Summarize the ideas of the passage be picking up key sentences from each paragraph. The first is done for you

Now give answers to the following questions.

Find in the passage and read aloud the sentences or parts of sentences which mean the following. The questions follow the order of information in the passage.

1 It is not easy to give an unambiguous answer to the question whether electronic media exacerbate illiteracy or not.

2 There is evidence that literacy is related to external factors.

3 To some extent, it was the new inventions that diminished the role of reading and writing in everyday life.

4 The printed word is both gaining and losing power.

5 Unlike television, the computer presupposes basic literacy skills on part of the user.

6 The main problem that schools face today is how best to incorporate technology into classroom teaching.

7 School alone will not find a solution to this problem.

8 The word ‘literacy’ has lost its original meaning and doesn’t seem to be very useful today.

9 Owing to the new technologies, people are likely to be more exposed to cultural information.

1 Why isn’t it easy to analyze literacy levels as it used to be? What should be taken into consideration to do it?

2 What was the original meaning of the word ‘literate’? What was it opposed to?

3 Which facts demonstrate the decline in literacy, according to the writer?

4 Which facts assert the opposite?

5 Why aren’t the new media properly used in schools? Whose fault is it, according to the writer?

6 What ‘old skills are the new media destroying’, in your opinion? And what about the critical thinking?

7 What do the figures 5 and 10 per cent mean in the passage?

Paragraph	Idea/s
	1… traditional skills of reading and writing are declining 2…literacy is much more complicated than a simple technical mastery of reading and writing

74 Language Focus

The passage contains some ‘education’ terms. Can you give their Belarusian/Russian equivalents?

1 traditional skills of reading and writing.

2 a simple technical mastery of reading and writing.

3 to read print, to read manuscript..

4 an overall decline in some aspects of reading and writing.

5 a decrease in vocabulary and simplification of syntax.

6 a source of topical information.

7 formal education.

8 a video pack, a handbook.

9 to master reading and writing.

10 to integrate old and new media in schools.

11 to introduce new technologies into schools.

12 to blend new technologies into the classroom.

13 computers, camcorders and edit suites (computer programs).

14 national curriculum.

15 media studies.

16 educational institutions.

17 education reforms.

18 to join the new media to the old.

75 Discussion

With a partner, discuss the following.

1 The article discusses literacy problems in Britain. And what about this country?

2 Would you agree that because of the new media ‘there has been an overall decline in some aspects of reading and writing’?

3 Would you also agree that television ‘ has usurped the role of print as a source of topical information’?

4 In Britain for many people the only use for writing, outside formal education, is the compilation of shopping lists. And what about your country? What do people mostly write and read?

5 Would you agree with the statement that ‘ schools are …institutions where the book rules – film, television and recorded sound have almost no place?

6 In your opinion, how can new technologies be blended into the classroom?

Getting professional

76 Act out a short talk to your ‘teacher colleagues’ about literacy problems in Britain and in this country.

77 @ Write a prècis of the passage following the given instructions.

78 Reading comprehension test

A. Read the following magazine article about e-mail and answer questions 1-5 below.

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