potential for treating humans suffering from
disease or injury, would require the destruction of human embryos in the test tube.
Consequently, opponents argue that using this technique to collect embryonic stem
cells is wrong, regardless of whether such cells are used to benefit sick or injured people.

1. a) What contrasting opinions are presented about the ethics of reproductive cloning?

b) What contrasting opinions are presented about the ethics of therapeutic cloning?
70 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. Do you think that the person who wrote this text approves or disapproves of
cloning? Would you consider the writer biased?

Both texts present facts and opinions about human cloning. However, while text A
condemns all human cloning, text B takes a more careful approach: it offers the benefits
of gene cloning but notes the ethical issues that some people have with it. The tone of
text B is reserved, as opposed to the inflammatory rhetoric of text A.

Activity 5
Read the following texts on controversial topics and answer the questions that follow.

Text A

I would like to begin with the compelling story of Sarah McKinley. Home alone with her
baby, she called 911 when two violent intruders began to break down her front door.
The men wanted to force their way into her home so they could steal the prescription
medication of her deceased husband, who had recently died of cancer. Before the
police could arrive, while Ms. McKinley was on the line with the 911 operator, these
violent intruders broke down her door. One of the men brandished a foot-long hunting
knife. As the intruders forced their way into her home, Ms. McKinley fired her weapon,
fatally wounding one of the violent attackers and causing the other to flee the scene.
Later, Ms. McKinley reflected on the incident: “It was either going to be him or my son,”
she said. “And it wasn’t going to be my son.”
Guns make women safer. Most violent offenders actually do not use firearms, which
makes guns the great equalizer. In fact, over 90 percent of violent crimes occur without
a firearm. In 2011, firearms crimes comprised 8 percent of all violent crimes, according to
a federal study. Violent criminals rarely use a gun to threaten or attack women. Attackers
use their size and physical strength, preying on women who are at a severe disadvantage.
Guns reverse that balance of power in a violent confrontation. Armed with a gun, a
woman can even have the advantage over a violent attacker. How do guns give women
the advantage? An armed woman does not need superior strength or the proximity of a
hand-to-hand struggle. She can protect her children, elderly relatives, herself, or others
who are vulnerable to an assailant. Using a firearm with a magazine holding more than
10 rounds of ammunition, a woman would have a fighting chance even against multiple
attackers.

—Gayle S. Trotter

1. What is the main opinion expressed (implicitly or explicitly) by the author? It is

against
a) strict gun control.
b) violent attackers.
c) the police who respond slowly to emergencies.
d) women’s access to firearms.
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 71

2. What kinds of support does the author use to back up her opinion? Circle all that
apply.
a) study results
b) an account of a real event
c) a citizens’ survey
d) an appeal to the reader’s emotions

3. What counter-argument may be made against the author’s viewpoint?

a) Only a small percentage of violent crimes are committed with firearms.
b) Women are physically weaker than men, so they may be easily harmed by male
attackers if unarmed.
c) A woman’s gun may be used by her attacker against the woman herself.
d) An armed woman may protect not only herself but her children if attacked.

4. Would you consider the author’s opinion biased? Why or why not?

Text B

While bottled water itself has been around for centuries, the last 100 years or so saw the
creation of what we see today as a vital source of healthy, convenient hydration. The
vast majority of bottled water companies in the United States are very small, about ten
employees or less, and generate less than $10 million in sales annually. These are local
family entrepreneurs with deep roots and strong ties to their communities.
People choose bottled water because it is a safe, reliable, and convenient source of
healthy hydration. Whether bottling spring water from protected underground aquifers
or producing high-quality purified bottled water from a municipal source, America’s
bottled water companies consistently meet consumer demand for safe, quality drinking
water at home, at work, on the go, and when emergencies and natural disasters strike.

1. What opinion does the author of this text express?

2. How does the author try to appeal to the reader? The author suggests that
(Circle all that apply.)
a) bottled water producers are local families with strong ties to their communities.
b) bottled water has been around for centuries.
c) bottled spring water comes from underground aquifers.
d) bottled water will help keep us safe during emergencies or natural disasters.
72 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Are there any disadvantages of bottled water that the author overlooks? You many
need to do some online research to answer this question.

4. Would you consider the author’s opinion biased? Why or why not?

Integrating the Skills

Use all the skills you learned in this unit:
• Assessing valid and invalid inferences
• Distinguishing between facts and opinions
• Learning about informed opinions
• Identifying biased opinions

Activity 6
Read the following article from a newspaper and answer the questions that follow.

Reading
Drug Addicts Should Be Sent to Isolated Work Camps
1 I prosecuted a lot of drug dealers in Vancouver during my career. Those at the
wholesale level were not usually addicts. At the retail level of drug dealing, many
were addicts, peddling drugs to anyone, including kids, to obtain money to fuel their
addiction. Of course, the addicts engaged in many other crimes to get money for
more drugs. They mugged old ladies, broke into homes and cars, stole from stores and
family, broke their parole and probation terms, abused the welfare system, prostituted
themselves, and generally led a degenerate, lawless life.
2 In one case I argued before the B.C. Court of Appeal, I presented several
authoritative studies that showed an indisputable correlation between criminal activity
and drug addiction. I have, as a result of my prosecution career, never seen addicts as
victims. I see them as victimizers, who make victims of their families and children, and
their friends, as well as the general public, all for the sake of the next fix.
3 When it comes to sentencing drug addicts for their crimes, the addiction is often
presented by defence counsel as a mitigating factor. I don’t see it that way. An addict
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 73

chooses to be an addict. Sure, some of them have had a rough or even tragic life, some
not, but escaping into drug addiction is the action of an amoral fool.
4 When it comes to sentencing those who are convicted of a crime, I have always
been pragmatic. The sentence should be one which first of all does the best job of
protecting the public. Consideration for the criminal is secondary.
5 During the 1970s, the late unlamented Trudeau government reversed these
priorities. Pierre Trudeau’s solicitor-general, Jean-Paul Goyer, said to Parliament in 1971:
“We have decided from now on to stress the rehabilitation of individuals rather than the
protection of society.” Since then, the increase of crime has conclusively demonstrated
the failure of this policy, and the endangerment of the public that resulted. Despite
that, many cling to the concept of rehabilitation because it seems more humane and
uplifting—even if it fails most of the time and the public suffers.
6 That brings me to the safe house shooting gallery called Insite, and the
handing out of free crack pipes in Vancouver. Those with good intentions
think they are helping drug addicts to be healthy. In fact they are paving a
freeway to hell for the addicts, and endangering the public as a result of
the crimes those addicts will commit to get more drugs.
7 Should we just allow addicts to use dirty needles or crack pipes and
die in the gutter? No, we aren’t that indifferent in this country. We need to
do something effective to rid them of the addiction, and protect the public
from drug-related crime so long as they are addicted. That means addicts
should be segregated from society until they are no longer addicted. Put An injection kit handed out to
them in jail for long terms? No, that is expensive, and it is too easy to get addicts at Insite
drugs in our jails.
8 I suggest isolated work camps, where drug addicts will go cold turkey or are weaned
off drugs in a medically supervised way. They will be taught a work ethic, by doing work
of a meaningful type, such as farming or manufacturing. They will be required to pass a
basic education course, and a technical course to make them employable, before they
are released. They will remain in the camp until they have become drug free, physically
and psychologically, and have passed the work and education tests. Some, of course,
would never qualify for release. They would, however, have room and board, and free
medical care at taxpayer expense for their lifetime, even though most will never have
contributed a dime in taxes. That’s better than continuing to be a criminal and an addict
even if you do have a clean needle or crack pipe.
9 I can already hear words like “gulag” and “concentration camp” being hurled about
by those who want to help stray animals and broken people. Just remember, though,
that stray animals are put into animal shelters. They are locked into those shelters until
they can be released into a new environment. Think of the addict camp as a shelter, but
one with the ability to make a drug addict into a drug-free person with some reasonable
prospect of a productive life. The alternative is a life of crime, and the destruction of the
addict and all those close to him. Which is better?

Brian Purdy, Q.C., spent more than 30 years working in criminal law. He is a retired
general counsel with the federal Department of Justice and lives in Calgary.
Source: B. Purdy, “Drug Addicts Should Be Sent to Isolated Work Camps,” Vancouver Sun, 14 September 2011, p. A11.
74 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

1. Mark each inference as V (valid) or I (invalid), based on the text.

a)  rime rates among drug addicts are higher than among the non-using
C
population.
b)  ifficult life experiences leave no other choice for a person but to escape
D
into the world of addiction.
c) I n matters of criminal punishment, Canadian governments have always
favoured society at the expense of an individual.
d)  e author believes that all addicts can be rehabilitated with medical
Th
supervision, education, and work experience.

2. Mark each statement as F (fact) or O (opinion).

a) Crime rates have increased since 1971.
b) The rehabilitation policy directed toward drug addicts has failed.
c)  anding out free crack pipes to drug addicts in Vancouver helps them
H
to be healthier.
d) It is possible to get drugs in Canadian jails.

3. What is the author’s opinion about Insite?

4. What is the way to best deal with drug addicts, according to the author?

5. Look at the various techniques that the author uses to support his opinion and
decide whether it is an informed opinion or a biased opinion. Explain why.

6. How do you think Brian Purdy’s professional experience shapes his opinion?

Consider the opposite point of view to Purdy’s. The first paragraph below is taken
from the website of Vancouver Coastal Health, a large governmental health authority.
It is followed by an expert opinion—a few paragraphs excerpted from an opinion piece
written by a doctor familiar with Insite.

Reading
1 Since opening its doors in 2003, Insite has been a safe, health-focused place
where people inject drugs and connect to health care services—from primary care to
treating disease and infection, to addiction counselling and treatment, to housing and
community supports. Insite is North America’s first legal supervised injection site. The
BC Ministry of Health Services provides operational funding for Insite through Vancouver
Coastal Health, which operates the facility in conjunction with PHS Community Services
Society. Insite operates on a harm-reduction model, which means it strives to decrease
 UNIT Inferences, Facts, and Opinions 75

the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring
abstinence from drug use.
2 The strict rules at Insite preclude the possibility of a used syringe being passed
between users since nurses police the program to ensure clean needles are used in
every injection. Not only do injections take place out of public view and away from
vulnerable youth who may be curious about injecting, but onsite disposal also ensures
used needles cannot find their way into public spaces. Insite further forces its clients
to temporarily remain onsite after injecting and where an addiction treatment program
is co-located. As a result, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
demonstrated how the opening of Insite coincided with a 40 percent increase in
addiction treatment admissions among its clients.
3 The desire for greater control over the behaviour of intravenous drug users explains
why centres of commerce and tourism in Europe have embraced supervised injecting
facilities. More than 90 supervised injecting facilities exist in over 60 cities.
4 Public health and financial constraints are a further consideration, given that each
HIV infection costs on average approximately $500 000 in medical costs. Insite has
contributed to a 90 percent reduction in new HIV cases caused by intravenous drug
use in British Columbia, which is why the B.C. government has been such a strong
supporter of the program.
5 Of course, regardless of how one’s view of Insite is framed, caught in the middle
are desperately addicted Canadians just trying to find help and avoid acquiring a life-
threatening infectious disease.

Evan Wood MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine at UBC where he holds the university’s
Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine.

1. Mark each inference as V (valid) or I (invalid) based on the two texts above.
a) The purpose of Insite is to help drug users quit their addiction.
b) The funding for Insite comes from taxpayers’ money.
c) All Canadian health professionals are in favour of safe injection sites.

2. Mark each statement as F (fact) or O (opinion).

a)  ere had been no medically supervised drug injection sites in North
Th
America before Insite.
b) Insite is trying to reduce the negative consequences of drug abuse.
c) I nsite has been highly successful at reducing the negative consequences
of drug abuse.

3. How do you think Evan Wood’s professional position shapes his opinion?

4. After you have compared the two opinions on Insite, explain your personal view on
this supervised drug injection site. Should it continue to operate?
 5 Assessing an
Argument
This unit presents strategies to help readers:
1. Identify the purpose of a text
2. Identify the audience
3. Identify techniques of persuasion
4. Assess an argument’s support and logic

IF CANADA IS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, IF CANADA IS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY,

WHY IS AN MBA SERVING FAST FOOD? hireimmigrants.ca WHY IS A PROFESSOR DRIVING A CAB? hireimmigrants.ca
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 77

Study the photos on page 76, part of an advertising campaign, and discuss the following
questions in small groups.
• What is the purpose of these ads?
• What audience is being addressed?
• What techniques are used to get the message across?
• Do these ads make a strong impact on the viewer?
These ads address discrimination against immigrants in the Canadian job market.
Thus, Canadian employers are the target audience of the ad campaign. The message of
discrimination is made clear by highlighting the mismatch between the education level
of the newcomers and their present employment (i.e., a fast-food restaurant cashier
with an MBA degree and a taxi driver with a PhD). This absurdity is accentuated by
the question referring to Canada as “a land of opportunity.” The question calls for
a correction of the injustice: these individuals would contribute much more to the
country’s economy if their status as highly qualified specialists were recognized.
Like advertising professionals, writers often make an argument for or against an
idea. Depending on the argument being made, a text may target a specific audience or
may address the general public. To make a successful argument, authors must firmly
support their point of view and make sure that the concerns of their audience are fully
addressed. For this reason, authors must be familiar with both the subject and the
audience involved in the issue.
Skillful readers are able to conclude whether an author’s argument makes sense.
This unit deals with several important strategies that help readers make this assessment.

Identifying the Purpose of a Text

As the introduction of this unit shows, one possible purpose of a text is to persuade the
reader. There are two other main purposes of writing: to inform and to entertain the
reader. The writer informs the audience by providing information to educate readers
about a specific topic. The writer entertains the audience when the text is fun to read—
when it is interesting or humorous, for example. Sometimes a text has more than one
purpose: for example, humour may be used both to entertain and to educate the audience.

Activity 1
The three readings that follow all have different purposes. Read the texts, answer the
questions, and identify the purpose of each text.

Reading
Canadians Becoming More Bilingual, Linguistically
Diverse, Census Data Shows
Number of Canadians who speak a language other than
French or English at home up 14.5 percent
1 Canada’s linguistic make-up is becoming more diverse, as the share of Canadians
who speak a language other than French or English at home is increasing. But the rate
of French-English bilingualism in Canada has also never been higher.
78 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2 These are some of the trends revealed by the latest Statistics Canada release from
the 2016 census of the population.
• The share of Canadians who speak a non-official language at home has
increased significantly since 2011, up 14.5 percent to 7.6 million.
• Nearly 23 percent of Canadians reported having an “other” mother tongue in
2016, up from 21.3 percent in 2011. By comparison, 21.3 percent said that French
was their mother tongue—including 78.4 percent of Quebecers. Still, no single
language other than English or French is spoken at home by more than two
percent of the population.
3 “We have to be careful in comparing French to 200 other languages,” said Jean-
Pierre Corbeil, an assistant director at Statistics Canada. “French isn’t going to be
overtaken by another language in the foreseeable future, particularly when English
and French are the languages of integration for immigrants.” The data shows that 69.9
percent of Canadians who have a non-official language as their mother tongue speak
English or French regularly at home, while just 1.9 percent of Canadians say they cannot
hold a conversation in either language.
4 The most frequently spoken language at home other than English or French was
Mandarin, spoken by 641 100 Canadians. It was followed by Cantonese (594 705),
Punjabi (568 375), Spanish (553 495), Tagalog (525 375) and Arabic (514 200). Of the
largest non-official languages, Tagalog is the fastest growing. It grew at a rate of 35
percent since 2011. Arabic was the next fastest growing at 30 percent.
5 The numbers also show the variation in languages from one city to the next. While
Arabic was the most frequently spoken non-official language in Montreal and Ottawa-
Gatineau, Tagalog was the largest in Calgary and Edmonton (followed by Punjabi and
Cantonese), while Cantonese was most frequently spoken in Toronto and Vancouver
(followed by Mandarin and Punjabi).
6 The share of Canadians who speak English at home increased to 74.7 percent in
2016 from 74 percent in 2011, while those who speak French fell to 23.3 percent from
23.8 percent. But the number of Canadians who are bilingual increased to 18 percent,
the highest level of bilingualism on record. In 1961, just 12.2 percent of Canadians
reported being bilingual.

1. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  ore than seven million people in Canada speak a language other than
M
English or French most frequently at home.
b)  rench is the mother tongue of about one-fifth of the population of
F
Canada.
c)  e Chinese languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese, are the
Th
most common non-official languages in Canada.
d) Tagalog is the slowest growing non-official language in Canada.
e) Commonly spoken non-official languages vary depending on the city.
f) Fewer Canadians speak both English and French than in the past.
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 79

2. What is the purpose of the article?

a) to persuade
b) to inform
c) to entertain

Reading
Speak English, s’il vous plait! Or One of 200 Other Languages
Multilingualism has stepped in to fill the bilingual void
1 Pardon my English, but has anything ever bedevilled1 this country more than
language? It’s the membrane that separates us. It’s the crux on which our history has
turned. Or, if you prefer, the cross we’ve always borne. 2 If language can be said to have
had any unifying force in Canada, it would have been its power to inspire episodes of
grudging accommodation—usually at the end of a gun or government fiat.3 The one
constant that backdrops these accommodations has been our mutual resentment. In
145 years of nationhood, language hasn’t brought us any closer to understanding one
another. And that was just with two languages. Now, according to the latest Statistics
Canada census, we speak more than 200.
2 This is hardly news. Walk the streets, go to any public school, and you’ll hear as
much. What is news is Statistics Canada’s recent profile of the concentration of that
multilingualism. The share of Canadians who speak a non-official language at home
has increased significantly since 2011, up 14.5 percent to 7.6 million.
3 Most of those 200 languages were spoken in small enough numbers to be
statistically negligible, but a significant few—most of them Asian—were being spoken
in such great numbers and have been so concentrated in the country’s major cities that
their use has, effectively, nullified Canada’s policy of two official languages.
4 Bilingualism is dead. Or at least it’s been relegated to the status of charming relic.
While bilingualism statistically is holding its own, allophones4 will soon outnumber
francophones in Canada. The federal government might continue to observe the
niceties of bilingualism in the face of this fact, but the real world will ignore it. True
bilingualism has always been an Ottawa pipe dream,5 anyway, and I’m pretty sure not
even Ottawa buys into it any more.
5 Multilingualism has stepped in to fill that void. Or more precisely, stomped in. The
official version of this complete and radical transformation of the country’s fabric—
accomplished in the space of a generation—goes thus: Multilingualism is a wonderful
thing, the diversity of which is evidence of Canada’s enlightened tolerance.
6 “When I look at the globalized world that we live in,” The Sun quoted Doug Norris,
chief demographer at Environics Analytics, as saying, “the fact that we ourselves are
becoming more diverse and reflecting all of those languages is a real asset to us as a
country today. I think it strengthens us as a nation as opposed to a country which was
very singular in terms of its language or ethnicity.”

1 caused a lot of problems over a long period of time

2 having a cross to bear means having a difficult situation that you have to accept or endure
3 an official order given by somebody in authority
4 a resident of Canada, especially Quebec, whose first language is neither French nor English
5 a hope or plan that is impossible to achieve or not practical
80 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

7 This is a lovely view of the world, and not necessarily untrue, though I can think
of a few countries, some of them economic powerhouses, that despite a distaste for
diversity have had no trouble operating in a global market. But given the strife that
language has caused in Canada, and given our historical track record, you would think
there might be a more skeptical and frank discussion about multilingualism. Which is to
say, Canadians do not live in a “globe.” They live in neighbourhoods. And Canada isn’t a
corporation. It’s a nation. There is a big difference.
8 So, the question should be, does multilingualism work at the street level, and has
it made us stronger as a society? Or has it made our society less cohesive? Are we
becoming a truly multicultural nation unified by a global vision, or are we fracturing
into a collection of tribes? Does multilingualism and multiculturalism work, not at the
corporate board level and in feel-good government press releases, but practically in our
cities and our neighbourhoods?
9 We step carefully around those questions, ever so sensitive to charges of racism.
We are such a nice people, at least in public. But there have been more and more
news stories examining the phenomenon of self-ghettoizing,6 and the concentration
of linguistic groups and cultures in such great numbers that the need or compulsion
to speak one of the two official languages in public has lessened. This used to be a
concern unique to Quebec. It no longer is.
10 The corollary to these doubts harbours an even greater question, which is, will
our growing linguistic diversity change our belief system? Language, after all, is only
the vehicle for culture. And my culture, the one I believe in, is a society that embraces
women’s rights, sexual tolerance, a healthy skepticism of authority (rather than a
deference to it) and a belief in the Canadian brand of socialism. I don’t want to see these
beliefs eroded.
11 The question is—and it’s one we shouldn’t be afraid to ask—in the future we’ve
embarked upon, are we going to be on the same page on those issues, or will we be
speaking a different language?
Source: P. McMartin, “Speak English, s’il vous plait! Or One of 200 Other Languages,” The Vancouver Sun, 24 October 2012,
www.vancouversun.com.

6 choosing to live in an area of a city where many people of the same ethnic background live, separately from the rest of the population

1. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  e history of Canada shows that its citizens who speak English and
Th
French have been coexisting peacefully.
b)  e writer is surprised by the fact that, according to Statistics Canada,
Th
people speak a great variety of languages in the country.
c)  ccording to the writer, bilingualism continues to have a healthy
A
presence in Canadian society.

2. Which two different views of multilingualism does the author present in this text?
a)
b)
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 81

3. Which view on multilingualism and multiculturalism (2a or 2b above) does the

writer of this text appear to favour?

4. a) How does the writer support his opinion that multilingualism may not be
strengthening our society?

b) Would you consider the author’s opinion to be informed (see Unit 4, page 64)?

c) What kind of support does the author use for his view?

d) Note some stylistic choices the author uses to make his argument more powerful.
i) Why does he use French in the title of the article?

ii) What is the difference between the two verbs the writer uses in paragraph 5:
to step in and to stomp in?

5. What is the author’s concern about the future of Canadian culture?

6. What is the purpose of this text?

a) to persuade
b) to inform
c) to entertain

Reading
What’s in a Name?
To my Scottish father—plenty
1 The silence was deafening. “Patrick? Patrick?? You want to name him Patrick?” My
father was upset. Very upset. “Well,” I replied weakly, my voice rapidly losing steam. “It
was just an idea.”
2 “Patrick,” said Fayther, simply and forcefully, “is an Irish name.” He made it sound
like an affliction. For my father, Scottish to the core, the very worst thing you could say
about someone or something was that they had an “Irish” quality. Fayther, as my sister
Margaret dubbed him, was a great mountain of a man, with a booming voice and a stare
that could melt tar off a roof.
3 Now, my wife and I were expecting our first child any day, a baby boy, and we still
hadn’t chosen a name. My wife is from Japan and we had already selected our son’s
Japanese name: Genki, meaning “lively or full of life.” But after that we hit an impasse.
The list grew more and more fanciful: Mortimer, Gilgamesh, Hewlett. But none of them
had the right ring, and we finally settled on Patrick, which is a good strong name, even
if it is a wee bit “green.” “Give him a proper Scottish name,” said Fayther. “Alexander or
Duncan or Murdoch. Anything but Patrick.”
82 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4 Here’s the odd part. For all his bite and bluster, my father was only half Scottish.
His mother was from Norway, which makes me a quarter Viking. It gets even worse.
Our dark family secret is this: I’m Irish. And so are all my siblings. My grandfather on my
mother’s side was from Belfast, which means I have exactly as much Irish in me as I do
Scottish. But Fayther refused to accept this. He had four sons and he tried to name each
one of them Angus.
5 “Angus MacFergus,” I said. “It sounds like a bull with a bagpipe.” “It’s a fine name,”
said Fayther. “It has the scent of the Highlands1 about it.”
6 Mom, meanwhile, was whispering encouragements in my ear. “Name your baby
Patrick,” she’d say, her voice smooth as honey. “Or maybe Paul.” Later that evening,
exhausted and head still spinning, I turned to my wife and said, “What do you think about
Angus? You know, for the baby.” She frowned. “Angus,” she said. “It sounds like a cow.”
7 As noted, my wife is from Japan. There are no hyphens in her identity. She is
Japanese, plain and simple. Her parents were Japanese. Her grandparents were
Japanese. Her great-grandparents, her great-great-grandparents and so on, all the way
back into the mists of time. For my wife, Canada’s mongrel mélange2 of cultures is
endlessly fascinating.
8 At one point, she sat down with a calculator and figured out the exact percentages.
“Our son will be 50 percent Japanese, 12.5 percent Scottish, 12.5 percent Irish, 12.5
percent Norwegian, 6.25 percent Czech and 6.25 percent miscellaneous.”
9 We looked at each other. “A mix like that,” I said, “you realize what it means?” She
nodded. “He’ll be 100 percent Canadian.” Our son was born a few weeks later. We
named him Alexander.
Source: W. Ferguson, “What’s in a Name?” YorkU, October 2003, p. 34.

1 a region in Scotland
2 a mixture or variety of different things

1. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) Fayther is an accidental misspelling of father.
b)  e author’s father is a strong, imposing man who usually asserts his
Th
opinions quite clearly.
c) Angus is a typical Irish name, while Patrick is a Scottish one.
d) The author’s father has Scottish and Irish roots.
e)  e author’s “dark family secret” is about some infamous, evil family
Th
ancestors.
f) I t was easier for the author and his wife to choose a Japanese name for
their son than an English name.
g) I t can be inferred from the text that many Canadians have mixed ethnic
origins.
h)  e author and his wife finally choose a non-Scottish name to spite his
Th
father.
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 83

2. What is the purpose of this text?

a) to inform
b) to persuade
c) to entertain

You have just read three different texts on the topic of multilingualism, cultural diversity,
and Canadian identity. What is your opinion about the future of the Canadian society in
view of its growing multiculturalism? Will it stay united by a common national identity,
or will it split into different ethnic groups? Discuss these questions in a small group.

Identifying the Audience

Authors usually address a certain audience with their texts. They write to persuade,
inform, or entertain these target readers. For example, if a text on an upcoming American
presidential election is published in a Canadian newspaper, it will probably inform
Canadians about the implications of each candidate’s presidency on Canada. Such a text
would interest the Canadian public because our close relationship with the US is affected
by the American leadership. A similar text published in an American newspaper will
have a different purpose and audience: it may highlight possible roles of presidential
candidates for the future of the US, trying to persuade Americans to cast their vote one
way or another. Thus, the purpose and the audience of the two texts are different.
If the reader understands that the text is addressing a specific audience to persuade
it to accept a certain point of view—such as to vote for one candidate and not another—
the reader should also examine whether the author’s view is presented objectively,
without bias. Thus, an awareness of a text’s purpose and audience will help the reader
assess the writer’s arguments more critically.

Activity 2
The following readings are all about online commerce, but each one addresses a
different audience. Read the texts, answer the questions that follow, and identify the
intended audience of each text.

Reading
Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales Machine
1 Your online presence is a vital part of any sales strategy. But is your website
the sales powerhouse it should be? Replicating the effectiveness of the face-
to-face sales process online—and getting customers to go from clicking to
buying—can be difficult. The good news is that there are a few simple tricks and
tweaks that can improve your site’s revenue-generating capabilities.
2 Here are some tips that can help turn a business website into a sales machine:

Build an effective shopping cart

3 Some small businesses use services such as PayPal for making and receiving
online payments. But building a full-featured shopping cart directly into your
84 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

website might be a better option. Shopping carts allow for more customization and
the potential to provide more product information. This will ultimately encourage your
customers to buy more products.

Recommend related products

4 Even if you can’t interact face-to-face with web customers, you still can demonstrate
old-fashioned salesmanship. An online store can include a “recommendation engine”
that suggests complementary products, upgrades, and additional services. For example,
if a customer puts a grill in his online shopping cart, he can be prompted to also consider
buying tongs and a spatula.

Start a contest or promotion

5 An online contest or promotion can help attract attention in social media channels
and lure potential customers to your site. Giving away a high value item can stir up the
most attention but frequent, simple contests with smaller perks can also be effective.
Source: J. Blum, “Five Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales Machine,” Entrepreneur, 16 April 2012, www.entrepreneur.
com/article/223348.

1. What is the purpose of the tips the writer offers?

2. Do you think having an online shopping cart is a valuable feature for a customer?
Why or why not?

3. If you were buying online, would you like to have products recommended to you?
Why or why not?

4. Who is the intended audience of this text?

Reading
Warnings about Online Shopping
There’s growing interest in the Internet as a place
to shop. But this type of shopping has its own
dangers, and the rules of smart shopping are as
important in the electronic marketplace as they
are on your doorstep.
One problem is that consumers have little control over
what happens to personal information used when shopping
online. Each transaction leaves an information trail that can
be used by hackers and other unauthorized individuals to
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 85

assemble financial and personal profiles on you. This information can be sold or stolen
and used for criminal purposes. You have every right to feel vulnerable when your credit
card number and other financial information go sailing into cyberspace.
Please review our helpful advice and understand your rights before you make a
purchase online.
• Don’t fall for offers that sound too good to be
true—they often are, especially if the website
overloads you with information about many
recommended good deals.
OVERSTOCK
• Don’t respond to spam—unsolicited email iPads
offers.
• Avoid getting hooked by offers for samples Get an
with purchases and other “freebies”—they are iPad Mini
meant to reel in the unsuspecting. for $29.15!
• Know whom you’re dealing with. The company’s
website should provide basic information (i.e.
Limit one per day
the seller’s name, business address, and phone
number).
• Check the reputation of the business before buying—be careful because it may
pocket your money and not deliver on its promises. If you’ve never dealt with the
company before, ask friends or family if they have.
Source: Adapted from “Advice on Shopping Online or over the Phone,” Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, www.sse.
gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Online_Shopping_Intro.aspx.

1. What is the purpose of the advice the writer offers?

2. What does the writer claim regarding the security of personal financial information
on the Internet?

3. What is the writer’s view on “freebies” and other alluring offers on shopping
websites?

4. Who is the intended audience of this text?

86 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Reading
Product Research and Purchase
1 Digital technology has also changed how consumers research and buy products.
While online shopping has not realized the exaggerated predictions of the early
dot.com days that it would put bricks-and-mortar stores out of business, it is a significant
and worldwide phenomenon. According to Statista.com, in 2020, the number of digital
buyers is expected to be 2.05 billion. That’s 26.28% of the 7.8 billion people in the world.
In other words, one out of every four people you see around you is an online shopper.
2 The Internet has reshaped the way that people buy big-ticket items, like
automobiles, even when the product is eventually bought in a physical store. Not that
long ago, the starting point for purchasing a car was a trip to a few dealerships to collect
brochures that had all the product specifications and prices. This first trip often started
the negotiation process with the salesperson.
3 Today, car buyers are gathering all the information they need on the Internet before
they even think about stepping into a showroom. Manufacturers’ sites, auto-information
sites (such as edmunds.com and Kelley Blue Book, kbb.com), auto-buying sites (such as
cars.com), car magazine sites, car blogs and so on, allow customers to research, build,
price and compare cars at home. By the time the customer gets to the dealership, he
or she is ready to buy. They know what car they want, what they want in it, and what
price they should be paying. Automotive brochures are now largely useless, except as a
nice souvenir of the car you have already bought. This process has taken a tremendous
amount of power out of the hands of auto-dealers and salespeople and put it right into
the hands of the consumer.
Source: Excerpted from B. Sheehan, Basics Marketing 02: Online Marketing (AVA Publishing, 2010), p. 21.

1. What is the main idea of the text?

a) Online shopping will prevail over conventional shopping.
b) Digital technology gives too much power to online businesses.
c) Most of the world’s population has access to online shopping.
d) Digital technology has modified our shopping habits.

2. Why does the process of researching a product take power away from auto-dealers
and salespeople?

3. Who is the intended audience of this text?

These three texts have different purposes and audiences and, therefore, present the same
issue—online commerce—from different perspectives. A critical reader will realize
that while the first reading presents discounted items or free perks as a positive tool,
the second warns against being lured by freebies that may not be free at all. Similarly,
the first text promotes the recommendation of products to the customer, but the second
reading cautions against suspiciously attractive recommendations. The difference
in perspectives is explained by the different target audiences—online entrepreneurs
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 87

and online consumers. In the third reading, the author offers an academic look at
online shopping habits, asserting that online tools empowers the consumer. This text is
directed not to either entrepreneurs or consumers but rather to an audience of business
or marketing students.

Assessing Online Sources

When you are doing research and assessing the argument in the source you found
online, it is essential to evaluate this source and determine if it is reliable and if the
information is valid.
For presentations and essays, many students start their research by doing an
Internet search. While it is acceptable to use Internet sources to brainstorm about your
topic, they are usually not considered credible sources for a research paper. Many are
simply unreliable sources of information. To assess online materials, ask yourself the
following questions.
• What type of domain does your source come from? Government (.gov) and
educational institutions (.edu) may be more reliable than commercial (.com) or
even some non-profit (.org) sources. Commercial websites are usually financially
interested in promoting a product or a service to you, while non-profit organizations
may have an ideological agenda to promote a certain point of view without balancing
it with the opposite view.
• Who is the publisher? Is it a person or an organization? Personal blogs are generally
not acceptable research sources. Wikipedia is also an unacceptable research source
as it may be edited by non-experts. If the publisher is an organization, it must be a
reputable one. Look for more information about the publisher by checking About
Us, Background, Our Philosophy, etc.
• Who is the author? Is he or she affiliated with an academic institution, a business,
or a political organization? The author must be an expert on the subject, so make
sure his or her qualifications—education and experience—indicate that you can
trust this author. To determine the author’s objectivity, check if he or she presents
a balanced view on a controversial subject.
• Is your source current and documented with footnotes and links to additional
sources? If so, checking whether these links work and are relevant helps you to
determine the quality of the source.
One of the best ways to locate appropriate research sources is to use databases available
through your university library—information stores that evaluate content before
providing it to subscribers.

Identifying Techniques of Persuasion

In argumentative texts, the author may use the following techniques of persuasion.
• Presenting support for an opinion: citing research results, statistics
Example: According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, vegetarian eating patterns
have been associated with improved health outcomes including lower levels of
obesity, a reduced risk of heart disease and lower blood pressure.
88 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

• Using logical reasoning: tracing causal relationships in an argument

Example: The Earth’s limited resources, including land and water, are being
consumed more and more quickly as the population increases. How can
vegetarianism help reduce the consumption of limited resources? Very simply: if
you look at the two statements Land + Water = Crops and Land + Water + Crops =
Livestock, you can see that the limited resources are repeated in both statements. By
eating meat, humans are using limited resources that create crops. Then additional
limited resources plus those crops are used to create livestock. Wouldn’t it make
sense to just eat the crops?

• Using analogies and/or contrasts: discussing a situation similar to or very different

from the one in question and making conclusions based on the similarities or
contrasts
Example: The Canadian government should revise its taxation system. The
Canadian middle class has a heavy tax burden, while the economic elite pays
relatively little. If this continues, Canada will resemble one of the developing
Latin American countries with no middle class, but only the very poor and the
super-rich.
• Giving examples from personal experiences: using the author’s or other people’s
experiences to prove the validity of the author’s opinion
Example: Insurance companies make it so easy to sign up and pay for travel
insurance but then so hard to get compensation. I once had a 12-hour delay and
had to pay for a hotel, and my insurance company refused to reimburse me. They
defended their decision with the fact that my connection was between two airlines:
they found a small-print excuse in the policy not to pay me.

• Using an emotional tone: using emotionally loaded vocabulary and examples to

appeal to the reader’s emotional sensitivity
Example: In commercial farming, a major part of the food industry, many farmers
treat animals cruelly. For example, to satisfy consumers’ desire for tender veal,
calves are mercilessly confined in tight cages where they cannot move freely. This
way the calves cannot develop tough muscle tissue. After a few months of living in
these hellish conditions, the miserable animal is killed.

• Presenting a counter-argument and then refuting it—recognizing the opposite

point of view and proving that it is invalid or that any concern connected to it can
be easily alleviated
Example: Meat eaters claim that it is difficult or even impossible to change deeply
engrained habits and switch to vegetarianism. However, the change is not as
difficult as it seems. First, there are plenty of delicious vegetarian choices for you in
supermarkets and restaurants. Second, if your family eats meat and you choose not
to, you can always stick to the side dishes—rice or noodles—and complement them
with nutritious vegetables. Lastly, your wish to lead a healthy lifestyle will motivate
you to achieve success in shifting to a vegetarian diet.
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 89

Activity 3
In the text below, identify the techniques of persuasion used by the author and answer
the questions that follow.

Reading
Against Designer Babies
Genetic enhancement of human embryos is not a practice
for civil societies, argues a bioethicist
1 In a recent debate in New York City on the topic of human genetic engineering,
I argued in support of the proposition to prohibit the genetic modification of human
reproductive cells prior to gestation in the womb. Two compelling reasons to genetically
alter human reproductive cells in preparation for childbirth, I argued, are for curing or
preventing a disease or for the “enhancement” of a child. With respect to the former,
there are safer and more dependable methods for preventing the birth of a child with a
severe genetic abnormality than by genetic modification of the germ cells. The use of
prenatal screening or pre-implantation embryo diagnosis will suffice in most cases to
prevent the birth of a genetically abnormal embryo.
2 Accordingly, the only remaining rationale for engaging in the genetic modification
of human reproductive cells is to enhance the child—to bestow such traits as heightened
intelligence, resistance to disease, muscle strength, appealing personality or longevity,
to cite a few common examples. I believe that pursuit of this goal represents the greatest
scientific folly and moral failure.
3 First, for whatever enhancement is sought, the only method for determining efficacy
is to engage in a clinical trial with a few dozen fertilized human eggs or embryos, where
half would be genetically modified, all would be carried to term, and the development
of the children would be followed throughout their lives to determine whether the
genetic modification worked and worked safely. No animal studies can answer these
questions. It is unimaginable that any humane society would permit such a trial, where
the potential risks so outweigh the social benefits.
4 The second reason to shun genetic enhancement is that it makes no sense from
a biological and developmental perspective. The human traits typically cited for
enhancement, such as intelligence, personality or musicianship, are complex and not
only involve dozens if not hundreds of genes, but are the result of a complex mix of
determinants, including nutrition, social and environmental factors, gene-to-gene
interactions and epigenetic switches that are outside the reductive chemistry of the
DNA code. Even for height, one of the most heritable traits known, scientists have
discovered at least 50 genes that can account for 2 to 3 percent of the variance in the
samples. There could be hundreds of genes associated with height. If you want a tall
child, then marry tall.
5 Finally, the idea of genetic enhancement grows out of a eugenics ideology that
human perfection can be directed by genetics. I am all for human enhancement, but
it must start after an egg is fertilized beginning in utero—by protecting the fetus from
neurotoxins and other endocrine-disrupting substances and continuing after birth with
nutritional and cognitive enrichment and moral education, for example.
90 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6 The greatest danger of a belief in genetic engineering lies in its likely social impact.
Eugenics will inevitably be used by those with wealth and power to make others believe
that prenatal genetic modification makes people better. This would be as much a myth
as believing that the sperm from Nobel Laureates will produce a genius child.

