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THE PROCESS OF PARAPHRASING:
EXERCISES TO BUILD PARAPHRASING SKILLS
Tammy Guy Harshbarger
Introduction
Paraphrasing is a complex process that requires advanced

grammar skills and a large vocabulary in order to effectively restate
information. Students can have difficulty paraphrasing if they have had
little or no experience paraphrasing and if they don’t have the grammar
and vocabulary skills to paraphrase appropriately. Giving students
paraphrasing exercises on a regular basis, in class or as homework,
can help them become more familiar with the process of paraphrasing.
Having students paraphrase a complex sentence in several different ways
can help them learn how to use a wide variety of grammatical structures
and vocabulary. Analyzing the grammar and vocabulary used in several
possible paraphrases of a sentence can help them understand paraphrasing
and can help them improve their grammar and vocabulary skills. This
paper will examine examples of paraphrasing exercises the author gave
her Academic Writing II students at Tsuda College for five years, from
2008 to 2012. What the students thought of the exercises and what they
learned from them will also be discussed.
My Experience Teaching Paraphrasing
In 1996 I first began teaching English language students how to

paraphrase when I taught a class on how to write a 10-page research
paper in the Academic English Language Program at the University
of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The book I was using, Writing
Research Papers by Andrew Harnack, briefly mentioned paraphrasing:
“…you can paraphrase ‘specific sentences and passages’ by converting
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68 Tammy Guy Harshbarger
them in your own words” (64-65). Steps on how to paraphrase or

examples of correct and incorrect paraphrases were not given. The book
had a model research paper in the appendix and a paraphrase was pointed
out, but the original source of the paraphrase was not given. I could
show my students what a paraphrase looked like, but since I didn’t have
the original sentence to compare it to, I couldn’t explain the process of
paraphrasing to them.
In 2005 I didn’t have a textbook when I taught English language
students how to write a 30-page research paper in the Department of
English Language and Literature at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat,
Oman. I went online and used the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) to
teach paraphrasing. I printed out sections on paraphrasing, gave them to
my students and explained them in class. The section “Paraphrase: Write
it in Your Own Words” includes “6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing”.
The steps include: “Reread the original passage until you understand
its full meaning….Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase
on a note card….Check your rendition with the original to make sure
that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in
a new form” (The Purdue OWL). The website also offers “the original
passage”, “a legitimate paraphrase” and “a plagiarized version”. There is
no explanation of why the paraphrase is legitimate or why the version is
plagiarized.
From 2008 to 2012, I taught paraphrasing to English language
students in Academic Writing II in the Department of English at Tsuda
College in Tokyo, Japan. In the first semester students write 200-300
word essays and in the second semester they write 200-300 word essays
and a 1,500 word research paper. I used three textbooks over a period of
five years: Writing Academic English by Alice Ohima and Ann Hogue,
A Writer’s Reference by Diana Hacker, and A Pocket Style Manual by
Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers. In Writing Academic English the
chapter on paraphrasing gives an original passage, a paraphrase and
two unacceptable paraphrases, and a short explanation why they are
unacceptable: “Paraphrase 2 is plagiarism because it is too similar to the
original” (129). It offers five steps for paraphrasing, which include: “Read
the original passage several times until you understand it fully…. It helps

