Reading Test - Class Test 7 -MCQ

Note: Only registered users can submit the test and view the result.

READING PASSAGE 1

The debate surrounding literacy is one of the most charged in education. On the one hand there is an army of people convinced that traditional skills of reading and writing are declining. On the other, a host of progressives protest that literacy is much more complicated than a simple technical mastery of reading and writing. This second position is supported by most of the relevant academic work over the past 20 years. These studies argue that literacy can only be understood in its social and technical context. In Renaissance England, for example, many more people could read than could write, and within reading there was a distinction between those who could read print and those who could manage the more difficult task of reading manuscript. An understanding of these earlier periods helps us understand today’s ‘crisis in literacy’ debate.

READING PASSAGE 2

The decision of some car manufacturers to issue their instructions to mechanics as a video pack rather than as a handbook might be taken to spell the end of any automatic link between industrialisation and literacy. On the other hand, it is also the case that ever-increasing numbers of people make their living out of writing, which is better rewarded than ever before. Schools are generally seen as institutions where the book rules - film, television and recorded sound have almost no place; but it is not clear that this opposition is appropriate. While you may not need to read and write to watch television, you certainly need to be able to read and write in order to make programmes.

READING PASSAGE 3

There is a crisis in literacy and it would be foolish to ignore it. To understand that literacy may be declining because it is less central to some aspects of everyday life is not the same as acquiescing in this state of affairs. The production of schoolwork with the new technologies could be a significant stimulus to literacy. How should these new technologies be introduced into the schools? It isn’t enough to call for computers, camcorders and edit suites in every classroom; unless they are properly integrated into the educational culture, they will stand unused. Evidence suggests that this is the fate of most information technology used in the classroom. Similarly, although media studies are now part of the national curriculum, and more and more students are now clamouring to take these courses, teachers remain uncertain about both methods and aims in this area.

READING PASSAGE 4

The new media now point not only to a futuristic cyber-economy, they also make our cultural past available to the whole nation. Most children’s access to these treasures is initially through television. It is doubtful whether our literary heritage has ever been available to or sought out by more than about 5 per cent of the population; it has certainly not been available to more than 10 per cent. But the new media joined to the old, through the public service tradition of British broadcasting, now makes our literary tradition available to all.

READING PASSAGE 5

From a number of recent studies, it has become clear that blind people can appreciate the use of outlines and perspectives to describe the arrangement of objects and other surfaces in space. But pictures are more than literal representations. This fact was drawn to my attention dramatically when a blind woman in one of my investigations decided on her own initiative to draw a wheel as it was spinning. To show this motion, she traced a curve inside the circle. I was taken aback. Lines of motion, such as the one she used, are a very recent invention in the history of illustration. Indeed, as art scholar David Kunzle notes, Wilhelm Busch, a trend-setting nineteenth-century cartoonist, used virtually no motion lines in his popular figures until about 1877.

When I asked several other blind study subjects to draw a spinning wheel, one particularly clever rendition appeared repeatedly: several subjects showed the wheel’sspokes as curved lines. When asked about these curves, they all described them asmetaphorical ways of suggesting motion. Majority rule would argue that this devicesomehow indicated motion very well. But was it a better indicator than, say, brokenor wavy lines – or any other kind of line, for that matter? The answer was not clear. SoI decided to test whether various lines of motion were apt ways of showing movementor if they were merely idiosyncratic marks. Moreover, I wanted to discover whetherthere were differences in how the blind and the sighted interpreted lines of motion.

READING PASSAGE 6

Traditional ways of teaching form the basis of the lesson in Japaneese schools. The remarkably quiet classes take their own notes of the points made and the examples demonstrated. Everyone has their own copy of the textbook supplied by the central education authority, Monbusho, as part of the concept of free compulsory education up to the age of 15. These textbooks are, overall, small, presumably inexpensive to produce, but well set out and logically developed. (One teacher was particularly keen to introduce colour and pictures into maths textbooks: he felt this would make them more accessible to pupils brought up in a cartoon culture.) Besides approving textbooks, Monbusho also decides the highly centralised national curriculum and how it is to be delivered.

READING PASSAGE 7

Lessons in a Japanese school follow the same pattern. At the beginning, the pupils put solutions to the homework on the board, then the teachers comment, correct or elaborate as necessary. Pupils mark their own homework: this is an important principle in Japanese schooling as it enables pupils to see where and why they made a mistake, so that these can be avoided in future. No one minds mistakes or ignorance as long as you are prepared to learn from them.