About the author

Sheldon Krimsky is the Lenore Stern Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at
Tufts University and an adjunct professor of public health and community medicine. He
is coeditor of Biotechnology in Our Lives: What Modern Genetics Can Tell You About
Assisted Reproduction, Human Behavior, and Personalized Medicine, and Much More
(Shyhorse Press, June 2013).

1. Fill in the chart with the examples of techniques of persuasion you identified in
the text.

Technique of Example (para. #)

persuasion
Research results

Logical reasoning

Counter-argument
and its refutation

Emotional tone,
emotionally loaded
vocabulary

Analogy

2. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) Th
 e author is against curing or preventing a disease or the “enhancement”
of a child’s qualities.
b)  octors can examine an embryo in a mother’s womb in order to prevent
D
the birth of a baby with genetic defects.

3. a) Which traits are commonly mentioned with regard to human enhancement?

b) Does the author believe that these traits make a human

being better?  Yes   No
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 91

4. Why do you think a human experiment on genetic enhancement would be

unacceptable?

5. The author brings research evidence that a human trait, such as height, could be
determined by multiple genes. Why does he bring this evidence? To prove that
a) human genetic engineering covers a range of sciences.
b) nutrition is also important in determining height.
c) performing successful genetic engineering is next to impossible.
d) height is not the trait genetic engineers should focus on.

6. If not through genetic engineering, how can a human being be improved? List at
least two methods.
a)
b)

7. a) What is eugenics? Use only the text for your answer.

b) Does the author support its principles?  Yes   No

8. Are you convinced by the author’s argument against designer babies? Explain.

9. The article was published at the website now.tufts.edu and it includes the author’s
credentials. Assess the article’s reliability.

Assessing an Argument’s
Support and Logic
Being aware of an author’s persuasive techniques makes it easier for the reader to assess
the validity and effectiveness of an argument. In making this assessment, the reader
should ask the following questions about the quality of the support for the argument:
• Is the support for the argument relevant? Is the support truly connected to the
point the author is trying to make, or is it loosely related to the topic but not to the
exact point of the argument?
• Is the support for the argument sufficient? Does the author provide enough support
to prove his or her point of view?
92 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

• If the author uses an emotional tone to recruit the reader’s support, does the tone
mask bias (a lack of objectivity) on the part of the author? In other words, does the
support evoke strong emotions in the reader that conceal the lack of relevant or
sufficient support?
• Is the logic of the argument valid or is it faulty? In other words, does the author set
out reasoning in a series of statements that follow a causal relationship?

Activity 4
Study the following arguments and assess their support and logic.

Text A

I am confounded by propaganda in favour of independent (private) schools, particularly

when universally accessible, high-quality public education has long been the backbone
of Canada’s strength. On academic measurements I found that my public school peers
and I easily performed at the same levels as our private school classmates in university
and beyond.

1. Does the author support or criticize private schools?

2. Would you consider the author’s support for the argument to be sufficient? Why or
why not?

Text B

The United States is the last nation in the world still using
chimpanzees in large-scale invasive science experiments.
Laboratories in America are allowed to keep chimpanzees
in metal cages the size of a kitchen table and deprive them
of normal social interaction. For example, when she was
living in captivity in one of the laboratories, chimp Foxie
had five babies, including a set of twins. All were taken
from her as infants—some when they were just days old.
We should have compassion for these amazingly intelligent
and creative animals. They should be set free. Science does
not benefit from the experiments on chimpanzees.

1. What does the author try to persuade the reader to believe?

 UNIT Assessing an Argument 93

2. What emotional tone(s) does this passage invoke?

3. Would you consider all of the author’s support for the argument to be relevant?
Why or why not?

Text C

Japan’s nuclear program should be shut down immediately. It is clear that in an area
with seismological risks as high as those in Japan nuclear energy plants should not
be allowed. The 2011 Fukushima disaster, the result of a 9.3-magnitude earthquake,
provides strong evidence for this. Six workers were killed in the disaster and 300
received significant radiation doses. Large amounts of radiation were released into
the air, ground, and ocean water. It will take decades to decontaminate the areas
surrounding Fukushima.

1. What does the author try to persuade the readers to believe?

2. Would you consider the support for the argument to be sufficient and objective?
Why or why not?

Text D

You have probably noticed this sight in many Canadian streets: women
wearing special clothing that covers their faces. These are Muslim women,
usually recent immigrants from countries with male-dominated cultures.
They might wear a niqab (the veil that leaves only the woman’s eyes
uncovered) or a burka (a cloak covering the whole body of a woman,
including her face, so that she looks at the world through gauze). There
has been an ongoing debate in Canada as to whether face coverings in
public should be allowed. We should follow the example of many other
Western countries where there is no ban on religious clothing and no ban
on religious freedom of their citizens.

a) What is the opinion of the writer about face coverings in Canada?

b) Would you consider the support for the writer’s opinion sufficient? Why or
why not?
94 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Activity 5
The following arguments contain examples of faulty logic. In a small group, read the
paragraphs and discuss why the arguments are not valid. Then use your own words to
explain the problem with the author’s reasoning in each case. The first passage is done
for you.

Text A

Bill is arguing against free higher education. He says the Canadian government cannot
afford to pay tuition for all students—to do so, the government would have to raise taxes
substantially. In response to Bill’s comments, Ann replies, “That’s easy for you to say. Your
parents are a doctor and a lawyer, and paying your tuition is not a problem for them.”

What is the problem with Ann’s reasoning?

Ann does not respond to the point Bill is making: raising taxes to cover tuition. Instead, she
attacks Bill on a personal level. Ann accuses Bill of a biased opinion because his parents are
well off; however, she does not actually know whether they, in fact, pay Bill’s tuition or whether
he pays it himself.

Text B

Marie is making an argument for working a part-time job while studying full-time. She
thinks that it is absolutely necessary that she work part-time, even if she has a full-time
course load. Recently, she has had trouble at school, failing two of her mid-terms.
However, she says that the majority of the students she knows hold a job, so it is only
right that she do the same.

What might be the problem with Marie’s reasoning?

Text C

Because the US and Canada share the same language and culture, the policies accepted
in the US will work well in Canada too. For example, people in both countries believe
that citizens have the right to defend themselves, and therefore the strict gun control
laws in Canada should be revoked and more liberal gun laws, similar to those in the US,
should be passed.
 UNIT Assessing an Argument 95

What is the problem with the reasoning above?

Text D

Hassan is a student from Saudi Arabia studying in Canada. He is having trouble enduring
the cold Canadian winters and tells his classmates how much he misses the heat and
bright sun of his home country. Probably all people of Middle Eastern origin, like Hassan,
prefer hot weather to cold weather.

What is the problem with the reasoning above?

Text E

Studies show that students today spend much less time studying outside the classroom
than students did 50 years ago. Whereas in the 1960s the study time for a full-time
student was about 25 hours per week, now it is only about 10–13 hours per week. The
cause of this drastic decline is that today’s young people are not prepared to work hard.
They would rather party or play sports than study.

1. What is the problem with the reasoning above?

2. What other probable causes of study time decline can you think of?
96 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Now that you have discussed the logical faults in the each of the passages, read
descriptions of the types of faulty logic below. Then match each type with the relevant
text on pages 94 and 95.

Text  isleading analogy: a comparison used as part of the argument is

M
superficial or improbable
Text  andwagon: an idea is considered to be true because many people
B
agree with it
Text  n attack directed against a person’s character rather than their
A
argument (sometimes referred to as an ad hominem argument)
Text  versimplification: explaining the result by focusing on one cause,
O
while in reality many causes are possible
Text  vergeneralization: a conclusion that inaccurately applies to a large
O
group, while in fact only a small group can be described by it
PART TWO
Cross-Disciplinary Readings
 6 Surveillance

Getting into the Topic

How can a state ensure the safety of its citizens? Unit 6 presents possible answers
to this legal and human rights question from the perspectives of public health,
computer sciences, and criminology. The first selection examines the different ways
that governments were using information from tracking devices during the Covid-19
pandemic. The second text explores civil activists’ concerns about facial recognition
technologies. The final selection presents advantages and disadvantages of electronic
monitoring systems, which keep an electronic eye on a person who has been convicted
of a crime.
100 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Discuss these questions to help you get into the topic.

1. Did your country use any technologies to trace people who were infected with
Covid-19 and their contacts?
2. What is facial recognition technology (FRT)? What are the uses of it today?

Facial recognition technology is An electronic monitoring device can

becoming increasingly controversial. track a person’s whereabouts.

3. Imagine that a person has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to house arrest.
In your opinion, is having this person wear an electronic monitoring device an
effective way to ensure that he or she does not leave home or reoffend?

Reading 1 Public Health

Coronavirus Tracking Apps: Normalizing Surveillance

During States of Emergency

By Raluca Csernatoni
1 The global coronavirus pandemic has prompted states to rush to embrace digital Vocabulary
surveillance tools, such as contact tracing apps, as quick fixes and policy responses to Pay attention
the crisis. Understandably, a lot of sophisticated yet questionable new technological to these words
solutions have been hurriedly deployed due to the severity of the pandemic. However, and write
them in your
such technologies raise serious concerns related to mass digital surveillance practices,
vocabulary
the outsourcing of expertise or sensitive personal data to private companies, and the notebook:
potential infringement of citizens’ fundamental rights. sophisticated
deployed
Different approaches to the same problem
centralized
2 For instance, Germany rolled out in early April 2020 a coronavirus symptom tracker decentralized
app, designed to provide the government with a plethora of health-related data. The undermine
purpose was to better monitor the virus’ development patterns, but it soon came sovereign
under heavy criticism when it was revealed that the app runs personal data via Big Tech
mediators and allows the German health authorities access to users’ data even after
the app is deleted. This earlier version kept anonymized infection data on centralized
servers and was discarded due to outcry from data privacy activists. In June, Germany
released the Corona-Warn-App, using instead a decentralized framework and
 UNIT Surveillance 101

Bluetooth short-range radio, meaning that users’ encrypted information is stored locally
on people’s smartphones.
3 Conversely, in June the French government embraced a centralized architecture
for its tracing app StopCovid. The app would store and collect citizens’ data on a
governmental central server sending alerts to anyone that has been potentially within
the proximity of an infected person. Civil society groups have raised questions about
this approach and over privacy laws, as well as concerns that the app might be used as
a tool for mass surveillance. Yet, the official governmental line is that the use of the app
remains voluntary and it only provides anonymous user codes, thus not infringing on
any privacy laws. Interestingly, since its launch, the StopCovid tracing application has
only reported 14 risk cases, with only 2% of the French population installing the app
on their mobiles, five months after the app’s inception, triggering debates about the
usefulness of these tools against the pandemic.
4 On the one hand, opting for a decentralized system such as the German case might
be better for privacy, but it also means depending more heavily on private companies
such as Google or Apple. On the other hand, the French centralized framework
highlights that decisions around the public use of data should be made by elected
officials rather than private companies. Irrespective of the preferred approach and
privacy tradeoff, both frameworks pose potential surveillance risks and raise concerns
about making this widespread digital surveillance a norm.

Privacy and health: can we have it both ways?

5 This also begs the question of whether it is possible to develop apps that can both
ensure user privacy and effectively combat the spread of the virus. Tracking apps open
the door for the normalization of government-led and corporate digital surveillance and
the risk of function creep, namely the expansion of a technology beyond its original
purposes. Some view technology as a silver bullet for solving deeper socio-political
problems, or in the case of the virus, health care crises. Big Tech plays a fundamental role
in feeding this hype machine. Digital mass surveillance presents challenges regarding
the intensification of everyday monitoring mediated by tech corporations and via their
102 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

products. Furthermore, the business model underpinning the current digital world seems
to have benefited from the pandemic by significantly expanding digital giants’ profits.
6 The pandemic has also demonstrated that during the public health crisis,
governments tend to rush into mass digital surveillance solutions as a quick fix. In
the process, trust in both authorities and technologies risks being lost. Before even
considering the data protection and privacy implications of surveillance technologies,
questions should be asked about the trustworthiness and legitimacy of the authorities
and companies deploying them, as well as opening the black box of the technologies
themselves. How do they work, what data do they gather, how is the data processed
and stored, for how long, and for what purposes?

Exceptional or the new normal?

7 The logic goes along the lines that when everyone feels at risk because of the
virus, the acceptance level for exceptional measures and enhanced digital surveillance
is higher. It comes as no surprise that states of emergency such as the coronavirus crisis
tend to warrant an extension of governmental powers, which can be employed as a
rationale or pretext to suspend and undermine democratic principles and rights.
8 However, what this approach potentially misses in the case of the current crisis is that
power seems to come not only from governments, but also from other agents, including
the virus itself. The non-human coronavirus as a disruptive performative political agent
has actually demonstrated the powerlessness of authorities in the face of it, as well as
drawn sharp lines between the limits of sovereign state powers and technologically-
driven security management. Current new modes of surveillance are not determined by
top-down and direct state monitoring, but by indirect observation and self-surveillance.
In particular, self-surveillance has become a staple feature during the pandemic, reflected
by self-isolation practices and the use of Covid-19 symptom-tracking apps by citizens.
9 Contact-tracing apps could indeed help countries mitigate the spread of the virus.
But the question still remains whether there is sufficient public understanding of the
technologies, their efficacy, risks, and consequences in terms of balancing public health
concerns and the protection of civil rights. Current debates about first generation digital
surveillance technologies and the tradeoffs they bring in terms of security and privacy,
as well as public-private relations, are ever more important given the expectation that
pandemics may become an episodic feature of contemporary life, due to climate change
and globalization. They could become backdoors for radical forms of surveillance that
undermine the tenets of democratic systems and lead to new forms of emergency
politics. They represent a critical experiment for the role technology will play in tackling
future pandemics.

This blog post is based on the article “New states of emergency: normalizing techno-
surveillance in the time of Covid-19,” published in Global Affairs, and it is part of PRIO’s
project States of Emergency as Disruptive Pandemic Politics.

Raluca Csernatoni is a Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, and a Guest

Professor at the Institute for European Studies (IES) of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Her recent co-edited book Emerging Security Technologies and EU Governance. Actors,
Practices and Processes was published by Routledge in 2020.
Source: R. Csernatoni, “Coronavirus Tracking Apps: Normalizing Surveillance During States of Emergency,” Prio Blogs,
Peace Research Institute Oslo, 5 October 2020, https://blogs.prio.org/2020/10/coronavirus-tracking-apps-normalizing-
surveillance-during-states-of-emergency/.
 UNIT Surveillance 103

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Paraphrase the following sentence from paragraph 1: “Understandably, a lot of Refer to Unit 2, page 33,
sophisticated yet questionable new technological solutions have been hurriedly to review paraphrasing
strategies.
deployed due to the severity of the pandemic.”

2. Complete the chart below. The answers can be “Yes,” “No,” or “Unknown.”

App Is the app Is this app Does the app reveal Does the app work
voluntary? centralized? an infected person’s through private
name? companies, such as
Google or Apple?
German early app

German later Corona-

Warn-App

French app StopCovid

3. What concern does the write express regarding Covid tracking devices in
paragraph 4?

4. Paragraph 5 presents two different views on surveillance technology. What are

they?

For surveillance technology:

Against surveillance technology:

5. At the end of paragraph 6, the author lists the following questions: “How do they
work, what data do they gather, how is the data processed and stored, for how long,
and for what purposes?” Why do we need to ask these questions?

6. Do you agree that “when everyone feels at risk because of the virus, the acceptance
level for exceptional measures and enhanced digital surveillance” (para. 7) should
be higher? Explain.
104 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

7. What may the writer mean by saying that the coronavirus is “a disruptive
performative political agent” (para. 8)? Mark all answers that apply.
a) The virus cannot be easily controlled by governments.
b) The virus can make governments adopt certain policies.
c) The virus can encourage creating new political parties.
d) The virus can make governments feel powerless in the face of pandemic.

8. Mark the inferences as valid (V) or invalid (I). To review making

inferences, see
a)  andemics, like Covid-19, will become a regular part of our life because
P Unit 4, page 57.
of climate change.
b)  ere is a concern that tracking technologies will undermine personal
Th
privacy and security.

9. Assess the credibility of the article. Who published it? What is the domain? Can we
trust the author?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning To review
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary. vocabulary
strategies,
1. sophisticated (para. 1): including using
word parts and
guessing meaning
2. deployed (para. 1):
in context, see
Unit 2, pages 25
3. centralized (para. 2): and 27.

4. decentralized (para. 2):

5. undermine (para. 7):

6. sovereign (para. 8):

Reading 2 Computer Sciences

Facial Recognition in 2020: Can Tech Giants

Stop Its Regulation?
Vocabulary
Civil liberties activists warn that the powerful technology, which Pay attention
identifies people by matching a picture or video of a person’s face to to these words
databases of photos, can be used to passively spy on people without and write
them in your
any reasonable suspicion or their consent. Many of these leaders don’t vocabulary
just want to regulate facial recognition tech—they want to ban or pause notebook:
its use completely. liberties
impacted
By Shirin Ghaffary metrics

1 Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who rarely agree on anything, are in accountable
mitigate
agreement on limiting law enforcement agencies’ ability to surveil Americans with this
controversy
technology, citing concerns that the unchecked use of facial recognition could lead
 UNIT Surveillance 105

to the creation of an Orwellian surveillance state.1 Several cities, such as

San Francisco, Oakland, and Somerville, Massachusetts banned police
use of the technology last year. A new federal bill was introduced in 2019
that would severely restrict its use by federal law enforcement, requiring a
court order to track people for longer than three days. And some senators
have discussed a far-reaching bill that would completely halt government
use of the technology.
2 But the reality is that this technology already exists—it’s used to unlock
people’s iPhones, scan flight passengers’ faces instead of their tickets,
screen people attending musical concerts, and to monitor large crowds.
Its prevalence has created a delicate situation: proponents of the tech,
such as law enforcement and technology manufacturers, downplay facial recognition’s
power. They play up its potential to crack open cold criminal cases or reunite missing
children with their families.
3 Meanwhile, opponents warn of how quickly the powerful tech’s use could spiral
out of control. For instance, they point to China, where the technology is regularly
used to surveil citizens. The solution may be somewhere in between—there are
cases when use of this tech can do good, especially if it’s carefully regulated and the
communities impacted by it are in control of how it’s used. But right now, that looks
like an ideal scenario that we’re still far from achieving. “What we really need to do as
a society is sort through what are the beneficial uses of this technology and what are
the accompanying harms—and see if there are any roles for its use right now,” Barry
Friedman, faculty director of NYU Law’s Policing Project, a research institute that studies
policing practices, told Recode. Rolling out government use of facial recognition the
right way, tech policy leaders and civil liberties advocates say, will involve a sweeping set
of regulations that democratize input on how these technologies are used.

The daily use

4 The most famous examples of law enforcement’s use of facial recognition in the
US are the extreme ones—such as when police in Maryland used it to identify the
suspected shooter at the Capital Gazette newspaper offices. But the reality is, as many
as one in four police departments across the US can access facial recognition according
to the Center of Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law. And at least for now,
it’s often in more routine criminal investigations. Some law enforcement agencies are
simply worried that sharing more information about the use of facial recognition will
spark backlash, Daniel Castro, vice president of the DC-based tech policy think tank,
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), told Recode.
5 Much of the fear about facial recognition technology is because the public knows
little about how it’s used, or whether it’s been effective in reducing crime. In absence of
any kind of systemic federal regulation or permitting process—the little we know is from
stories, interviews, public reports, and investigative reports about its prevalence. And
even police departments that are forthright about how they use the technology often
don’t collect or share any tangible metrics about its effectiveness. Friedman said that
with better data, the public might have a better understanding of the true value of facial
recognition technology, and if it’s worth the risks.

1 non-democratic, dictatorial state, based on the novel 1984 by George Orwell

106 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

The bias problem

6 For racial minorities and women, facial recognition systems have proven
disproportionately less accurate. In a 2018 study, MIT Media Lab researcher Joy
Buolamwini found that three leading facial recognition tools—from Microsoft, IBM,
and Chinese firm Megvii, were incorrect as much as a third of the time in identifying
the gender of darker skinned women, as compared to having only a 1 percent error
rate for White males. Amazon’s Rekognition tool in particular has been criticized for
displaying bias after the ACLU ran a test on the software that misidentified 28 members
of Congress as criminals, disproportionately providing false matches for Black and
Latino lawmakers. Amazon has said that the correct settings weren’t used in the ACLU’s
test because the organization set the acceptable confidence threshold to 80 percent—
although it was later reported that this is the default setting in the software, and one
that some police departments seem to be using in training materials.
7 Presumably, bias issues in facial recognition will improve over time, as the technology
learns and data sets improve. Meanwhile, proponents argue that while facial recognition
technology in its current state isn’t completely bias-free, neither are human beings.
And facial recognition can be harder to hold accountable than a human being when
it makes a mistake. “If an individual officer is discriminating against a person, there’s a
through line or a causal effect you can see there, and try to mitigate or address that
harm,” said Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at AI Now Institute, “But if it’s
a machine learning system, then who’s responsible?”
8 The technology that determines a match in facial recognition is essentially a black
box—the average person doesn’t know how it works, and often the untrained law enforcers
using it don’t either. So unwinding the biases built into this tech is not a simple task.
9 Some tech companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, have called for government
regulation on the technology. Amazon said earlier this year that it’s writing its own set of
rules for facial recognition that it hopes federal lawmakers will adopt. But that raises the
question: Should people trust companies any more than police to self-regulate this tech?
10 Other groups such as the ACLU have created a model for local communities to
exert oversight and control over police use of surveillance technology, including facial
recognition. The Community Control over Police Surveillance laws, which the ACLU
developed as a template for local regulation, empowers city councils to decide what
surveillance technologies are used in their area, and mandate community input. More
than a dozen cities and local jurisdictions have passed such laws, and the ACLU says
efforts are underway in several others.
11 Overall, there may be benefits of law enforcement’s use of facial recognition
technology—but so far, Americans are relying on police department anecdotes with
little data points or accountability. As long as police departments continue to use facial
recognition in this information vacuum, the backlash against the technology will likely
grow stronger, no matter the potential upside. Passing robust federal level legislation
regulating the tech, working to eradicate the biases around it, and giving the public
more insight into how it functions, would be a good first step toward a future in which
this tech inspires less fear and controversy.
Source: Shirin Ghaffary, “Facial Recognition in 2020: Can Tech Giants Stop Its Regulation?” Flashes Magazine, January 2020,
pp. 37–39, https://www.mbrf.ae/en/pdf-view/building-the-future-uaes-next-50-years/Building%20the%20Future%20:%20
UAE%E2%80%99s%20Next%2050%20Years. This is an abridged version of the original article written by Shirin Ghaffary for
Recode website.
 UNIT Surveillance 107

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Different groups of society have different opinions about facial recognition
technology. Complete the chart.

Proponents of FRT Opponents of FRT

Is FRT acceptable?
Why (not)?

2. What could be a compromise between the opponents and proponents of FRT? Do

not copy from the text; paraphrase your answer.

3. What is the main idea of paragraph 5?

a) The public has little information about how police use FRT.
b) Police do not share much information about their use of FRT with the public.
c) The sources—interviews, investigative reports, public reports—provide
incorrect information about FRT.
d) It is beneficial to let the public know more about the use of FRT by police and
government.

4. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  omen have a 33 percent chance of being misidentified as men by the
W
three leading FRT tools.
b)  arker-skinned people are misidentified by FRT more often than White
D
people.
c) It is possible that FRT’s accuracy will improve with time.
d)  roponents of FRT say that FRT should be accepted in spite of its bias
P
because people, when not using technology, have bias too.

5. What inference(s) can be made on the basis of paragraphs 7 and 8?

a) Because FRT’s mistakes are incomprehensible, it should be rejected.
b) Police officers who discriminate against racial minorities should not be fired if
they make a simple human mistake.
c) FRT is safer than the average police officer because it is an algorithm, with no
conscious intentions to discriminate.
d) It is harder to blame an algorithm for the mistake in identification than a human
being.
108 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. What is the analogy that paragraph 8 makes to persuade the reader that we need to
know more about FRT?

7. The author suggests several measures to ensure that FRT causes less fear and
controversy. Check these measures.
a) Let companies make a list of regulations on how to use FRT.
b)  ocal communities should decide which surveillance tools are used in
L
towns and cities.
c)  itizens should be asked for their opinions on the use of FRT in their
C
community.
d) Police should give fuller accounts of their use of FRT.
e) Each state should decide on its own how to use FRT.

8. What is the author’s opinion about the acceptability of FRT?

a) FRT is unacceptable because it has biases and we do not know much about it.
b) FRT should be widely accepted because it helps to fight crime.
c) FRT should be accepted but on condition it is regulated and we know more
about it.

9. Who is the audience of the text? To review

identifying the
audience of a
text, see Unit 5,
page 83.

10. Does the author of the text have any bias for FRT or against it? Explain briefly. To review
identifying
bias, see Unit 4,
page 67.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. liberties (subtitle):

2. impacted (para. 3):

3. metrics (para. 5):

4. accountable (para. 7):

5. mitigate (para. 7):

6. controversy (para. 10):

 UNIT Surveillance 109

Reading 3 Criminology

House Arrest, Electronic Monitoring,

and Global Positioning Systems

By M.K. Stohr
1 House arrest is a program used by probation and parole agencies that requires
offenders to remain in their homes at all times except for approved periods, such as
travel to work or school, and occasionally for other approved destinations. As a system
of social control, house arrest is typically used primarily as an initial phase of intensive
probation or parole supervision, but can also be used as an alternative to pretrial
detention or a jail sentence. As is the case with so many other criminal justice practices,
house arrest was designed primarily to reduce financial costs to the state by reducing
institutional confinement.
2 House arrest did not initially gain widespread acceptance in the criminal justice
community because there was no way of ensuring offender compliance with the
order, short of having officers constantly monitoring the residence. It was also viewed
by the public at large as being soft on crime—”doing time in the comfort of one’s home.”
However, house arrest gained in popularity with the advent of electronic monitoring
Vocabulary
(EM). EM is a system by which offenders under house arrest can be monitored for
Pay attention to these
compliance using computer technology. In modern EM systems, an electronic device words and phrases
worn around the offender’s ankle sends a continuous signal to a receiver attached to and write them in
the offender’s house phone. If the offender moves beyond 500 feet [152 metres] of his your vocabulary
notebook:
or her house or apartment, the transmitter records it and relays the information to a
pretrial
centralized computer. A probation/parole officer is then dispatched to the offender’s
confinement
home to investigate whether the offender has absconded or removed or tampered with
compliance
the device. As of 2015, more than 125 000 people in the criminal-justice system were
is dispatched
supervised with monitors, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.
inveterate
3 An even more sophisticated method of tracking offenders is that of a global eligible
positioning system (GPS). GPS requires offenders to wear a removable tracking unit
that constantly communicates with a non-removable ankle cuff. If communication is
lost, the loss is noted by a Department of Defense satellite, which records the time
and location of the loss in its database. This information is then forwarded to criminal
justice authorities so that they can take action to determine why communication was
lost. Unlike EM systems, the GPS can be used for surveillance as well as detention
purposes. For instance, it can let authorities know if a sex offender goes within a certain
distance of a schoolyard, or if a violent offender is approaching his or her victim’s place
of residence or work (Black & Smith, 2003). All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and
the federal government use electronic devices to monitor the movements and activities
of pretrial defendants or convicted offenders on probation or parole (Figure 6.1).
4 Payne and Gainey (2004) indicate that detractors of electronic monitoring tend
to criticize it as intruding too much into the realm of privacy, and even as barbaric. Of
course it is intrusive; that is the point! But it is far less intrusive than prison, and Payne and
Gainey state that offenders released from jails or prisons and placed in EM programs are
generally positive about the experience (not that they enjoyed it, but that it was better
than the jail or prison alternative). Their findings mirror those from a larger sample of
offenders on EM programs in New Zealand (Gibb & King, 2003). Many see it as jail or
110 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Manufacturers report steady increase between 2005 and 2015

140 000
Number of total offender-

120 000
tracking devices

100 000

80 000

60 000

40 000

20 000

0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Note: The survey counted active GPS and radio frequency devices, except those used in immigration-related cases,
every October 31 in the years studied. The count does not include information from manufacturers that went out of
business or were acquired by other companies between 2005 and 2015, so the actual numbers for each year may be
higher than reported. © The Pew Charitable Trusts

FIGURE 6.1 Number of active electronic offender-tracking devices rose

nearly 140%

prison time simply served in a less restrictive and less violent environment (so much
for the charge that it is barbaric), although the average experienced offender would
exchange 11.35 months on EM for 12 months in prison, and although offenders overall
would exchange 13.95 months on EM for 12 months in prison (Moore et al., 2008).
It would seem from this and similar studies that inveterate offenders tend to prefer
prison over virtually any other correctional sentence, other than straight probation.
5 Although the authors of these studies appear positive about the alleged rehabilitative
promise of allowing offenders to serve time at home and thus maintaining their links
to family, and although successful completion rates are high, recidivism1 rates, which
are the litmus tests2 for any corrections program aimed at rehabilitation, were not any
better than for probationers/parolees not on EM programs matched for offender risk
in several Canadian provinces (Bonta, Wallace-Capretta, & Rooney, 2000). This may be
viewed positively, however, as a function of the greater ability to detect noncompliance
with release conditions among those under EM supervision.
6 An additional problem with EM is that because its low cost relative to incarceration
is alluring to politicians, it may be (and is) used without sufficient care regarding who
should be eligible for it. While offenders can be monitored and more readily arrested if
they commit a crime while on EM, EM does not prevent them from committing further
crimes. Several high-profile cases including rapes and murders have been committed by
offenders who succeeded in removing their electronic bracelets (Reid, 2006). When cases
such as these are reported, the public (which by and large would rather see iron balls
and chains attached to offenders rather than plastic bracelets) responds with charges
of leniency. This is unfortunate because EM does appear to have a significant impact
on prison overcrowding and on reducing correctional costs. Of course, EM can only be
considered to reduce correctional costs if it is used as a substitute for incarceration, not
as an addition to normal probation and parole, in which case it is an added cost.
Source: M.K. Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials (Sage Publications, 2012), pp. 145–147.

1 continuing to commit crimes and seemingly being unable to stop, even after being punished
2 a way of deciding whether something is successful
 UNIT Surveillance 111

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Name the four situations in which house arrest can be used.

a)

b)

c)

d)

2. What change, in the view of the general public, did EM bring to house arrest?

3. How does EM operate?

a) The transmitter on the offender’s home telephone relays information about the
location of the offender to a centralized computer.
b) The receiver sends continuous signals to a centralized computer monitored by
staff.
c) The officers wearing special electronic devices constantly monitor the offender’s
house.
d) The telephone in the offender’s residence generates a call to an officer if the
offender stays within 500 feet of the phone.

4. Why is GPS a more sophisticated method of tracking offenders than EM?

5. What trend in the criminal justice system does the graph show?

6. In paragraph 4, two criticisms aimed at EM are voiced. What is the response of EM

supporters to these criticisms?

Criticism Response
EM is intrusive.

EM is barbaric.

7. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) S tudies indicate that offenders who have experienced both a jail
sentence and house arrest with EM like EM very much.
b)  xperienced offenders rank straight probation as their first preference
E
for punishment, and a prison sentence as the second.
112 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

8. Why do some researchers believe that EM programs can be rehabilitative?

a) Under EM programs, the offender can stay at home and participate in family
life.
b) The recidivism statistics of offenders after an EM program are no higher than of
those after a prison sentence.
c) The recidivism rates of some Canadian offenders after an EM program were
higher than of those after serving time in prison.
d) Many offenders in EM programs complete their sentences without breaking the
conditions set by the court.

9. Which of the following are valid inferences based on the information in paragraph
6? Circle all that apply.
a) The author thinks that there might be more than one problem with EM.
b) The costs of criminal justice methods are an important factor in political
decisions.
c) The fact that violent crimes have been committed by offenders sentenced to EM
proves that EM is useless in tracking an offender.
d) An EM device is not completely resistant to tampering.
e) The general public can be described as conservative in its views on criminal
justice.

10. Which arguments for EM does the author of this text promote? Circle all that apply. To review
assessing an
a) Some EM methods can not only improve the chances of detention but also argument, see
enable surveillance of offenders. Unit 5, page 76.
b) EM methods have a strong chance of preventing a crime by a monitored offender.
c) The recidivism rates of offenders after participating in an EM program are not
higher than those of offenders who have served time in prison.
d) EM relieves overcrowding in prisons.
e) If applied instead of incarceration, EM saves money that otherwise would have
been spent on maintaining prisons.

11. Do you think the author presents a balanced or unbalanced view on the
effectiveness of electronic monitoring? In other words, do you think she shows any
bias (either for or against EM)? Explain your answer.

12. Which techniques does the author of this text use to make her writing more To review
persuasive? Give some examples. techniques of
persuasion, see
Unit 5, page 87.
 UNIT Surveillance 113

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word or phrase. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. pretrial (para. 1):

2. confinement (para. 1):

a) expenses
b) forced stay in prison
c) supervision

3. compliance (para. 2):

4. is dispatched (para. 2):

5. inveterate (para. 4):

a) unlikely to be rehabilitated
b) well-behaved and law-abiding
c) having no offences in the past

6. eligible (para. 6):

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Match each selection with the statement that describes its approach to the problem
of national safety.

Reading Approach to crime

a) “Coronavirus Tracking  rime is a serious offence against society, and
C
Apps” therefore potential criminals should be watched
and identified by technology.
b) “Facial Recognition  rime is a serious violation of national safety,
C
in 2020” and therefore criminals should be punished
using various methods, including some
alternatives to imprisonment.
c) “House Arrest, Electronic  ational safety has to be weighed against the
N
Monitoring, and Global value of human rights, and surveillance should
Positioning Systems” not become normalized.

2. What is the main difference between the subjects of surveillance targeted by tracing
devices and facial recognition and the subjects targeted by electronic monitoring?
114 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Do you think tracing apps like those used during the Covid-19 pandemic could
work instead of EM, in the case of criminal offenders? Explain.

4. In “Coronavirus Tracking Apps” the author highlights the problem that the
effectiveness of technological tracing of the population to contain infections has
not been yet proved. What is the problem with technology that the authors of
“Facial Recognition in 2020” point to?

5. Assess the support the authors of “Coronavirus Tracking Apps” and “House
Arrest” give for their opinions.

The mobile location and tracing Electronic monitoring is an effective

programs used in the fight against the means of reducing crime.
virus pose serious risks to human rights.
Is the support
relevant?

Is the support
sufficient?

Is the reasoning
logical?

Does an emotional
tone hide problems
with logic?

Does the author

appear biased?

6. In which texts do the authors express their opinion most obviously or openly?

7. a) Who is the audience for each text in this unit?

b) Could the general public be the audience for all three texts? Why or why not?
 UNIT Surveillance 115

8. Discuss in small groups: What is your opinion about the effectiveness of

a) tracing apps to fight the virus?
b) FRT to track potential criminals or missing people?
c) electronic monitoring?

9. Survey your classmates about these questions.

a) Would you agree to being traced by a mobile app if you
were sick or were in contact with a sick person?  Yes   No
b) Would you agree to be traced by FRT if you knew that
police were looking for a suspect in a serious crime?  Yes   No
c) Would your agreement be conditional upon the
government or the police asking you for your consent
prior to the use of technology?  Yes   No
 Race and
7 Racism

Getting into the Topic

This unit explores the issue of race from the point of view of anthropology, sport
sciences, and health care. Is it useful or appropriate to apply the concept of race
when studying human diversity? Are racial terms necessary in discussing athletic
achievements or inequalities in health care? Is the idea of race valid at all or does it only
put a racist spin on our discourse?
Discuss the following questions to help you get into the topic.
1. How would you define the term race? Compare your definition with the one in
your dictionary. How are they similar or different?
2. Why do you think people came up with the idea of race?
3. Some people believe that genetics associated with race may be a factor in explaining
why certain individuals excel at specific sports. Do you consider race to be a
plausible explanation for variation in athletic achievement? Why or why not? If yes,
give examples and explanations.
4. Research has shown that several racial minority groups account for a
disproportionate number of the Covid-19 cases and fatalities. In the United States,
the Black community in particular was affected. For example, in Wisconsin, a state
that is only 6 percent Black, Black people account for about half of its Covid-19
deaths. How can this gap be explained?
 UNIT Race and Racism 117

Reading 1 Anthropology

Race

By E.A. Schultz, R.H. Lavenda, and R.R. Dods

1 The concept of race developed in the context of European exploration
and conquest beginning in the fifteenth century. Europeans conquered
Indigenous peoples in the Americas and established colonial political
economies that soon depended on the labour of Africans imported as
slaves. By the end of the nineteenth century, light-skinned Europeans had
established colonial rule over large territories inhabited by darker-skinned
peoples, marking the beginnings of a global racial order (see Harrison
1995; Köhler 1978; Smedley 1993; 1998; Sanjek 1994; Trouillot 1994). Both as a way of Vocabulary
explaining the existence of the human diversity they had encountered, and as a way Pay attention to these
of justifying the domination of Indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans, words and write them
European intellectuals argued that the human species was subdivided into “natural in your vocabulary
notebook:
kinds” of human beings called races that could be sharply distinguished from one
colonial
another on the basis of outward physical (or phenotypic) appearance. All individuals
racialism
assigned to the same race were assumed to share many other common features, of
hierarchy
which phenotype was only the outward index.
devised
2 Belief in the existence of biologically distinct races (sometimes called racialism)
racism
was then joined to an ancient Western notion called the “Great Chain of Being,” which persists
proposed that all “natural kinds” could be ranked in a hierarchy. In the latter half of distorted
the nineteenth century, European thinkers, including many anthropologists, devised prejudice
schemes for ranking the “races of mankind” from lowest to highest. Not surprisingly,
the “White” northern Europeans at the apex of imperial power were placed at the top
of this global hierarchy. Darker-skinned peoples, like the Indigenous inhabitants of racialism: belief in the
the Americas or of Asia, were ranked somewhere in the middle. But Africans, whom existence of biologically
distinct races
Europeans had bought and sold as slaves, and whose homelands in Africa were later
conquered and incorporated into European empires, ranked lowest of all. In this way,
the identification of races was transformed into racism. racism: the systematic
3 It is important to emphasize once again that all the so-called races of human beings oppression of one or
more socially defined
are imagined communities. The racial boundaries that nineteenth-century European races by another socially
observers thought they had discovered do not correspond to major biological defined race that is
discontinuities within the human species. Although our species as a whole does exhibit justified in terms of the
supposedly inherent
variation in phenotypic attributes such as skin colour, hair texture, and stature, these
biological superiority
variations do not naturally clump into separate populations with stable boundaries that of the rulers and the
can be sharply distinguished from one another. Put another way, the traditional concept supposed inherent
of race in Western society is biologically and genetically meaningless. biological inferiority
of those they rule
4 But even though the concept of race is biologically meaningless, racial thinking
persists in the twenty-first century. Anthropologists have long argued that race is a
culturally constructed social category whose members are identified on the basis of
certain selected phenotypic features (such as skin colour) that all of them are said to
share. The end result is a highly distorted but more or less seemingly coherent set of
criteria that members of a society can use to assign people they see to one culturally
defined racial category or another. Once this happens, members of society can treat
racial categories as if they reflect biological reality, using them to build institutions that
118 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

include or exclude particular culturally defined races. In this way, race can become
“real” in its consequences, even if it has no reality in biology.
5 The social category of race is a relatively recent invention. Audrey Smedley reminds
us that in the worlds of European classical antiquity, and through the Middle Ages, “no
structuring of equality … was associated with people because of their skin colour” (1998:
693; emphasis in original), and Faye Harrison points out that “phenotype prejudice
was not institutionalized before the sixteenth century” (1995: 51). By the nineteenth
century, European thinkers were attempting to classify all humans in the world into
a few, mutually exclusive racial categories. Significantly, from that time until this, as
Harrison emphasizes, “blackness has come to symbolize the social bottom” (1998: 612;
see also Smedley 1998: 694–5).
6 White domination of Euro-American and Euro-Canadian racial hierarchies has
been a constant. However, some anthropologists who study the cultural construction
of whiteness point out that, even in North America, “whiteness” is not monolithic and
that the cultural attributes supposedly shared by “White people” have varied in different
times and places. Some members of White ruling groups in the southern United
States, for example, have traditionally distanced themselves from lower-class Whites,
whom they call White trash; and the meaning of whiteness in South Africa has been
complicated by differences of class and culture separating British South Africans from
Afrikaners (Hartigan 1997). Moreover, the sharp “caste-like” racial divide between Blacks
and Whites in North America is currently complicated by new immigrants identified with
so-called brown/Latin American/Hispanic (or Indian/Pakistani) and yellow/Asian racial
categories. Harrison and others recognize that racial categorization and repression take
different forms in different places. Anthropologists working in Latin America describe
racial practices that do not match those characteristic of the United States and Canada.
Source: E.A. Schultz, R.H. Lavenda, and R.R. Dods, Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, 2nd
Canadian ed. (Oxford UP, 2012), pp. 299–300.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Fill in the following chart, explaining the development of the concept of race (para. 1).