The Process of Paraphrasing 69
to take notes. Write down only a few words for each idea -- not complete
sentences….Write your paraphrase from your notes. Don’t look at the
original while you are writing” (130). A Writer’s Reference advises: “To
avoid plagiarizing an author’s language, resist the temptation to look at
the source while you are summarizing or paraphrasing. Close the book,
write from memory, and then open the book to check for accuracy” (361).
It also gives the original source, and an acceptable and unacceptable
paraphrase with a short explanation of why it is unacceptable: “The first
paraphrase of the following source is plagiarized - even though the source
is cited - because too much of its language is borrowed from the original”
(361). A Pocket Style Manual gives an “original source”, “plagiarism:
unacceptable borrowing” and “acceptable paraphrase”. Copied words
in the unacceptable paraphrase have been underlined to explain why it
is plagiarized. It advises: “To avoid plagiarizing an author’s language,
don’t look at the source while you are summarizing or paraphrasing.
After you have restated the author’s idea in your own words, return to the
source and check that you haven’t used the author’s language or sentence
structure or misrepresented the author’s ideas” (110).
The Purdue OWL, Writing Academic English, A Writer’s Reference,
and A Pocket Style Manual advise students to write a paraphrase without
looking at the original. I’ve never understood this advice and I’ve never
given it to my students. When I paraphrase, I always look very closely
at the original passage and I very carefully choose different words and
grammatical structures with the same meaning. It’s not an easy process.
I never try to write a paraphrase without looking at the original. The
website and textbooks give examples of good and bad paraphrases, but
they are very short and lack detailed analysis. Short explanations of
why a paraphrase is acceptable or unacceptable can be informative, but
without detailed explanations of what grammar or vocabulary was used to
create the paraphrase, a student is forced to infer what the process was to
paraphrase correctly or incorrectly, which can be difficult and confusing
for the student.
After looking at these explanations and examples of paraphrasing
in their textbooks and on handouts taken from the Web, my students
still had difficulty paraphrasing. Talking about their drafts in writing

conferences, I learned that they often paraphrased incorrectly because

they didn’t understand the original passage when they first read it and
they didn’t have strong enough vocabulary and grammar skills to convert
the original sentence into a new sentence “using their own words.” I
started to ask myself, “What is the process of paraphrasing and how can I
teach my students to paraphrase correctly?”
Paraphrasing to Understand a Sentence
I first had the idea for creating paraphrasing exercises when I taught
a grammar class in the Department of English Language and Literature
at Sultan Qaboos University in 2006. I was using the book Writing:
a College Workbook by James A.W. Heffernan, John E. Lincoln and
Cindy Moore. One of my students raised her hand in class and said she
couldn’t understand the meaning of a sentence from the book: “Annoyed
because he could not have his way, Rex walked out” (155). I explained
the meaning of the sentence by first looking at the grammar structures
in the sentence. I divided the sentence into three parts. I told her that
“Annoyed” was a reduced adverb clause (participial phrase), “because
he could not have his way” was an adverb clause, and “Rex walked out”
was an independent clause. Then I rewrote the sentence into three shorter
sentences: “Rex was annoyed. Rex could not have his way. Rex walked
out.” I combined the three sentences into one sentence using “because”
and “so” to show the cause/effect relationship between the three shorter
sentences: “Rex was annoyed because he could not have his way, so he
walked out.” To help the student understand the vocabulary, I substituted
synonyms for some of the words and rewrote the sentence: “Rex was
angry because he wasn’t able to do what he wanted, so he left.” My
student was able to understand the sentence after I explained it in this
way. At that moment I realized I had just used paraphrasing to help my
student understand the meaning of the sentence. I began to wonder how
I could help my students in my research writing class understand the
vocabulary and grammar of paraphrasing. I felt that I needed to create a
handout that explained paraphrasing in greater detail than what was found

in my students’ textbooks and on the Web. I also felt I needed to create

paraphrasing exercises that would give my students weekly practice
with paraphrasing so that they could not only become familiar with
paraphrasing, but they could also improve their paraphrasing skills.
The Process of Paraphrasing
When I started to teach Academic Writing II in the Department

of English at Tsuda College in 2008, I decided to make the teaching of
paraphrasing an important part of my lesson plans. For the past five years,
at the beginning of the first semester, I ask my students if they know what
paraphrasing is. A few students raise their hands, but most of them are
not familiar with paraphrasing. I explain that paraphrasing:
• is used in the concluding paragraph of an essay to remind the
reader of the thesis statement or to summarize the main ideas
• is used in research papers to give support, examples, summaries,
or as an alternative to a quote
• shows the reader that the writer has understood what she has read
and has the necessary vocabulary and grammar skills to rewrite
what she has read
• is a difficult skill that requires a large vocabulary, good thesaurus
and dictionary skills, and a very good understanding of English
grammar
• prevents plagiarism when done correctly
• needs a lot of practice to do it well
Since I felt like students needed detailed information about the
process of paraphrasing, I created a handout that includes information
on how to paraphrase, an example of a paraphrase, an explanation of the
paraphrase, possible paraphrases, a list of reporting verbs, and examples
of how to cite the paraphrase:

