Learning to read

In Unit 1 we studied the first step in finding out the approximate meaning of unfamiliar words – identifying the the part of speech as a means of limiting the range of meanings. The second step in working out the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to examine the immediate context of the word – the sentence in which it appears. Often the sentence contains enough clues to help you to get an approximate meaning of the word.

The third step in finding the approximate meaning of an unfamiliar word is to use the wider context. Sometimes the immediate context may not give you enough help. It is necessary then to look at the wider context for more clues.

Sometimes a writer explains an unfamiliar word for the reader. This is especially true for technical vocabulary, titles and names which cannot be found in a dictionary.

You can find explanations in the following ways:

• using the verb ‘to be’. The object following the verb ‘to be’ is frequently used to identify the subject.

Introspection is a method of data collection in which observers examine, record, and describe their own internal mental processes and experiences.

• using appositions. A noun or noun group that follows a noun and is set off by commas is called an apposition. It identifies the noun it follows.

At the end of the last century, psychology concerned itself mainly with the study of mind and consciousness through introspection, the description of experience. (introspection is the description of experience)

James R. Angell, Watson's professor at the University of Chicago, noted as early as 1918 the pressure to shift the focus of psychology from consciousness to behaviour.

(James R. Angell was a professor, who worked at the University of Chicago and taught Watson)

• using punctuation. Punctuation marks are sometimes used to set off a word that is being used to identify another word. Some of the punctuation marks you may see used in this way are:

commas, dashes – parentheses ( ) brackets [ ] single quotation marks ‘ ’

double quotation marks “ ”.

The colon : is used when an explanation or more information follows.

Holt (1967) maintains that many psychologists subscribing to this misconception of natural science are too rigorous, objective and mechanistic (machine-like) in trying to emulate the nomothetic approach.(mechanistic means machine-like)

• using ‘or’. A word or phrase is sometimes identified by a synonym following the word ‘or’

The "GESTALT", the whole, or "pattern", is more than the sum of its parts.(gestalt is a pattern)

• using ‘that is’, ‘i.e.’ and ‘in other words’.These words are used to say what something means or to give more information.

Freud used case studies to develop and illustrate a comprehensive theory of personality – that is, of the total, functioning person. (presonality is the total, functioning person)

• using examples. A word or phrase is sometimes identified by examples. These terms often introduce examples: as, like, for example, for instance, e.g., such as

Social learning theorists such as Albert Bandura focused on the importance of modeling and imitation in the learning processes. (Albert Bandura is a social learning theorist)

• using referents. Referents are words that refer back to or forward to other words in the sentence or paragraph.

Rene Descartes theorized that the body and mind are separate entities. This position became known as dualism.(dualism is the theory that the body and mind are separate entities)