15th century:
Europeans conquer the Americas.

15th to 19th centuries:

Europeans wanted to explain:

Europeans needed to justify their
treatment of darker-skinned people.

The concept of biologically distinct “races” became accepted.

 UNIT Race and Racism 119

2. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). Correct if the statement is false.

The term race was made up by uneducated, ignorant European citizens.

3. Highlight the definition of race according to Europeans in the fifteenth through To review how to
nineteenth centuries. identify terms and
definitions, refer to
4. Provide a specific example from paragraph 2 explaining how racialism enabled Unit 2, page 22.

racism.

5. What is the authors’ opinion about race as a biological and genetic concept?

6. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

The authors think that race is a culturally constructed social category.

7. Why do the authors use quotation marks around the word real in the last sentence
of paragraph 4?
a) The word refers to a specialized term.
b) The word has a special significance within the paragraph, so the authors
emphasize it.
c) The word implies irony—although the term race is unreal scientifically, it is real
socially.
d) The word is taken from someone else’s work; it is a part of a quotation.

8. Which technique do the authors use in paragraph 5 to persuade the reader that the
social category of race is a relatively recent invention?

9. a) What is the main idea of paragraph 6? Highlight it in the text. To review main ideas
and supporting details,
b) List at least two supporting details for the main idea. see Unit 3.

Supporting detail 1:

Supporting detail 2:

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. colonial (para. 1):

2. hierarchy (para. 2):

3. devised (para. 2):

120 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. persists (para. 4): a) persuades b) weakens c) continues

5. distorted (para. 4): a) incorrect b) precise c) coherent

6. prejudice (para. 5):

Reading 2 Sport Sciences

The DNA Olympics—Jamaicans Win Sprinting “Genetic

Lottery”—and Why We Should All Care
Jon Entine takes stock of the DNA London Olympics—where, as usual,
African-descended athletes swept the running events while Whites and
Asians dominated in the water sports, field competition and strength
events. What’s going on here?

By Jon Entine
1 Segregation was on display at the London Olympics—which, surprisingly, should Vocabulary
spark no concerns and may even help educate us all about the wonders of human Pay attention
biodiversity. Let me explain. Led by 100-metre world record holder Usain Bolt, to these words
Jamaican men swept the sprinting events at the London Olympics. It was a stunning and write
them in your
feat for the small Caribbean nation. But as part of a broader trend, it’s hardly surprising.
vocabulary
Runners of West African descent are the fastest humans on earth. notebook:
2 Remarkably, the story of East African runners is the mirror image of the West African biodiversity
success story. While terrible at the sprints, runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and speculative
Somalia, along with a sprinkling of North and Southern Africans, regularly dominate fibre
endurance running. And if you are an Asian or White runner? Forget about it. ancestors
3 The trends are eye opening: Athletes of African ancestry hold every major male level playing
running record, from the 100 metres to the marathon. Over the last seven Olympic field

men’s 100-metre races, all 56 finalists have been of West African descent. Only two
non-African runners, France’s Christophe Lemaire, who is White, and Australia’s Irish-
aboriginal Patrick Johnson, have cracked the top 500 100-metre times. There are no
elite Asian sprinters—or, intriguingly, any from East or North Africa.

Cultural myths
4 What’s going on here? The most frequently heard explanation is that African athletes
just work harder at running. It’s one of their few outlets, the story goes, to escape the
trap of limited opportunities. There’s a tradition of running that young athletes emulate;
they’ve been running to school since kindergarten; they train harder for a chance at the
golden ring that athletic success offers; or athletes from other parts of the world have
developed a toxic inferiority complex, a fear of “Black athletes.”
5 National Public Radio recently carried just such a speculative piece on Kenya, and
CNN had its own version on Jamaica. Never did the word “genetics” find its way into
the story. It’s all nurture, they concluded—the long since scientifically discredited tabula
rasa theory of human achievement that attributes all success to individual effort and
societal “forces.”
6 No one outside of the most politically correct circles really believes that. Certainly
scientists don’t. The director of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Institute, Bengt
 UNIT Race and Racism 121

Saltin, the world’s premier expert in human performance and race, has
concluded that an athlete’s “environment” accounts for no more than
20–25 percent of athletic ability. The rest comes down to the roll of the
genetic dice—with each population group having distinct advantages. In
other words, running success is “in the genes.”
7 Here are the facts. Athletic achievements, like success of all kind,
is a bio-cultural phenomenon. Yes, Usain Bolt earned his victories. He
may have been born gifted but he has worked his tail off to achieve
greatness. He and he alone is responsible for his gold medal haul. But
humans are not blank slates. While culture, environment, individual
initiative and just plain luck might influence which individuals succeed,
nature—your DNA—circumscribes the possibility of even being in the game. This is
Population Genetics 101. Bolt and his Jamaican teammates are members of a tiny slice
of the world population—elite athletes who trace their ancestry to western and central
Africa—whose body types and physiology have been uniquely shaped by thousands of
years of evolution to run fast.
8 Genetically linked, highly heritable characteristics such as skeletal structure, the
distribution of muscle fibre types (for example, sprinters have more natural fast twitch
fibres, while distance runners are naturally endowed with more of the slow twitch
variety1), reflex capabilities, metabolic efficiency and lung capacity are not evenly
distributed among populations. Do we yet know the specific genes that contribute to on
the field success? No, but that’s not an argument against the powerful role of genetics
in sports. We do not yet know all the factors that determine skin colour, but we know
that genetics determines it. Slowly, geneticists will link human performance, including
sports skills, to our DNA and more specifically to our ancestral roots—populations.
9 We cannot avoid confronting the fact of our patterned human biodiversity. Over the
past decade, human genome research has moved from a study of human similarities to a
focus on population-based differences. Such research offers clues to solving the mystery
of disease, the Holy Grail2 of genetics. So why do we readily accept that evolution has
turned out Jews with a genetic predisposition to Tay-Sachs, Southeast Asians with a
higher proclivity for beta-thalassemia and Blacks who are susceptible to colorectal
cancer and sickle cell disease,3 yet find it racist to suggest that Usain Bolt can thank his
West African ancestry for the most critical part of his success—his biological possibility?
10 “Differences among athletes of elite calibre are so small,” said Robert Malina, a
retired Michigan State University anthropologist and former editor of the Journal of
Human Genetics, “that if you have a physique or the ability to fire muscle fibres more
efficiently that might be genetically based … it might be very, very significant. The
fraction of a second is the difference between the gold medal and fourth place.”

Bio-cultural athletic hotspots

11 Although people in every population come in all shapes and sizes, body types
and physiological characteristics follow a Gaussian distribution curve 4 as a result

1 Fast twitch fibres enable short bursts of strength and speed; slow twitch fibres create fuel for continuous muscle contractions over longer
periods of time.
2 a thing that you try very hard to find or achieve, but never will
3 Tay-Sachs, beta-thalassemia, colorectal cancer, and sickle cell disease are all diseases more likely to be found in certain populations than
in others.
4 normal-distribution bell curve, with most people falling in the middle of the scale with similar characteristics, and some at the ends of the
scale with different characteristics
122 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

of evolutionary adaptations by our ancestors to extremely varied environmental

challenges. Elite sports showcase these differences. Asians, on average, tend to be
smaller with shorter extremities and long torsos—evolutionary adaptations to harsh
weather encountered by Homo sapiens who migrated to Northeast Asia 40 000 years
ago. China, for example, excels in many Olympic sports, for a variety of reasons.
One of those reasons, according to geneticists, is that they are more flexible on
average—a potential advantage in diving, gymnastics (hence the term “Chinese splits”)
and figure skating.
12 Whites of Eurasian ancestry are mesomorphic:5 they have larger and relatively
more muscular bodies with comparatively short limbs and thick torsos. No prototypical
sprinter or marathoner here. These proportions are advantageous in sports in
which strength rather than speed is at a premium. Predictably, Eurasians dominate
weightlifting, wrestling and most field events, such as the shot put and hammer. At the
London Olympics, with the exception of North Korea, the top lifters come from a band
of Eurasian countries: China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Despite the
image of the sculpted African body, no African nation won an Olympic lifting medal.
13 “Evolution has shaped body types and in part athletic possibilities,” Joseph Graves,
Jr. told me. Graves, who is African American, is an evolutionary biologist at North
Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and UNC Greensboro. “Don’t expect
an Eskimo to show up on an NBA court or a Watusi6 to win the world weight lifting
championship. Differences don’t necessarily correlate with skin colour, but rather with
geography and climate. Endurance runners are more likely to come from East Africa
and sprinters from West Africa. That’s a fact. Genes play a major role in this.”

Resurrecting racism?
14 Are we resurrecting racism by talking about sports in such stark black and white
terms? Not at all. It’s the exaggeration, not the factual core of truth that human
“populations” exist, that stirs fear and anger. The difficulty, of course, is sorting out
how much of a trait is genetically inbred, how much may be shaped by culture and
opportunity. The question is no longer whether these inquiries will continue but in what
manner and to what end. If we hope to conquer human disease and usher in an era of
personalized medicine, we need to understand the way evolution has shaped disease.
And that’s where sport comes into play.
15 Using sports to interrogate the complex story of human biodiversity offers some
unique advantages to the fair minded amongst us. Despite considerable off-the-field
disparities, professional athletics remains one of the most racially and ethnically diverse
professions in the world. It is the ultimate level playing field, albeit with its share of
bumps and gullies. Individual athletes earn respect on the field, not by the privilege
of their birth. Sports offer a unique definitiveness: there is only one high scorer, one
swimmer who touches first or one runner who breaks the tape.
16 There’s no need to make consideration of race in sports a taboo. In fact, sports
provide the most rigid laboratory control possible—the level playing field—to guide
us through the complexities of ideological correctness. Yes, celebrate the marvelous
individual accomplishments we’ve witnessed in London … bask in the real story behind
The DNA Olympics. At some point, your life might depend upon on it.

5 with a body shape neither thin nor fat, with quite a lot of muscle
6 Eskimo refers to an Indigenous group living in the Far North across Russia, Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. (The term Inuit, rather than
Eskimo, is used in Canada.) The Watusi (more commonly known as Tutsi) are an African ethnic group.
 UNIT Race and Racism 123

Jon Entine, author of Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid
to Talk about It and Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen
People, is founding director of the Genetic Literacy Project at the Statistical Assessment
Service (STATS) at George Mason University.
Source: Excerpted and adapted with the author’s permission. Based on J. Entine, “The DNA Olympics—Jamaicans
Win Sprinting ‘Genetic Lottery’—and Why We Should All Care,” Forbes, 12 August 2012, www.forbes.com/sites/
jonentine/2012/08/12/the-dna-olympics-jamaicans-win-sprinting-genetic-lottery-and-why-we-should-all-care/.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. a) The “segregation” referred to in paragraph 1 is between
i) Usain Bolt and other Jamaican runners.
ii) runners of African descent and runners of European or Asian descent.
iii) male runners in London and male runners in previous Olympic games.
b) Is the author troubled by this segregation?
Which words helped you to answer?

2. a) Explain the meaning of the word myth in the first sub-heading.

b) According to the author, which statements represent cultural myths about the
superiority of Black runners? Circle all that apply.
i) African athletes train harder than others.
ii) African athletes have been practising running since childhood.
iii) Environment is responsible for around 20 to 25 percent of athletic ability.
iv) Athletes of non-African origin are intimidated by their African competitors.
v) Athletic success is largely rooted in the athlete’s genetic makeup.
c) What view does the author present to contradict these cultural myths? You may
cite the text directly or paraphrase.

d) Which techniques of persuasion does the author use to disprove the cultural
myths? Circle all that apply.
i) Providing statistical data from sports and biology
ii) Giving examples of athletes whose experience defies these myths
iii) Referring to expert opinions
iv) Drawing an analogy between athletics and the medical field

3. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). Correct if the statement is false.

 he author denies the role of environment and individual effort in
T
achieving athletic success.
124 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. What genetically inherited characteristics does the author mention? List at least
three.
a)
b)
c)

5. Why do populations in general differ in genetic characteristics such as body type?

6. Fill in the chart describing how a body type matches the requirements of a specific
sport and the relevant origin of an athlete. Scan the text for details. The first has
been done for you.

Sport Necessary body type Racial/geographic origin of

characteristics a prototypical athlete
100-metre race Fast twitch muscle fibres West Africa

Long-distance running
(marathon)

Diving, gymnastics, figure

skating

Weightlifting, wrestling, field

events requiring strength

7. The author uses the word fact several times in his article: “Here are the facts”
(para. 7); “We cannot avoid confronting the fact of our patterned human
biodiversity” (para. 9); “That’s a fact” (para. 13, citing Joseph Graves, Jr.); “the
factual core of truth that human ‘populations’ exist” (para. 14).
a) Highlight and reread the context in which these sentences are used.
b) Are the ideas in these contexts indeed facts?
c) Why do you think the author repeats the word fact throughout his article?

8. According to the author, what is the accusation against those who use genetic
differences to explain athletic accomplishments?
 UNIT Race and Racism 125

9. Why, according to the author, do sports offer unique advantages “to interrogate the
complex story of human biodiversity” (para. 15)? Circle all that apply.
a) People of different ethnicities and races compete with each other, thus making it
easy to compare abilities based on genetics.
b) Athletic achievements are easy to assess as there is a clear distinction between
winners and losers.
c) Sports carry social inequalities from off the field to the sports arena, thus
allowing us to see that races are not equal.
d) Individual efforts count toward winning in sports, and biological characteristics
play a lesser role.

10. Scan the article for the following names and paraphrase each person’s statement.
a) Bengt Saltin

b) Robert Malina

c) Joseph Graves, Jr.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word or phrase. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. speculative (para. 5):
a) interesting
b) profitable
c) based on guesses

2. the roll of the genetic dice (para. 6):

3. fibre (para. 8):

4. biodiversity (paras. 1 and 9):

5. ancestors (para. 11):

a) people who lived many centuries or thousands of years before us
b) animals that appeared on the Earth first
c) early forms of machines that were later developed

6. level playing field (para. 15):

126 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Reading 3 Health Care

Covid-19 Is Killing Black People Unequally—Don’t Be Surprised

The coronavirus pandemic is further exposing a gulf in the health
statistics of White and Black Americans that has existed for decades

By Emma Grey Ellis

1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that several racial minority Vocabulary
groups account for a disproportionate number of the Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the Pay attention
United States, but the Black community in particular is suffering. In Wisconsin, a state to these words
that is only 6 percent Black, Black people account for about half of its Covid-19 deaths. and write
them in your
In Chicago, Black people account for 70 percent of deaths due to Covid-19 but make vocabulary
up only 30 percent of its population. In Richmond, Virginia, all but one of the people notebook:
who have died of Covid-19 were Black. “I’ll tell you the first thing I said when I saw acute
the disparities in fatality rates,” says Louis Penner, a professor emeritus at Wayne State chronic
University who studies racial disparities in health care. “I said, ‘People are surprised?’” elimination
2 The gulf between the health statistics of White and Black Americans has existed leveraging
for decades, or, really, centuries. Covid-19 is just the latest manifestation of an intervene
old and ugly trend. The explanation for it is at once simple—racism—and incredibly tangible
complex. Structural inequalities have kept Black Americans significantly poorer than
their White counterparts, and economic disparity creates health disparities, especially
during a pandemic. Black people (and other minority populations) tend to live in more
polluted, more densely populated areas, have more people per household, and are
overrepresented in settings where people are unable to effectively social distance, like
prisons and homeless shelters. They disproportionately work jobs currently considered
essential, yet also are far less likely to have paid sick leave, enough savings to take time
off, or a grocery store nearby enough to stock up easily.
3 Many of these factors, from living in food deserts1 to lacking health insurance, add
up to mean that Black communities also suffer at higher rates from acute and chronic
medical conditions. “My colleagues knew this was going to be an issue months ago,
as soon as we started hearing that pre-existing conditions like obesity, diabetes,
chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases are all risk factors for dying of Covid-19,”
Penner says.
4 On top of creating the Black community’s ongoing health crisis, systemic racism is
also a barrier to treatment. According to Shervin Assari, a health inequality researcher
at Charles R. Drew University, one of the only historically Black medical schools in the
nation, while White people prefer to get their health information from medical providers
and the media, Black people rate health-related information they receive from family
members and churches more highly. The reason for this isn’t poor education (although
it’s another structurally unequal factor), it’s due to longstanding and justified mistrust.
“We found that racial prejudice amongst physicians affects how they interact with
Black patients,” Penner says. “Even in very short, highly structured interactions between
physicians and patients, Black patients pick up on this and react to it.”
5 Black patients tend to get poorer care and have worse health outcomes than White
patients with the exact same illnesses, so it’s little wonder that some struggle to put much

1 an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food

 UNIT Race and Racism 127

stock in medical advice now. “You do not necessarily follow what the system
which has been oppressive is asking of you,” Assari says. “If you do, you
are ‘acting white,’ which there is some stigma around.” In fact, according to
Stuart Grande, a medical sociologist at the University of Minnesota, patients
tend to do better when matched with a physician whose race matches
their own. It’s not a matter of some ghoulish White physicians deliberately
underserving their Black patients, it’s the subtler things: finding the patients’
symptoms credible, pursuing more aggressive forms of treatment, and the
patient’s willingness to trust in and carry out a doctor’s recommendations.
6 The cause of health disparities—past and present—are too layered and
old to solve easily. “The elimination of health disparities requires multilevel
solutions across almost all of the institutions in the United States,” Assari
says. “In a short time, like four months in response to Covid-19, it is almost
impossible to prevent a major racial gap. It is extremely sad.” Many, including National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said there
is little that can be done now about the “unacceptable” disparity apart from providing
all patients with the best standard of care. Still, some officials, like New York governor
Andrew Cuomo, have committed to ramping up testing in minority communities hit hard
by the virus. Penner says improving the financial well-being of these communities would
also provide fast help. “You’re not going to suddenly improve educational opportunities,”
he says. “There is no easier short-term solution than improving socioeconomic status.”
7 The long-term solution is, of course, to dismantle structural inequalities, which may
well take too long for anyone alive today to see the benefits. Fortunately, technology-
based interim solutions may help improve outcomes for individuals, if not totally erode
the barriers to health equity. “If there was one thing that could be done immediately, it’s
for every hospital to do internal audits to make sure everyone is getting the same quality
of care,” Penner says. “They have the data, they ask about race, they ask about income.
Is the will there? I don’t know.” Grande envisions leveraging telemedicine and creating
apps in partnership with the Black community. “Clinicians are too damn busy to go back
to school to learn how to be better,” Grande says. “If we can intervene with an app or
some sort of electronic record, we could overcome access challenges, money availability,
lack of trust.” Technological interventions could, in the future, allow doctors to not only
ensure that all patients are receiving the same standard of care, but that they’re receiving
it in a way that suits their economic needs and communication preferences.
8 The sources consulted for this article agree that no matter what is done now,
minority groups—particularly Black and Latinx communities—are still going to suffer
higher rates of illness and death due to Covid-19. It is unacceptable, but it is real. “We
need to move past disparities as a topic of interest and move towards action,” Grande
says. “Covid is highlighting major, major gaps in the current health care system and
exacerbating issues we’ve known have existed for generations, but now we’re seeing
them play out in immediate, tangible ways. There’s a lot of work to be done, and
I’m really hopeful.” The Covid-19 pandemic has made more people aware of one of
the ugliest aspects of inequality in America; hopefully it will motivate change for the
better. If not, the next time there’s a health crisis primarily weathered by America’s most
vulnerable communities, nobody gets to be surprised.
Source: E.G. Ellis, “Covid-19 Is Killing Black People Unequally—Don’t Be Surprised,” wired.com, 2 May 2020, https://www.
wired.com/story/covid-19-coronavirus-racial-disparities/.
128 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Underline the topic sentence in paragraph 1. What kind of information is provided
to support the topic sentence?
a) personal examples
b) statistical data
c) logical explanations

2. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

 ouis Penner experienced surprise when he first saw the racial disparities
L
in fatalities.

3. Fill in the chart based on the information in paragraph 2. Draw more bubbles if
needed.

high
disease
rates
minority populations

work
essential
jobs
more
live in people
polluted per
areas household

4. It is known that pre-existing conditions, like obesity, diabetes, and chronic

pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, are all risk factors for dying of Covid-19.
How did this fact affect Black communities?

5. According to paragraph 4, what is the manifestation of systematic racism against

Black people in health care?
a) While White people prefer to get their health information from medical
providers and the media, Black people rate health-related information they
receive from family members and churches more highly.
b) Black people have long-standing and justified mistrust of White medical
doctors.
c) In interactions with Black patients, some White doctors act with prejudice.
d) Black patients react against prejudice.
 UNIT Race and Racism 129

6. What action is considered “acting white” (para. 5)?

a) Going to the White doctor, if you are White
b) Going to the Black doctor, if you are Black
c) Trusting White doctors and media, if you are Black
d) Matching patients and doctors by their race

7. Do you agree that it is beneficial to match a patient to a physician whose race is the To review organizational
same as the patient’s? Why (not)? patterns, see Unit 3,
page 46.

8. Paragraph 6 states that it is impossible to get rid of racism within a few months of
the pandemic. However, some short-term relief measures do exist. List at least two
of them.
a)
b)

9. What is the organizational pattern of paragraph 7?

a) cause-effect
b) problem-solution
c) comparison
d) process

10. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

 ased on the text, telecommunication and apps could improve health
B
care for Black communities because they provide trustful communication
models and access to medical care.

11. How can the tone of Grande in the last paragraph be described?
a) frustrated
b) angry
c) optimistic
d) amused

12. The author expresses an opinion that there is systematic racism against Black
people in health care. In your view, does she provide enough support to make this
opinion informed? Explain.
130 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. In paragraph 3, there are two words with opposite meanings. What are the meanings?
a) acute:
b) chronic:

2. elimination (para. 6):

a) removing b) increasing c) discussing

3. leveraging (para. 7):

4. intervene (para. 7):

5. tangible (para. 8):

a) simple b) concrete c) sensitive

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. The authors of the three selections explore the concept of race from different
perspectives. In the chart below, summarize the authors’ views on race.

“Race” “The DNA Olympics” “Covid-19 Is Killing Black

People Unequally”
Is race a biological
reality?

What is the
significance of
race as a social
construct?

2. The author of “Race” comments that “the traditional concept of race in Western
society is biologically and genetically meaningless.” What example(s) does the
author of “The DNA Olympics” give to attempt to disprove this statement?

3. Mark each statement from the three selections as F (fact) or O (opinion).

a)  e concept of race developed in the context of European exploration
Th
and conquest beginning in the fifteenth century.
b) It is important to emphasize once again that all the so-called races of
human beings are imagined communities.
 UNIT Race and Racism 131

c) Athletes of West African descent dominate sports requiring speed.

d)  umans are different, the consequence of thousands of years of
H
evolution in varying terrains.
e)  lack people (and other minority populations) are overrepresented in
B
settings where people are unable to effectively practise social distancing,
like prisons and homeless shelters.
f)  e need to move past disparities as a topic of interest and move toward
W
action.

4. Would you describe any of the arguments made by any of the authors in this unit
as biased? Why or why not?

5. Match each selection with its purpose.

Selection Purpose
a) “Race”  he author is trying to persuade the reader that it is important to
T
revise policies leading to racially based health inequalities.
b) “The DNA Olympics”  he author is trying to persuade the reader that the idea of races
T
should be abandoned.
c) “Covid-19 Is Killing Black  he author is trying to persuade the reader that it is important
T
People Unequally” to continue exploring differences between races as they help
explain human diversity.

6. Match each selection with any of the following techniques used to make an
argument. Give an example of how the technique is used in that selection.
• Presenting support for an opinion: citing research results and statistics
• Using logical reasoning: tracing causal relationships in the argument
• Using analogies and/or contrasts
• Giving examples from personal experiences
• Using an emotional tone
• Presenting a counter-argument and then refuting it

Reading Source Tone

“Race”

“The DNA Olympics”

“Covid-19 Is Killing Black

People Unequally”
132 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

7. In persuasive texts, authors’ tones may vary from dispassionate to lively, from
formal to informal, or from neutral to biased. The tone also depends on the source
in which a text is published. For example, on a blog the author’s tone may be
enthusiastic and informal, while in an academic journal it is usually reserved and
formal. Describe the tone of these three readings, paying attention to the source of
each one.

Reading Source Tone

“Race”

“The DNA Olympics”

“Covid-19 Is Killing Black

People Unequally”
 Living with
8 Nature

Getting into the Topic

This unit examines the relationship between people and nature. The first text establishes
a direct connection between being in nature and feeling better. The second selection
focuses on how economic factors can influence important decisions despite the risk of
natural disaster, such as an earthquake. The final reading probes the profound costs,
human and economic, that can result from extreme weather events.
Discuss these questions to help you get into the topic.
1. How many hours per week do you spend in nature—taking a walk in a park or
hiking, for instance?
2. Research shows that contact with nature improves our mood and even cognitive
functioning. How would you explain this finding?
3. What do you know about earthquakes? Is it possible to predict an earthquake?
4. Do you think it is reasonable to construct nuclear power plants in countries located
in potentially dangerous seismic zones?
5. Have you ever experienced a power outage in your home? If so, what caused it?
Why do extreme weather events often result in power outages?
6. How can communities prepare for mass power outages and minimize some of the
potentially devastating effects?
134 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Reading 1 Environmental Studies, Health Studies

The Nature Antidote

Even small doses of green space bring health benefits—restoring
not just your body but your mental well-being, too

By Jill U. Adams
1 Anyone who birds a favorite park over and over knows intuitively
25% Percentage of
why they keep going back: it just feels good. Being in nature— Americans who report spending
pausing in it, sitting with it, discovering its wonders—brings a sense fewer than two hours a week
of calm and renewal. Now science is backing up our intuition with outside.
data and revealing the benefits run much, much deeper. Of hundreds
of published studies, none alone is definitive, but together they offer 2h Minimum hours per
a growing sense of what’s lost as people spend more time than week in nature associated with
people reporting improved
ever indoors. In England, for example, research revealed that urban
health and well-being.
green spaces reduced residents’ sense of isolation and loneliness.
Living a short walk from a park in Los Angeles seemed to offer the 7.4 h Daily average hours
same mental-health boost as a two-point decrease in unemployment. of teen screen use in 2019,
In Spain, schoolchildren raised in greener neighborhoods had more not including for school or
neural connections in brain regions tied to working memory and homework.
attention.
2 “The field is starting to build momentum right now,” says University of Washington Vocabulary
environmental psychologist Gregory Bratman, who led a recent review of findings Pay attention
across social and health sciences. “Evidence is there to support the conclusion that to these words
contact with nature benefits our mood, our psychological well-being, our mental and write
them in your
health, and our cognitive functioning,” he says.
vocabulary
3 What’s harder to pinpoint is precisely why this relationship exists. One leading notebook:
theory is that nature can restore our attention and counter the mental fatigue that neural
today’s urban and sensory-filled environments cause. A second is that it can reduce fatigue
stress; blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones all drop with time in nature, frontier
studies show. Both factors—cognitive function and stress response—have been linked quantify
to conditions such as depression. prescribe
conservation
 UNIT Living with Nature 135

4 More investigations are now delving into complex practical questions For years, nature’s
that doctors, therapists, educators, and public-health experts want to therapeutic services have
been overlooked or hard to
understand. What elements of an outdoor setting are most important and quantify, but that’s changing:
for how long? How do our individual traits, preferences, and backgrounds Around the world, national parks
influence how we respond? Answering these questions isn’t easy, since it alone improve visitors’ mental
can be tricky to design experiments that isolate nature’s diffuse effects. health to the tune of benefits worth
an estimated $6 trillion, one study
Bratman calls this a “next huge frontier” to explore. found. Medical professionals and
5 Doctors will be key partners in this effort. Nooshin Razani, director of the their partners are now looking to
Center for Nature and Health at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, tap this value. In our own lives,
there’s no need to wait. A nature-
works with low-income patients to “prescribe” regular park visits. In two
based mindfulness movement
small early trials, she’s found that these excursions increased children’s is taking off, and you can join it
resilience and also reduced parental stress and loneliness. Whether the for free.
adults visited a park independently or in a group didn’t affect the results—a
finding that could help inform other programs. “I really felt like we needed experimental
data,” she says. But Razani also believes in simply talking with patients and listening to their
experiences. “I think we really need to take a moment to understand why depression and
anxiety are increasing,” she says. With that knowledge will come more tools for addressing
the public-health challenge. “I absolutely think being outside is part of the solution to that.”
6 No one needs an excuse to go birding, but in Shetland, Scotland, some residents have
a good one anyway: a doctor’s advice. Since the fall of 2018, the U.K.’s Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds (RSPB) has teamed with the islands’ 10 health centres to steer patients
outdoors, especially as they see more people arriving with issues like diabetes, anxiety,
and depression. “This is a new health challenge,” says National Health Service Shetland
communications officer Carol Campbell. “Until just a generation ago, Shetland’s population
lived a very active life as fishermen and crofters eating a simple diet based on potatoes,
kale, and oily fish.” While Shetland has plenty of nature to offer—rock outcroppings,
beaches, and seabirds—RSPB creates a seasonal calendar of activities, including lichen
study, backyard-bird feeding, and eating outdoors, that ensures homebound
residents can also participate. “We’re not suggesting that this replaces I was diagnosed with post-
traumatic stress disorder
medicine,” says RSPB’s Helen Moncrieff, who is now discussing expanding
(PTSD), and I tried pretty much
the program more widely in Scotland. “It’s another tool.” every type of medication there is.
7 The initiative echoes a growing movement in the United States, where I’ve done various therapies. None
public-land organizations and referring health providers have partnered to of it helped me. The medications
just made me feel numb to the
offer similar park or nature “prescriptions.” There are now 87 programs in world, and I isolated myself. Then I
32 states—more than triple the number from five years ago, according to a started getting outdoors and hiking.
recent census by the Institute at the Golden Gate. Robert Zarr, a Washington, Being out in nature made me be
D.C., physician and founder of the nonprofit Park Rx America, is working to present, more in the moment. Back
home, I had panic attacks in pretty
get other doctors and healthcare professionals on board. More than 600 much every social situation. But
have signed up to the group’s platform to make it easy for doctors to locate on the trail, I was socializing with
green spaces near patients and track how patients “fill” prescriptions, which other hikers. I was opening up and
actually talking to people. I was able
specify an activity and a frequency. He envisions a similar tool embedded
to scale back on my medication.
in electronic health-record systems one day, and this past fall, the National More and more of myself started
Institute of Health funded a five-year research trial to test physical and just coming back in the picture.
mental health outcomes at the community health center where he works. Will Robinson, Iraq War veteran, long-
Over time, such programs may be a boon both for people and nature. Says distance hiker
Moncrieff: “You can’t have conservation without people involved.”
Source: Jill U. Adams, “The Nature Antidote,” Audubon, Winter 2019, https://www.audubon.org/magazine/winter-2019/
birding-benefits-how-nature-improves-our-mental. Accessed 15 Jan. 2021.
136 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Complete the passage based on paragraph 1.
It has been intuitively sensed that being in nature brings health benefits. Now,
these intuitions have been proved by .

2. Underline the supporting details for the main idea in paragraph 1.

3. Underline the main idea of paragraph 3. Then paraphrase the two supporting
details for this idea below.

4. What inference could be made on the basis of this study result: “Around the world,
national parks alone improve visitors’ mental health to the tune of benefits worth
an estimated $6 trillion” (textbox)?
a) People around the world have to spend around $6 trillion to attend national
parks.
b) If people with mental health issues had to get medical help, it would have cost
$6 trillion. Instead, they get help from nature.
c) The costs of maintaining national parks for the benefit of people with mental
health issues are around $6 trillion.
d) The estimated $6 trillion spent on park improvements is a large amount of money.

5. What does Carol Campbell imply about the modern lifestyle in Shetland when she
says that “Until just a generation ago, Shetland’s population lived a very active life
as fishermen and crofters eating a simple diet based on potatoes, kale, and oily fish”
(para. 6)?

6. Complete the following chart summarizing study results about the benefits of
nature for health around the world. They are not in the same order as in the text.

Study name or place Benefit/action

Schoolchildren have more brain connections related to
working memory and attention.
Los Angeles

Regular park visits make children more resilient.

Patients with diabetes, anxiety, and depression improve as they

spend time outdoors.
Park Rx America
 UNIT Living with Nature 137

7. What does the example of Will Robinson prove?

8. Explain the terms without using a dictionary.

a) the nature antidote (title):
b) a nature-based mindfulness (textbox):

9. What does this text contain more of: facts or opinions? To review identifying
Give an example of one fact and one opinion from the text. facts and opinions, see
Unit 4, page 63.
Fact:

Opinion:

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. neural (para. 1):

2. fatigue (para. 3):

3. frontier (para. 4):

4. quantify (textbox):

5. prescribe (para. 5):

6. conservation (para. 7):

Reading 2 Resource Management

Why Japan Took the Nuclear Risk

When making choices about energy, there are no
danger-free, cost-free solutions

By Dan Gardner
1 Three Mile Island.1 Chernobyl. 2 Now the Fukushima nuclear power
plant.3 Within hours of the first reports of trouble at Japan’s nuclear power
plants, calls for abolition could be heard around the world. “Time to shut
down this nation’s nuclear energy program,” wrote American pundit4 Keith
Olbermann. Greenpeace and other environmental groups mobilized. “The
nuclear risk is not a risk that can be really controlled,” said a French Green
Party politician. Nuclear power must go. Smoke billows from a reactor
after the explosion at Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.

1 an accident at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, US, in 1979

2 an accident at a nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine) in 1986; arguably the worst nuclear accident ever
3 This article was written in March 2011, a few days after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.
4 a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and who often talks about it in public
138 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2 With Japan’s plants suffering explosions and officials struggling to avoid meltdowns, Vocabulary
it’s hard not to agree. Nuclear power is a demonstrable hazard. In Japan, a land Pay attention
constantly rattled by seismic activity, where a disaster was literally just a matter of time, to these words
nuclear power is downright dangerous. Why risk it? and write
them in your
3 People who say that seldom mean it as a question. It’s a conclusion in drag. 5
vocabulary
But let’s treat it instead as a genuine question: Why risk it? Why should we build and notebook:
operate nuclear power plants, knowing that they do pose real dangers, whatever reactor
the magnitude of those dangers may be? And why, in particular, would Japan build magnitude
nuclear power plants on land that so often buckles and heaves? The answer to this thrived
second question lies in recent history. It’s worth having a look because it’s also a pretty plunged
good answer to the first question. recession
4 As recently as the 1950s, Japan was a poor country with a huge and growing resumed
population. Some far-sighted experts looked ahead and saw misery and mass starvation.
But in the 1960s, Japanese manufacturing grew rapidly. Its success was based on
keeping things cheap. Cheap labour. Cheap prices. Cheap quality. In the United States,
the main Japanese market, “Made in Japan” meant the product cost little and was worth
what it cost. Japan got wealthier. Living standards improved.
5 In the late 1960s, the American economy stumbled and in 1971 the dollar was
devalued. The yen shot up. But the quality of Japanese goods had improved and so
Japanese manufacturing thrived despite the rising cost of its goods. Nothing less than
a miracle was underway. A nation was rising from poverty to the ranks of the wealthiest
people on Earth. Some even imagined a day when Japan would lead.
6 Then, like an earthquake, the Arab oil embargo struck.6 The Japanese miracle was
built on a foundation of cheap energy—mostly oil, mostly from the Middle East. The oil
embargo of late 1973 plunged the world into the frightening recession of 1974, and
no one suffered worse than Japan.
7 “The recent period of Japanese glory, from 1969 to 1973, when it seemed a small,
distant country would overtake the giants of the West, lasted longer than a dream, but
it has ended with dramatic suddenness,” wrote Donald Keene, an American professor
of Japanese culture, in the New York Times. It was March 3, 1974. “The same people
who only a few months ago were talking and acting as if the future held unlimited
possibilities of economic expansion now gloomily announce, not without a touch of
masochism, that they live in a country completely at the mercy of others for survival.”
Many Japanese were sure their country would sink back into poverty. The old fears
of mass starvation and environmental ruin returned. “Prophecies of disaster abound,”
Keene noted.
8 The Japanese government responded with a sweeping, multi-pronged campaign to
reduce Japan’s dependency on Middle Eastern oil. Conservation and energy-efficiency
was a major component. So was a rapid expansion of nuclear power. Of course, the
Japanese knew their seismological reality. Indeed, Japanese earthquake science and
engineering is the best in the world. But the Japanese also knew the danger of the
status quo.7 It was a trade-off.