The Process of Paraphrasing
To paraphrase a sentence is to rewrite the sentence using different

words, different grammar, and different word order. A paraphrase
has the same meaning as the original sentence and it is about the
same length.
When paraphrasing:
• Don’t copy the original sentence
• Don’t use too many of the original words
• Don’t change the meaning of the original sentence
• Don’t leave out important information
The process of paraphrasing:

• Identify grammar structures and key words
• Change grammar structures
• Change words
• Change word order
Grammar structures:
• independent and dependent clauses
• word forms: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
• clauses: adjective, noun, and adverb clauses
• phrases: prepositional phrases, participial phrases (reduced
clauses)
• verb phrases: active voice and passive voice, phrasal verbs
• connecting words: coordinating conjunctions, subordinating
conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs
• transitional words and phrases
Relationships between ideas:

cause/effect, purpose, manner, comparison, contrast, opposition,
concession, time, place, condition, addition

Paraphrasing Example:
Those whose self-esteem is low do not necessarily see themselves
as worthless or wicked, but they seldom say good things about
themselves.
(Psychology by David G. Myers, page 608)
Grammar structures:
• adjective clause: whose self-esteem is low
• verb phrase: do not see themselves as worthless or wicked
• verb phrase: seldom say good things about themselves
Relationships between ideas

• There are people who have low self–esteem.
• They do not necessarily see themselves as worthless or wicked.
• They seldom say good things about themselves.
• Opposition: but
Key words:
• self-esteem
• low
• necessarily
• see
• worthless
• wicked
• but
• seldom
• say
• good
Synonyms:
• self-esteem: self-worth, self-respect
• low: poor, unfavorable, negative, bad
• necessarily: inevitably, automatically, inexorably, certainly,
definitely
• see: view, perceive, describe, think of

• worthless: unworthy, useless, no-good, of little/no value,

despicable
• wicked: evil, sinful, bad, immoral, corrupt, dishonorable,
unethical, unholy
• but: however, although, though, even though, while, whereas
• seldom: rarely, hardly ever, infrequently
• say: talk, speak
• good: positive, nice, favorable
Possible paraphrases:
• People with low self-esteem don’t necessarily view themselves
as evil or worthless; however, they rarely talk positively about
themselves.
• Although they hardly ever speak favorably about themselves,
people who have poor self-esteem do not inevitably perceive
themselves as useless or bad.
• People with a low opinion of themselves generally describe
themselves in negative terms, even though they don’t think they
are really bad.
• People with low self-esteem may or may not think of themselves
in strongly negative ways, but they rarely say anything positive
about themselves.
Introducing paraphrases:
• According to him…
• He believes that …
• As he believes…
• Her point is …
• In her opinion…
Reporting verbs: affirm, allege, argue, assert, assume, believe,

explain, claim, complain, conclude, contend, demonstrate, describe,
discover, discuss, emphasize, estimate, examine, explore, find,
illustrate, imply, indicate, inform, maintain, mention, note, observe,
predict, present, presume, point out, propose, recognize, recount,

reveal, report, say, show, state, stress, suggest, suppose, suspect,

tell, verify
Reporting nouns: argument, claim, complaint, conclusion,
explanation, point, opinion
Example:
• David Myers points out that people with low self-esteem don’t
necessarily view themselves as evil or worthless; however, they
rarely talk positively about themselves.
• According to Myers, although they hardly ever speak favorably
about themselves, people who have poor self-esteem do not
inevitably perceive themselves as useless or bad.
Exercises to Build Paraphrasing Skills
Usually paraphrasing and plagiarism are discussed as a student is

