Key Features
• Focus on the basics. The book seeks to explain, in an extremely clear, step-by-step way, the essential elements of each skill. Many examples are provided to ensure that students understand each point. In general, the focus is on teaching the skills—not just on explaining them and not just on testing them.
• Frequent practice and feedback. In the belief that progress is made largely through abundant practice and careful feedback, this book includes numerous activities. Students can get immediate feedback on the practice exercises in Part I by turning to the limited answer key at the back of the book. The answers to the review and mastery tests in Part I, the reading questions in Part II, and the combined-skills tests in Part III are in the Instructor’s Manual.
The limited answer key increases the active role that students take in their own learning. Also, they are likely to use the answer key in an honest and positive way if they know that they may be tested on the many activities and selections for which answers are not provided. (Answers not in the book can be easily copied from the Instructor’s Edition or the Instructor’s Manual and passed out at the teacher’s discretion.
• High interest level. Dull and unvaried readings and exercises work against learning. Students need to experience genuine interest and enjoyment in what they read. Teachers as well should be able to take pleasure in the selections, for their own good feeling about them can carry over favorably into class work. The readings in the book, then, have been chosen not only for the appropriateness of their reading level but also for their compelling content. They should appeal to a wide range of students—developmental students, students for whom English is a second language, and Adult Basic Education students. They also take into account the diverse backgrounds of such students.
• Ease of use. The logical sequence in each chapter—from explanation to example to practice to review tests to mastery tests—helps make the skills easy to teach. The book’s organization into distinct parts also makes for ease of use. Within a single class, for instance, instructors can work on a particular skill in Part I, review another skill with a mastery test, and provide variety by having students read one of the selections in Part II. The limited answer key at the back of the book also makes for versatility: it means that an instructor can assign parts of each chapter for self-teaching. Finally, the mastery tests—each on its own tear-out page—and the combined-skills tests make it a simple matter for a teacher to test and evaluate student progress.
• Integration of skills. Students do more than learn the skills individually in Part I. They also learn to apply the skills together through the reading selections in Parts I and II and through the combined-skills tests in Part III. They become effective readers and thinkers by means of a good deal of practice in applying a combination of skills.
• Online exercises. As they complete each skills chapter, students are invited to go online to the Townsend Press website to work on two additional practice exercises that reinforce what has been taught in the chapter.
• Thinking activities. Thinking activities—in the form of outlining, mapping, and summarizing—are a distinctive feature of the book. In addition, three discussion questions at the end of each reading selection encourage student reflection, as do the writing activities that are provided for each selection.
• Supplementary materials. The three helpful supplements listed below are available at no charge to instructors who have adopted the text.
1. An Instructor’s Edition—chances are that you are holding it in your hand—is identical to the student book except that it also provides hints for teachers (see the front of the book), answers to all the practices and tests, and comments on most answers. No other book on the market has such detailed and helpful annotations.
2. A combined Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank includes suggestions for teaching the course, a model syllabus, and readability levels for the text and the reading selections. The test bank contains four additional mastery tests for each of the skills chapters in Part I—all on letter-sized sheets so they can be copied easily for use with students.
3. Online exercises provide two additional mastery tests for most of the skills in Part I of the book. The exercises contain a number of user-and instructor-friendly features: brief explanations of answers, a sound option, frequent mention of the user’s first name, a running score, and a record-keeping score file.
The two print supplements can be obtained quickly by calling Townsend Press (1-800-772-6410), by sending a fax on school letterhead to 1-800-225-8894, or by e-mailing Customer Service at cs@townsendpress.com.
Changes in the Fourth Edition
• Major chapter additions. Three chapters newly added to the book are “Getting Started,” “Inferences,” and “The Basics of Argument.” To make room for these new chapters, three chapters on phonics and a section on word parts have been removed. They are available in another version of this book, Groundwork for College Reading with Phonics.
• Fresh materials. Almost three-quarters of the practice materials in the book are new, along with seven new readings. All the chapters in Part I now begin with a preview titled “This Chapter in a Nutshell.” Chapters that have undergone considerable revision include “Dictionary Use,” “Main Ideas,” and the two chapters on relationships, now titled “Signal Words I” and “Signal Words II.”
• Greater visual appeal. The fourth edition uses illustrations, cartoons, book covers, and photographs to provide practice in or reinforcement of comprehension skills. The materials are not just visual window dressing; they serve a meaningful pedagogical purpose. In addition, more color, as well as boxes, rules, and screens, is used to highlight material. The book is more visually friendly without becoming visually cluttered.
• Alternate editions. Instructors now have two choices available: editions of the book with or without phonics, depending on the backgrounds and needs of the students in their classes. In contrast to Groundwork for College Reading, Groundwork for College Reading with Phonics has one fewer reading but includes four chapters on phonics and word parts.
Table of Contents
Preface: To the Instructor
How to Become a Better Reader and Thinker
PART I
Ten Steps to College Reading
1 Getting Started Reading: A Parent Gets a Reading Lesson Lucia Herndon
Mastery Tests
2 Dictionary Use
Reading: Discovering Words Malcolm X
Mastery Tests 63
3 Vocabulary in Context
Reading: One Less Sucker Lives Jeanne R. Smith
Mastery Tests
4 Main Ideas
Reading: Classroom Notetaking Robin White
Mastery Tests
5 Supporting Details
Reading: Winning the Job Interview Game Marcia Prentergast
Mastery Tests
6 Finding Main Ideas
Reading: Learning Survival Skills Jean Coleman
Mastery Tests
7 Signal Words I
Reading: Migrant Child to College Woman Maria Cardenas
Mastery Tests
8 Signal Words II Reading: Life Over Death Bill Broderick
Mastery Tests
9 Inferences
Reading: Dare to Think Big Dr. Ben Carson
Mastery Tests
10 The Basics of Argument
Reading: Why We Shop Anita Rab
Mastery Tests
PART II
Ten Reading Selections
1 Learning to Read: The Marvel Kretzmann Story Mary Sherry
2 Tickets to Nowhere Andy Rooney
3 The Fist, the Clay, and the Rock Donald Holland
4 A Brother’s Lesson Christopher de Vinck
5 Joe Davis Beth Johnson
6 Rosa: A Success Story Edward Patrick
7 The Lady, or the Tiger? Frank R. Stockton
8 Dawn’s Story Nancy Kerns
9 Knowledge Is Power Anna-Maria Petricic
10 A Love Affair with Books Bernadete Piassa
PART III
Combined-Skills Tests
APPENDIXES
Pronunciation Guide
Writing Assignments
Limited Answer Key
Acknowledgments
Index
Reading Performance Chart