5 In drag refers to masking or disguising one thing as another; here the author suggests that “why risk it?” is not a sincere question, but rather
an opinionated statement.
6 the refusal of Arab countries in the Middle East to sell oil to the US and other countries from 1967 to 1974
7 the situation as it is now, or as it was before a recent change
 UNIT Living with Nature 139

9 The transition worked. Japan’s rise resumed and within a decade it was one of the
wealthiest nations in the world. It was also one of the most energy-efficient. And one of
the top producers of nuclear power, with one-quarter of its electricity coming from the
plants the world is watching now.
10 This story does not demonstrate that nuclear power is right for Japan, or for anyone
else. But it does show, I believe, that choices about energy always involve trade-offs.
Which risks are acceptable? How much risk? And what are we prepared to pay to avoid
or mitigate threats? There are costs and hazards associated with every choice and so
these questions are unavoidable. There are no risk-free, cost-free solutions.
11 Some deny this basic reality. Certain environmental groups claim to have plans
which would allow us to do away entirely with coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power
over the next several decades. Renewable energy would replace them all. The cost
could be minimal. Indeed, it would spur innovation and produce millions of new jobs.
12 It would be wonderful if it were possible. Unfortunately, it’s not. One of the world’s
leading energy experts, Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba, has called these
claims “not just naïve [but] profoundly irresponsible.” But Smil also criticizes those at
the other extreme, who see nothing undesirable about the status quo and believe any
significant shift to renewable energy would be prohibitively expensive. We can do better.
But it requires that we first understand basic realities, including the most basic: there are
costs and risks in everything.
Source: D. Gardner, “Why Japan Took the Nuclear Risk,” Vancouver Sun, 18 March 2011.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. a) In paragraphs 2 and 3, the author cites a rhetorical question. Some people asked rhetorical question: a
after the Fukushima disaster, “Why risk it?” What does the author suggest is the question asked only to
make a statement or to
real purpose of this question, according to those who ask it? produce an effect rather
i) To suggest that Japan has valid economic reasons to take a chance and than to get an answer

build nuclear power stations on its territory

ii) To suggest that Japan should take a risk and continue its nuclear program
iii) To suggest that Japan should not take the risk associated with a nuclear
program on seismically sensitive land
iv) To suggest that the risk was justified, even if disaster was inevitable
b) The author, on the other hand, treats the question “Why risk it?” as a genuine
question rather than a rhetorical one. How does the author answer the question
“Why risk it?”
140 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. Provide a brief description of the stages through which the Japanese economy went.

1950s 1960s 1969–1973 Late 1970s–today

3. How has the connotation of the label Made in Japan changed for consumers over
the years?

4. What weakened the Japanese economy in 1973?

a) dollar devaluation
b) cheap quality of Japanese goods
c) rising costs of Japanese goods
d) Arab oil embargo

5. What is the primary purpose of quoting Donald Keene’s 1974 article in paragraph 7?
a) To provide historical background for the general feeling of impending disaster
that existed in Japan in the 1970s
b) To prove the point that the Japanese always believed in their success and were
not ready to give up
c) To support the idea that Japanese success was built on futile dreams and could
not last
d) To introduce the tone of sadness and make the reader compassionate to the
Japanese

6. Why does the author call the Japanese post-1973 energy campaign “multi-pronged”
(para. 8)?
 UNIT Living with Nature 141

7. What was the trade-off for the Japanese (para. 8)?

a) They gave up their economic success in return for a safe seismic situation.
b) They traded their economic prosperity for the chances of a better future.
c) They accepted the nuclear risk for the sake of economic well-being.
d) They gave up their best seismologists for the sake of changing the present
situation.

8. What is the author’s view on Japan’s choice to expand its nuclear program?

9. How would the author characterize the opinion of certain environmental groups
who claim we could give up using fossil fuels and nuclear energy and switch
entirely to renewable energy sources?
a) He would disagree and would characterize this opinion as biased.
b) He would disagree and would characterize this opinion as informed.
c) He would agree with this opinion and characterize it as informed.
d) He would agree with this opinion but characterize it as biased.

10. What technique(s) of persuasion does the author use to make his argument? Circle
all that apply, and for each technique you circle, provide an example from the text.

Technique Example
a) using analogies

b) offering examples from

personal experience

c) using an emotional tone

d) referring to an expert
opinion

e) providing well-researched
background information

f) assessing and refuting the

opposite point of view

11. The text states that 25 percent of Japan’s energy is generated by nuclear power
plants. Canada derives 15 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. Why do you
think Canada uses nuclear power to a lesser degree than Japan does?
142 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. reactor (photo caption):

2. magnitude (para. 3):

3. thrived (para. 5):

a) did well b) became weaker c) was in ruins

4. plunged (para. 6):

a) increased b) disappeared c) went down

5. recession (para. 6):

6. resumed (para. 9):

Reading 3 Electrical Engineering

Staying Power
Extreme storms such as Hurricane Sandy have pushed the
U.S. electrical grid to its breaking point. The technology exists
to keep the lights on—we just need to implement it.

By K. Thompson
1 The explosion lit up the Manhattan skyline. A sudden boom, a one-two punch of Vocabulary
yellow light—then everything went black. After Hurricane Sandy shoved water into Con Pay attention
Edison’s 14th Street substation in October, causing electricity to arc between capacitors, to these words
about a quarter million customers were left in the dark. Video of the high-voltage and write
them in your
spectacle quickly went viral: it became an early, brilliant symbol of the massive storm vocabulary
system’s most pervasive and inescapable affront—a total and lingering loss of power. notebook:
Across the U.S., as far west as Indiana and from Maine to North Carolina, Sandy caused infrastructure
hundreds of other mass outages. A tree blown down, wires ravaged by wind, a flooded surge
power facility—each event had rippled out to affect homes far from the point of failure. halt
The blackouts continued for weeks afterward, thwarting the region’s recovery. linear
2 While the duration of Sandy’s outages was unusual, their breadth—more than eight looped
million homes in 21 states ultimately lost power—has become disturbingly common. utilities
In 2011, Hurricane Irene cut electricity to about 5.5 million homes. Tornadoes, ice
storms, wildfires, and drought now routinely overwhelm the nation’s aging electrical
infrastructure, inflicting sweeping blackouts. In the early 1990s, the U.S. experienced
about 20 mass outages a year; today it’s well over 100. A 2012 Congressional Research
Service report attributes much of the rise to an increase in extreme weather events. It
also states that storm-related power failures cost the U.S. economy between $20 billion
and $55 billion annually.
3 A century ago, when the foundation of today’s power distribution system was laid,
electric appliances were just beginning to enter homes. Over time, the nation’s power
 UNIT Living with Nature 143

use has skyrocketed, and so has the population. Demand is now rising
at 1 percent a year, pushing more electricity through lines that were
never intended to handle such high loads. “We sometimes joke that if
Alexander Graham Bell woke up tomorrow and saw my phone, he’d be
astounded,” says David Manning, executive director of the New York
State Smart Grid Consortium. “If Thomas Edison woke up tomorrow and
saw the grid, he could not only recognize it, he could probably fix it.”
4 A modern grid, capable of creating and delivering efficient, reliable
power even in the midst of disaster, is long overdue. Such infrastructure
would be more resilient to both storms and terrorist attacks, which the
National Research Council warned in November could cripple entire
regions of the country for months. Many of the necessary upgrades
already exist: They’ve been developed in labs and demonstrated in smart-
grid projects across the country. Other steps just require common sense.

Stop cascading failures

5 The existing U.S. electric grid has a linear structure. Large power
plants, typically located far from the customers they serve, produce Midtown Manhattan during the
most of the electricity. Transformers at the plants increase the voltage so post-Sandy blackout
it can be moved more efficiently to local substations, which reduce the
voltage and send it out to neighbourhoods and individual homes. When a fault current,
or surge, occurs anywhere along the line, automatic circuit breakers open to halt it.
That’s why a single felled tree can cut power to thousands of customers. And that’s how
overgrown trees brushing high-voltage lines in Ohio could black out 50 million people
along the East Coast in 2003.
6 One way to reduce the impact of any individual failure is to replace the linear
structure with a looped one. Imagine a power line studded with five smart switches
that connects to a substation on both ends. A tree hits the line. In the old, linear system,
all the customers beyond the fault point would lose power; the utility would send out
a work crew to search for the cause. In the new system, switches on both sides of the
fault could isolate the problem and only customers between the two switches would
go dark. Then, “those switches communicate and say, ‘It’s right here, come and fix me,’”
says John Kelly, executive director of the nonprofit Perfect Power Institute.
7 Another way to stop failures from cascading is to install a fault-current limiter, or
what University of Arkansas engineer Alan Mantooth calls a “shock absorber for the
grid.” He’s developing the refrigerator-size device at the university’s National Center
for Reliable Electric Power Transmission. “As bad things happen, circuit breakers just
start opening and the lights go out,” Mantooth says. Rather than simply stopping the
electrical surge altogether, his machine can absorb the excess current and send a
regulated amount down the line.
8 When large-scale change does come, it will likely arrive in high-demand areas first.
“In urban centres like New York City and Los Angeles, their fault currents are getting so
high that they’re having to start replacing all of their circuit breakers,” Mantooth says.
A fault-current limiter would be a practical solution. “We would insert this guy into the
grid,” he says, “leave the existing circuit breaker, and limit the current so that the breaker
is not overwhelmed.” The new equipment helps the old equipment remain in service for
longer, a much more cost-effective approach than replacing all the breakers.
144 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Plan better backup

9 On the evening Hurricane Sandy struck, nearly all of Lower Manhattan lost power—
except for much of the NYU campus. In 2010, the university completed a project to
replace its 1970s-era boilers with natural-gas-powered turbines, subterranean engines
that generate 11 megawatts of electricity. Waste heat from the engines creates steam to
produce an additional 2.4 megawatts and hot water, a process known as co-generation.
Natural disasters were not at the top of the university’s list of concerns when the
administration approved the project. “Number one was cost-effective production of
electricity,” John Bradley of New York University says. “Number two was reduction of
greenhouse-gas emissions.” (The system, which powers 22 buildings and heats 37, is
saving the university millions of dollars each year; it’s also helped reduce the campus’s
carbon footprint by 20 percent.)
10 When Sandy knocked out that Con Edison substation, a third benefit of NYU’s self-
sufficiency became clear. “My equipment sensed that loss of voltage, and the breakers
opened up, isolating the NYU grid from the larger utility grid,” Bradley says. For the next
week, NYU was an island of power in a darkened neighbourhood. Staff set up power
strips on long tables in the library and unlocked outdoor outlets for anyone to use. “You
saw people from the community plugging in their laptops, iPads, and phones all over
campus,” Bradley says.

Invest in efficiency
11 The more power coursing through an aging infrastructure, the more vulnerable
the grid will be to disruption—even without a natural disaster. Over the last decades,
U.S. household electricity usage tripled, from 30.3 million BTU per home in 1980 to
77.1 million BTU in 2015. Transformers, meanwhile, are now more than 40 years old on
average, and 70 percent of transmission lines are at least 25 years old. To be resilient,
the grid—and those who rely on it—must also be more efficient.
12 Many utilities have already begun to replace one ubiquitous and outmoded
device: the electricity meter, generally a spinning dial mounted near a thorn bush at the
back of the house and read, in person, once a month. About 40 million U.S. homes now
have smart meters, devices that digitally monitor and communicate home power use
as often as several times an hour. The information allows utilities to track and bill more
precisely—and recognize power outages instantly.
13 In Austin, Texas, volunteers in a smart-grid project are testing tools that will help
the grid work more like the Internet, with two-way energy and information flow. So
far, engineers have equipped 480 houses with advanced energy-monitoring systems.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyze the data with supercomputers.
“We carry out the nation’s deepest-ever research on how people use electricity and
natural gas on literally a second-to-second basis,” says Brewster McCracken, president
of Pecan Street, the consortium that runs the project.
14 Companies such as Intel, Best Buy, and LG have also partnered with Pecan Street
to test and develop products in a real-world setting. For example, Sony has installed a
home energy–management system that measures the power consumption of various
appliances from a single outlet and can be managed through a television set–top box.
Homeowners can use the real-time data to minimize their load on the grid, shifting
such activities as electric-vehicle charging to periods of surplus power.
 UNIT Living with Nature 145

15 According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “we are stretching the patchwork
nature of our electric grid to its capacity. To move forward, we need a new kind of
electric grid, one that is built from the bottom up to handle the groundswell of digital
and computerized equipment and technology dependent on it—and one that can
automate and manage the increasing complexity and needs of electricity in the 21st
Century.” Truly modernizing the U.S. grid will require an investment of more than
$673 billion, according to a recent study by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In the meantime, the costs of inaction continue to add up: Hurricane Sandy caused
$69.7 billion worth of damage to New York and New Jersey. Just weeks after the
storm, Governor Andrew Cuomo requested federal funding to help New York install the
technology for a smarter grid. “It will be a significant investment,” New York State Smart
Grid Consortium’s Manning says. “But Sandy has rewritten the opportunity to make
the case.”
Source: K. Thompson, “Staying Power,” Popular Science, vol. 282, no. 2 (February 2013), pp. 38–43.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Scan the text to fill in the outline with major and minor supporting details. To review major and
minor supporting
a) the effect of Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters: long-lasting and details, see Unit 3,
massive power outages page 44.

i) causes of the rise in power outages:

•
•
ii) the need for an updated electricity grid
b) ways to modernize the grid
i)
• make the structure looped
•
ii) plan better backup (which offers the following advantages):
•
• reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
iii)

2. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false). Correct the false statements.

a)  e power outage in Manhattan was caused by water flooding the
Th
electric power substation on 14th Street.

b)  e failure at the 14th Street substation led to further power outages

Th
across the US as far west as Indiana.
146 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. In the section “Stop cascading failures,” the author explains the difficulties with the
linear power grid used in the United States. Underline the sentence in paragraph 5
that states the problem with the linear power structure.

4. What kinds of natural disasters create problems for power grids?

5. What statistics does the author use to demonstrate the increase in mass power
outages in recent decades?

6. Complete the sentences. You may use one or more words for each blank.

The current power system in the US was established and was

suited to the power needs of society at that time. As increased
and the use of power grew, the power grid has become .

7. The point of the joke about Thomas Edison is that

a) the phone system and electrical grid are very different inventions.
b) Thomas Edison was very talented.
c) the phone has changed a lot since the first model came out.
d) the electrical grid has not changed much since its inception.

8. What is the organizational pattern of paragraph 5?

a) cause-effect
b) comparison
c) process
d) problem-solution

9. What are the advantages of the looped grid as compared to the linear one? Circle
all that apply.
a) Not as many people are affected by a power outage.
b) The looped structure consumes less electricity.
c) It is easier to identify the location of the fault.
d) Large power plants are located closer to the customers they serve.

10. Why does Alan Mantooth call the fault-current limiter “a shock absorber for the
grid” (para. 7)?

11. How can the fault-current limiter help with a large-scale change of power grids?
a) It will make the replacement of old circuit breakers possible.
b) It will enable the use of old circuit breakers while ensuring power is not
disrupted.
c) It will limit the power supply to large metropolitan areas, such as New York and
Los Angeles.
d) It will make it unnecessary to upgrade the old system.
 UNIT Living with Nature 147

12. In the last section of the text, “Invest in efficiency,” the author mentions various
devices to monitor electricity usage. Match the name of each device with its
description.

a) conventional electricity It measures the amount of electricity used in

meter real time and communicates the measurements
to utility companies.
b) smart meter It helps homeowners to schedule their
electricity-consuming activities in the most
efficient way and it is connected to their TV.
c) energy-monitoring system It is installed in volunteers’ homes, and it
made by Pecan Street measures electricity use on a second-to-
second basis.
d) Sony’s home energy It has to be read manually.
management

13. What is the author’s tone in the last paragraph, where she describes the need to To review author tone,
modernize the US power grid? see Unit 5, page 88.

a) She is very uncertain the budget will be found for this.

b) She is very optimistic that modernization will take place.
c) She communicates with seriousness the need for modernization.
d) She does not communicate her own emotions; she just reports the assessments
of others.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. infrastructure (para. 2):
a) a system of roads
b) a power grid
c) a weather system

2. surge (para. 5):

3. halt (para. 5):

4. In paragraph 6, there are two terms—linear and looped structures—with opposite

meanings. Make a drawing of what each term represents.
a) linear: b) looped:

5. utilities (para. 12):

148 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Which text raises the points listed below?

a) “The Nature Antidote”  aking important choices involves giving something up for the
M
sake of achieving a benefit.
b) “Why Japan Took the
 ur goal should be to ensure everybody has the opportunity
O
Nuclear Risk”
to escape and explore in the outdoors, to absorb the social and
emotional upsides this offers.
c) “Staying Power”
If we want to be ready in the face of natural disasters, we need to
bring our infrastructure up to modern standards.
 ith the rising power needs of a growing population, on one hand,
W
and higher frequencies of natural disasters, on the other, the grid
faces overwhelming challenges.

2. “The Nature Antidote” includes the assertion that we face the public health
challenge of increasing depression and anxiety rates and suggests solutions. In
“Staying Power,” the author mentions challenges to the American power grid posed
by natural disasters. Provide examples from the readings of how humans have
adapted, or could adapt, faced with these difficult situations.

Reading Humans have adapted by … Humans could adapt by …

“The Nature Antidote”

“Why Japan Took the

Nuclear Risk”

“Staying Power”

3. “Why Japan Took the Nuclear Risk” refers to a necessary balance between the old,
conventional energy sources and new, alternative ones. What balance is presented
in “Staying Power” regarding the use of the old and the new grid systems?
 UNIT Living with Nature 149

4. Which text is an expression of the author’s opinion in response to a debatable

issue? What specific words or phrases does the author use to signal that this is an
opinion piece? Underline them in the text.

5. Each of the three readings presents natural phenomena that have significant effects
on human lives, and two texts of the three present catastrophic natural events. Do
you think that humankind is to blame for any or all of the disastrous scenarios
discussed in the two readings?

6. What is the intended audience for each of the texts in this unit? How would you
describe the tone of each? Provide specific examples from the texts that helped you
identify tone and audience.

Reading Audience Tone Examples

“The Nature
Antidote”

“Why Japan
Took the
Nuclear Risk”

“Staying Power”

7. a) Do you live or have you ever lived in a seismic zone or

a region threatened by hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding,
or other natural disasters?  Yes   No
b) What measures should authorities take to prepare residents for natural disasters?

c) What can individuals do to prepare for natural disasters?

 9 Transportation

Modern modes of transportation have evolved rapidly, but as technology and

infrastructure (such as roads, highways, bridges, parking facilities, and public transit
systems) have improved, there have also been negative consequences of our twenty-
first century transportation. For example, while cars are now affordable for the
average family and public transportation is well-developed in many urban centres, the
developed world faces such challenges as traffic-related air pollution, congested roads,
and uncertainties about the future of our fuel resources. This unit explores the topic of
transportation from the perspectives of urban studies (“Traffic Jam”), transportation
studies and sustainability studies (“People Movers”), and artificial intelligence
technology (“What Will It Take for Humans to Trust Self-Driving Cars?”).

Getting into the Topic

1. Urban mobility refers to people’s ability to get from one place to another within a
large city—something that is becoming increasingly difficult and time-consuming
in many areas. What are some ways to relieve traffic congestion in major cities?
 UNIT Transportation 151

2. What are the advantages of using a private car to commute to work or school? Why
would some commuters choose public transportation instead? Note the reasons in
the chart.

Reasons to use a car Reasons to use public transportation

3. Suggest incentives to get more people out of their cars and into public or alternative
transportation, such as ride-sharing (carpooling).
4. How long does it take you to get to school? Are you satisfied with the transportation
options on campus?
5. Study the chart below. Have you seen any self-driving cars in your town or city?
What are their potential benefits? Based on this graph, why do you think these cars
require about 25 years to become the primary means of transportation instead of
being adopted right now?
2050

2040

2030
2015 2020

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) Consumers begin to get AVs become people’s most
begin to be developed for comfortable with and popular transportation
consumers adopt AVs choice

1 AVs are in use in 3 The after-sales service 5 AVs give 50 minutes per
company fleets landscape evolves and day to drivers
changes
2 Car manufacturers begin 6 Parking space
to assess strategic 4 Insurance companies requirements drop by
impact of electric change from covering billions of square metres
cars’ adoption individuals to covering
7 Vehicle crashes drop by
technical failures
90%; billions of dollars
saved
8 AV technology rapidly
advances robot
development for
use by consumers

FIGURE 9.1 Potential growth of self-driving vehicle popularity

Source: Adapted from Michele Bertoncello and Dominik Wee, “Ten Ways Autonomous Driving Could Redefine the
Automotive World,” Our Insights, McKinsey and Company, 1 June 2015, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/
automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/ten-ways-autonomous-driving-could-redefine-the-automotive-world.
152 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Reading 1 Urban Studies

Traffic Jam
Move over megaprojects; small, creative options unlock the grid

By M. Siemiatycki
1 Canadian cities face a litany1 of challenges to their vibrancy and vitality. Public Vocabulary
safety, health care, education, growing income disparity and a paucity2 of funds are Pay attention
but a sampling. Amidst this long list, one issue has, nonetheless, risen to the top of the to these words
urban agenda: mobility and congestion relief. and write
them in your
2 Once a mundane reality, congestion is now front-page news in Canadian cities. It vocabulary
can make or break a politician’s career. As a result, it’s no wonder elected representatives notebook:
are on the lookout for solutions that will make traffic and their careers flow smoothly. emissions
The problem is, many of the obvious solutions fail to have the desired effect. stakeholders
3 Simply put, road congestion has risen to the top of the agenda in Canadian cities prevailing
because it resonates with a diverse array of constituencies3 who experience the lure
effects of clogged roads on a daily basis. During the 1980s and 1990s, congestion offset
was predominantly the concern of a handful of urban planners and environmentalists. viable
As a result, there was underinvestment in urban transportation facilities, which has
contributed to what the Canadian government now estimates is a need for $57-billion
worth of new and upgraded municipal infrastructure.
4 As this underinvestment translated into congestion, a diverse set of powerful allies
joined environmentalists and urban planners. Commuters were upset by the rising
frequency of persistent traffic jams. From 2011 to 2016, the number of car commuters
who took at least 60 minutes to get to work rose by 5 percent, while the total number
of car commuters increased by 3 percent. Health care professionals recognized the link
between increased respiratory disease and car emissions, as well as growing incidents
of obesity that are linked to prolonged car usage. Business groups expressed concern
about lost productivity, which Transport Canada estimates costs between $2.3-million
and $3.7-billion annually. And finally, social justice activists pointed out that congestion
leads to unequal access to mobility, which, in turn, can make getting to jobs and
recreation opportunities difficult for those without a car.
5 The dilemma over congestion and car dependence reflects the general recognition
that mobility shapes the growth, liveability and prosperity of Canadian cities. In turn,
concerns about traffic gridlock have made congestion relief a potent electoral issue.

The usual suspects

6 Stakeholders who promote congestion relief have their own prevailing interests.
As a result, they each encourage political solutions that reflect their specific concern.
This makes it difficult for politicians to find solutions that satisfy all interested parties.
Furthermore, massive spending on rapid transit megaprojects has come to be seen as
a politically safe approach to redressing congestion. In 2017, the BC government and
the city of Vancouver launched a 10-year infrastructure development plan that will

1 a long, repetitive list of a series of complaints, events, reasons, etc.

2 a small amount; less than enough
3 groups of people in society with shared interests, who are likely to support a particular idea
 UNIT Transportation 153

require about $10 billion and will include a major subway extension.
Construction is underway on subway extensions in Montreal. In
addition, Toronto and Ottawa are planning further rail expansions.
Almost all of these new rail systems have been fully segregated
from traffic on underground or elevated guideways. This separation
translates into higher construction costs per kilometre, but is
generally believed to offer a better solution to congestion. As a
result, the extra cost is thought to be money well spent.
7 The popularity of urban rail as a means of addressing congestion,
particularly when it is fully separated from existing roadways, stems
from its appeal to a diversity of interested users. Rail is a high-quality service that can
lure travellers away from their cars, while freeing up road space for the remaining
drivers. Retail business groups see off-road urban rail as an opportunity to support
investments in public transit without reducing car accessibility or on-street parking. The
shipping industry recognizes that switching car drivers to off-road public transit frees
up road space for goods movement. Labour unions, as well as Canadian companies in
the transportation equipment sector, promote urban rail construction as an economic
development strategy. Governments view new rapid transit lines as a catalyst for high-
density development around stations, which can increase the local tax base and offset
construction costs. And finally, environmentalists see electric rapid transit as a way to
reduce air pollution.

The reality of congestion relief

8 Despite all the positive attributes of these megaprojects, they have little chance of
actually alleviating road gridlock. Brian Taylor writes in the journal Transport Policy, “Put
simply, public transport expenditures in the name of congestion reduction are growing
because they are broadly popular, and not because most people believe that they are
effective ways to reduce traffic congestion.”
9 In reality, massive spending on recent public transit megaprojects in Canada’s
largest cities has failed to live up to expectations. A Statistics Canada study comparing
commute times from 1996 and 2016 revealed that commuting time in Toronto has
increased by six percent. In 1996, the percentage of Canadians who worked more than
25 kilometres from their workplace was 20 percent, but in 2016, it was 26 percent.
10 Shifting land-use and commuting patterns are a primary reason why rapid rail
transit megaprojects have failed to either attract the expected level of passengers
or meaningfully reduce congestion. As dispersed employment and residential
developments have been built around the periphery of Canadian cities, complex
suburb-to-suburb commuting patterns have emerged. These trips are difficult to
serve by conventional public transit. In 2016, 12.6 million Canadians reported that they
commuted to work by car. For these commuters, the average duration of the commute
was 24 minutes, and the median distance to work among those who had a usual
workplace was 8.7 kilometres.
11 There are two pernicious impacts of supporting transit megaprojects that have
popular appeal but are unlikely to meet expectations. First, the massive resources spent
on them may have been more effectively allocated elsewhere. Second, large segments
of the public, particularly in burgeoning suburban communities, may begin to believe
that transit investments neither alleviate congestion nor reduce harmful emissions.
154 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

12 As a result, support has grown for initiatives known to exacerbate congestion and
environmental degradation. For the first time in a generation, highway and bridge
building have returned to the Canadian urban agenda as viable solutions to congestion.
Taking the lead is British Columbia, where the provincial government has proposed the
$3-billion Gateway program that sees Greater Vancouver blanketed with a series of
bridges and roads. These options are being suggested despite evidence by people such
as urban planner Todd Litman. In an article in the Institute of Transportation Engineers
Journal, Litman claims that you can’t build your way out of congestion.

The unusual suspects

13 Solving worsening gridlock, sprawling land-use and increasingly complex
commuting patterns requires integrated programs that support a range of options.
New, high-quality transit infrastructure is part of the solution, particularly when it is
accompanied by transit-oriented land-use development. However, effective solutions
require complementary programs—the unusual suspects—that provide both incentives
and disincentives to get people out of their single occupancy vehicles and into a range
of alternative modes of transportation.
14 Across Canada and around the world, there have been numerous initiatives that
have encouraged the behaviour changes necessary to reduce congestion. These
programs provide win-win solutions that combine benefits to corporations, commuters
and transit service providers. For instance, in Vancouver, the expansion of the dedicated
cycling lane network between 1995 and 2005 led to a doubling in the proportion
of people who commute to work by bicycle. In Winnipeg, a pilot project to provide
employees with discounted transit passes increased transit ridership by 45 percent
within participating companies. And in Toronto, a year after high-occupancy vehicle
lanes4 were designated on selected highways, carpooling had more than doubled in
some places, and there had been a reduction in commuting times for all drivers.
15 In California, some employers found that providing a cash subsidy to employees
who don’t use their parking spot can be less expensive than leasing the parking space.
Moreover, a study of eight mid-sized employers that paid a “cashout” subsidy found
that the share of solo-occupancy vehicle commuters decreased by 17 percent, while
carpooling and transit usage increased by 64 and 50 percent respectively. And in
London, England, when a $12 toll charged to enter the central city was implemented
in 2003, weekday inner city congestion dropped by 30 percent almost immediately.
Furthermore, toll money was reinvested in public transit infrastructure and keeping fare
prices stable, which made transit a more viable option.
16 To be certain, many of the programs that can reduce road congestion challenge
the status quo. They may elicit community apprehension and resistance. Overcoming
these challenges requires that planning agencies listen to communities’ aspirations and
fears, and design programs that address them. It also requires visionary and tenacious
political leadership.
Source: M. Siemiatycki, “Traffic Jam,” Alternatives Journal 33 (January 2007), p. 1.

4 a part of the road or highway reserved for cars with two or more people inside, designed to encourage carpooling
 UNIT Transportation 155

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Why did the issue of traffic congestion rise to the top of the urban agenda in the
early 2000s?
a) It became an important environmental problem, which environmentalists and
urban planners strove to solve.
b) Politicians became more interested in solving the problem of traffic jams.
c) It became clear that to solve the problem, cities needed to invest significant
financial resources.
d) The problem had become worse over the previous decade and became a concern
to various groups of people.

2. Match each group with a specific concern regarding congestion in Canadian cities.

a) commuters  mployees arrive late to work or feel tired because of long or

E
stressful commutes.
b) health care professionals
Cities’ infrastructure requires costly modifications.
c) business groups Car exhaust increases the risk of lung disease.
d) social justice activists  eople who cannot afford a car are disadvantaged with respect
P
to employment opportunities and leisure activities.
e) environmentalists Car exhaust pollutes the atmosphere.
f) urban planners Travel to and from work is becoming more time-consuming.

3. From a politician’s point of view, what is the most popular way to relieve traffic
congestion?

4. a) What is the disadvantage of constructing underground or elevated rail systems?

b) According to paragraph 6, many people believe that this disadvantage is a fair

price to pay for solving congestion problems. Why?

5. Various groups express support for expanding off-road urban rails (para. 7). Which
group is associated with each of the statements below?
a)  ajor urban transit hubs encourage high-density
M
population growth, which increases tax revenue.
b)  arking spaces near shops are not limited or eliminated
P
by on-road rail construction.
c)  e construction of transit megaprojects provides job
Th
opportunities to Canadians.
d)  ewer car users on the roads leave more space for the
F
trucks that move goods from place to place.
156 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. a) W hat is the writer’s opinion of the ability of public transit megaprojects to

effectively relieve congestion?

b) What specific vocabulary does the writer use in the section titled “The reality of
congestion relief” to reveal his opinion?

c) What techniques does the writer use in making his argument to persuade the To review
reader of his opinion? techniques of
persuasion, see
Unit 5, page 87.

7. Fill in the missing causes and effects in the table.

Cause Effect
During the 1980s and 1990s, few people were
concerned about traffic congestion. (para. 3)

It is difficult for politicians to find solutions that satisfy

all parties. (para. 6)

In 2016, 12.6 million Canadians reported that they

commuted to work by car. (para. 10)

The City of Toronto designated carpool lanes on a

number of urban highways. (para. 14)

8. Which of the following ideas would the author of the text agree with? Circle all
that apply.
a) Residential and commercial development in the suburbs is preferable to high-
density development in the city.
b) It is best to spend money on transit megaprojects.
c) Investment in transit megaprojects does not significantly alleviate congestion.
d) Highway and bridge building are effective solutions to traffic jams.
e) Vancouver’s and BC’s 10-year development plan will be effective.
 UNIT Transportation 157

9. In paragraphs 13 to 15, the author mentions incentives and disincentives to

discourage people from using their single-occupancy vehicles. Mark each measure
as I (incentive) or D (disincentive) based on your understanding of these concepts.
a) A
 Winnipeg company provides employees with discounted transit passes.
b) The City of Toronto created high-occupancy lanes on some highways.
c) S ome California companies pay a cash subsidy to employees who don’t
need a parking space.
d) London City Hall charges a car toll to enter the city centre.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. emissions (para. 4):

2. stakeholders (para. 6):

3. prevailing (para. 6):

a) insignificant b) dominant c) irrelevant

4. lure (para. 7):

5. offset (para. 7):

a) increase b) encourage c) reduce

6. viable (para. 12):

Reading 2 Transportation Studies, Sustainability Studies

People Movers
Strategies for integrating the latest transportation
trends on campus

By Jodi Helmer
1 On college campuses, driverless shuttles and ride-share
partnerships are replacing traditional buses and taxis. “Universities are
the ideal places for public transit, [and] some of the new options are
more affordable and space efficient than conventional transit,” says
Art Guzzetti, vice president of policy for the American Public Transportation Association.
2 Driverless shuttles and app-based ride services, once considered far out, are gaining
ground. Seven in 10 respondents to a survey from the Institute of Transportation
Studies at UC Davis believed driverless vehicles would make up 20 percent of the rides
on the road by 2040; 78 percent estimated that commercial ride-sharing services
would account for more than 20 percent of passenger miles travelled in the same time
period. As options like driverless shuttles and ride-sharing become more widespread,
administrators should consider the following strategies for integrating them with other
campus transportation options.
158 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Assessing the need Vocabulary

3 Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, experimented with several ideas Pay attention
to these words
for helping students get around, but none proved popular. Ridership on local transit to
and write
campus was so low that the bus route was cancelled. The number of students using them in your
a discounted Safe Ride program dwindled. The bus running between 12 consortium vocabulary
colleges, including Assumption, was discontinued because it was cheaper for the college notebook:

to cover student cab fare than to continue with its $20 000 portion of the annual bus diverted
contract. Uber has proven to be the answer to Assumption’s transportation woes. respondents

4 The college partnered with the ride-sharing service to provide discounted rides, woes
recruitment
joining a growing number of colleges partnering with companies in that space. UC
gauge
San Diego and Arizona State University have partnered with Lyft; Rowan College at
subsidies
Burlington County in New Jersey and North Shore Community College in Massachusetts
are among the schools using Uber. Assumption diverted funds from its transportation
budget and student activities fees to cover $4 of each ride with Uber. In the first three
months of the partnership, students took 1400 rides.
5 Administrators can access the Uber dashboard to monitor data, including the
number of rides, average ride distances and peak service times, so that the college can
better assess its transportation needs. “Transportation options are always a factor in
student recruitment,” says Catherine WoodBrooks, vice president of student affairs.

Surveying students
6 Mcity, a public-private partnership for transportation research at the University of
Michigan, introduced a driverless shuttle at its North Campus in June, so researchers
could better understand how students would respond to high-tech transportation. “We
wanted to see how it could operate in this environment and be applied to our current
transportation needs on campus before going to fully automated vehicles overnight,”
says Mcity Deputy Director Carrie Morton. Two 11-passenger driverless shuttles, which
operate along a one-mile route between parking lots and the North Campus Research
Complex, are outfitted with cameras, audio equipment and Wi-Fi communications to
capture data and gauge passenger responses, including facial responses and audio
comments. The university also partnered with J.D. Power to survey users about their
experiences. There are early indications of consumer acceptance, Morton says.

Prioritizing partnerships
7 It took more than a year to set up the team for a driverless shuttle pilot on the
campus of Texas Southern University. The university partnered with the city of Houston
to secure funding and measure the impact of the driverless shuttle. Starting in 2019,
the shuttle runs on a loop around campus every 10 minutes during peak travel times,
according to Carol Abel Lewis, professor of transportation studies and emeritus director
of the Center for Transportation Training and Research. If the pilot is successful, the
partners hope to link the shuttle route and the city’s light rail station.

Phasing out similar services

8 Once driverless shuttles and ride-share agreements change the transportation
landscape on campus, administrators must decide whether to continue with shuttle
buses and other conventional offerings. Students often take a combination of buses
and trains to travel to campus. For some, the commute takes up to two hours. “The
 UNIT Transportation 159

[lack of efficient] transportation could have been a deal breaker that led some students
to enroll somewhere else,” says Vice President of Student Affairs at North Shore College
Jermaine Williams.
9 A few years ago, North Shore contracted with Uber to provide ride-sharing services
to its students, and the pilot proved so popular that the college declined to renew its
$100 000 annual shuttle contract. The savings helped offset the costs of ride-share
subsidies, which range from $4 to $10. A portion of those funds are allocated to a
program that covers ride costs for students with financial needs.

Calculating value
10 As it plots a course for a driverless shuttle pilot on campus, Sacramento State
University officials are laser-focused on the costs and potential return on investment.
The California campus plans to run a driverless shuttle between campus and the light
rail station in the hopes of curbing traffic congestion, easing parking woes and making
the trek between the points more efficient. “When we can’t get students to campus in
a reasonable amount of time on public transit, they decide [the light rail] isn’t a good fit
for them and they get back in their cars,” says Tony Lucas, senior director of university
transportation, parking and support services at Sacramento State.
11 The cost of the one-year pilot project is expected to top $300 000, but Lucas believes
there is significant value in embracing more sustainable modes of transportation—
electric- and battery-operated autonomous vehicles emit fewer greenhouse gases
than conventional buses, for example. Lucas also cites the potential cost savings. The
campus has 13 000 parking spots for 36 000 students and staff, and adding parking is
expensive. Running the driverless shuttle on part of an existing pedestrian path will also
speed up its route, allowing one shuttle to replace two existing buses running between
the light rail station and campus.
12 In addition to monitoring the bottom line, Williams at North Shore Community
College says the intangible value of new transportation offerings should be considered.
“Transportation is an issue that disproportionately affects lower income and minority
students,” he says. “We felt we could better leverage the funds from the shuttle to help
those students and provide greater access to higher education.”
Source: Jodi Helmer, “People Movers Go to College,” University Business, September 2018, https://universitybusiness.
com/people-movers-go-to-college/.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. a) What are the transportation options that will replace conventional buses and
taxis to and on campuses?

b) Are these options supported by the majority of students?  Yes   No

2. Complete the blanks.

The contract with the local bus company was too for
Assumption College. It preferred to partner with and
subsidized $4 for every ride.
160 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. How can administrators assess their college transportation needs, using Uber?

4. In which two ways did Mcity (para. 6) assess students’ response to driverless
shuttles on campus?
a)
b)

5. Do you agree with Jermain Williams (para. 8) that lack of

efficient transportation can lead a student to enroll elsewhere?  Yes   No
6. Mark all the benefits that Sacramento State University hopes to get by implementing
a driverless shuttle program.
shortening the commute
building more pedestrian walks
increasing parking spaces
achieving more sustainability
saving money

7. In your notebook, summarize the text in one paragraph of writing. To review

summarizing
Vocabulary strategies, see
Unit 3, page 45.
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. respondents (para. 2):

2. woes (para. 3):

a) benefits b) problems c) solutions

3. diverted (para. 4):

4. recruitment (para. 5):

5. gauge (para. 6):
a) measure b) imagine c) attract

6. subsidies (para. 9):

 UNIT Transportation 161

Reading 3 Technology

What Will It Take for Humans to Trust

Self-Driving Cars?