learning how to write a research paper, but I want the students to have as
many opportunities as they can to practice writing paraphrases before they
actually write their research papers. During the first semester at Tsuda
College, when students write essays, I give them paraphrasing exercises
in every class, which meet once a week. Students do about ten exercises
during the first semester. I give them a few paraphrasing exercises at the
beginning of the second semester, when they write essays and a research
paper. Sometimes I give the exercises at the beginning of class, which
takes 10 to 15 minutes. I have only given them as homework a few times,
and each time I have done this, at least one or two of the students did
not do the homework. Sometimes students do the paraphrasing exercises
while I conduct individual conferences with students about their essays,
which can take 30 to 40 minutes. Students always use their electronic
dictionaries/thesauruses when they do the paraphrasing exercises. I
collect and correct the students’ paraphrases. The following week, at the
beginning of class, I give them back their corrected paraphrases. I explain
the mistakes I corrected to the whole class and sometimes to an individual
student if she asks me to do so in private. I also give them a list of

possible paraphrases and I explain the different kinds of vocabulary and

grammar structures used in each possible paraphrase. I also point out how
the order of information has been rearranged. Changing the organization
of the sentence was often the hardest part of paraphrasing for students to
do. This can take 10 to 15 minutes of class time. Then I give them a new
paraphrasing exercise to do in class.
When I create paraphrasing exercises, I choose sentences to
be paraphrased from a variety of sources: The New York Times, The
International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and BBC News. I
choose the sentences for their vocabulary (word forms, collocations, and
idioms), grammar (complex structures) and content (academic in nature).
For most of the semester the sentence in the exercises is broken into
smaller parts so that the students can focus on paraphrasing shorter pieces
of the sentence before they combine the pieces into a more complex
sentence. I feel it also helps them understand what the sentence means by
focusing on smaller chunks of information. Towards the end of the first
semester and at the beginning of the second semester I give the students a
sentence to paraphrase that is not divided into parts. I always ask students
to paraphrase a sentence in several different ways. I want them to find and
use a variety of different synonyms, grammar structures, and organization
to make several different sentences with the same meaning. In the
possible paraphrases they can see the many different ways the sentence
can be paraphrased using different synonyms, word forms, collocations,
idioms, grammar structures, and organization.
The following are four examples of paraphrasing exercises I have
given my students:
Paraphrasing Exercise 1
Paraphrase each part of this sentence in three different ways.

It is not illegal in some cultures to be married to more than one
woman, but the monogamous relationship is the most common.
(Barron’s TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test 2008 by Pamela J.
Sharpe, page 96)


woman
1.
2.
3.
but
1.
2.
3.
the monogamous relationship is the most common.

1.
2.
3.
Combine these paraphrases into three different sentences.

1.
2.
3.
Possible Paraphrases
The following quote can be paraphrased in several ways.

woman, but the monogamous relationship is the most common.
(Barron’s TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test 2008 by Pamela J.
Sharpe, page 96))
1. In some cultures polygamy is legal; however, monogamy is
found in most cultures.
2. Although having more than one wife is allowed in some
countries, being married to one wife is the norm.
3. Even though polygamy is accepted in some places, monogamy is
more widely practiced.

4. Although having a multiple number of wives is not against the

law in some cultures; most men marry only one wife.
5. Most people choose monogamy, even though polygamy is legal
in some countries.
In explaining the grammar and vocabulary, I show that chunks of

information can have similar meanings:
it is not illegal = is legal, is allowed, is accepted, is not against the
law
in some cultures = in some countries, in some places,
to be married to more than one woman = polygamy, having more
than one wife, having a multiple number of wives
but = however, although, even though,
the monogamous relationship = monogamy, being married to one
wife, marry only one wife
is the most common = most cultures, is the norm, is more widely
practiced, most men, most people

Some 10 million girls a year are married off before the age of 18
across the world, according to a UNICEF report released this year.
(“What Is It Like To Be a Child Bride?” by Nel Hedayat, BBC
News Magazine, October 4, 2011)
some 10 million girls a year

1.
2.
3.
are married off before the age of 18

1.
2.

3.
across the world

1.
2.
3.
according to a UNICEF report released this year

1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.
The following sentence can be paraphrased in different ways.