After the homework has been discussed, the teacher explains the topic of the lesson, slowly and with a lot of repetition and elaboration. Examples are demonstrated on the board; questions from the textbook are worked through first with the class, and then the class is set questions from the textbook to do individually. Only rarely are supplementary worksheets distributed in a maths class. The impression is that the logical nature of the textbooks and their comprehensive coverage of different types of examples, combined with the relative homogeneity of the class, renders work sheets unnecessary. At this point, the teacher would circulate and make sure that all the pupils were coping well.

READING PASSAGE 8

It is remarkable that large, mixed-ability classes could be kept together for maths throughout all their compulsory schooling from 6 to 15. Teachers say that they give individual help at the end of a lesson or after school, setting extra work if necessary. In observed lessons, any strugglers would be assisted by the teacher or quietly seek help from their neighbour. Carefully fostered class identity makes pupils keen to help each other - anyway, it is in their interests since the class progresses together.

This scarcely seems adequate help to enable slow learners to keep up. However, the Japanese attitude towards education runs along the lines of 'if you work hard enough, you can do almost anything'. Parents are kept closely informed of their children's progress and will play a part in helping their children to keep up with class, sending them to 'Juku' (private evening tuition) if extra help is needed and encouraging them to work harder. It seems to work, at least for 95 per cent of the school population.

READING PASSAGE 9

What are the major contributing factors in the success of maths teaching? Clearly, attitudes are important. Education is valued greatly in Japanese culture; maths is recognised as an important compulsory subject throughout schooling; and the emphasis is on hard work coupled with a focus on accuracy.

Other relevant points relate to the supportive attitude of a class towards slower pupils, the lack of competition within a class, and the positive emphasis on learning for oneself and improving one's own standard. And the view of repetitively boring lessons and learning the facts by heart, which is sometimes quoted in relation to Japanese classes, may be unfair and unjustified. No poor maths lessons were observed. They were mainly good and one or two were inspirational .

You are kindly requested to report any errors using the following link

Question 1

When discussing the debate on literacy in education, the writer notes that

Children cannot read and write as well as they used to

Academic work has improved over the last 20 years

There is evidence that literacy is related to external factors

There are opposing arguments that are equally convincing

Question 2

In this paragraph, the writer’s main point is that

The printed word is both gaining and losing power

All inventions bring disadvantages as well as benefits

Those who work in manual jobs no longer need to read

The media offers the best careers for those who like writing

Question 3

According to the writer, the main point that schools face today is

how best to teach skills of reading and writing

how best to incorporate technology into classroom teaching

finding the means to purchase technological equipment

managing the widely differing levels of literacy amongst pupils

Question 4

The writer is suggesting that

literature and culture cannot be divorced

the term ‘literacy’ has not been very useful.

10 per cent of the population never read literature.

our exposure to cultural information is likely to increase.

Question 5-6

In the first paragraph the writer makes the point that blind people

may be interested in studying art.

can draw outlines of different objects and surfaces.

can recognise conventions such as perspective.

can draw accurately.

The writer was surprised because the blind woman

drew a circle on her own initiative.

did not understand what a wheel looked like.

included a symbol representing movement.

was the first person to use lines of motion.

Question 7

Maths textbooks in Japanese schools are

cheap for pupils to buy.

well organised and adapted to the needs of the pupils.

written to be used in conjunction with TV programmes.

not very popular with many Japanese teachers.

Question 8

When a new maths topic is introduced,

students answer questions on the board.

students rely entirely on the textbook.

it is carefully and patiently explained to the students.

it is usual for students to use extra worksheets.

Question 9

How do schools deal with students who experience difficulties?

They are given appropriate supplementary tuition

They are encouraged to copy from other pupils.

They are forced to explain their slow progress.

They are placed in a mixed-ability class.

Question 10

Why do Japanese students tend to achieve relatively high rates of success in maths?

It is a compulsory subject in Japan.

They are used to working without help from others.

Much effort is made and correct answers are emphasised

There is a strong emphasis on repetitive learning.

Questions

00:00 00:00

SECTION 1

Login Now

Only logged in users can submit the test.

Report Error

Name

Phone Number

Email address

Question Number

Details