By Rob Verger
1 On March 19, 2018, Elaine Herzberg, 49, was crossing a road in Tempe,
Arizona, when a Volvo SUV travelling at 39 miles per hour [63 kilometres
per hour] hit and killed her. Although she was one of thousands of U.S.
pedestrians killed by vehicles every year, one distinctive—and highly
modern—aspect set her death apart: nobody was driving that Volvo. A
computer was. A fatality caused by a self-driving car might not be more tragic than Vocabulary
another, but it does encourage the wariness many of us feel about technology making Pay attention to these
life-and-death decisions. Just a couple of months later, a survey by AAA revealed that words and write them
73 percent of Americans were too scared to zip around in a totally autonomous ride—a in your vocabulary
notebook:
10 percent increase from a similar poll taken before Herzberg’s death.
distinctive
2 Self-driving cars are already cruising our streets, their spinning lasers and other
conglomerate
sensors scanning the world around them. Some are from big companies such as
outfits
Waymo—part of Google’s parent conglomerate Alphabet—or General Motors, while
wary
others are the work of outfits you might not have heard of, including Drive.ai or Aptiv.
venture
(Uber operated the Volvo involved in Arizona’s fatal crash and took its self-driving cars algorithm
off the roads for about nine months afterward.) But what makes some of us so wary of
these robotic chauffeurs, and how can they earn our trust?
3 To understand these questions, it first helps to consider what psychologists call the
theory of mind. Put simply, it’s the recognition that other people have brains in their
heads that are busy thinking, just like ours (usually) are. The theory comes in handy
on the road. Before we venture into a crosswalk, we might first make eye contact
with a driver and then think, He sees me, so I’m safe, or He doesn’t, so I’m not. It’s a
technique we likely use more than we realize, both behind the wheel and on our feet.
“We know how other people are going to act because we know how we would act,”
explains Azim Shariff, an associate professor of psychology at the University of British
Columbia, who has written about this issue in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
But you can’t make eye contact with an algorithm. Autonomous cars generally have
backup humans ready to take control if necessary, but when the car is in self-driving
mode, the computer’s in charge.
4 “We’re going to have to learn a theory of the machine mind,” Shariff says. What that
means in practice is that self-driving cars will need to provide clear signals—and not just
turn signals—to let the public know what that machine mind is planning. One solution
comes from Drive.ai, a company running self-driving vans in Texas. The bright-orange-
and-blue vehicles have LED signs on all four sides that respond to the environment with
messages. They can tell a pedestrian who wants to cross in front of the car, “Waiting for
You.” Or they can warn them: “Going Now/Don’t Cross.”
5 A related strategy is intended for passengers, not pedestrians: Screens in Waymo
vehicles show car occupants a simple, animated version of what the autonomous
vehicle is seeing. Those displays can also show what the car is doing, like if it’s pausing
to allow a human to cross. “Trust is the willingness to make yourself vulnerable to
somebody else,” Shariff says. “We engage in it because we can pretty easily predict what
162 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

the other person will do.” All of which means that if the cars are predictable and do what
they say they will do, people will be more likely to trust them.
6 Sound familiar? Communicating with the machine mind is important, but that
doesn’t mean we want it to mimic exactly how humans think and act while driving.
In fact, the promise of travelling by autonomous car is that silicon brains won’t do
dumb things such as text and drive, or drink and drive, or rocket down the highway
while upset after a breakup. (Cars don’t date.) “I believe that they have the potential to
be safer than regular cars,” says Marjory S. Blumenthal, a senior policy analyst at the
RAND Corporation think tank who has researched the vehicles. But she says there’s not
enough good data yet to know for sure.
7 One practical way to create a reputation for safety is to start slow. The University
of Michigan’s pair of self-driving shuttles go just 12 miles per hour [19 kilometres per
hour]. Huei Peng, a professor of mechanical engineering who oversees the little buses,
says the research team behind the project is building trust by not asking too much: The
predetermined route is just about a mile long, so they’re not exactly speeding down a
highway in the snow. “We’re trying to push the envelope but in a very cautious way,”
Peng says. If all goes well, they’ll expand the route. Like other experts, Peng compares
self-driving cars to elevators: an initially frightening technology that people eventually
got used to.
8 Ultimately, not everyone will have to trust driverless cars enough to go for a ride,
and especially not at first. Indeed, the public isn’t homogeneous, says Raj Rajkumar,
who directs the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He
notices three categories of potential users: tech skeptics, who know that their computer
crashes and worry about getting into a vehicle controlled by one; early adopters, who
are delighted by the promise of new tech; and people who are stressed by driving and
would rather not do it if they don’t have to. The early adopters will buy in first, followed
by the folks who just dislike driving, and then finally the skeptics, he argues. “So it’s a
long process.” Trust grows like a self-driving shuttle drives: slowly.
Source: Rob Verger, “What Will It Take for Humans to Trust Self-Driving Cars?” Popular Science, 28 March 2019, https://
www.popsci.com/humans-trust-self-driving-cars/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2021.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Underline the main idea of paragraph 1.

2. What would be the theory of mind in action in the following situation?

The driver is approaching an intersection with no stop sign for him or her but a
stop sign for the drivers on the road perpendicular to the first driver’s.
a) The driver is expecting those on the perpendicular road to give way and stop at
the sign.
b) The driver cannot predict the behaviour of another driver, although there is a
stop sign for the other driver.
c) Both drivers have to look carefully in all directions, in spite of signs.
d) An autonomous car has to think just like a human being and give way if there
is a stop sign for it.
 UNIT Transportation 163

3. What two methods are used to help people know what the autonomous car is
planning to do?
a)
b)

4. Complete the sentence.

When we trust somebody, we are ready to make ourselves

to them. However, we trust people only if we can predict their actions, and this
means that the more autonomous cars become, the more
we are going to trust them.

5. What dangerous things do human drivers do that autonomous cars will not do?
Circle all that apply.
a) text and drive
b) have a date and drive
c) drink and drive
d) exceed the speed limit

6. What technology that scared people at first are driverless cars compared to
(para. 7)?

7. In the last paragraph, three categories of future users of autonomous cars are listed.
Write the name of the category that you think you belong to.

8. What is the best paraphrase of the following sentence: “A fatality caused by To review paraphrasing
a self-driving car might not be more tragic than another, but it does encourage strategies, see Unit 2,
page 33.
the wariness many of us feel about technology making life-and-death decisions”
(para. 1)?
a) People get suspicious of the technology that decides between life and death,
especially when it is involved in an accident with casualties.
b) That a person was killed by a self-driving car is a big tragedy. It makes people
afraid to accept the new technology.
c) The chance of an accident involving a self-driving car is as big as the chance
involving a regular car, so people are discouraged to accept the new technology.
d) Death in an accident involving a regular or self-driving car is horrible. Yet, that
self-driving cars may kill people makes many people more optimistic about the
new technology.
164 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

9. In the following excerpt from the last paragraph, highlight at least one fact and one
opinion, in different colours.

“… the public isn’t homogeneous, says Raj Rajkumar, who directs the Metro21:
Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He notices three categories
of potential users: tech skeptics, who know that their computer crashes and worry
about getting into a vehicle controlled by one; early adopters, who are delighted by
the promise of new tech; and people who are stressed by driving and would rather
not do it if they don’t have to. The early adopters will buy in first, followed by the
folks who just dislike driving, and then finally the skeptics, he argues.”

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. distinctive (para. 1):

2. conglomerate (para. 2):

3. outfits (para. 2):

a) a set of clothes for a particular occasion
b) businesses or organizations
c) a set of equipment for a particular purpose

4. wary (para. 2):

5. venture (para. 3):

a) risk-taking or dangerous activity
b) do something risky or dangerous

6. algorithm (para. 3):

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Match each selection with its purpose.

a) “Traffic Jam”  o inform school administrators and students about best

T
transportation methods on campus
b) “People Movers”
 o persuade policy makers to solve the problem on the roads
T
by turning to unconventional solutions instead of building
c) “What Will It Take for Humans
more infrastructure
to Trust Self-Driving Cars?”
 o inform technology innovators and the general public of the
T
ways a driverless car can be trusted more

2. Study the sources of “What Will It Take for Humans to Trust Self-Driving Cars?” and
“Traffic Jam.” How would you expect the audiences of these two texts to be different?
 UNIT Transportation 165

3. The author of “Traffic Jam” divides solutions to the problem of road congestion
into two groups, which he calls the usual and the unusual suspects.
a) Give examples of the solutions falling under each category.
the usual suspects:

the unusual suspects:

b) Would ride-sharing and self-driving cars be considered usual or unusual suspects?

4. a) The chart on page 151 predicts that by 2050, self-driving cars will have become
the primary mode of transportation. Do you think that the author of “Traffic
Jam” would consider autonomous cars an appropriate solution to the problems
identified in the article?

b) Based on your understanding of “What Will It Take for Humans to Trust Self-
Driving Cars?” do you think the author would agree that autonomous cars will
pass through three stages before becoming a common sight in our streets?

5. Often, technology plays an important role in solving modern problems. Briefly

state the role of technology in the following.
Decreasing commuting time:

Creating a more trustworthy autonomous car:

6. All three texts in this unit raise the issue of overcoming people’s psychological
barriers to change. Give three examples from the text of how people’s attitudes may
stand in the way of finding innovative solutions to transportation concerns. The
first one is done for you.

a) Although cars are bad for the environment and city centres are congested, people prefer
to drive instead of taking public transit or biking.

b)
166 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

c)

7. If you were a policy maker—an urban mayor or a government minister—what

incentives or disincentives (discussed in any of the three readings) do you think
would be most effective to encourage people to overcome their psychological
barriers? Share your ideas with other students.
 10 Ethnocentrism

Getting into the Topic

This unit presents the concept of ethnocentrism from the perspectives of policing,
psychology, and marketing. The first reading introduces the idea of the social and
cognitive roots of prejudice, which underlies ethnocentrism. The second reading
deals with ethnocentrism as a barrier to successful international marketing. The final
selection discusses unconscious negative stereotypes about Black people that may
influence the behaviour of police officers.
Discuss these questions to help you get into the topic.
1. In Canada, foreign-trained professionals are often unable to find a job because they
lack “Canadian experience.” When two applicants with the same qualifications
apply for a position, the local person with experience working in Canada, rather
than the immigrant, is often chosen. What do you think helps to explain this
practice?
a) local cultural traditions
b) preference to hire an applicant with language proficiency
c) racial prejudice
d) other (explain):
168 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

2. Is it common for people to feel prejudiced against other races, ethnicities, or

religions? If so, is it more common for people to show prejudice openly or attempt
to disguise it?

3. In the early twentieth century, there was widespread prejudice on the part of
Canadians, mostly of European origin, against immigrant Chinese workers. In
your view, what were the roots of their prejudice?

4. What is meant by the term ethnocentrism? Guess the meaning of the word using
your knowledge of its parts and then check your guess in a dictionary. Write down
your definition.

5. When a person is shown one image followed by another image, the first image can
influence the person’s perception of the second. Psychologists call this a “priming
effect.” Imagine that you are shown a face of a Black person and then a millisecond
later asked to categorize two objects—an apple and a gun, for example—as
dangerous or not dangerous. Do you think your decision might be made faster
than when you are shown a White face instead of the Black face?

Reading 1 Psychology

Prejudice

By D.G. Myers
1 Prejudice means “prejudgement.” It is an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude Vocabulary
toward a group—often a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group. Like all attitudes, Pay attention
prejudice is a three-part mixture of to these words
and write
• beliefs (in this case, called stereotypes), them in your
• emotions (for example, hostility or fear), and vocabulary
• predisposition to action (to discriminate). notebook:
blatant
To believe that obese people are gluttonous, to feel dislike for an obese person, and to
aftermath
be hesitant to hire or date an obese person is to be prejudiced. Prejudice is a negative
foe
attitude. Discrimination is a negative behaviour.
arbitrarily
disparage
How prejudiced are people?
2 To assess prejudice, we can observe what people say and what they do. Americans’
expressed gender and racial attitudes have changed dramatically in the last half-century.
Nearly everyone now agrees that women and men should receive the same pay for the
same job, and that children of all races should attend the same schools.
3 Support for all forms of racial contact, including interracial dating, has also
dramatically increased. Among 18- to 29-year-old Americans, 9 in 10 now say they
would be fine with a family member marrying someone of a different race (Pew, 2010).
4 Yet, as overt prejudice wanes, subtle prejudice lingers. Despite increased verbal
support for interracial marriage, many people admit that in socially intimate settings
(dating, dancing, marrying) they would feel uncomfortable with someone of another
race. And many people who say they feel upset with someone making racist slurs
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 169

actually, when hearing such racism, respond indifferently (Kawakami et al., 2009). In
Western Europe, where many “guest workers” and refugees settled at the end of the
twentieth century, “modern prejudice”—rejecting immigrant minorities as job applicants
for supposedly nonracial reasons—has been replacing blatant prejudice (Jackson et
el., 2001; Lester, 2004; Pettigrew, 1998, 2006). A slew of recent experiments illustrates
that prejudice can be not only subtle but also automatic and unconscious.
5 Nevertheless, overt prejudice persists in many places. In the aftermath of 9/11
events and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 4 out of 10 Americans acknowledged “some
feelings of prejudice against Muslims,” and about half of non-Muslims in Western Europe
and the United States perceived Muslims as “violent” (Saad, 2006; Wike & Grim, 2007).
With Americans feeling threatened by Arabs, and as opposition to Islamic mosques
and immigration flared in 2010, one national observer noted that “Muslims are one of
the last minorities in the United States that it is still possible to demean openly” (Kristof,
2010; Lyons et al., 2010). Muslims reciprocated the negativity, with most in Jordan,
Egypt, Turkey, and Britain seeing Westerners as “greedy” and “immoral.”

Social roots of prejudice

6 Why does prejudice arise? Social divisions are partly responsible. We have inherited
our Stone Age ancestors’ need to belong, to live and love in groups. There was safety
in solidarity (those who didn’t band together left fewer descendants). Whether hunting,
defending, or attacking, 10 hands were better than 2. Dividing the world into “us” and
“them” entails racism and war, but it also provides the benefits of communal solidarity.
Thus we cheer for our groups, kill for them, die for them. Indeed, we define who we
are partly in terms of our groups. Through our social identities we associate ourselves
with certain groups and contrast ourselves with others (Hogg, 1996, 2006; Turner, 1987,
2007). When Ian identifies himself as a man, an Aussie,1 a Labourite,2 a University of
Sydney student, a Catholic, and a MacGregor, he knows who he is, and so do we.
7 Evolution prepared us, when encountering strangers, to make
instant judgements: friend or foe? Those from our group, those who
look like us, and also those who sound like us—with accents like our
own—we instantly tend to like, from childhood onward (Gluszek &
Dovidio, 2010; Kinzler et al., 2009). Mentally drawing a circle defines
“us,” the ingroup. But the social definition of who you are also states
who you are not. People outside that circle are “them,” the outgroup.
An ingroup bias—a favouring of our own group—soon follows. Even
arbitrarily creating us-them groups by tossing a coin creates this
bias. In experiments, people have favoured their own group when Canadian hockey fans use the maple
leaf to identify themselves.
dividing any rewards (Tajfel, 1982; Wilder, 1981).
8 The urge to distinguish enemies from friends predisposes prejudice against strangers
(Whitley, 1999). To Greeks of the classical era, all non-Greeks were “barbarians.” In our
own era, most children believe their own school is better than all other schools in
town. Many high school students form cliques—jocks, goths, skaters, gangsters, freaks,
geeks—and disparage those outside their own group. Even chimpanzees have been
seen to wipe clean the spot where they were touched by a chimpanzee from another
group (Goodall, 1986). They also display ingroup empathy, by yawning more after
seeing ingroup (rather than outgroup) members yawn (Campbell & de Waal, 2011).

1 a person from Australia

2 someone who belongs to or supports the Labour party
170 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

9 Ingroup bias explains the cognitive power of partisanship (Cooper, 2010; Douthat,
2010). In the United States in the late 1980s, most Democrats believed inflation had risen
under Republican president Ronald Reagan (it had dropped). In 2010, most Republicans
believed taxes had increased under Democrat president Barack Obama (for most, they
had decreased).

Cognitive roots of prejudice

10 Prejudice springs from a culture’s divisions, and also from the mind’s natural workings.
Stereotyped beliefs are a by-product of how we cognitively simplify the world. One
way we simplify our world is to categorize. A chemist categorizes molecules as organic
and inorganic. Therapists categorize psychological disorders. Human beings categorize
people by race, with mixed-raced people often assigned to
their minority identity. Despite his mixed-race background
and his rearing by a White mother and grandparents,
President Obama is perceived by White Americans as Black.
Researchers believe this happens because, after learning
the features of a familiar racial group, the observer’s
selective attention is drawn to the distinctive features
of the less-familiar minority. Jamin Halberstadt and his
colleagues (2011) illustrated this learned-association effect
by showing New Zealanders blended Chinese-Caucasian
faces. Compared with Chinese participants, the Caucasian
New Zealanders more readily classified ambiguous faces
as Chinese (see Figure 10.1).
11 In categorizing people into groups, however, we often
stereotype them. We recognize how greatly we differ
from other individuals in our groups. But we overestimate
the homogeneity of other groups. “They”—the members
of some other group—seem to look and act alike, while
“we” are more diverse (Bothwell et al., 1989). To those in one ethnic group, members
of another often seem more alike than they really are in attitudes, personality, and
appearance. Our greater recognition for own-race faces—called the other-race effect
(also called the cross-race effect or own-race bias)—emerges during infancy, between 3
and 9 months of age (Gross, 2009; Kelley et al., 2007).

FIGURE 10.1 Categorizing mixed-race people

When New Zealanders quickly classified 104 photos by race, those of European
descent more often than those of Chinese descent classified the ambiguous middle
two as Chinese (Halberstadt et al., 2011).
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 171

12 With effort and with experience, people get better at recognizing individual faces
from another group (Hugenberg et al., 2010). People of European descent, for example,
more accurately identify individual African faces if they have watched a great deal of
basketball on television, exposing them to many African-heritage faces (Li et al., 1996).
And the longer Chinese people have resided in a Western country, the less they exhibit
the other-race effect (Hancock & Rhodes, 2008).
Source: Excerpted from D.G. Myers, Psychology, 10th ed. (Worth, 2013), pp. 572–579.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Michael Statson, 65, is a Caucasian patient in a Canadian hospital. During the

morning rounds, a doctor with a slight Indian accent approaches his bed to examine
him. Michael feels uncomfortable and anxious. In his mind, Caucasian physicians
are better trained than those from South Asia and more knowledgeable. Michael
grudgingly lets the doctor examine him but later says to the administrator, “I’m
not racist, but I’m having trouble communicating with my doctor. I don’t think his
English is very good. I’d really prefer if you could assign me a Canadian doctor.”

a) Find three elements of prejudice in the scenario.

belief:
emotion:
action:
b) Is it reasonable to infer that when Michael asks for a “Canadian” doctor, he is
actually requesting a White doctor? Why or why not? In your opinion, does
Michael display overt or subtle prejudice?

2. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

 e author of “Prejudice” is certain that prejudice against women does not
Th
exist in contemporary American society.

3. What is the topic of paragraph 4?

a) blatant prejudice c) automatic prejudice
b) racial discrimination d) subtle prejudice

4. Reread paragraph 4. Based on that paragraph, which of the following statements is To review valid and
a valid inference? invalid inferences see
Unit 4, page 58.
a) People who state that they would feel upset if someone made racist remarks in
their company will always respond to a racist comment with criticism.
b) People who state that they would feel upset if someone made racist remarks in
their company may fail to respond when it actually happens.
c) People who state that they would feel upset if someone made racist remarks in
their company will act to establish justice if a racist comment is overtly hostile
but will not react if the comment is made in a joking manner.
172 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

5. Which of the following statements would the author agree with?

a) Many Americans’ prejudice against Muslims in the first decade of the twenty-
first century was justified by the 9/11 terrorist attack.
b) Many Americans felt prejudice toward Muslims following the 9/11 events.
c) It is legal to demean members of the Muslim minority in America today.
d) The negative perception of Westerners by Muslims in the Middle East and Britain
was a warranted response to American military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

6. What is the evolutionary reason that makes us divide people into “us” and “them”?
Explain in your own words.

7. a) Paragraph 6 states that “we define who we are partly in terms of our groups.”
For example, when Ian says he is an Aussie, he is identifying himself as part of
the Australian nation. What other categories does Ian use to identify himself?
Would you use similar categories to identify yourself?

b) Paragraph 6 ends with “he [Ian] knows who he is, and so do we.” Do you think
that Ian’s list of social identities illustrates exactly who Ian is as an individual?

8. While our sense of belonging to an ingroup provides a sense of communal

solidarity, there are some disadvantages as well. What are they?

9. Match the researchers with their findings.

a) Campbell and de Waal  imilarities in appearance and accent make people

S
like each other.
b) Wilder
 ven when groups are created artificially, people
E
favour the members of their own group.
c) Goodall
 himpanzees usually clean the spot where they
C
d) Gluszek and Dovidio have been touched by a chimp from another group.
 he frequency of yawns among chimpanzees is
T
affected by whether or not the individual whose
yawn triggers theirs belongs to their ingroup.

10. The word barbarians as used by ancient Greeks meant

a) people who they didn’t personally know.
b) foreigners; any non-Greeks.
c) those who didn’t speak Greek fluently.
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 173

11. The implied main idea of paragraph 9 is that To review implied

main ideas see Unit 3,
a) belonging to a party makes its members unfairly prejudiced against members of page 41.
an opposition party.
b) Democrats and Republicans often exchange allegations against each other.
c) Republican economic policies turned out to be more effective than those of the
Democrats.
d) prejudice makes citizens appreciate the effectiveness of economic policies their
government is implementing.

12. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false). Correct if the statement is false.
Categorizing is an inborn human tendency.

13. What is true of Halberstadt’s experiment with blended Chinese and Caucasian
faces?
a) People prefer strangers who look like them.
b) The visual characteristics of a less-familiar minority attract the attention of a
viewer.
c) Caucasian New Zealanders are prejudiced against Chinese.
d) Mixed-race people are hard to define by clear categories.

14. In your own words, explain each of the following terms used in the reading.
a) subtle prejudice (para. 4):
b) ingroup bias (para. 7):
c) stereotype (paras. 10–11):
d) the other-race effect (para. 11):

15. What is the purpose of including the cartoon of the man and the penguin in the
text?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. blatant (para. 4):
a) done in an obvious and open way without caring whether people are shocked
b) delicate, subtle, almost unnoticeable by people
c) modern, suitable for current times

2. aftermath (para. 5):

a) a period before an important event
b) the situation that exists as a result of a significant, usually negative, event
c) complex statistical calculations happening after an event
174 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. foe (para. 7):

a) stranger
b) enemy
c) one who looks like us

4. arbitrarily (para. 7):

a) using power without restriction and without considering other people
b) done in a well-planned way
c) seemingly not based on a reason, system, or plan

5. disparage (para. 8):

a) suggest that someone is not important or valuable
b) physically abuse someone
c) band together with someone

Reading 2 Marketing

The Self-Reference Criterion: A Major Obstacle

By P.R. Cateora
1 The key to successful international marketing is adaptation to the environmental Vocabulary
differences from one market to another. Adaptation is a conscious effort on the part Pay attention
of the international marketer to anticipate the influences of both the foreign and to these words
domestic uncontrollable factors on a marketing mix and then to adjust the marketing and write
them in your
mix to minimize the effects. vocabulary
2 The primary obstacles to success in international marketing are a person’s self- notebook:
reference criterion (SRC) and an associated ethnocentrism. The SRC is an unconscious anticipate
reference to one’s own cultural values, experiences, and knowledge as a basis for impede
decisions. Closely connected is ethnocentrism, that is, the notion that people in one’s stemming
own company, culture, or country know best how to do things. Ethnocentrism was from
particularly a problem for American managers at the beginning of the 21st century precipitous

because of America’s dominance in the world economy during the late 1990s. acumen

Ethnocentrism is generally a problem when managers from affluent countries work

with managers and markets in less affluent countries. Both the SRC and ethnocentrism
impede the ability to assess a foreign market in its true light.
3 When confronted with a set of facts, we react spontaneously on the basis of
knowledge assimilated over a lifetime—knowledge that is a product of the history of our
culture. We seldom stop to think about a reaction; we simply react. Thus, when faced
with a problem in another culture, our tendency is to react instinctively and refer to our
SRC for a solution. Our reaction, however, is based on meanings, values, symbols, and
behaviour relevant to our own culture and usually different from those of the foreign
culture. Such decisions are often not good ones.
4 Ethnocentrism and the SRC can influence an evaluation of the appropriateness
of a domestically designed marketing mix for a foreign market. If U.S. marketers are
not aware, they might evaluate a marketing mix based on U.S. experiences (i.e., their
SRC) without fully appreciating the cultural differences that require adaptation. Esso,
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 175

the brand name of a gasoline, was a successful name in the United

States and would seem harmless enough for foreign countries;
however, in Japan, the name phonetically means “stalled car,” an
undesirable image for gasoline. Another example is the “Pet” in Pet
Milk. The name has been used for decades, yet in France, the word
pet means, among other things, “flatulence”—again, not the desired
image for canned milk. Both of these examples were real mistakes
made by major companies stemming from their reliance on their
SRC in making a decision.
5 When marketers take the time to look beyond their own self-
reference criteria, the results are more positive. A British manufacturer
of chocolate biscuits (cookies, in American English), ignoring its SRC,
knew that it must package its biscuits differently to accommodate
the Japanese market. Thus, in Japan, McVitie’s chocolate biscuits are
wrapped individually, packed in presentation cardboard boxes, and
priced about three times higher than in the United Kingdom—the cookies are used as
gifts in Japan and thus must look and be perceived as special. Unilever, appreciating the
uniqueness of its markets, repackaged and reformulated its detergent for Brazil. One
reason was that the lack of washing machines among poorer Brazilians made a simpler
soap formula necessary. Also, because many people wash their clothes in rivers, the
powder was packaged in plastic rather than paper so it would not get soggy. Finally,
because the Brazilian poor are price conscious and buy in small quantities, the soap
was packaged in small, low-priced packages. Even McDonald’s modifies its traditional
Big Mac in India, where it is known as the Maharaja Mac—most Indians consider cows
sacred and don’t eat beef. In each of these examples, had the marketers’ own self-
reference criteria been the basis for decisions, none of the necessary changes would
have been readily apparent based on their home-market experience.
6 Be aware, also, that not every activity within a marketing program is different from
one country to another; indeed, there probably are more similarities than differences.
For example, the McVitie’s chocolate biscuits mentioned earlier are sold in the United
States in the same package as in the United Kingdom. Such similarities, however, may
lull the marketer into a false sense of apparent sameness. This apparent sameness,
coupled with the self-reference criterion, is often the cause of international marketing
problems. Undetected similarities do not cause problems; however, the one difference
that goes undetected can create a marketing failure.
7 To avoid making errors in business decisions, the knowledgeable marketer will conduct
a cross-cultural analysis that isolates the SRC influences and maintain vigilance regarding
ethnocentrism. The following steps are suggested as a framework for such an analysis:
1. Define the business problem or goal in home-country cultural traits, habits, or
norms.
2. Define the business problem or goal in foreign-country cultural traits, habits, or
norms through consultation with natives of the target country. Make no value
judgments.
3. Isolate the SRC influence in the problem and examine it carefully to see how it
complicates the problem.
4. Redefine the problem without the SRC influence and solve for the optimum
business goal situation.
176 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

8 An American sales manager newly posted to Japan decided that his Japanese sales
representatives did not need to come into the office every day for an early morning
meeting before beginning calls to clients in Tokyo. After all, that was how things were
done in the United States. However, the new policy, based on both the American
SRC and a modicum of ethnocentrism, produced a precipitous decline in sales
performance. In his subsequent discussions with his Japanese staff, he determined that
Japanese sales representatives are motivated mostly by peer pressure. Fortunately, he
was able to recognize that his SRC and his American “business acumen” did not apply
in this case in Tokyo. A return to the proven system of daily meetings brought sales
performance back to previous levels.
9 The cross-cultural analysis approach requires an understanding of the culture of
the foreign market as well as one’s own culture. Surprisingly, understanding one’s own
culture may require additional study, because much of the cultural influence on market
behaviour remains at a subconscious level and is not clearly defined.
Source: P.R. Cateora, International Marketing, 15th ed. (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2011), pp. 16–18.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Complete the sentences.
a) If a manager from South Korea applies the Korean cultural standards when
marketing Korean cars in India, he uses his
.
a) If the manager is convinced that Korean cultural standards are better than
Indian ones, he exhibits
.

2. Put the stages in the cause-effect chain in the correct order.

a) An incorrect decision is made.

b) Juan accumulates the knowledge, values, and symbols of his own culture over
a lifetime.
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 177

c) Juan responds without considering the cultural differences between markets

and using his SRC.
d) Juan faces making a decision associated with marketing a product in a foreign
country.

3. Mistakes in marketing such products as Esso gasoline and Pet Milk in foreign
countries derived from the fact that some English words
a) cannot be translated successfully into foreign languages.
b) resemble foreign words that have unusual meanings.
c) sound inappropriate for the products they name.
d) reflect American cultural traditions.
4. Match each cause with its effect.

Causes Effects
a) Biscuits are often used as presents in Japan. The powder is packed in plastic.

b) Biscuits are wrapped in individual packages and Biscuits are sold at an affordable price.
presented in beautiful boxes. The detergent comes in small packages.

c) Chocolate biscuits are a staple food item in Britain.  hey are wrapped in beautiful individual
T
packages and put in expensive-looking
d) The Brazilian poor wash their clothes in rivers. boxes.
 hey are sold at a price three times higher
T
e) The Brazilian poor cannot afford to buy expensive than in Britain.
detergents.
The formula for the soap is simpler.
f) The Brazilian poor do not own washing machines.

5. Which structure does paragraph 5 follow?

a) main idea followed by supporting details
b) introduction followed by main idea and supporting details
c) main idea followed by supporting details, then main idea paraphrased

6. Reread paragraph 7, paying close attention to the steps to prevent ethnocentrism

in marketing. Then read the following scenario and identify how the manager
approaches each of the steps. You may choose to use different colours to highlight
the steps in the scenario. Discuss in small groups.

The manager of an Ethiopian coffee manufacturing company plans to market

Ethiopian coffee in France. She knows that in her native country, where the
beverage originated, coffee is drunk with a pinch of salt. The manager hires a
research firm in France to find out about the coffee consumer habits of the French.
She learns that many French people like their coffee with milk (café au lait) and
sugar. The manager realizes that to market Ethiopian coffee with a picture of a
steaming cup of black coffee and a recipe that includes the suggestion to add salt
will not work in France. The manager decides to use an attractive picture featuring
a cup of Ethiopian coffee café au lait style for her advertising campaign.

7. What is the implied main idea of paragraph 8?

178 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

8. According to paragraph 8, Japanese sales representatives are motivated primarily

by peer pressure, a force that is not a primary motivator for American salespeople.
What do you think might be the primary motivating factor for those who work in
sales in North America?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word or phrase. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. anticipate (para. 1):

2. impede (para. 2):

3. stemming from (para. 4):

4. precipitous (para. 8):

5. acumen (para. 8):

Reading 3 Psychology, Policing

Not Only Whites: Racial Priming Effect for

Black Faces in Black People

By Luca Guido Valla et al.

Abstract
Black people are widely negatively stereotyped. The presence of unconscious Vocabulary
stereotypes can be effectively assessed with the administration of “racial priming tasks.” Pay attention
An ethnically diverse group was subjected to a priming paradigm to test whether to these words
racial cues could bias the identification of target objects. Participants were asked to and write
them in your
categorize objects (either as dangerous or non-dangerous) after the presentation of vocabulary
Black/White faces as primes. Results show that both Black and White participants were notebook:
faster in categorizing dangerous objects when primed with Black faces compared to paradigm
the control condition (i.e., scrambled faces). One possible explanation for this effect is aspect
that Black faces are generally associated with a feeling of danger, which ultimately leads biased
to faster responses. stimuli
implicit
triggers
Priming effect In cognitive psychology, priming occurs when being exposed to
one stimulus unconsciously influences an individual’s response to a subsequent
stimulus. For example, the word nurse is recognized more quickly following the
word doctor than following the word potato. When information is primed in
memory, the brain can more quickly retrieve it.
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 179

Introduction
1 Stereotypes refer to a general inclination to place an
individual in categories according to some easily and quickly
identifiable characteristics (e.g., age, sex, ethnic membership,
nationality, occupation) and then to attribute to the individual
qualities that are believed to be typical of the members of that
category (Allport, 1958; Tajfel, 1969). Over the last few decades,
various studies showed that stereotypes and social judgments
are assimilated to various social labels, such as socioeconomic
status (Darley & Gross, 1983), psychopathology (Rosenhan, 1973),
personality traits (Higgins, Rholes, & Jones, 1977), and racial group membership (Sagar &
Schofield, 1980). For instance, one of the stereotypes that mostly affects Black people is
related to violence: they are believed to commit a greater number of crimes and violent
acts than White people (Smith & Alpert, 2007). For this reason, the concept of violence
is more accessible when viewing a Black person than when viewing a White person
acting in the same way (Bruner, 1957). In a seminal work, Sagar and Schofield (1980)
demonstrated that, when presented with drawings of people performing ambiguous
actions and asked to indicate the most violent, participants judged the same action as
more aggressive when performed by a Black person compared to when it was performed
by a White person. This suggests that just physical aspect has the capacity to activate a
specific stereotype (i.e., the person is Black and Black people are aggressive).
2 An effective way through which we can test the presence of unconscious racial
behaviours/evaluations is through the administration of “racial priming tasks,” which
assesses whether the short presentation of a human face (e.g., White/Black) biases
decisions (e.g., whether an object is dangerous). Mendelberg (2001) provided an
exhaustive description of racial priming: White people are ambivalent toward racial
issues and, primarily, their considerations on this topic are implicit and ambiguous.
Racial priming is thus a good way to investigate them. Previous evidence indicated that
primes depicting Black people lead participants to negatively categorize targets in a
forced choice task (Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995).
3 In the current study, we adopted a racial priming task to test whether the
categorization of objects is faster after the presentation of Black faces (as compared
to White and scrambled faces). There is, in fact, evidence that White people quickly
associate Black faces with negative characteristics (Eberhardt et al., 2004; Hugenberg
& Bodenhausen, 2003). It still remains unclear whether these effects, demonstrated
in White participants, hold for other races. This is why we investigated, with a priming
paradigm, whether the rapid presentation of Black/White faces biased the correct
categorization of dangerous and non-dangerous stimuli in White and Black participants.
We hypothesized that participants categorize the objects more quickly [have faster
reaction times] once they have been primed using Black faces as compared to White
faces. We also expected this effect to be stronger in White than Black participants.

Methods
4 Participants: Sixty-one individuals (age range 20–34 years) participated in this study.
Thirty-one were White (16 female, 15 male) and 30 were Black (15 female, 15 male)
individuals. Each of them took part voluntarily with no incentive to participate offered. All
participants provided a written information consent form before taking part in the study.
180 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

5 Stimuli and task: Ten images were used as primes—four photographs of White faces
(two male, two female), four Black faces (two male, two female), and two “scrambled”
images. Each face had a neutral expression, and the pictures were cropped at the neck
and had no background. The photographs were chosen so that faces had no distinctive
features such as tattoos or piercings. Target stimuli included 10 photographs of
dangerous objects (two bombs, two barbed wire fences, two guns, two knives, and two
tanks) and 10 photographs of non-dangerous objects (two apples, two cushions, two
rubber ducks, two teddies, and two flowers.
6 The experiment used a mixed factorial design with three independent variables:
one between-subjects factor with two levels (i.e., participant race: Black vs. White) and
two within-subjects factors, one with three levels (i.e., prime race: Black vs. White vs.
neutral) and another with two levels (i.e., type of target object: dangerous vs. non-
dangerous). Two dependent variables were examined: reaction times in identifying
objects as dangerous or non-dangerous and response accuracy. A picture of a cross (X)
was followed by the prime face (250 ms) and then by the target object, which remained
in the centre of the screen until participants rated the object as dangerous or non-
dangerous (Fig. 10.2).

Results
7 The main effect of participants’ race showed that White participants were more
accurate than Black participants in categorizing target objects. Results also showed
a Prime × Race interaction, in which Black participants were less accurate after the

(A) Black face White face Scrambled face

Primes

(B) Dangerous object Non-dangerous object

Target objects

FIGURE 10.2 Trials structure. (A) Structure of the priming task, showing the
three conditions: Black face, White face, and scrambled face (control condition).
(B) Examples of target objects, which had to be categorized as “dangerous” or
“non-dangerous.”
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 181

presentation of Black faces as primes than White participants. The same pattern (Black
participants less accurate after the presentation of Black faces) occurred in comparison
to the performance of White participants after the presentation of scrambled faces.
8 Results indicate that trials with the combination of Black faces and dangerous targets
lead to lower reaction times (i.e., people choose dangerous targets faster) than the
combination of scrambled faces and dangerous targets. This interaction effect resulted
from a statistical analysis comprising the results of both Black and White participants;
this implies that it is a widespread effect and not race specific. Our hypothesis that this
effect is stronger in White than Black participants was not confirmed.

Discussion
9 By testing implicit stereotypes, priming tasks can be adopted to investigate racial
biases. We demonstrated that both Black and White participants are faster in categorizing
an object as dangerous after being primed by a Black face. Our results are consistent
with previous evidence highlighting the presence of stereotypes associated with Black
Americans (Eberhardt et al., 2004; Payne, 2001; Todd et al., 2016). The current study, by
expanding this line of research, demonstrated that Black people also show racial biases
toward other Black people.
10 Our findings have strong implications in terms of personal and social security. The
following are some recent episodes, just to cite a few, where racial priming could have
played a key role. Samuel DuBose, an unarmed Black man, was on the receiving end
of a fatal gunshot in Cincinnati, Ohio. As proved by a dramatic body camera footage,
DuBose, after being asked to show his driver’s license by a police officer, seems to reach
for the ignition of his car. During the following frantic moments, the fatal gunshot can
be heard. Philando Castile, a Black man, did not survive a shooting by a police officer
in St. Anthony, Minnesota, after having informed him that he had a licensed gun in his
car, not even trying to reach it. In North Charleston, South Carolina, a police officer
shot and killed Walter Scott, who was trying to flee after being pulled over. In another
incident, police officers apparently misinterpreted the mobile phone of Stephon Clark, a
22-year-old Black man from Sacramento, California, who was mortally wounded when
shots were fired at him.
11 Did the bias “Black person–dangerous object” truly play a role? Were those officers
prepared for these unconscious triggers? Most important, why is this bias “activated”?
The current study sheds light on a different way to think about what happened: the
unconscious, maybe intangible racial biases—which this study demonstrated to exist—
most likely influenced the actions of the police officers. Far from denying the legitimacy
and importance of the concerns and protests raised after these highly publicized events,
the bias indicated in this study offers an alternative interpretation: if the officers behaved
akin to the average participant in our experiments, he or she would not have been
immune from the experience of an unconscious, uncontrollable bias. The association
“Black person–dangerous object” (e.g., a gun) could have, at some level, influenced
their actions.
12 The aforementioned considerations have also been proposed in the past (Payne,
2001). They hold not only for people with different ethnic backgrounds (which logically
shifted the locus of the debate on racial discrimination) but also for ingroup members.
Crucially, this confirms the automatic—not voluntary—nature of the process under
investigation. On a more speculative level, the responses given by Black people could
182 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

be read as a form of unconscious prejudiced behaviour toward other Black people,

at least when referring to an association with danger. Future research should further
analyze the topic by confirming or disproving the unmodifiable and uncontrollable
origin of the results in this study. If confirmed, the results should stimulate the search
for strategies to mitigate automatic responses.
Source: Luca Guido Valla et al., “Not Only Whites: Racial Priming Effect for Black Faces in Black People,” Basic and Applied
Social Psychology, vol. 40, no. 4 (2018), pp. 195–200.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Highlight the definition of stereotyping in paragraph 1. Which two steps do people
take when they are stereotyping someone? Complete the passage.

First, they Then they

2. a) What is the stereotype about Black people, according to paragraph 1?

b) What is the proof that this stereotype exists?

3. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) Racial behaviours can be unconscious.
b)  riming racial tasks can reveal if a person with racial stereotypes acts
P
as a racist consciously and deliberately.
c)  e authors’ main goal was to prove that White people quickly associate
Th
Black faces with dangerous objects.
d)  e authors wanted to find out whether Black faces influence the
Th
categorization of objects as dangerous among Black participants, and
whether this categorization happened fast.

4. Match the examples in the box to the terms they represent. There could be more
than one example for a term.
a) participants in the study:
b) primes:
c) target stimuli:
d) independent variables:
e) dependent variables:

photo of rubber ducks   reaction time in identifying objects

Black face   Black and White volunteers   photo of two guns
accuracy in identifying objects
prime face: Black/White/neutral
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 183

5. Why do you think the prime faces had neutral expressions and had no piercings
or tattoos?

6. Were the target objects clearly different in terms of “their

dangerousness”?  Yes   No

7. a) In terms of accuracy, results show that Black participants

make more mistakes identifying objects correctly than
White participants. Does this mean that Black participants
might have unconscious racial stereotypes?  Yes   No
b) In terms of reaction times, results show that the combination
of Black faces and dangerous targets lead to faster reaction
times than the combination of scrambled faces and
dangerous targets, both for White and Black participants.
Does this mean that White participants have more
unconscious racial stereotypes than Black participants?  Yes   No

8. Highlight the main idea sentence in paragraph 9.

9. What do all police incidents described in paragraph 10 have in common? Choose

all correct answers.
a) They all resulted in death of a Black person.
b) They all involved a Black person having a weapon.
c) They all involved a White policeman.
d) In one of them, the police incorrectly identified a non-dangerous object as a
dangerous object.

10. Why do you think the authors ask questions at the beginning of paragraph 11?

11. Paraphrase the following suggestion made by the authors of the study at the end To review paraphrasing
of paragraph 11: “If the officers behaved akin to the average participant in our strategies, see Unit 2,
page 33.
experiments, he or she would not have been immune from the experience of
unconscious, uncontrollable bias. The association ‘Black person–dangerous object’
(e.g., a gun) could have, at some level, influenced their actions.”
184 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

12. Mark each statement as F (fact) or O (opinion).

Unconscious, maybe intangible racial biases exist.
 e unconscious racial biases influenced the actions of the police officers
Th
killing the Black victims.

13. Usually, authors of scientific studies propose some action to solve the issues
investigated in their studies. What is the proposition of Valla et al. regarding
involuntary prejudiced behaviour toward Black people?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. paradigm (abstract):

2. aspect (para. 1):

a) drawing
b) force
c) trait

3. biased (para. 3):

4. stimuli (para. 5):

a) something that helps something else to develop more quickly
b) something that causes a reaction

5. implicit (para. 9):

a) hidden
b) direct
c) unfair

6. triggers (para. 11):

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Match each selection with its purpose.

a) “Prejudice”  o suggest that implicit racial

T
biases exist
b) “The Self-Reference Criterion”
 o inform the reader of the
T
influences of ethnocentrism on
c) “Not Only Whites”
economic strategies
 o inform the reader of the ways
T
in which prejudice works
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 185

2. This unit presents the concept of ethnocentrism from the perspectives of psychology,
policing, and marketing. Find an example of ethnocentric thinking or behaviour in
each of the texts you read.

“Prejudice” “The Self-Reference “Not Only Whites”

Criterion”
Ethnocentric
behaviour or
thinking

3. In the first selection of this unit, the author distinguishes between subtle and overt
prejudice. Look back at all three readings. Find one example of overt prejudice
and one example of subtle prejudice. Discuss your answers in small groups. Do all
members of your group agree on which examples are overt and which are subtle?

subtle prejudice:

overt prejudice:

4. The author of the first selection explains that dividing people into ingroups and
outgroups has evolutionary roots: “whether hunting, defending, or attacking,”
people seek the support of the group and rely on solidarity in numbers. Is this
idea supported by the experiments with Black participants after being primed with
Black faces described in the third reading? Discuss in small groups.

5. According to the first reading, stereotypical thinking is a natural way in which our
minds tend to work because we are hardwired to categorize things or people into
groups. Which of the following is an example of such categorical thinking?
a) Appreciating the cultural differences between India and America and creating a
unique burger for the Indian market
b) Realizing that the brand name Esso has negative connotations in some non-
English-speaking nations
c) Thinking that all Black people are more aggressive than White people
d) Trying to teach people about explicit and implicit stereotypes they hold

6. a) According to paragraph 11 in the first reading, how does the tendency to

stereotype influence our perception of people in other groups?
186 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

b) Now, read the following excerpt from the third reading describing research
results from the 1980s: “… when presented with drawings of people performing
ambiguous actions and asked to indicate the most violent, participants judged
the same action as more aggressive when performed by a Black person compared
to when it was performed by a White person.” How do the participants perceive
Black people in this experiment?

7. While two readings in this unit are written for students, one reading addresses a
more highly educated audience of experts. Which reading is this? What factors
helped you decide?

8. What kind of support do the authors of “The Self-Reference Criterion” present for
their argument? Is the support relevant? Is it sufficient? Explain.

Support:

Relevant?

Sufficient?

9. Which texts in this unit use research results to support an opinion? Fill in the table
below with examples of this technique.

Text Opinion Research results to support the

opinion
 UNIT Ethnocentrism 187

10. Do you think the authors of any of the three selections in this unit present a biased
opinion? Explain your answer.

11. Revisit the definition you wrote for ethnocentrism on page 168. How does it
compare to the definition provided in Reading 2? Discuss in a small group.

Your definition:

From “The Self-Reference Criterion”: Ethnocentrism is “the notion that people in

one’s own company, culture, or country know best how to do things.”
 11 Cancer

Getting into the Topic

This unit presents three perspectives on the topic of cancer, one of the leading causes
of death in the developed world. The first selection explains the biology of cancer—the
processes in the body that cause it, the treatment of it, and the ways to reduce one’s
chances of developing it. The second selection describes cancer prevention methods
related to choosing a healthy diet. The final text in this unit documents a survivor’s
perspective on life after cancer, touching on some of the psychological, social, and
economic aspects of cancer survival.
Discuss these questions to help you get into the topic.
1. What happens in the body of a person who has cancer?
2. What treatments for cancer do you know? Can cancer be cured?
3. Do you know of any bad eating habits that could increase the risk of getting cancer?
What about healthy foods that could help prevent getting the disease?
4. Do you know anyone who has survived cancer? How does he or she cope with
memories of the disease?
5. How might a cancer survivor’s perspective on life be different from that of a person
who has never had a potentially fatal disease?
 UNIT Cancer 189

Reading 1 Biology

Cancer Cells: Growing Out of Control

By N. Campbell, J. Reece, and E. Simon

What is cancer?
1 Cancer, which currently claims the lives of one out of every five people in the United Vocabulary
States and other industrialized nations, is a disease of the cell cycle. Cancer cells do not Pay attention to these
respond normally to the cell cycle control system;1 they divide excessively and can words and write them
invade other tissues of the body. If unchecked, cancer cells may continue to divide until in your vocabulary
notebook:
they kill the host.
disrupt
2 The abnormal behaviour of cancer cells begins when a single cell undergoes
displacing
transformation, a process that converts a normal cell to a cancer cell. Because a
secrete
transformed cell grows abnormally, the body’s immune system generally recognizes
originate
and destroys it. However, if the cell evades destruction, it may proliferate to form a obtained
tumour, an abnormally growing mass of body cells. If the abnormal cells remain at the adequately
original site, the lump is called a benign tumour. Benign tumours can cause problems
if they grow large and disrupt certain organs, such as the brain, but often they can be
completely removed by surgery.
3 In contrast, a malignant tumour is one that has begun to spread into neighbouring
tissues and other parts of the body (Figure 11.1), displacing normal tissue and
interrupting organ function. An individual with a malignant tumour is said to have cancer.
Cancer cells may separate from the original tumour or secrete signal molecules that
cause blood vessels to grow toward the tumour. A few tumour cells may then enter
the blood or lymph2 vessels and move to other parts of the body, where they may
proliferate and form new tumours. The spread of cancer cells beyond their original
site is called metastasis. Cancers are named according to where they originate. Liver
cancer, for example, always begins in liver tissue and may spread from there.

Lymph
Tumour vessel

Blood
vessel

Cancer
Glandular cell
tissue
Metastatic
tumour

One cancer cell Cancerous cells Cancerous cells move The movement of
causes a tumour spread into into other tissue in the cancerous cells may
to grow. nearby tissue. body through a network cause a new tumour
of lymph vessels and to develop somewhere
blood vessels. else in the body.

FIGURE 11 .1 Growth and metastasis of a malignant tumour of the breast

1 The cell cycle control system is operated by special proteins inside the cell that send “stop” and “go-ahead” signals to control its division
process.
2 a clear liquid containing white blood cells that helps to clean the tissues of the body and helps to prevent infections from spreading
190 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Cancer treatment
4 Once a tumour starts growing in the body, how can it be treated? The three main
types of cancer treatment are sometimes referred to as “slash, burn, and poison.”
Surgery to remove a tumour (“slash”) is usually the first step. “Burn” and “poison” refer to
treatments that attempt to stop cancer cells from dividing. In radiation therapy (“burn”),
parts of the body that have cancerous tumours are exposed to concentrated beams of
high-energy radiation, which can often harm cancer cells more than the normal cells
of the body. However, there is sometimes enough damage to normal body cells to
produce side effects such as nausea and hair loss.
5 Chemotherapy (“poison”), the use of drugs to disrupt cell division, is used to treat
widespread or metastatic tumours. Chemotherapy drugs work in a variety of ways. Some
prevent cell division by interfering with the mitotic spindle.3 For example, paclitaxel (trade
name Taxol) freezes the spindle after it forms, keeping it from functioning. Paclitaxel is
made from a chemical discovered in the bark of the Pacific yew, a tree found mainly
in the northwestern United States. It has fewer side effects than many other anticancer
drugs and seems to be effective against some hard-to-treat cancers of the ovary and
breast. Another drug, vinblastine, prevents the mitotic spindle from forming in the first
place. Vinblastine was first obtained from the periwinkle plant, which is native to the
tropical rain forests of Madagascar.

Cancer prevention and survival

6 Although cancer can strike anyone, there are certain lifestyle changes you can make
to reduce your chances of developing cancer or increase your chances of surviving it.
Not smoking, exercising adequately, avoiding overexposure to the sun, and eating a
high-fibre, low-fat diet can all help to prevent cancer. Regular visits to the doctor can
help identify tumours early, which is the best way to increase the chance of successful
treatment.
Source: N. Campbell, J. Reece, and E. Simon, Essential Biology, 5th ed. (Pearson, 2013), pp. 128–129.

3 a cell structure that guides the division of chromosomes (DNA-containing materials) in the cell

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. The danger of cancerous cells is that they
a) contain special proteins that cause harm to the body.
b) divide uncontrollably.
c) are widespread among people in the West.
d) are hard to detect.

2. The topic of paragraph 2 is

a) benign tumours.
b) surgeries as the best solution to tumours.
c) malfunctioning of the immune system in cancer.
d) how a tumour is formed.
 UNIT Cancer 191

3. What body part or system usually plays a crucial role in destroying an abnormal
cell?
a) the cell cycle control system
b) the immune system
c) surgery
d) certain organs

4. Highlight the sentences in the text that define the two key terms malignant tumour
and benign tumour. Then, in your own words, summarize the difference between
benign and malignant tumours.

5. What plays a crucial role in allowing metastasis? Circle all that apply.
a) lymph and blood vessels
b) the neighbouring tissues to those originally affected
c) signal molecules from the original cancerous cells
d) organs with disrupted function

6. How is the goal of the “slash” method of treating cancer different from those of
“burn” and “poison”?

7. What is the main idea of paragraph 5?

8. What are some of the advantages of the drug paclitaxel?

and

9. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  e drugs given as examples for chemotherapy in this text work on a
Th
cellular level.
b) A benign tumour is considered cancerous.

10. Which lifestyle change is not suggested in the reading as a way to prevent or reduce
the chances of developing cancer?
a) Wearing a T-shirt, loose pants, and a hat when spending a few hours on the
beach
b) Drinking alcohol in moderate amounts
c) Biking and working out at the gym regularly
d) Eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread
192 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Vocabulary
1. Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct
meaning of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
a) disrupt (para. 2):
b) displacing (para. 3):
c) secrete (para. 3):
i) destroy ii) keep undisclosed iii) produce
d) originate (para. 3):
e) obtained (para. 5):
f) adequately (para. 6):

2. Based on the use of the word metastasis in the text, what do you think the word
part meta means? Check your answer using a dictionary.
a) cancer
b) beyond
c) original
d) blood

Reading 2 Health Sciences

Diet and Cancer Prevention

While there are no miracle foods, an overall healthy
diet is an important cancer-prevention goal
1 According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), 20 percent of all cancers Vocabulary
diagnosed in the U.S. are related to poor dietary choices and lack of exercise. So Pay attention
what should we eat, and what should we avoid? News outlets and the internet are full to these words
of (sometimes conflicting) reports claiming links between specific foods or nutrients and write
them in your
and cancer. Many of these claims are based on a limited number of studies. But when
vocabulary
researchers analyze all of the research on cancer and nutrition together, it becomes clear notebook:
that increasing intake of individual foods or popping dietary supplements doesn’t work. diagnosed
Overall dietary pattern, however, can make an important and significant difference. nutrients
2 Diet and Cancer: “There is a clear link between diet and cancer,” says Jerold Mande, utilizing
MPH.1 “In fact, trend lines indicate that dietary issues could surpass cigarette smoking as consumption
the greatest cancer-causing threat.” The Continuous Update Project (CUP), an ongoing pesticides
review of research on nutrition and cancer conducted by the WCRF and the American modification
Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), is helping to clarify the diet-cancer interaction. To fibre

date, the CUP has found evidence that diet, weight, and physical activity level can impact
risk of 17 cancers, including colorectal, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophageal,
stomach, bladder, kidney, liver, gallbladder, ovarian, prostate, endometrial, pancreatic,
and lung cancers. Being overweight or obese is clearly linked with an increased risk
of 13 of these cancers. “We know for sure that obesity is linked to many cancers, and
seven in 10 Americans are now overweight or obese,” says Dominique Michaud, ScD,

1 Master of Public Health

 UNIT Cancer 193

a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine who has conducted

extensive research on the intersection of cancer and nutrition. “After not
smoking, being a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do to
prevent cancer.”
3 Dietary Factors and Increased Cancer Risk: While utilizing diet to
maintain or reach for a healthy weight is a key cancer-prevention goal,
there are a few specific dietary factors that continue to be associated
with increased risk of cancer (although the mechanisms behind these
associations are not fully understood). “High consumption of processed
meats and low whole grain intake are two major dietary factors that
increase the cancer burden in the U.S.,” says Fang Fang Zhang, MD, PhD,
an associate professor at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and
a cancer epidemiologist. “Other dietary factors, such as high consumption of sugar-
sweetened beverages and junk food, can increase the risk of cancer by increasing
obesity risk.”
4 The following are some categories of foods associated with increased cancer risk.
Processed meats (such as ham, deli meats, bacon, salami, hot dogs, and sausages)
often have added nitrates, which are associated with increased colorectal and stomach
cancer risk. Meats labelled “no nitrates added” are often made with “natural” sources
of nitrate, such as celery juice, and so are not nitrate free. Eating smoked or salt-cured
meats also increases exposure to potential cancer-causing agents. Intake of processed
meats should be eliminated or reduced.
5 Alcoholic beverages are associated with increased risk of mouth, pharynx, larynx,
esophageal, breast, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancers. “Cutting out or reducing
alcohol intake could lower the number of cancer cases, especially for breast cancer,”
says Michaud.
6 Red meat (meat from any mammal, including beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse,
and goat) has been associated with increased risk of colon cancer. Cooking meat at
very high temperatures (such as frying, broiling, or grilling) can lead to the formation of
chemicals that might increase cancer risk. Try braising, steaming, poaching, stewing,
and microwaving meats instead.
7 Use of pesticides, herbicides, genetic modification, and irradiation on foods have
not been proven to either increase or decrease cancer risk. Overwhelming scientific
evidence supports the overall health benefits and cancer-protective effects of eating
vegetables and fruits, so the benefits of eating these foods far outweigh any potential
risk. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating (even organics), to lower
exposure to chemicals and to limit the risk of health effects from germs. No data to date
support concerns about cancer and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
8 Decreasing Cancer Risk: There are no magic foods that, when added to one’s diet,
will prevent cancer, but there is good evidence that an overall healthy dietary pattern
rich in plant foods can help to lower risk. Plant foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains,
legumes, nuts, and seeds) are rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals,
all of which have roles to play in health. Some of these plant compounds act as
antioxidants, which reduce potentially-carcinogenic damage to cells caused by normal
chemical reactions in the body.
9 Whole grains. “More research is showing an association between diets high in whole
grains (and low in refined grains) and lower risk of colorectal cancer,” says Michaud.
“This is likely due in part to the fact that high-sugar refined-grain foods are linked to
194 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

weight gain, and in part to the known anti-colon-

cancer benefits of the fibre in whole grains.” Take Charge!
10 Fruits and vegetables. According to the Based on analysis of cancer prevention research
American Cancer Society (ACS), scientific from all over the world, the AICR/WCRF Third Expert
evidence suggests that eating vegetables and Report recommends taking the following steps to
fruits is associated with lower risk of several types reduce cancer risk:
of cancer, including cancers of the lung, mouth, • Be a healthy weight.
throat, voice box, esophagus, stomach, colon, and • Be physically active as part of everyday life.
rectum. There is no proof at this time that a strict • Make whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans
vegetarian or vegan diet is any better at reducing a major part of your usual daily diet.
cancer risk than simply reducing intake of red and • Limit consumption of “fast foods” and other
processed foods high in fat, starches, or sugars.
processed meats. Additionally, not all plant-based
• Limit consumption of red meat (such as beef,
diets are equal. “Studies suggest that the quality of
pork, and lamb). The ACS recommends limiting
the plant foods we consume matters more than
red meats to three portions per week (12 to
simply eliminating animal foods from the diet,” 18 ounces total).
says Zhang. “High intake of fruits, vegetables, and • Eat little, if any, processed meat (like hot dogs,
whole grains is associated with health benefits, deli meats, and bacon).
whereas high intake of unhealthy ‘plant-based • Drink mostly water and limit consumption of
foods’ that are low in fibre or high in added sugars sugar-sweetened drinks.
is not.” A plant-based dietary pattern appears to • Limit alcohol consumption. The American Cancer
be beneficial for preventing not only cancer but Society recommends no more than two drinks a
also diabetes and heart disease. day for men, and no more than one for women.
11 Skip the Supplements: Eating nutrient-rich A drink is defined as a 12-ounce beer, five ounces
foods (like vegetables, fruits, and other plant- of wine, or one-and-a-half ounces of 80-proof
hard liquor.
based foods) may reduce cancer risk, but taking
• Do not use dietary supplements for cancer
dietary supplements does not seem to have the
prevention.
same effect. Antioxidants, for example, may have
• Breastfeed babies, if possible.
anti-cancer activity, but consuming antioxidants in • Avoid tobacco products and limit sun exposure.
the form of dietary supplements is not associated
with reduced cancer risk. In some cases, there is
evidence of possible harm from getting nutrients from supplements as opposed to
from foods. High doses of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene, vitamin E, and folate
have each been linked with an increased risk of certain cancers. “It is overall dietary
intake, not trace elements, that impacts health, including cancer,” says Mande. “Don’t
rely on supplements for cancer prevention. Instead, choose a plant-forward dietary
pattern to reduce your cancer risk.” Mande recommends starting by filling half the plate
with fruits and vegetables at every meal. “Even though there are no miracle cancer-
preventing foods, there is definitely a role for diet in the prevention of cancer,” says
Michaud. “People who follow a healthier dietary pattern and are leaner are less likely to
get cancer. Limiting red and processed meats and alcohol consumption, making sure
you’re not overeating, and consuming a dietary pattern rich in fruits, vegetables, and
whole grains and low in less-nutritious refined grain, sugar-rich processed foods is the
best choice for cancer prevention, and overall health.” Best of all, a dietary pattern that
is associated with reduced cancer risk is also associated with reduced heart disease and
diabetes risk.
Source: “Diet and Cancer Prevention,” Health & Nutrition Letter, Tufts University, 12 October 2018, https://www.
nutritionletter.tufts.edu/special-reports/diet-and-cancer-prevention.
 UNIT Cancer 195

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Summarize the controversy regarding the connection between specific foods and
cancer, based on paragraph 1.

2. The author uses research results to persuade the reader that there is a connection
between diet and cancer. Underline any two such research results in the text.

3. Smoking is a well-known cancer risk. How does the text compare smoking to bad
diet as cancer risks?

Comparison 1:

Comparison 2:

4. Identify evidence from the text that being overweight or obese is a cancer factor.

5. Complete the chart based on the text. You can bring your own examples.

Foods that increase cancer risk Foods that decrease cancer risk
Category Examples Category Examples
196 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. Why do sweet beverages and junk food increase cancer risk?

7. If you were to cook beef, what ways of cooking should you avoid?

What ways of cooking should you adopt?

8. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) Genetically modified foods cause cancer.
b)  strict vegetarian diet prevents cancer much better than a diet with a
A
limited amount of meat.
c)  lant-based foods may vary in their quality: some may be healthier than
P
others.

9. What is the experts’ opinion about dietary supplements? Do not copy; paraphrase. To review
paraphrasing
strategies, see
Unit 2 page 33.

10. Does the author convince you that a healthy diet may decrease the risk of cancer?
Explain.

11. What healthy habits out of those in the textbox on page 193 do you practise? What
habits are harder to practise than others? Share your answers with a partner.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. diagnosed (para. 1):

2. nutrients (para. 1):

a) healthy food
b) a component needed for growth and health
c) vitamin

3. utilizing (para. 3):

4. consumption (para. 3):

 UNIT Cancer 197

5. pesticides (para. 7):

a) a chemical killing insects
b) a chemical killing weeds
c) a chemical accelerating growth

6. modification (para. 7):

7. fibre (para. 8):

Reading 3 Health Studies

What Happens When You Live?

By J. Hooper
1 I am lying on a polished steel table, naked but for a thin
cotton gown. Stripped of my clothes, my jewellery, my wallet, my
photographs of loved ones, I watch masked people in blue gowns
circle around, uncoiling tubing, pouring amber-coloured liquids into
an IV, taking steel instruments out of drawers and cabinets, stuffing
my hair into a paper cap. My former life already seems like a distant
dream, as if I were remembering someone else’s life. I have shrunk to a sentence on a Vocabulary
medical form: “41-year-old woman with breast cancer.” For the rest of my life, I will be a Pay attention to these
statistic in a tumour registry. words and write them
2 That was 15 years ago. I have survived breast cancer, a poor prognosis, chemotherapy, in your vocabulary
notebook:
radiation, myriad alternative treatments, two recurrences, and a mastectomy. My life is
chronic
fairly normal … if you don’t look closely.
swelled
3 There are more than 10 million cancer survivors in the United States today, up from a
accumulating
mere 3 million in 1971. With improved chemotherapy, the advent of targeted treatments,
standardized
and better screening and detection methods, for many, cancer is now less a death threat
prototype
than it is a chronic condition. But even after leaving the world of wigs and gamma rays isolated
and bad biopsies, we don’t just live happily ever after. Oddly, many of us feel safe as long abdominal
as we’re getting hooked up to the IVs full of Kool-Aid-coloured chemicals, but the day
our treatment ends and our hair starts to grow back, we feel as if we’re being tossed to
the sharks. Now what? we wonder. What am I supposed to do now?
4 Until recently, experts were still shrugging their shoulders. As the ranks of survivors
swelled, the information that could improve our lives lagged behind. For decades, the
medical world (understandably) focused its heavy artillery on killing cancer cells and
saving lives. Only recently has a new front emerged—survivorship, the rigorous study of
what happens when cancer patients live.
5 There are dozens of unknowns: Which chemotherapy treatments cause secondary
cancers 20 years later? Which patients are at greatest risk of developing heart problems
as a result of treatment? How many cancer survivors reach their career goals? How
do people disfigured by surgery handle dating in a world obsessed with beauty and
physical perfection? Until recently, the post-treatment life of a survivor was like the
blank part of a medieval map labelled Here be dragons.1

1 Here be dragons was a label denoting unknown and dangerous territory.

198 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6 I was hungry for information. There was a time, two or three years post-diagnosis,
when all I read were books about mountain climbing—about mountain climbing
disasters, to be precise. (To meet my standards, someone had to fall into a crevasse
or nearly perish from hypothermia.) After accumulating an impressive armchair
knowledge2 of the use of carabiners and crampons on icy precipices, I moved on to
memoirs by people who had been shipwrecked, lost en route to either pole, marooned
on an island, or stranded by airplane crashes. Several years passed before it hit me that
there was a connection between these survival stories and my own near brush with
death: I wanted to find out what happened to people who had peered into the abyss,
what they saw, and how they managed afterward.
7 Cancer is another country—especially if you’re young. Doug Ulman, then a 19-year-
old college student in Rhode Island, was recovering from a rare cartilage cancer that
required the removal of part of his rib cage while his college dormmates were attending
keg parties and dealing with midterms. “I felt about 80 years old. I had this premature
maturity.”
8 And if you’re dating? Should you mention biopsies on the third date—or the fifth?
Withhold information about your partial mastectomy when you describe yourself on
Match.com? “Because I’ve written about having cancer, it’s right there on Google,” says
Denise, a breast cancer survivor. “That became an issue when I started cyberdating.
Once, a reporter for a major newspaper wrote me online, and for two weeks, we had a
good time talking on the phone every night. When we made a date, I told him my full
name. ‘Good! I can look you up,’ he teased. He sure did. When I got to the restaurant,
there was one tall, thin, annoyed-looking guy standing outside.” All flirtation was gone.
Throughout dinner, her date was brusque, “acting as if he were being ripped off.” He
frowned while glancing repeatedly at her breasts, signed the cheque before they could
order dessert, and fled as if from a plague-infested city. (The upside: Cancer weeds out
the jerks. Like many survivors, this woman has gone on to a full, happy romantic life. As
one survivor put it, “We have more to offer. Our hearts are bigger.”)
9 Sigmund Freud observed that love and work are the two poles of existence, and
both suffer after cancer. Younger breast cancer survivors, according to a 2002 survey
by Patricia A. Ganz from UCLA, took significant hits in the “job or career” department—
and no wonder. The current health care system traps many survivors or their spouses
in a form of de facto indentured servitude, like my friend in Minneapolis who continues
in a sales job she loathes, six years after a stem cell transplant: “I can’t quit,” she says,
“I’m uninsurable.”
10 “We find this all the time,” says Ulman, now the director of survivorship at the Lance
Armstrong Foundation, “especially with survivors between 20 and 40. The average
college graduate changes jobs five or six times in his or her career—it’s part of moving
ahead. But cancer survivors and their partners may feel they can’t take the risk.” Many
turn down promotions because they may need to take time off or because it is too
disruptive to move away from their medical network.
11 How can an already overburdened health care system manage to sort out survivors’
bank accounts, love lives, and depression, in addition to their persistent medical
complaints? The experts I talked to were optimistic. “Some very smart people,” David
H. Johnson, MD, tells me, “are studying the issues we’re talking about, and things will
start to change in as little as two to five years, possibly sooner.” For starters, predicts

2 knowledge acquired through books or television, rather than experience

 UNIT Cancer 199

Julia H. Rowland, PhD: “you’ll leave your active treatment phase with a standardized
summary stating your illness, all the medications you got, the radiation you received
and at which sites, and a prescription for follow-up care and surveillance.” Passport
for Care, being developed at the Texas Children’s Cancer Center of Baylor College of
Medicine, is one prototype. This secure, online, interactive resource will provide long-
term pediatric cancer survivors with immediate access to abstracts of their medical
histories and physician recommendations for maintaining health. The database will be
up and running in two to three years; ultimately, it will be adapted for adult survivors.
12 No longer marginalized and isolated, survivors can visit websites for help,
including updated information, live chats with experts, peer-to-peer support, and links
to resources for depression, post-traumatic stress, and other problems. The National
Coalition for Cancer Survivorship offers a website (www.canceradvocacy.org) with a
“survival toolbox” and expert legal advice on insurance and employment rights.
13 We are hypersensitive to “anniversaries.” Orange daylilies were blooming in lush
clumps on the roadsides when I was diagnosed. Fifteen years later, it’s July again, and
I am barely noticing the daylilies because so many to-do lists are scrolling through my
head. Until halfway through writing this article—I end up in the emergency room with
blinding pelvic-abdominal pain. Lying inside the big clicking CT doughnut as eerie
mechanical voices instruct me to hold my breath and let it out again, I think, Here we
go again. I had forgotten how it was. I find out I have nothing worse than a urinary tract
infection; my tests are fine, and so am I. Now the daylilies, the Queen Anne’s lace,3 the
fat robins, the lush woods of summer, are fully alive for me. That is why cancer survivors
are the twice-born, to borrow a word from William James.4
14 “I hear all the time from my patients that they look on each day as a gift,”
Dr. Johnson, a cancer survivor himself, tells me. “Shortly after I recovered, I was talking
to an oncologist friend and I said, ‘I just feel renewed.’ And he said, ‘You’ll get over that.’
But I haven’t. After 15 years I still have that sense of renewal.”
Source: Adapted from J. Hooper, “What Happens When You Live?” Prevention, vol. 57, no. 11 (November 2010), pp. 158–198.

3 a plant with fern-like leaves and lacy clusters of small white flowers
4 William James (1842–1910) was an American psychologist and philosopher.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. a) What event does the narrator describe in paragraph 1?

b) What emotions do you think the narrator is experiencing while she is lying on
a steel table?

2. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

a) More people survive cancer today than in the past.
b) Modern medicine has made tremendous progress in detecting and treating
cancer.
c) In spite of beating the disease, many cancer survivors feel lost.
d) Painful experiences, like wearing a wig and having biopsies, traumatize cancer
survivors.
200 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Which aspect of survivorship is not mentioned in paragraph 5?

a) the after-effects of medical treatments
b) personal lives
c) career possibilities
d) the role of preventive measures

4. Underline the main idea sentence of paragraph 6.

5. We can infer that “carabiners and crampons” (para. 6) are probably

a) devices used by mountain climbers.
b) anti-cancer drugs.
c) kinds of memoirs.
d) tools used by sailors.

6. Why do you think Denise’s date looked annoyed (para. 8)?

7. How might a history of cancer get in the way of survivors’ career development?
Circle all that apply.
a) Survivors may be hesitant to relocate for another job because they will have to
leave their local doctors and hospital.
b) Survivors typically feel physically weak and not energetic enough for a new
career.
c) New employers may not give medical insurance to cancer survivors.
d) Survivors are not sure they will be able to get a medical leave, if necessary, in a
new position.

8. What techniques of persuasion does the author use to convince the reader that the
work aspect of a survivor’s life suffers after cancer (paras. 9–10)? Circle all that apply.
a) quoting experts
b) presenting research or survey results
c) recognizing a point of view different from her own (counter-argument)
d) sharing a personal story
e) using an emotional tone

9. The author cites two experts, David H. Johnson, MD, and Julia H. Rowland, PhD,
in paragraph 11 to provide supporting details to the main idea. What is the implied
main idea in this paragraph?

10. What two kinds of help for survivors are discussed in paragraphs 11 and 12?

and
 UNIT Cancer 201

11. Mark the statement as T (true) or F (false).

Many cancer survivors have a profound appreciation for the gift of life.

12. The author of “What Happens When You Live?” expresses an opinion that life
after cancer is not easy. She offers several kinds of evidence to make this opinion
informed. Fill in one example for each category below.

Personal experience Obsessively reading about life-threatening accidents to help

understand survivorship

Experiences of other survivors

Survey results

13. The narrator uses several images associated with geographical spaces and geography
to describe her experiences of surviving cancer. One is listed for you. Find two more
images.

a) “… the post-treatment life of a survivor was like the blank part of a medieval map
labelled ‘Here be dragons.’ ” (para. 5)

b)

c)

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. chronic (para. 3):
a) sudden
b) long-lasting
c) deadly

2. swelled (para. 4):

3. accumulating (para. 6):

202 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. standardized (para. 11):

a) regular, the same as others
b) short but informative
c) boring

5. prototype (para. 11):

6. isolated (para. 12):

7. abdominal (para. 13):

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Match each selection with its main thesis statement.

a) “Cancer Cells: Growing Out Life after cancer is full of struggle and hope.
of Control”
Healthy diet is a key to cancer prevention.
b) “Diet and Cancer Prevention”  here are various treatments and prevention
T
methods for cancer—a disease of
c) “What Happens When You proliferating abnormal cells.
Live?”

2. The author of “Cancer Cells: Growing Out of Control” refers to cancer treatments
as “slash, burn, and poison.” Which of these treatments did the author of “What
Happens When You Live?” undergo?

3. Give an example of one fact and one opinion from the selections in this unit.
Which is harder to find—a fact or an opinion? Why?

4. How is the purpose of “Cancer Cells: Growing Out of Control” different from the
purpose of “What Happens When You Live?”

5. a) In “What Happens When You Live?” the author uses the first-person pronoun I.
How may this affect the credibility of her texts?

b) Why do you think the author of “Diet and Cancer Prevention” does not use I?
 UNIT Cancer 203

6. a) Who is the audience for each of the three readings?

i) “Cancer Cells: Growing Out of Control”:

ii) “Diet and Cancer Prevention”:

iii) “What Happens When You Live?”:

b) Explain what textual features helped you to decide.

 Gender
12 Equality

Gender equality is generally considered to be desirable in Western society; however,

although women in the Western world have many opportunities that their counterparts
in other nations do not, they still face professional barriers to equality, as discussed
in “Women in International Marketing.” Beyond the Western world—especially in
many developing nations—gender bias tends to be more severe. In “The Global Glass
Ceiling,” a foreign relations specialist advises how multinational companies can
empower women in developing countries and why that matters. And in the final
reading, “Breaking the Cycle,” a public health expert reveals the dire situation of
imprisoned Indigenous women in Canada and describes the solution to the crisis.

Getting into the Topic

1. Are men and women treated equally in your home country? Explain.
2. Almost half of all North American workers are women; however, the number
of women hired for international assignments for multinational corporations is
relatively small—roughly 18 percent. Why might this be the case?
 UNIT Gender Equality 205

3. Are you familiar with the term glass ceiling? Study

the cartoon. What stops the woman from reaching
the sixth floor of the building? What does the
cartoonist imply about the possibility of women
being appointed to high-level corporate positions?

4. How can big international companies affect the

lives of women in developing countries? Mark any
methods companies can use to make a positive
change. Do you think that any of these strategies
could help to improve a corporation’s bottom line,
that is, the amount of money they make?
Employing women
Buying goods from local female farmers
Creating pro-women advertising
Providing career training for women
Teaching women to read and write
Giving financial grants to female entrepreneurs

5. What do you know about residential schools and Indigenous peoples’ experiences
with the Canadian government? What do you know about the challenges faced by
Indigenous women in Canada?

Reading 1 Marketing

Women in International Marketing

By P.R. Cateora et al.

1 Gender dynamics are now taking on a new character that has long-
term implications for the workplace: in a reversal of historical patterns,
in most of the industrialized countries women are now in the majority
on college and university campuses. Yet the gender bias against female
managers that exists in some countries, coupled with myths harboured
by male managers, makes many multinational companies hesitant to offer
women international assignments. Although women constitute nearly half
of the North American workforce, they represent relatively small percentages of the
employees who are chosen for such work—barely in the neighbourhood of 18 percent.
Why? The most often cited reason, that for some innate reason women have lower
success rates abroad than men, is fiction. Unfortunately, such attitudes are shared by
many and probably stem from the belief that the traditional roles of women in male-
dominated societies preclude them from establishing successful relationships with
host-country associates. The second reason, similar to the one put forth in domestic
situations, is that child-bearing and maternal responsibilities prevent women from
taking, or staying in, positions that require long-term involvement and/or involve
hardship situations in dangerous environments. A third issue is the often-asked question
206 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

of whether it is appropriate to send women to conduct business with foreign customers Vocabulary
in cultures where females are typically not in managerial positions. To some it appears Pay attention
logical that if women are not accepted in managerial roles within their own cultures, a to these words
foreign woman will not be any more acceptable. and write
them in your
General attitudes toward women vocabulary
notebook:
2 It is true that in many cultures—mostly Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Latin dynamics
American—women are not typically found in upper levels of management, and men myths
and women are treated very differently. Indeed, a newspaper headline was scary: innate
“Asia, Vanishing Point for as Many as 100 Million Women.” The article, appearing in the maternal
International Herald Tribune, pointed out that the birthrate in most countries around the prevailing
world is about 105 boys for every 100 girls. However, in countries like Canada or Japan, compensation
where women generally outlive men, there are about 98 and 94 men per 100 women in comprehensive
the population, respectively. The current numbers of men per 100 women in other Asian handful

countries are: Korea 101, China 106, India 108, and Pakistan 104. The article describes
systematic discrimination against females from birth. … Even though it is now illegal,
ultrasound units are still being used for making gender-specific abortion decisions, and
all this prejudice against females is creating disruptive shortages of women.

Women in management around the world

3 If one were blind to prevailing social conditions and how strong resistance to
change can be, one would expect male and female labour market participation rates
and compensation levels to be nearly identical, given the successes of the feminist
movement, plus the fact that female enrolment in post-secondary educational
institutions has increased in every developed country over the past two decades. But
this is not the case, as suggested by a number of international organizations that track
the evolution of the role of women in business. One of them is the International Labour
Organization (ILO), which published what is probably the most comprehensive and
recent report that reviews relevant trends in various countries. The report is titled
“Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling.”
4 The report’s conclusion on whether its title actually reflects current reality is
relatively pessimistic. It claims women face lower employment participation rates,
higher unemployment rates, and significantly lower pay levels compared to men. In
general, countries in North America, South America, and Eastern Europe have a higher
share of females employed in managerial positions than countries in East Asia, South
Asia, and the Middle East. Women’s share of legislator, senior official, and manager
positions range from a low of 5 percent in South Korea to a high of almost 45 percent
in the US. As shown in Figure 12.1, women are clearly underrepresented in managerial

FIGURE 12.1 Participation in the labour force and in management positions

The proportion of women in senior leadership differs by region

Region Percentage of senior roles held by women
Eastern Europe 32
North America 31
Asia Pacific 28
The European Union 28
Latin America 25
 UNIT Gender Equality 207

positions. Notice that the difference between the management versus total labour force
shares is narrower in the more developed countries and almost nonexistent in the US,
whereas in South Korea there is an eight-fold difference between the two measures.

It appears that gender inequity was rampant at the higher levels of the corporate
world. Figure 12.2 shows female participation on corporate boards in selected
countries, based on data from 2004 that are comparable to the ILO time frame
and were reported by the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRS) in 2005.

Percent
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Norway
Sweden
Finland
U.S.
Canada
New Zealand
Denmark
Australia
Germany
UK
Greece
France
Switzerland
Singapore
Netherlands
Austria
Belgium
Hong Kong
Spain
Ireland
Italy
Portugal
Japan

FIGURE 12.2 Women on corporate boards of directors

Stephanie Maier, “Research Briefing: How Global Is Good Corporate Governance?” Ethical Investment Research
Service, August 2005, p. 12, http://www.eiris.org/files/research%20publications/howglobalisgoodcorpgov05.pdf.
Data for Autumn 2004.

5 Why does this state of affairs persist? Are men and women sufficiently different in
terms of managerial capabilities that the labour market discounts female relative to male
skills and efforts? According to the ILO, the answer is no, not by a long shot, and we
emphatically share this view. There is no such thing as male superiority over females in
performing managerial duties. On the contrary, the research suggests that each gender
may have a different style of doing business, each being more effective in some situations
than others. On the broader issue of the wage gap, most labour market analysts point
out that it is a product of cultural and social attitudes about the role of women. Females
tend to dominate positions in health care, education, and other “feminine” occupations
which generally pay less money. Also, within all occupations, whether “feminine” or “non-
feminine,” women tend to occupy lower job categories than men. The combination of
these two factors, plus the fact that female managers have limited access to mentoring,
are more commonly excluded from informal networks, and confront sexual harassment
more frequently than men, results in a wage level substantially below that of men.

Women in international marketing assignments

6 Regardless of the situation that may prevail in any particular country, such external
conditions should not be determining factors in whether or not a Canadian company
should hire a woman for an international assignment. As world markets become more
208 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

global and international competition intensifies, companies need to be represented

by the most capable personnel available, from entry level to CEO. Research shows
that global companies require international experience for top executive positions.
Executives who have had international experience are more likely to get promoted and
have higher rewards. As with any other position, it is the organization’s job to ensure
that its best talent, whether male or female, partakes in such advancement. It is short-
sighted business-wise, not to mention ethically unacceptable, to limit the talent pool
simply because of gender. There is no reason to believe that women and men will
produce different results abroad, with the possible exception of a small handful of very
unique countries.
7 A key to success for either men or women often hinges on the strength of a firm’s
backing. When a woman manager receives training and the strong backing of her firm,
she usually receives the respect commensurate with the position she holds and the firm
she represents. For success, a woman needs a title that confers credibility in the culture
in which she is working, and a support structure and reporting relationship that will help
her get the job done. As Nancy Adler, the world-renowned organizational behaviourist
of McGill University, noted more than 20 years ago, the fact that the international
executive is a foreigner (gaijin in Japanese) matters more than gender. In short, with
the power of the corporate organization behind her, resistance to her as a woman
either does not materialize or is less troublesome than anticipated. Once marketing
interactions begin, the willingness of a host to engage in business transactions and
the respect shown to a foreign businessperson grow or diminish depending on the
business skills he or she demonstrates, regardless of gender.
Source: P.R. Cateora, N. Papadopoulos, M.C. Gilly, and J.L. Graham, International Marketing, 3rd Canadian ed. (McGraw-
Hill, 2011), pp. 506–511.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. In paragraph 1, the authors refer to the change in historical patterns of gender
dynamics. What was one of the old patterns?

2. Why did the authors include national ratios of women to men in paragraph 2?

3. Why would one “expect male and female labour market participation rates … to be
nearly identical” (para. 3)? Circle all that apply.
a) Social conditions today promote gender equality.
b) There has been increased recognition of women’s rights within society in recent
decades.
c) Most people’s ideas about gender equality have changed in favour of women.
d) More and more women are university educated in developed countries.
 UNIT Gender Equality 209

4. The title of the ILO report referenced in paragraph 3 has a positive connotation for
businesswomen: “Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling.” According to the text, are
the report’s findings compatible with this title? Give evidence from paragraph 4 to
support your answer.

5. Study Figure 12.1, “Participation in the labour

Country D
force and in management positions.” Then
look at Figure 12.3, which shows women’s Country C
participation in the labour force and in
Country B
management positions in four hypothetical
countries. Based on the information in the Country A
reading, in which country do you think the
authors would consider the treatment of 0 20 40 60 80 100
women most fair? Percent
Total employment Managerial positions
a) country A
b) country B FIGURE 12.3 Women’s participation in the labour
c) country C force and in management positions, four hypothetical
d) country D countries

6. Study Figure 12.2. In which country is the presence of women on corporate boards
of directors the highest?

In which country is it the lowest?

7. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  omen and men have equal managerial capabilities; therefore, there is
W
no distinction between a female and male style of management.
b)  e authors use quotation marks in the phrase “ feminine” occupations
Th
(para. 5) when referring to certain occupations that have traditionally
been performed by women. By using quotation marks, the authors are
demonstrating that they do not agree with these gendered distinctions.
c) Most women occupy lower positions within a given industry than men.

8. What are two reasons why gender should not be a factor when determining a
person’s suitability for an international position (para. 6)?
a)
b)

9. Based on the information in Figure 12.2 and paragraphs 6 and 7, make an inference
about the authors’ opinions.
a) Would it be a good business decision to send a capable woman to lead a Canadian
business delegation to Japan?
210 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

b) If no, why not? If yes, what should be done to make her assignment successful?

10. In paragraph 1, the authors list three reasons why relatively few female employees
are chosen for international assignments. List each explanation, and then
decide whether the authors consider it a valid reason for excluding women from
international assignments. Provide clues from the text to support your assessment
of the authors’ opinion.

Why few women are sent on Do the authors agree, disagree, Text clues
international assignments or offer no opinion?
1.

2.

3.

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. dynamics (para. 1):
a) the way in which people behave and react to each other in a particular situation
b) the science of the forces involved in movement

2. myths (para. 1):

a) something that people believe but that is false
b) a story from ancient times
c) problems

3. innate (para. 1):

4. maternal (para. 1):

5. prevailing (para. 3):

6. compensation (para. 3):

7. comprehensive (para. 3):

a) correct b) all-inclusive c) clear

8. handful (para. 6):

 UNIT Gender Equality 211

Reading 2 Foreign Policy, Economics

The Global Glass Ceiling: Why Empowering

Women Is Good for Business

By Isobel Coleman
1 Over the last several decades, it has become accepted wisdom that
improving the status of women is one of the most critical levers of
international development. When women are educated and can earn and
control income, a number of good results follow: infant mortality declines,
child health and nutrition improve, agricultural productivity rises, population
growth slows, economies expand, and cycles of poverty are broken.
Attending high school is just one
2 But the challenges remain dauntingly large. In the Middle East, South way in which girls and women
Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, large and persistent gender gaps can be empowered.
in access to education, health care, technology, and income—plus a lack
of basic rights and pervasive violence against women—keep women from being fully Vocabulary
productive members of society. Entrenched gender discrimination remains a defining Pay attention to these
characteristic of life for the majority of the world’s bottom two billion people, helping words and write them
sustain the gulf 1 between the most destitute and everyone else who shares this planet. in your vocabulary
notebook:
3 Narrowing that gulf demands more than the interest of the foreign aid and human
levers
rights communities, which, to date, have carried out the heavy lifting of women’s
fetal
empowerment in developing countries, funding projects such as schools for girls and
sex-selective
microfinance for female entrepreneurs. It requires the involvement of the world’s largest
auditing
companies. Not only does the global private sector have vastly more money than
progressive
governments and nongovernmental organizations, but it can wield significant leverage reactive
with its powerful brands and by extending promises of investment and employment. dictates
Some companies already promote initiatives focused on women as part of their
corporate social-responsibility programs—in other words, to burnish2 their images as
good corporate citizens. But the truly transformative shift—both for global corporations
and for women worldwide—will occur when companies understand that empowering
women in developing economies affects their bottom lines.

The case of GE in India

4 In 2006, General Electric was facing a growing disaster. Its ultrasound technology
had spread to India, and Indian human rights groups and gender activists began to
accuse the company of being complicit in female feticide.3 This was a burgeoning public
relations nightmare that also threatened GE’s profitable Indian ultrasound business.
5 In India, as in many other countries in South and East Asia, the heavy burden of
dowry4 payments and/or patriarchal traditions make parents prefer male children to
female ones. The spread of GE’s portable sonogram machines to clinics across rural
India brought low-cost fetal sex screening to millions—which meant that parents could
now easily abort unwanted girls. Although in 1994 the Indian government passed a
law prohibiting sex-selective abortion, the problem persists. In some parts of the

1 a large difference between two groups in the way that they live
2 enhance or improve
3 destruction or abortion of a fetus
4 money and/or property that, in some societies, a wife or her family must pay to her husband when they get married
212 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

country, as many as 140 boys are born for every 100 girls. According to the Population
Research Institute, at least 12 771 043 sex-selective abortions had taken place in India
between 2000 and 2014. It takes the daily average of sex-selective abortion to 2332.
Comparing the cost of an abortion to a future dowry, abortion clinics lure customers
with advertisements warning that it is better to “pay 500 rupees now, save 50 000
rupees later.” Because abortion providers have continued to flout the 1994 law, in 2002
the Indian government amended it to make the manufacturers and distributors of
sonogram equipment responsible for preventing female feticide.
6 To protect its ultrasound business and avoid legal damages, GE created a series
of training programs, sales-screening procedures, and post-sale auditing processes
designed to detect misuse, and it also put warning labels on its equipment. Nonetheless,
GE was caught off-guard by the media campaign launched by Indian activists, who
accused it of enabling female feticide. Before long, GE realized that if it hoped to
continue to dominate the country’s ultrasound market, it would have to confront the
low status of women in Indian society. It met with activist groups and launched a poster
campaign to change attitudes about women’s rights. At the same time, it began to
fund education for girls and to sponsor a hip, young Indian female tennis star as a
progressive role model. As often happens when the private sector gets involved in
the touchy subject of women’s rights in the developing world, the case of GE in India
was disappointingly reactive. Too often, companies act only after they face a public
relations problem, whether being charged with female feticide or with hiring underage
girls in sweatshops. Perhaps it is not surprising that multinational companies tend to
approach the topic gingerly and belatedly, given the cultural sensitivities regarding
women in many emerging markets and the fact that the senior management of local
subsidiaries is often overwhelmingly male.
7 Slowly, however, attitudes are beginning to change. Partly in response to shareholder
demands, some companies are becoming increasingly proactive regarding women’s
empowerment. In addition, investors have put more than $2 trillion into socially
responsible investment funds, which weigh both financial returns and societal impact.
Although supporting women’s rights is not yet a primary concern of most such funds, it
is becoming an increasingly high-profile component of the larger social justice agenda
that dictates how and where socially responsible investment funds invest. Meanwhile,
the rise of female senior managers, board members, and CEOs in Western companies is
also raising the profile of women’s rights in the global corporate agenda.

Expanding business, empowering women

8 A McKinsey survey of corporations with operations in emerging markets revealed
that less than 20 percent of the companies had any initiatives focused on women.
Their executives have simply not made the issue a strategic priority. Perhaps they
should reconsider. According to the same study, three-quarters of those companies
with specific initiatives to empower women in developing countries reported that their
investments were already increasing their profits or that they expected them to do so
soon. Such investments pay off by improving a company’s talent pool and increasing
employee productivity and retention. Corporations also benefit as new markets are
created and existing ones expand. In the developing world especially, networks of
female entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly important sales channels in places
where the scarcity of roads and stores makes it difficult to distribute goods and services.
 UNIT Gender Equality 213

9 One example of how a corporation can simultaneously expand its business and
empower women is Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest consumer goods company. In
India, the worker population ratio for females aged 15 years and older according to Usual
Status basis, 2015–2016 is 25.8%. Hindustan Unilever launched its Shakti Entrepreneur
Program in 2000 to offer microcredit grants to rural women who become door-to-door
distributors of the company’s household products. This sales network has expanded
to include nearly 50 000 women selling to more than three million homes across
100 000 Indian villages. Not only do these women benefit from higher self-esteem and
greater status within their families, but they invest their incomes in the health, nutrition,
and education of their children, thereby helping lift their communities out of poverty.
Hindustan Unilever, for its part, was able to open up a previously inaccessible market.
10 Training women as local distributors of goods and services is important, of course,
but so is incorporating women-owned businesses into global supply chains. As giant
retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour move aggressively into emerging markets,
they are trying to buy more of their products, particularly food, directly from local
producers—both to lower prices and to improve quality. With more than $400 billion
in annual sales, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, so its purchasing decisions
have a cascading5 effect throughout the global supply chain. Its recent sensitivity to
environmental issues, for example, is starting to transform how companies around the
world produce goods. This February, it announced a plan to reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions produced by its global supply chain by 20 million metric tonnes within five
years; it plans to do this by forcing its suppliers to adjust how they source, manufacture,
package, and transport their products.
11 Similarly, there are signs that Walmart is beginning to understand the importance
of women’s empowerment in the developing world, where it projects that most of its
future growth will take place. Since almost 75 percent of its employees are women,
the company has a clear interest in promoting women’s economic
empowerment in its new markets. Working alongside CARE, a humanitarian Governments and
organization that combats global poverty, Walmart has launched several international organizations
recognize that empowering
pilot programs to teach literacy and workplace skills in the developing
women in the developing world is
world. In Peru, it is helping female farmers meet the company’s quality- a catalyst for achieving a range of
control standards. In Bangladesh, it is training local women in the garment policy and development goals. It is
industry to move up from fabric sorters to seamstresses and cutters. time for multinational corporations
to come to the same realization—
Similarly, it is developing the skills of female cashew farmers in India so funding education and training
that they can progress from low-level pickers to high-end processors. female business leaders is good
Walmart expects to see increased productivity, higher quality, and greater for business.
diversity in its supply chain as a result. “We aren’t engaging with Walmart
solely for the financial resources they bring to the table,” says Helene Gayle, president
and CEO of CARE. “We are working together to make change on a global level. Walmart
has enormous potential to transform women’s lives in the emerging markets in which
it operates.”
12 It is ironic, of course, that Walmart is embracing women’s empowerment in
emerging markets even as it fights the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit
in U.S. history. (Walmart is accused of discriminating against women in pay and
promotions.) Undoubtedly, its women’s empowerment initiatives could have multiple
motivations, including diverting negative public attention. But Walmart’s efforts will be

5 happening in rapid sequence, with one thing leading to the next

214 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

sustainable only to the extent that the company considers them central to its long-term
growth and profitability and not just part of a public relations strategy. The potential for
its female employees and suppliers in the developing world is enormous: if Walmart
sourced just one percent of its sales from women-owned businesses, it would channel
billions of dollars toward women’s economic empowerment—far more than what
international development agencies could ever muster for such efforts.

Conclusion
13 Closing the gender gap and improving women’s rights in the Middle East, South
Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa may take many generations, but the benefits will be
huge—not only for the individual women and their families but also for global markets.
As companies seek new sources of revenue in emerging economies, they will find that
gender disparities pose an obstacle to doing business. The sooner the private sector
works to overcome gender inequality, the better off the world—and companies’ own
bottom lines—will be.
Source: Excerpted from I. Coleman, “The Global Glass Ceiling,” Current, vol. 524 (2010), pp. 3–6.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. One of the positive results of enabling women to become educated and earn
an income is declining infant mortality rates (para. 1). Explain the connection
between women’s education and lower infant mortality rates.

2. What examples of gender discrimination are given in paragraph 2?

3. Who are the two billion people referred to in paragraph 2?

4. According to the author, what types of organizations have the most potential to
help women in developing countries?
a) human rights organizations
b) large international companies
c) governments who give aid to foreign countries
d) organizations of local citizens

5. Paragraph 3 lists three factors that make large corporations particularly influential.
Match each factor with its description.

Factor Description
a) powerful brands  ccess to substantial financial
a
resources
b) having vast amounts of money
t he influence of marketing and
name recognition
c) promises of investment and
employment  otential to hire locals and boost
p
the local economy
 UNIT Gender Equality 215

6. According to the author, when will the major change occur in achieving women’s
empowerment?
a) When companies realize that they have to take responsibility for improving
women’s position in developing countries
b) When companies employ many local women, thus strengthening women’s status
c) When companies understand that empowering women results in higher
corporate profits
d) When companies start financing projects to educate businesswomen

7. Explain the meaning of the advertisement line “pay 500 rupees now, save 50 000
rupees later.”

8. What measures did GE take in its multi-pronged approach to the problem of sex-
selective abortions enabled by ultrasound screenings in India? Circle all that apply.
a) It organized a pro-women poster campaign.
b) It tried to make sure that its ultrasound equipment was sold to companies that
would not misuse it.
c) It worked against those companies whose management level is dominated by
males.
d) It used an Indian celebrity to promote women’s rights.
e) It sponsored learning programs for girls.

9. What is the author’s opinion of GE’s response?

a) The response was appropriate, and it is commended by the author.
b) GE acted in response to the public relations problems, instead of proactively
working to empower women.
c) GE’s response demonstrated that the company is sensitive to women’s issues and
dedicated to improving the status of women.
d) GE acted in advance to avert a public relations scandal.

10. What is the difference between reactive and proactive approaches mentioned in
paragraphs 6 and 7?

11. How does investing in women’s programs in developing countries increase the
profits of investors? List at least two ways.
216 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

12. Who benefits from Hindustan Unilever’s employment of women as product

distributors?
a) women
b) women’s children
c) Hindustan Unilever
d) all of the above

13. Complete the sentence.

Walmart incorporates women-owned local businesses into its supply chain by

buying directly from farmers
and their families.

14. a) Looking at paragraphs 10 to 12, would you consider the author’s discussion of
Walmart to be biased or unbiased? Why?

b) Do you think that Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, presents a biased
opinion about Walmart (para. 11)? Why or why not?

15. What two great motivating factors for companies to empower women in the
developing world are mentioned in the last paragraph?
a)
b)

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. levers (para. 1):

2. fetal (para. 5):

3. sex-selective (para. 5):

4. auditing (para. 6):

5. progressive (para. 6):

a) in favour of new ideas
b) sticking to old rules
c) bad

6. reactive (para. 6):

7. dictates (para. 7):
a) determines
b) stops
 UNIT Gender Equality 217

Reading 3 Indigenous Studies

Breaking the Cycle: Incarcerated Indigenous

Women and the Need for a Holistic Approach
to Mental Wellness

By Tenzin Butsang
1 Over the last decade, the number of Indigenous female
inmates within Canada’s federal prisons has increased by nearly 60%.
Despite representing only 5% of the general population, nearly 40%
of women incarcerated in federal institutions identify as First Nations,
Métis, or Inuit. More than half of these women also identify as single mothers of multiple Vocabulary
children, which extends the scope of incarceration’s impact across generations. Pay attention to these
2 Although both Indigenous men and women are incarcerated at disproportionately words and write them
high rates, Indigenous women face a distinct set of challenges both inside and outside in your vocabulary
notebook:
of the prison setting. Historical and ongoing gendered discrimination, forced child
Indigenous
separation, human trafficking, and abuse are just some of the traumatic situations
traumatic
that many female Indigenous inmates encounter by the time they enter prison. Without
stripping
access to culturally safe, trauma-informed mental health services in prison, these
substance
women are not given the opportunity or agency to heal and successfully re-enter their deficiencies
communities, leaving them to return to the life that first led to their incarceration. inquiry
3 Contextualizing the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in the criminal sustainable
justice system requires an informed understanding of the historical, political, and
social conditions that continue to marginalize Indigenous women in Canadian society.
The legacy of colonization, including intergenerational violence and trauma resulting
from the residential school system, and disconnection from one’s land are factors that
invariably damage the transmission of parenting skills and cultural knowledge. The Indian
Act of 1876 significantly impinged on the rights of Indigenous women in particular,
defining a status Indian exclusively through paternal lineage and stripping status
from women who married non-Indigenous men. Resulting feelings of powerlessness,
isolation, and emotional distress can lead to substance misuse and behavioural issues,
engendering the mass incarceration of Indigenous people in Canada.
4 Racism and discrimination within the Canadian health care system, in addition to a
lack of culturally appropriate services, deter Indigenous individuals from seeking and/or
accessing necessary care. These deficiencies contribute to a mistrust that is intensified
within the correctional setting and can lead to difficulties with reintegration following
incarceration. To break the cycle of criminalization and over-incarceration, the National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found that Indigenous
communities must be given the capacity, resources, and support necessary to inform
meaningful and sustainable programming that aids women in the transition from
prison back into society. This involves the implementation of culturally safe, community-
led mental health services that not only respond to the immediate needs of these
women, but also consider the systemic and historical factors that have contributed to
their involvement in the criminal justice system. For example, reconnecting individuals
with culture and land through culturally driven and trauma-informed programming
has been shown to facilitate reintegration and reduce recidivism rates. These kinds of
218 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

programs and supports are equally relevant in the conversation of mental health and
wellness services for Indigenous inmates.
5 Within Indigenous concepts of health and well-being, good spiritual, emotional,
physical, and mental health are all interconnected components of wellness and are
intrinsically linked to relational bonds with family and community. This holistic framework
should be central to initiatives targeted toward supporting the wellness of Indigenous
inmates in Canada. Community-operated healing lodges, like the recently approved
Thunder Woman Healing Lodge in Ontario, are fundamental to providing a continuum
of care for Indigenous women transitioning out of the prison system. At present, there is
only one community-operated healing lodge for female inmates in Canada.
6 Dr. Ivan Zinger, the Correctional Investigator of Canada stated that “the over-
incarceration of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in corrections is among the most
pressing social justice and human rights issues in Canada today.” With the Indigenous
population growth rate being four times that of the rest of the country, projected
demographics indicate that the over-representation of Indigenous women in the criminal
justice system will continue to grow. This growth will undoubtedly increase the number
of individuals who require mental health services. To develop effective, sustainable, and
appropriate solutions to this growing inequity, we must be willing to listen to these women,
respect Indigenous knowledge, and empower and support communities to lead the way.

Tenzin Butsang is Master of Public Health and Indigenous Health Candidate at Dalla
Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Source: T. Butsang, “Breaking the Cycle: Incarcerated Indigenous Women and the Need for a Holistic Approach to Mental
Wellness,” Psynopsis, vol. 3 (2019), pp. 16–19.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. In paragraph 2, the author states that Indigenous women are incarcerated at
disproportionately high rates. Which statistics supports this claim?

2. Paraphrase the following sentence: “More than half of these women also identify
as single mothers of multiple children, which extends the scope of incarceration’s
impact across generations” (para. 1).

3. What challenges do Indigenous women face? Check all that apply.

abuse
difficulty in choosing a career
human trafficking
mothering more than one child
separation from the child
 UNIT Gender Equality 219

4. What solution to fight the high incarceration rates of Indigenous women does the
author suggest in paragraph 2?

5. Complete the cause-effect chart with the following blocks, based on paragraph 3.
a) substance misuse and abnormal, antisocial behaviour
b) trauma of being raised in a residential school
c) high incarceration rates
d) feeling disconnected from one’s land
e) powerlessness, isolation, emotional distress

6. What factors should make mental health services for Indigenous women different
from mental health services for the general population?
a) Teaching women about their culture
b) Providing services to women in prison
c) Building trust between the client and the therapist
d) Services provided by therapists who know about Indigenous women’s traumas
e) Services that meet immediate needs of women in prison

7. Based on the information in paragraph 5, define the term holistic framework of

mental health services.

8. a) Is the author optimistic about the reduction of the

numbers of incarcerated Indigenous women?  Yes   No
b) Is the author optimistic about finding a way to curb
these numbers?  Yes   No
220 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. Indigenous (para. 1):

2. traumatic (para. 2):

a) hurtful
b) physically damaging
c) unusual

3. stripping (para. 3):

4. substance (para. 3):

a) the most important part of something
b) liquid, solid, or gas
c) drug

5. deficiencies (para. 4):

6. inquiry (para. 4):

7. sustainable (para. 4):

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Provide examples from the three readings in this unit of inequalities that women
suffer. You may use information in the graphics as well as the texts.

Reading Example
“Women in International
Marketing”

“The Global Glass Ceiling”

“Breaking the Cycle”

 UNIT Gender Equality 221

2. a) How do the first two texts—”Women in International Marketing” and “The

Global Glass Ceiling”—approach the idea of empowering women? Provide
examples of empowering women in the developing and developed countries by
filling in the Venn diagram.

Developing countries Developed countries

Establishing schools Changing cultural Promoting women to higher
for girls attitudes to women management levels

b) Based on your Venn diagram, do you think the term glass ceiling means the
same thing for women in Western society as it does for women in the developing
world? Explain.

3. The authors of “Women in International Marketing” promote the idea of offering

capable women from Western countries international assignments. How do you
think female executives being hosted abroad may affect the status of local women
in some Middle Eastern, South Asian, and sub-Saharan countries, where most
women have lower status than in the West?
222 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. Each of the three readings advocates for elevating the status of women. For each
reading, note the key player in bringing about this status change. In the next
column, note the motivation for that change. One box is already filled in for you.

Reading Key player Motivation for change

“Women in
International
Marketing”

“The Global Glass

Ceiling”

“Breaking the • Canadian government Decrease the rate of incarceration,

Cycle” • Indigenous communities/advocates improve well-being of Indigenous women

5. Although the purpose of all the readings in this unit is to argue for the improvement
of women’s lives, each author uses different techniques of persuasion to achieve this
purpose. Reflect on the differences and provide examples.

Reading Technique(s) of persuasion Example

“Women in
International
Marketing”

“The Global Glass

Ceiling”

“Breaking the
Cycle”

6. What is being done, or could be done, to elevate the position of women in your
home country and in Canada?
 13 Culture

Getting into the Topic

1. Imagine that one morning you find yourself alone on a small
uninhabited island, forced to stay there for three months.
Would you remain the same person you had always been or
would your identity change as a result of losing connections
with your family, colleagues, and friends?

2. a) Find the definitions of collectivistic and individualistic in

a dictionary.
i) collectivistic:

ii) individualistic:

b) Which one best describes the culture you were raised in?
224 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

3. Read the following scenario, thinking about the contrast between individualistic
and collectivistic cultures:

Michelle, a young Canadian teacher with a few years’ experience teaching in a private
elementary school in Toronto, has just moved to a small English-speaking village in
Kenya. She is a passionate teacher and excited about the opportunity to spend a year
learning about Kenyan culture. Things began well—the schoolchildren were cheerful and
enthusiastic about their work. But Michelle is starting to become frustrated. Every time
she assigns work to the class, the children form small groups to discuss the assignment
and complete the tasks. She is constantly reminding them that students are expected
to work individually and that they will be graded individually. Eventually, her students
become much less eager to learn, and she finds it difficult to motivate them to complete
their tasks, even when she offers small prizes to the student with the highest grades.

How is the situation in Michelle’s classroom affected by cultural differences? How

might her expectations about education differ from her students’ expectations?

4. Imagine the following conflict between colleagues: two doctors share the
responsibility of taking care of one patient, but they disagree on the medication
the patient needs. If you were a doctor in this situation, how would you resolve this
disagreement?
5. Do you think the way people resolve conflicts has anything to do with the culture
in which they were raised and socialized?

Reading 1 Psychology

Culture and the Self

How do individualist and collectivist cultures
influence people?

By D.G. Myers
1 Imagine that someone were to rip away your social
connections, making you a solitary refugee in a foreign land.
How much of your identity would remain intact?
2 If as our solitary traveller you pride yourself on your individualism, a great deal of
your identity would remain intact—the very core of your being, the sense of “me,” the
awareness of your personal convictions and values. Individualists (often people from
North America, Western Europe, Australia, or New Zealand) give relatively greater priority
to personal goals and define their identity mostly in terms of personal attributes
(Schimmack et al., 2005). They strive for personal control and individual achievement.
In American culture, with its relatively big I and small we, 85 percent of people have
agreed that it is possible “to pretty much be who you want to be” (Sampson, 2000).
3 Individualists share the human need to belong. They join groups. But they are less
focused on group harmony and doing their duty to the group (Brewer and Chen, 2007).
And being more self-contained, they more easily move in and out of social groups.
 UNIT Culture 225

They feel relatively free to switch places of worship, switch jobs, or even
leave their extended families and migrate to a new place. Marriage is often
for as long as they both shall love.
4 If set adrift in a foreign land as a collectivist, you may experience a
greater loss of identity. Cut off from family, groups, and loyal friends, you
would lose the connections that have defined who you are. In a collectivist
culture, group identifications provide a sense of belonging, a set of
values, a network of caring individuals, an assurance of security. In return,
collectivists have deeper, more stable attachments to their groups—their
family, clan, or company. In South Korea, for example, people place less
value on expressing a consistent, unique self-concept, and more on Considerate collectivists
tradition and shared practices (Choi & Choi, 2002). Japan’s collectivist values,
5 Valuing communal solidarity means placing a premium on preserving including duty to others and
social harmony, were on
group spirit and ensuring that others never lose face. What people say
display after the devastating
reflects not only what they feel (their inner attitudes) but what they 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
presume others feel (Kashima et al., 1992). Avoiding direct confrontation, Virtually no looting was
blunt honesty, and uncomfortable topics, collectivists often defer to reported, and residents
others’ wishes and display a polite, self-effacing humility (Markus & remained calm and orderly,
Kitayama, 1991). Elders and superiors receive respect, and duty to family as shown here while waiting
for drinking water.
may trump personal career and mate preference (Zhang & Kline, 2009).
In new groups, people may be shy and more easily embarrassed than
their individualist counterparts (Singelis et al., 1995, 1999). Compared with Westerners,
people in Japanese and Chinese cultures, for example, exhibit greater shyness toward
strangers and greater concern for social harmony and loyalty (Bond, 1988; Cheek &
Melchior, 1990; Triandis, 1994). When the priority is “we,” not “me,” that individualized
latte—”decaf, single shot, skinny, extra hot”—that feels so good to a North American in
a coffee shop might sound more like a selfish demand in Seoul (Kim & Markus, 1999).
6 To be sure, there is diversity within cultures. Even in the most individualistic countries,
some people manifest collectivist values. Within many countries, there are also distinct
cultures related to one’s religion, economic status, and region (Cohen, 2009). And
in collectivist Japan, a spirit of individualism marks the “northern frontier” island of
Hokkaido (Kitayama et al., 2006). But in general, people (especially men) in competitive,
individualist cultures have more personal freedom, are less geographically bound to
their families, enjoy more privacy, and take more pride in personal achievements.
7 They even prefer unusual names, as psychologist Jean Twenge noticed while
seeking a name for her first child. Over time, the most common American names listed
by year on the U.S. Social Security baby names website were becoming less desirable. Vocabulary
Pay attention to these
When she and her colleagues (2010) analyzed the first names of 325 million American
words and write them
babies born between 1880 and 2007, they confirmed this trend. As Figure 13.1 illustrates, in your vocabulary
the percent[age] of boys and girls given one of the 10 most common names for their notebook:
birth year has plunged, especially in recent years. (No wonder my parents, who bore attributes
me in a less individualistic age, gave me such a common first name.) superiors
8 The individualist-collectivist divide appeared in reactions to medals received during trump
the 2000 and 2002 Olympic games. U.S. gold medal winners and the U.S. media bound
covering them attributed the achievements mostly to the athletes themselves (Markus plunged

et al., 2006). “I think I just stayed focused,” explained swimming gold medallist Misty subject
underpinnings
Hyman. “It was time to show the world what I could do. I am just glad I was able to do
226 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

40
Newborn boys
35

10 most common names

Percent with one of
30
25
20
Newborn girls
15
20
5
0
1870 1920 1970 2020
Year

FIGURE 13.1 A child like no other

Americans’ individualist tendencies are reflected in their choice of names for their
babies. In recent years, the percentage of American babies receiving one of that year’s
10 most common names has plunged. (Adapted from Twenge et al. 2010.)

it.” Japan’s gold medalist in the women’s marathon, Naoko Takahashi, had a different
explanation: “Here is the best coach in the world, the best manager in the world, and all
of the people who support me—all of these things were getting together and became
a gold medal.” Even when describing friends, Westerners tend to use trait-describing
adjectives (“she is helpful”), whereas East Asians more often use verbs that describe
behaviours in context (“she helps her friends”) (Heine and Buchtel, 2009; Maass et
al., 2006).
9 Individualism’s benefits can come at the cost of more loneliness, higher divorce
and homicide rates, and more stress-related disease (Popenoe, 1993; Triandis et al.,
1988). Demands for more romance and personal fulfillment in marriage can subject
relationships to more pressure (Dion & Dion, 1993). In one survey, “keeping romance
alive” was rated as important to good marriage by 78 percent of U.S. women but only
29 percent of Japanese women (American Enterprise, 1992). In China, love songs often
express enduring commitment and friendship (Rothbaum & Tsang, 1998): “We will be
together from now on. … I will never change from now to forever.”
10 Individualism in Western cultures has increased strikingly over the last century. What
predicts such changes in one culture over time, or between differing cultures? Social
history matters. Voluntary migration; a sparsely populated, challenging environment;
and a shift to a capitalist economy have fostered independence and individualism
(Kitayama et al., 2009. 2010; Varnum et al., 2010). Might biology also play a role? In
search of biological underpinnings to these cultural differences—remembering that
everything psychological is also biological—a new subfield, cultural neuroscience, is
studying how neurobiology and cultural traits influence each other (Ambady & Bharucha,
2009; Chiao, 2009). One researcher compared, across 29 countries, the different forms
of a serotonin-regulating gene. People in collectivist cultures tended to carry a version
associated with greater anxiety, though living in such cultures helps protect people from
anxiety (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2010). As we will see over and again, biological, psychological,
and social-cultural perspectives intersect. We are biopsychosocial creatures.
Source: D.G. Myers, Psychology, 10th ed. (Worth, 2013), pp. 150–152.
 UNIT Culture 227

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. Below are some descriptions of people. Decide whether each one belongs to an
individualistic (I) or collectivistic (C) culture. Then highlight any lines in the text
that support your answers.
a) M
 ike is married and has a young son. His Facebook profile has many
photos of himself engaged in different activities, such as skiing, hiking,
and walking his dog. There are no pictures of his wife or child on Facebook.
He writes that happiness in life for him is achieving professional success
and enjoying vacations in different parts of the world.
b)  odrigo had lived with his elderly parents in Spain but decided to
R
leave them and immigrate to the UK to fulfill his dream of studying
philosophy at Oxford. He believes that his parents will be fine without
him, and he calls them about once a month.
c)  avinder lived with her only son, his wife, and their children in a
D
spacious house in Bangalore, India. After her son’s family immigrated
to Canada, she became depressed. Now Davinder is waiting for her
immigration visa to join her family in Canada. She will help take care
of the grandchildren again.
d) M
 atsuki has been working for the same electronics manufacturing
company in Osaka, Japan, for 45 years. Now, at the age of 68, he is
retiring. His boss has organized a party in Matsuki’s honour, and
Matsuki got a retirement gift of an expensive watch with an engraving
from the company. Matsuki feels happy and sad at the same time because
he is sorry to leave the place and the people he loved working for.

2. In your own words, explain the different approach to marriage in the West and in
China, based on the following quotations from the text:

“Marriage is often for as long as they both shall love.”

“We will be together from now on. … I will never change from now to forever.”

3. According to the text, one of the characteristics of a collectivistic society is avoiding

blunt honesty (para. 5).
a) Why might collectivists avoid blunt honesty?

b) Based on your experience, provide an example of a situation involving blunt

honesty in which the behaviour of individualists and collectivists would likely
be different.
228 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. Which of the following is an expression of one’s duty to family in a collectivistic

culture?
a) Both mother and father work two jobs to provide for the expensive college
education of their children.
b) The son does not marry the girl he loves because his parents disapprove. Instead,
he marries the daughter of his parents’ friends.
c) An eldest son gets married and moves to a city six hours away from his parents
but visits at least three times a year because they miss him.
d) The married couple avoid talking about their teen daughter’s drug problem
because it is an uncomfortable topic.

5. Why does the author refer to a “decaf, single shot, skinny, extra hot” latte order
in paragraph 5? How might this coffee order sound in a coffee shop in a more
collectivistic culture?

6. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a) I n a collectivistic culture, all members exhibit collectivistic values to an
equal degree.
b)  person’s degree of collectivism or individualism may depend on his
A
or her religion, economic status, or geographical location.
c)  ere is some distinction in the degree to which women and men
Th
express their individualistic values.

7. a) What is the main idea of paragraph 7?

b) The author refers to his own first name. Based on his comments, what is most
likely his first name?
i) Denzel
ii) David
iii) Dagmar
iv) Delwyn
c) What does the choice of this name tell us about his parents’ society?

8. In paragraph 8, examples of speech representing collectivistic and individualistic

styles are discussed. Explain the differences between them in your own words.
 UNIT Culture 229

9. In paragraph 9, the author talks about “individualism’s benefits” in relation to its

problems. Fill in the table with at least three benefits and problems. You will need
to refer to other paragraphs, in addition to paragraph 9, to complete this task.

Individualism’s benefits Individualism’s problems

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

10. In the final paragraph, the author mentions factors that predict the increase of
individualism in a society. Explain how the following factors may cause a culture
to be more individualistic.
a) a sparsely populated, challenging environment:

b) a shift to a capitalist economy:

11. Myers cites research by Chiao & Blizinsky (2010) stating that “people in collectivist
cultures tended to carry a [gene] associated with greater anxiety, though living
in such cultures helps protect people from anxiety.” Do you think this finding
supports or disproves the idea that cultural differences may be explained by
biological characteristics? Why or why not?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.
1. attributes (para. 2):
a) goals b) preferences c) qualities

2. superiors (para. 5):

3. trump (para. 5):

a) become more important than
b) improve
c) build the foundations for

4. bound (para. 6):

a) attached b) distant c) free

5. plunged (para. 7):

230 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. subject (para. 9):

a) topic or theme of a story or article
b) force someone or something to undergo a particular experience
c) cause destruction or other devastation

7. underpinnings (para. 10):

Reading 2 Education

Uncovering the Role of Culture in Learning,

Development, and Education

By C. Rothstein-Fisch et al.

Each child in kindergarten is making a book called All About Me. The teacher
asks each child to say what is special about himself or herself, writing down these
comments, with space for the child to draw a picture corresponding to each
comment. One boy responds with “my brother is good at soccer and my father
is good at cooking.” The teacher keeps asking the boy to think about qualities of
himself, prompting him: “This is all about you. Are you smart? Yes, of course you
are smart, so let’s say you are special because you are smart.” In the end, the boy’s
book contained drawings with these sentences “I am special because I am smart.
I am special because I am strong. I am special because I am handsome.” (Zepeda,
Gonzalez-Mena, Rothstein-Fisch, & Trumbull, 2006, p. 19)

1 The practice of making a book called All About Me is a familiar activity in many early Vocabulary
childhood classrooms. But there may be more to this activity than what meets the Pay attention
eye. The teacher is likely to be thinking that identifying concepts of self will promote to these words
the child’s sense of self-esteem and individuality. She may also value the child’s and write
them in your
burgeoning literacy skills. Yet, the child may be experiencing something very different.
vocabulary
He may believe that the teacher does not like his family, and thus she does not like him. notebook:
Bragging about himself may make him feel very uncomfortable. Ultimately, he may inclined
be inclined to think that his values and ideas do not matter, thwarting his concept of conceptions
self—exactly the opposite of the teacher’s goal (Zepeda et al., 2006). drawing on
2 The example of All About Me calls attention to classroom practices that, though anthropology
well-intended, may be at odds with learning, eventually leading to negative feelings embed
about school altogether. The good intentions of the teacher and the compliant but utilize
uncomfortable boy are likely to be operating with two conflicting sets of values, each socialized

invisible to the other. The teacher’s goals are representative of the cultural value of
individualism, the characteristic value of mainstream United States. In contrast, the
boy’s discomfort at being isolated from his family is characteristic of the cultural value
of collectivism, the value system of many immigrant children and families. Individualism
and collectivism have emerged as powerful cultural models that tie together cultural
conceptions of learning and development, drawing on theory and research in
developmental psychology (Greenfield & Bruner, 1966) and anthropology (Whiting
& Whiting, 1973). These two idealized developmental pathways1 emphasize different

1 a way of achieving something

 UNIT Culture 231

goals for development and learning. Individualism emphasizes individual

identity, independence, self-fulfillment, and standing out. Collectivism
emphasizes group identity, interdependence, social responsibility, and
fitting in (Greenfield, Keller, Fuligni, & Maynard, 2003).
3 Each pathway is situated in a broader sociocultural system (Keller, 1997,
2003). The individualistic pathway arises as an adaptation to a complex,
urban, wealthy environment featuring a well-developed system of formal
education and advanced technology. The collectivistic pathway arises as
an adaptation to a small-scale, face-to-face village environment based on a
subsistence economy and informal education (Greenfield, Trumbull, et al.,
2006). Economic conditions and political persecution tend to incorporate
people from the second kind of society into the first (Greenfield, 2009). When this
happens, children and their families are exposed to two contrasting and often conflicting
socializing forces that are very relevant to the care and education of many immigrant,
Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children in the United States as well
as the children of immigrant or conquered peoples in other industrialized countries,
such as Australia and those of western Europe (Greenfield, Trumbull, et al., 2006).
4 On the whole, individualism emphasizes individual success, and collectivism
emphasizes the success of the group as a whole (Greenfield, Trumbull, et al., 2006).
In individualistic cultures, when asked to describe themselves, people tend to list trait
labels referring to aspects of their personalities, such as “hard-working,” “intelligent,” or
“athletic” (Triandis, Brislin, & Hui, 1988), as the teacher in the example above expected.
In collectivistic cultures, people are more likely to embed their own personal goals with
those of the group, such as their extended family or religious group (Brislin, 1993) and to
think of themselves as defined by their connections to others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).
This is more or less what the boy in the opening example was doing when he tried to
talk about other members of his family rather than about himself. Not surprisingly, the
United States, according to some measures, is the most individualistic country in the
world (Hofstede, 2001). However, this developmental pathway is hardly universal—in
the 1980s, some 70 percent of the world’s cultures could be described as collectivistic
(Triandis, 1989). While increased wealth, urbanization, technology, and formal education
have driven cultures and individuals around the world in an individualistic direction
since the 1980s (Greenfield, 2009), major cross-cultural differences still exist.
5 Socialization practices begin at birth or even before. For example, in European
American culture, expectant parents often prepare a nursery—the baby’s own room—to
set the stage for the development of the child’s independence. This is in contrast to
collectivistic cultures that utilize a family bed, where the baby sleeps with the parents.
6 Table 13.1 describes some major differences between the individualistic and
collectivistic pathway of learning and development revealed by research (Greenfield,
Trumbull, et al., 2006). We have selected features of each pathway that are most
relevant to formal education. These pathways appear and function in ways that
differentially value intelligence and knowledge. For example, in more individualistic
cultures, cognitive, academic, and scientific knowledge is highly valued, particularly
the accumulation of factual knowledge. Independence is demonstrated in school
when children work alone, show what they know through speaking out and expressing
themselves, and expect praise or other tangible2 rewards for doing so. Incidentally,
the importance of praise and rewards also applies to informal education at home—for

2 that can be clearly seen to exist

232 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Domain Individualistic pathway Collectivistic pathway

ethnotheory 3 independence, individual interdependence, group/
success family success
valued intelligence cognitive, academic, social/relational
scientific
valued knowledge physical world, factual social world, narrative
knowledge knowledge
models of learning independent, active working in groups,
participation, praise observation, criticism
communication speaking, self-expression comprehending, speech that
is respectful to authority
material world personal ownership, sharing shared use, responsibility to
by choice share

TABLE 13.1 Contrasting cultural pathways of learning and development

example, household chores—as well as to school-based activities. In parallel fashion,

the material world is also conceptualized4 in relation to the individual. Children have
individual toys and spaces; sharing takes place by permission of the owner rather than
simply being assumed.
7 In contrast, collectivistic cultures value social intelligence as it relates to people,
not facts or things: It is situated in a social world where knowledge about people’s
experiences is highly valued. Children are socialized to become interdependent with
others. They work together to help and share with other members of the group, instead
of being showcased for their individual achievement (Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull,
2008). Praise may also make them feel singled out and uncomfortable rather than make
them feel good about themselves (Greenfield, Quiroz, & Raeff, 2000).

Utilizing group motivation to achieve learning in mathematics

8 During one classroom visit, an interesting classroom chart was noticed. It was
a graph displaying children’s names and corresponding stars next to each name
indicating the level of memorized multiplication facts they had mastered. This seemed
like a curiously individualistic motivational tool for children of migrant farm workers
[from a collectivistic culture]. When asked about the star chart during the observation
debriefing interview, the teacher explained that the students were doing poorly in
learning timed multiplication facts. She was having difficulty motivating the students,
and she fell back on the star chart idea she had learned during teacher training. At the
time she introduced the star chart, she conducted a class meeting that allowed her
to share her concern for students’ lack of math progress. She gave the students an
opportunity to look at the chart and talk about it. The teacher reports,

The students said, “Wouldn’t it be neat if it would be a solid block of stars, and the
whole chart was filled in,” and everybody said “Yeah, yeah, that would be so neat.”
The students started to say they wanted to help each other. Everyone who needed
help got adopted by students who had already mastered [the work]. They started
helping each other pass, and they seemed to move ahead. The [more advanced]

3 an implied idea about the ideal child in a certain culture, accompanied by beliefs about educational practices that will produce this ideal
child
4 formed as an idea in your mind
 UNIT Culture 233

buddies put their own learning on hold in order to help their [less advanced]
buddies, not for individual success, but for the success of the group. (Rothstein-
Fisch et al., 2003, p. 132)

9 Thus the children were motivated to help each other study timed math facts (so
that the whole group could achieve proficiency) much more than to work on increasing
their own individual accumulation of stars, indicating their individual competence
(Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull, 2008).
10 Their motivation was rooted in the value of group success rather than in objects or
individual awards. Incidentally, when a student was ready to be tested by the teacher at
the back of the room, the teacher allowed the buddy to observe, not to provide answers
but just to show support and provide encouragement. If the student was not successful,
the buddy knew where to help out during the next study session. If the student was
successful, the buddy would ring a special bell. This signaled to the entire class that
another star had been added to “their” chart, and the children all stopped their work to
applaud the individual’s contribution to the group’s success.
Source: C. Rothstein-Fisch, P.M. Greenfield, E. Trumbull, H. Keller, and B. Quiroz, “Uncovering the Role of Culture in
Learning, Development, and Education.” In D.D. Preiss and R.J. Sternberg (Eds.), Innovations in Educational Psychology:
Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Human Development (Springer, 2010), pp. 269–294.

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. a) What are the teacher’s goals in assigning her students the All About Me activity?

b) Is the teacher successful in achieving these goals? Why or why not?

c) The teacher is attempting to “promote individuality.” What may the student feel
she is doing?
i) Encouraging bragging
ii) Promoting independence
iii) Developing self-esteem
2. Which of the following relates to the teacher-child conflict described in the
textbox? Circle all that apply.
a) collectivism versus individualism
b) positive versus negative
c) European American versus Latin American immigrant
d) standing out versus fitting in

3. Paragraph 3 describes two different socio-cultural and socio-economic systems, one

in which an individualistic culture is more likely and the other in which a collectivistic
culture is more likely. Based on the contrasts described in this paragraph, make an
inference about the definition of a “subsistence economy” (para. 3).
a) economy with a surplus of resources
b) economy in which people work hard
c) economy in which people make just enough to survive
d) economy in which there is competition for employment
234 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

4. Although American society is generally considered the most individualistic in the

world, there are certain demographic groups in the country that do not conform
to the individualistic culture. According to the text, which groups within America
are collectivistic?

5. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false). If the statement is false, correct it.
a) About three decades ago, most of the world was collectivistic.

b)  oday, collectivistic societies represent more than 70 percent of the

T
world’s cultures.

6. Review Table 13.1 on page 232. Based on your understanding of the text, label each
of the examples below with the appropriate domain and pathway. The first one is
done for you.
a) A teacher awards a certificate to her best math student at the end of the school
year.
ethnotheory individualistic
Domain: Pathway:
b) A five-year-old child knows the names of all the planets in the solar system.

Domain: Pathway:
c) A child knows the names of all families living on her street and where each of
the parents is employed.

Domain: Pathway:
d) Five siblings are doing their homework at a big table in the kitchen. The older
children help the younger ones.

Domain: Pathway:
e) After washing the family car, a child is paid $5 and runs to buy a McDonald’s
Happy Meal. He shares part of the meal with his younger sister when she asks
him to.

Domain: Pathway:
f) The child is quiet and polite, and talks only when his parents or grandparents
ask him something.

Domain: Pathway:

7. José, a seven-year-old boy who recently arrived in Canada from rural Mexico,
is showing great progress with his English class: today he has answered all his
homework questions correctly. His teacher is very pleased with José’s results. What
would be the best way to reward or praise José, based on the ideas in the text?
 UNIT Culture 235

8. Fill in the following chart based on the section “Utilizing group motivation to
achieve learning in mathematics” on page 232.

What was the children’s

task?

Initially, how did the teacher

want to motivate the
children?

What type of motivation

did the children want to
complete the task?

Did the motivational efforts

work? Why or why not?

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word or phrase. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. inclined (para. 1):

2. conceptions (para. 2):

a) terms b) ideas c) works

3. drawing on (para. 2):

a) creating a full picture
b) using as a resource
c) making comparisons between

4. anthropology (para. 2):

a) the study of history
b) the study of human language
c) the study of human beliefs and customs

5. embed (para. 4):

a) contrast
b) differentiate
c) see as part of

6. utilize (para. 5):

7. socialized (para. 7):

236 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Reading 3 Communication Studies

Managing Conflict

By R.B. Adler
1 People from most cultures prefer mutually beneficial
resolutions to disagreements whenever possible (Cai and Fink,
2002). Nonetheless, the ways in which people communicate
during conflicts do vary from one culture to another.
2 The kind of direct approach that characterizes many North
Americans is not the norm in other parts of the world. Similarly,
the assertiveness that might seem perfectly reasonable to a
Canadian would be rude and insensitive in many Asian countries
(Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988; Samovar et al., 2010).
3 Cultures like Japan and China value self-restraint, avoid confrontation, and Vocabulary
place a premium on preserving and honouring the “face” of the other person. For this Pay attention
reason, what seems like “beating around the bush” to a Canadian would be polite to an to these words
Asian. In Japan, for example, even a simple request like “Close the door” would be too and phrases
and write
straightforward (Okabe, 1987). A more indirect statement, such as “It is somewhat cold them in your
today,” would be more appropriate. To take a more important example, Japanese are vocabulary
reluctant to say no to a request. A more likely answer would be “Let me think about it notebook:
for a while,” which anyone familiar with Japanese culture would recognize as a refusal. self-restraint
4 The Japanese notion of self-restraint is reflected in the important concept of confrontation
wa, or harmony. Interpersonal harmony in Japanese culture includes a tendency place a
premium on
for individuals to be self-critical, rather than to find fault in others. A cross-cultural
reluctant
study compared Canadian and Japanese university students’ willingness to accept
accommodating
information that they were better than other students at their university at completing
disputes
a task and their reluctance to accept information that they had performed worse than
their peers (Heine et al., 2000). The results of their investigation supported the idea that
Canadians, on average, find it difficult to believe that they were outperformed by their
average classmate but easily accept that their own performance was superior. Japanese
students, in contrast, were reluctant to believe that they had outperformed the average
student from their university. While North Americans, on average, are motivated to
find out what is good about themselves and reluctant to find fault with themselves,
Japanese tend to search for their weaknesses in order to correct them. This Japanese
tendency to avoid the self-enhancement typical of more individualistic cultures and
engage in significantly more self-criticism serves to enhance the collectivistic value of
interpersonal harmony (wa) with others. There are at least two motives in collectivistic
cultures related to harmony. The first is to enhance harmony and actively promote group
cohesiveness, and in these instances taking a more assertive problem-solving approach
to interpersonal conflict is preferred. When the motive is to avoid the disintegration of
group harmony, avoidance or non-assertion are the preferred approaches to conflict
resolution (Lim, 2009).
5 Similar attitudes toward conflict prevail in China, where one proverb states, “The first
person to raise his voice loses the argument.” Among Chinese college students (in both
the People’s Republic and Taiwan), the three most common methods of persuasion
used are “hinting,” “setting an example by one’s own actions,” and “strategically agreeing
 UNIT Culture 237

to whatever pleases others” (Ma and Chuang, 2001). It appears that with globalization,
some of these preferences may be changing. Yan Bing Zhang and her colleagues (2005)
found that while older Chinese adults still preferred an accommodating style of
conflict resolution, the younger adults in their study viewed a problem-solving style just
as positively as an accommodating style.
6 It isn’t necessary to look at Asia to encounter cultural differences in conflict.
Many First Nations people in North America approach conflict very differently than
do individualistic Westerners. When disciplining their children, Indigenous people
often avoid direct criticism or reprimands. Instead, storytelling is the primary means of
teaching proper behaviour (Keeshig Tobias, 1990). In addition to storytelling, parents
model the behaviours expected of their children. The importance of developing and
maintaining good relationships is a fundamental value of First Nations culture, and there
is a belief that personal criticism is damaging and should be avoided (LaLonde, 1992).
7 The style of some other familiar cultures differs in important ways from the northern
European and North American norm. These cultures see verbal disputes as a form of
intimacy and even a game. For example, Canadians visiting Greece often think they are
witnessing an argument when they are overhearing a friendly conversation (Tannen,
1990). Likewise, both French and Arab men (but not women) find argument stimulating
(Copeland and Griggs, 1985). A comparative study of North American and Italian nursery
school children showed that one of the Italian children’s favourite pastimes was a kind of
heated debating that Italians call discussione but that North Americans would regard as
arguing. Likewise, research has shown that in the conversations of working-class Jewish
speakers of Eastern European origin, arguments are used as a means of being sociable.
8 People from Italy, Greece, and some parts of Eastern Europe may be more willing
to accept conflict because of their individualistic, low-context1 communication style of

Certain cultures enjoy passionate verbal disputes that North Americans might consider
to be argumentative.

1 In a low-context communication style, speakers are very explicit and direct, relying very little on contextual cues of a situation or culture.
By contrast, in high-context communication, cultural clues play an important role, so many things are left unsaid and have to be picked up
by communicators from context.
238 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

speaking directly and avoiding uncertainty. It’s not surprising that people from cultures
that emphasize harmony among people with close relationships tend to handle conflicts
in less direct ways. With differences like these, it is easy to imagine how two friends,
lovers, or fellow workers from different cultural backgrounds might have trouble finding
a conflict style that is comfortable for both of them.
9 Despite these differences, it is important to realize that culture is not the only
factor that influences the way people think about conflict or how they act when they
disagree. Some research (e.g., Beatty and McCroskey, 1997) suggests that our approach
to conflict may be part of our biological makeup. Furthermore, scholarship suggests a
person’s self-concept is more powerful than his or her culture in determining conflict
style (Oetzel et al., 2001; Ting-Toomey et al., 2001). For example, people who view
themselves as mostly independent of others are likely to use a direct, solution-oriented
conflict style, regardless of their cultural heritage. Those who see themselves as mostly
interdependent are likely to use a style that avoids direct confrontation. And those who
see themselves as both independent and interdependent are likely to have the widest
variety of conflict behaviours on which to draw.
10 Beyond individual temperament and self-concept, the environment in which we
are raised can shape the way we approach conflict. Parental conflict style plays a
role. Parents who use spanking and other forms of corporal punishment with their
children are more likely to have children who approve of using aggressive approaches
to problem solving, such as hitting, with their siblings and peers (Simons and Wurtele,
2010). The influence of parental modelling and style of conflict resolution can be seen
in adults as well. Research has revealed a significant relationship between the way a
mother handles conflict and the style used by her adult children (Martin et al., 1997).
Finally, the status of the people involved in a dispute has a powerful effect on conflict
styles, at least in individualistic cultures (Kim et al., 2007). When given two conflict
scenarios, one involving a classmate and the other involving a professor, students with
a more individualistic orientation indicated that they would use a more argumentative
approach with their classmate and feel more apprehension about the conflict with the
professor. In contrast, students with a more collectivistic orientation were not more
likely to be more argumentative with a peer and more avoidant with a professor, but
like their more individualistic peers, they too reported feeling more apprehension about
having a conflict with a professor (Kim et al., 2007).
11 Along with family influences, the “culture” of each relationship can shape how we
behave (Messman and Canary, 1998). You might handle disagreements calmly in a job
where rationality and civility are the norm, but shriek like a banshee2 at home if that’s
the way you and a relational partner handle disputes.
Source: R.B. Adler, L.B. Rosenfeld, R.F. Proctor, and C. Winder, Interplay, 3rd Canadian ed. (Oxford UP, 2012), pp. 333–335.

2 to scream or cry wildly

 UNIT Culture 239

Comprehension and Skills Practice

1. The words in the box below relate to dealing with conflict. Place each word or
phrase on the appropriate side of the T-chart, according to the way in which
conflict is traditionally dealt with in North America and in China or Japan.

indirect approach straightforwardness hinting

assertiveness blunt honesty modelling
self-restraint decisiveness non-assertion

North America China/Japan

2. Which example of communication would North Americans describe as “beating

around the bush”? Your colleague lives in the same neighbourhood as you. You
know that she usually drives to work, just like you. On Monday after work
a) she tells you that she has bought a new car, and she enjoys it very much.
b) she tells you that her car broke down, and she will have to spend an extra hour
travelling home from work by public transit.
c) she asks you for a ride home because her car broke down.
d) she says that today her husband is picking her up after work, and she is looking
forward to seeing him.

3. a) Based on the information in the reading, what kind of response would you
expect to the statement “It is somewhat cold today” in a Japanese classroom?

b) What might be the response to the same statement in a Canadian classroom?

4. a) What question did Heine and colleagues try to answer in their research (para. 4)?

b) Which cultural group scored higher on the scale of self-enhancement in this

research?

c) Complete the sentence.

A Japanese student would probably find it
to accept that his or her performance was worse than that of an average peer.

5. Which personal trait helps a person from a Japanese background to live harmoniously
with other people in her culture?
240 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

6. What are the two motives related to harmony in collectivistic cultures?

7. Mark each statement as T (true) or F (false).

a)  ssertiveness is not used as a part of interpersonal conflict resolution in
A
collectivistic societies.
b) Age may affect the way a person prefers to resolve conflicts.
c)  s nations become more culturally integrated, through work, travel,
A
and migration, there will likely be changes in the conflict resolution
methods we traditionally associate with one culture.

8. Do you think most Westerners would agree with the Chinese saying “The first
person to raise his voice loses an argument”? Why or why not?

9. Describe in your own words an “accommodating style of conflict resolution” and

list methods of persuasion used in this style.

10. Underline the main idea sentence in paragraph 6. Then highlight one detail that
supports this main idea.
11. a) Are conversational styles uniform among Western cultures?

b) What do Italians mean by discussione?

c) How might Canadians categorize this type of exchange?

12. What can be inferred from the authors’ discussion of different styles of conflict
resolution?
a) Different conflict styles create different societies: individualistic and collectivistic.
b) Culturally different styles of conflict resolution lead to harmonious relationships
between people.
c) Colleagues from different cultural backgrounds are likely to encounter some
communication problems.
d) Partners belonging to different cultural backgrounds should not get married.
 UNIT Culture 241

13. Paragraphs 9 to 11 list several factors, beyond culture, that influence our style of
conflict management. Fill in the factors and provide an example for each.

Factor shaping conflict style Example

A calm, quiet person will refrain from arguing loudly with
an opponent.

self-concept

Children handle conflict in a way similar to their parents.

the status of a person involved in conflict

the norms in each individual relationship

Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word parts to determine the correct meaning
of each word or phrase. Verify your answers using a dictionary if necessary.

1. self-restraint (para. 3):

2. confrontation (para. 3):

3. place a premium on (para. 3):

4. reluctant (para. 3):

a) unwilling
b) ready
c) motivated

5. accommodating (para. 5):

a) conflictual
b) involving management
c) helping others

6. disputes (para. 7):

242 Perspectives: Academic Reading Skills and Practice

Unit Reflection and Synthesis

1. Fill in the chart with specific examples of collectivistic and individualistic behaviours
related to various relationships. Use information from all three readings.

Individualistic Collectivistic
relationships with
family members

raising children

relationships with peers

(fellow students or
colleagues)

2. Using information from all three readings, summarize the reasons why a
collectivistic culture may become more individualistic over time, especially in the
twenty-first century.

3. One of the factors influencing our conflict resolution style is our “biological
makeup” (“Managing Conflict,” para. 9). How is this statement about the
connection between people’s cultural habits and their biology either supported or
contradicted in “Culture and the Self”?

4. Based on paragraph 8 of “Culture and the Self,” people of individualistic and

collectivistic backgrounds use different language to describe others: “Westerners
tend to use trait-describing adjectives (‘she is helpful’), whereas East Asians more
often use verbs that describe behaviour in context (‘she helps her friends’) (Heine
and Buchtel, 2009; Maass et al., 2006).”
Reread the introductory textbox in “Uncovering the Role of Culture in
Learning, Development, and Education.” Which of the two sentences below would
match an individualist’s language? Which would match a collectivist’s language?
a) My father is a good cook.
b) My father cooks delicious meals for us.
 UNIT Culture 243

5. In “Uncovering the Role of Culture in Learning, Development, and Education,”

the authors describe a conflict between a Latin American immigrant boy and
a European American teacher (although the teacher does not realize that the
situation involves a conflict).
Answer the following questions, based on your understanding of the second
and third readings.
a) What method of conflict resolution does the boy choose?

b) What are the boy’s motives for choosing to resolve the conflict in this way?

6. a) What recommendations would you offer to teachers and parents of students who
are in a situation like the one in “Uncovering the Role of Culture in Learning,
Development, and Education”?

b) Why is it less likely that a student from an individualistic culture would find
himself or herself in a culture that is predominantly collectivistic?

7. Use information from all three readings to answer the following questions.
What might be some negative consequences of living in an individualistic
culture? Are there any negatives to living in a collectivistic society? Fill in the chart.

The negative consequences of …

Living in an individualistic culture Living in a collectivistic culture

8. Do you think the authors of any of the readings in this unit are biased against the
values of an individualistic culture? Explain your answer.

9. a) Who is the target audience for the readings in this unit?

b) Do you personally find learning about the differences between collectivistic and
individualistic cultures useful? Why or why not?
Appendix
WORD PARTS
Word part Meaning Example
ab- away, from, off absent; abstemious (not allowing yourself to have much food or
alcohol or to do things that are enjoyable)
-able having the quality of; that comfortable; calculable (that can be calculated)
can or must be
acu- sharp, pointed acupuncture (a Chinese method of treating pain and illness using
special thin needles that are pushed into the skin in particular parts
of the body); acuity (the ability to think, see, or hear clearly)
ad- to, toward adapt; adequate
alter other, change alterable
ante- before, in front of antenatal (before birth); antedate (predate)
anti- opposed to, against; may antisocial; antidote (a substance that controls the effects of a poison
sometimes be a variant of or disease)
ante- (before)
bene- good benefit; benevolent (kind, helpful, and generous)
-cess, -cede, to go, to go back or yield access; recede (to move gradually away from somebody or away from
-ceed a previous position)
chron- time chronology (the order in which a series of events happened; a list of
these events in order); synchronize (to happen at the same time or to
move at the same speed as something)
circum-, around circulate; circumlocution (using more words than are necessary,
circu- instead of speaking or writing in a clear, direct way)
co-, con-, together, with cooperate; conflate (to put two or more things together to make one
com- new thing)
counter-, against, opposite counteract (to do something to reduce or prevent the bad or harmful
contra- effects of something); contradict (to be so different from each other
that one of them must be wrong)
curr-, curs- run concurrent (happening [running] at the same time); precursor (a
person or thing that comes before somebody/something similar and
that leads to or influences its development; forerunner)
de- away from, down from deregulate; descend
dis- not, negate disappear; disband (to stop something/somebody from operating as a
group)
dys- bad, abnormal dysfunctional; dystopia (an imaginary place or state in which
everything is extremely bad or unpleasant)
-ee a noun suffix indicating a employee; retiree
person toward whom the
action is directed
em-, en- to put into, cause embrace (to accept an idea, a proposal, a set of beliefs, etc.);
encompass (to include a large number or range of things; to surround
or cover something completely)
equ-, equi- equal equidistant; equipoise (a state of balance)
gen- birth, origin generate (to produce or create something); genesis (the beginning or
origin of something)
 Appendix: Word Parts 245

Word part Meaning Example

-gnosis know, knowledge diagnostic (connected with identifying something, especially an
illness)
graph- write, record autograph; photograph; topography (the physical features of an area
of land)
hyper- too much, over hypersensitive (easily offended; extremely physically sensitive to
particular substances, medicine, light, etc.)
il-, im-, in-, not, without illegal; impossible; inappropriate; irrelevant
ir-
-ize a verb suffix; to make standardize; socialize
something have a certain
quality
mal- bad, wrong malfunction; maladroit (clumsy)
medi- middle mediate (to try to end a disagreement between two or more people or
groups by talking to them and trying to find things that everyone can
agree on); median (located in or passing through the middle)
mis- bad, wrong misinterpret; misanthrope (a person who hates and avoids other
people)
mono- single monogamy; monoglot (a person who speaks only one language)
non- not nonconformist; nonexistent
omni- all omniscient (knowing everything)
opt- best optimal
pan- all pandemic (a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole
world)
per- through, throughout perennial (continuing for a very long time; [of plants] living for two
years or more)
peri- around, surrounding perimeter; peripatetic (going from place to place)
phys- related to nature or natural physical; physician
things
pre- before preview; presuppose (to accept something as true or existing, and act
on that basis before it has been proved to be true)
proto- original; primitive protocol (the first or original version of an agreement, especially a
treaty between countries, etc.); protonym (a name used for a new
species that may not yet be officially recognized)
re- again, back reverse; relocate
scrib-, write, written scripture; prescribe; ascribe (to consider or state that a book, etc., was
script- written by a particular person; to attribute)
spect- see, look inspect; spectator
sub- under subtitle; substandard; subterranean (under the ground)
un- not unaffected; unadulterated (not mixed with other substances)
under- below, beneath, not undercover; undercooked
enough
uni- one unicorn; unification (the joining of people, things, parts of a country,
etc., together so that they form a single unit)
ver- true verdict (a decision that you make or an opinion that you give about
something, after you have tested it or considered it carefully);
verisimilitude (the quality of seeming to be true or real)
-vert, -vers turn convert; subversive (trying or likely to destroy or damage a
government or political system by attacking it secretly or indirectly)
-volve roll, turn evolution
Index
ab- (prefix), 244 climate change, 43 “The DNA Olympics,” 120–5
-able (suffix), 244 cloning, 68–70 Dods, R.R., 34–5, 117–20
accommodation, 23 co-/con-/com- (prefix), 244 “Drug Addicts Should Be Sent to Isolated
acu- (prefix), 244 Coleman, Isobel, 211–16 Work Camps,” 72–4
ad- (prefix), 244 Communication Studies (discipline), 236–41 dys- (prefix), 244
ad hominem argument, 96 communications technology, 31
Adams, Jill U., 134–7 comparison, 47 Easter Island, 41–2
Adler, R.B., 236–41 Computer Sciences (discipline), 104–8 Economics (discipline), 211–16
“Against Designer Babies,” 89–91 conflicts, 22–5 Education (discipline), 230–5
alter (prefix), 244 context, meaning in, 28–30 -ee (suffix), 244
alternative media sources, 31 contrast(s), 47, 89 Electrical Engineering (discipline), 142–7
analogies, 88, 96 cornucopians, 48 elements, 64
anecdotes, 65 “Coronavirus Tracking Apps,” 100–4 Ellis, Emma Grey, 126–30
animal domestication, 43 counter-arguments, 88 em-/en- (prefix), 244
ante- (prefix), 244 counter-/contra- (prefix), 244 emotional tone, 88
Anthropology (discipline), 117–20 “Covid-19 Is Killing Black People entertainment, as purpose of text, 77–83
anti- (prefix), 244 Unequally,” 126–30 Entine, Jon, 120–5
antonyms, 28 crime, 66–7, 70–1 environment, 48
argument(s) Criminology (discipline), 109–13 Environmental Studies (discipline), 134–7
assessment of, 77 Csernatoni, Raluca, 100–4 equ-/equi- (prefix), 244
entertainment and, 77–83 “Culture and the Self,” 224–30 examples, 65, 88
informing reader and, 77–83 “...Culture in Learning, Development, and explicit information, 57
logic in, 91–6 Education,” 230–5
persuasion and, 77–83 curr-/curs- (prefix), 244 face coverings, 93
support for, 91–6 Curtis, J., 7–8 “Facial Recognition in 2020,” 104–8
Aristotle, 64 facts, 32, 57
astronomy, 58–9 DDT, 32 opinions vs., 63–4, 72–4
audience, 83–7 de- (prefix), 244 Ferguson, W., 81–2
avoidance, 23 definition, 47 fertility rates, 44–5
description, 47 feudalism, 48
bandwagon (logical reasoning), 96 “Diet and Cancer Prevention,” 192–7 “Foolish committees,” 12–16
Baumeister, R.F., 11–13 dis- (prefix), 244 Foreign Policy (discipline), 211–16
bene- (prefix), 244 Disciplines (of reading texts)
biased opinions, 67–74, 83 Anthropology, 117–20 Gardner, Dan, 137–42
Biology (discipline), 189–92 Biology, 189–92 Garfinkel, Harold, 8
biometrics, 59–60 Communication Studies, 236–41 gen- (prefix), 244
Blum, J., 83–4 Computer Sciences, 104–8 genetic enhancement, 89–91
bottled water, 71–2 Criminology, 109–13 geographic information system (GIS),
“Breaking the Cycle,” 217–20 Economics, 211–16 40–1
Bushman, B., 11–13 Education, 230–5 geography, human, 38–9
Butsang, Tenzin, 217–20 Electrical Engineering, 142–7 “The Geography of Happiness,” 52–5
Environmental Studies, 134–7 Ghaffary, Shirin, 104–8
Campbell, N., 189–92 Foreign Policy, 211–16 Gino, Francesca, 65
“Canadians Becoming More Bilingual, Health Care, 126–30 “The Global Glass Ceiling,” 211–16
Linguistically Diverse...,” 77–9 Health Sciences, 192–202 globalization, 64
“Cancer Cells,” 189–92 Health Studies, 134–7 -gnosis (suffix), 245
capitalism, 48 Indigenous Studies, 217–20 graph (prefix/suffix), 245
Carson, Rachel, 32 Marketing, 174–8, 205–10 graphical information, 49–52
Cateora, P.R., 174–8, 205–10 Policing, 178–84 Gritzner, Charles, 38
cause-effect, 47, 65 Public Health, 100–4 “Groupthink,” 11–16
-cess/-cede/-ceed (suffix), 244 Psychology, 168–74, 178–84, 224–30 Guido Valla, Luca, 178–84
Chernobyl nuclear accident, 43 Resource Management, 137–42 guns, 70–1
chimpanzees in science experiments, 92–3 Sport Sciences, 120–5
chron (root), 27, 244 Sustainability Studies, 157–60 Health (discipline), 100–4, 126–30, 134–7,
circum-/circu-/circul- (prefix), 26, 244 Technology, 161–4 192–202
citations, 33 Transportation Studies, 157–60 Health Care (discipline), 126–30
classification, 47 Urban Studies, 152–7 Health Sciences (discipline), 192–202
 Index 247

Health Studies (discipline), 134–7 opinions, 57 social stratification, 66

Helmer, Jodi, 157–60 biased, 67–72 socialism, 48
Hooper, J., 197–202 facts vs., 63–4, 72–4 “Speak English, s’il vous plait!...,” 79–81
“House Arrest, Electronic Monitoring, informed, 64–7 spect (prefix/suffix), 245
and Global Positioning Systems,” presenting support for, 87 speech patterns, 61
109–13 opt- (prefix), 245 Sport Sciences (discipline), 120–5
hyper- (prefix), 245 organizational patterns, 46–8 statistical data, 65
Orwell, George, 11 “Status and Role,” 7–8
il-/im-/in-/ir- (prefix), 245 overgeneralization, 96 “Staying Power,” 142–7
implicit information, 57 oversimplification, 96 Stohr, M.K., 109–13
Indigenous Studies (discipline), 217–20 sub- (prefix), 25, 245
inferences, 57 pan- (prefix), 245 subjectivity, 63
valid vs. invalid, 57, 58–62, 72–4 paraphrasing, 33, 36 suffixes, 25–7, 244–5
information, as purpose of text, 77–83 passive aggression, 23 summarizing, 5–6, 45–6
informed opinions, 64–7, 72–4 “People Movers,” 157–60 sunglasses, 65
“Insite,” 74–5 per- (prefix), 245 supporting details
Internet (reading), 84–7 peri- (prefix), 245 main ideas vs., 38–41
Internet searches, 87 personal experience, 65 major vs. minor, 44–5
Iyengar, Sheena, 17 perspectives, differing, 30–1, 60–1 in reading, 5
-ize (suffix), 245 persuasion Sustainability Studies (discipline), 157–60
as purpose of text, 77–83 synonyms, 28
key terms, 5 techniques of, 87–91
Krimsky, Sheldon, 89–91 phys- (prefix), 245 Tannen, Deborah, 61
Policing (discipline), 178–84 Technology (discipline), 161–4
languages, 77–81 polling companies, 32 Tepperman, L., 7–8
“Languages,” 49–51 pre- (prefix), 245 terms, identification of, 22–5
Lavenda, R.H., 34–5, 117–20 prefixes, 25–7, 244–5 Thompson K., 142–7
“Learned Helplessness vs. Personal Control,” “Prejudice,” 168–74 “Traffic Jam,” 152–7
16–20 private vs. public schools, 92 Transportation Studies (discipline), 157–60
Leary, Mark, 28 problem-solution, 47 Trotter, Gayle S., 70–1
logical reasoning process (organizational pattern), 47 Turnbull, Colin, 62
in argument, 91–6 “Product Research and Purchase,” 86–7
faulty, 94–6 proto- (prefix), 245 un- (prefix), 245
as informed opinion, 65 Psychology (discipline), 168–74, 178–84, under- (prefix), 245
as persuasion technique, 88 224–30 unfamiliar words, 5, 30–2
Public Health (discipline), 100–4 uni- (prefix), 245
MacDonald, Geoff, 28 Purdy, Brian, 72–4 Urban Studies (discipline), 152–7
main ideas “Urbanization in Canada,” 51–2
implied, 41–3 “Race,” 117–20
in reading, 5 rainfall, 48 “Variety in Curing Practices,” 34–5
summarizing, 5–6 re- (prefix), 245 ver- (prefix), 245
supporting details vs., 38–41 readiness, monitoring, 6 ver (root), 27
mal- (prefix), 245 reading Verger, Rob, 161–4
“Managing Conflict,” 236–41 and academic success, 3 vert/vers (root), 26
maps, 39–40 making notes, 5 -vert/-vers (suffix), 245
Marketing (discipline), 174–8, 205–10 previewing/predicting, 5 vocabulary
Mbuti people, 62 with purpose, 4–5 identifying terms, 22–5
McKinley, Sarah, 70 summarizing, 5–6 integration of strategies, 34–6
meaning in context, 28–30 and vocabulary expansion, 6 less important unfamiliar words, 30–2
medi- (prefix), 245 Reece, J., 189–92 meaning in context, 28–30
Mercator, Gerardus, 39–40 research, 65, 87 notebook, 6
mis- (prefix), 245 Resource Management (discipline), 137–42 paraphrasing and, 33
mono- (prefix), 245 roots (of words), 25–7, 244–5 reading, and expansion of, 6
Myers, D.G., 16–17, 168–74, 224–30 Rothstein-Fisch, C., 230–5 word parts, 25–7
volve (root), 26
“The Nature Antidote,” 134–7 Schultz, E.A., 34–5, 117–20 -volve (suffix), 245
non- (prefix), 245 Schwartz, Barry, 17
non-assertion, 23 scientific theories, 64 “Warnings about Online Shopping,” 84–5
“Not Only Whites,” 178–84 scrib-/script- (prefix), 245 “Ways to Turn Your Website into a Sales
nuclear program in Japan, 93, 137–42 “...Self-Driving Cars?,” 161–4 Machine,” 83–4
“The Self-Reference Criterion,” 174–8 “What Happens When You Live?,” 197–202
objectivity, 63, 65, 83 Seligman, Martin, 16, 17 “What’s in a Name?,” 81–3
Oettingen, Gabrielle, 17 Sheehan, B., 86–7 “Why Japan Took the Nuclear Risk,” 137–42
omni- (prefix), 26, 245 Siemiatycki, M., 152–7 Williams, Kipling, 28
online sales/shopping, 83–7 Simon, E., 189–92 “Women in International Marketing,” 205–10
online sources, 87 social construction of realities, 66 Wood, Evan, 74–5
openness in language, 60–1 social exclusion, 28–31 word parts, 25–7, 244–5
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About the Author

Marina Rozenberg has been teaching English for more than 20 years in Canada and
abroad. She is grateful to work in the field she loves, and her textbooks are inspired by
classroom and online experiences with students. Marina is also an IELTS speaking
examiner. In her spare time, she likes playing tennis, planting and painting flowers,
and reading biographies. She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family.