Some 10 million girls a year are married off before the age of 18
across the world, according to a UNICEF report released this year.
(“What Is It Like To Be a Child Bride?” by Nel Hedayat, BBC
News Magazine, October 4, 2011)
some 10 million girls a year

1. each year about 10 million girls
2. around 10 million girls per year
3. about 10 million girls every year
are married off before the age of 18

1. are forced to get married before they turn 18 years old
2. are compelled to marry before they are 18
3. are coerced into marriage before they become 18

across the world

1. around the world
2. all over the world
3. throughout the world
according to a UNICEF report released this year

1. UNICEF published a report this year that says that
2. a report that was published by UNICEF this year states
3. a report that came out this year from UNICEF explains that
These sentences can be paraphrased in the following ways:

1. A report that was published by UNICEF this year states that each
year all over the world about 10 million girls are forced to get
married before they turn 18 years old.
2. UNICEF published a report this year that says that around the
world about 10 million girls per year are compelled to marry
before they are 18.
3. A report that came out this year from UNICEF explains that
throughout the world about 10 million girls every year are
coerced into marriage before they become 18.

Japan has long had deep misgivings about immigration and has
tightly controlled the ability of foreigners to live and work here.
(“Strict Immigration Rules May Threaten Japan’s Future” by Chico
Haralan, The Washington Post, July 28, 2010)
Japan has long had deep misgivings about immigration

1.
2.
3.

has tightly controlled

1.
2.
3.
the ability of foreigners to live and work here

1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.
The following sentence can be paraphrased in different ways.

Japan has long had deep misgivings about immigration and has
tightly controlled the ability of foreigners to live and work here.
(“Strict Immigration Rules May Threaten Japan’s Future” by Chico
Haralan, The Washington Post, July 28, 2010)
Japan has long had deep misgivings about immigration

1. For a long time Japan has had reservations about immigration
2. Japan has had a lot of doubt about immigration for a long time
3. For many years Japan has had second thoughts about people
immigrating to Japan
has tightly controlled

1. has severely restricted
2. strictly regulated
3. rigorously managed

the ability of foreigners to live and work here

1. how immigrants can live and make money in Japan
2. how foreigners are able to earn a living and live in Japan
3. the way foreign people can work and live here
This sentence can be paraphrased in the following ways:

1. For a long time Japan has had reservations about immigration
and it has severely restricted how foreigners can earn a living and
live here.
2. For many years Japan has had second thoughts about people
immigrating to Japan and has strictly regulated how they can
work and live here.
3. Japan has had a lot of doubt about immigration for a long time
and it has rigorously managed how immigrants can live and
make money in Japan.
Paraphrase the following quote in two different ways.

Many babies in Afghanistan die because of traditional practices,
such as placing them on the floor to ward off evil spirits, which
can cause infection.
(“Save the Children: No Expert Birth Help for Millions”, BBC
News, 1 April 2011)
1.
2.
The following quote can be paraphrased in several ways.

Many babies in Afghanistan die because of traditional practices,
such as placing them on the floor to ward off evil spirits, which
can cause infection.

(“Save the Children: No Expert Birth Help for Millions”, BBC

News, 1 April 2011)
1. When a baby in Afghanistan is put on the floor as a way to
protect it from bad spirits, it can cause an infection, and many
babies have died from these kinds of traditional practices.
2. In Afghanistan traditional practices like putting a baby on the
floor as a way to ward off bad spirits can cause infection, which
leads to the death of many babies.
3. Traditional practices in Afghanistan cause many babies to die,
such as when babies are placed on the floor to get rid of evil
spirits and they get an infection.
4. According to traditional Afghani customs, babies are put on the
ground to protect them from evil spirits, but many of them die
because this practice can lead to infection.
Paraphrasing Questionnaire
At the end of each spring semester I give my Academic Writing II

students a paraphrasing questionnaire. I ask seven questions concerning
the difficulty of the exercises, how they improved their writing, grammar,
vocabulary, and paraphrasing skills, if the possible paraphrases were
helpful, and if the exercises were a good use of class time. In 2008 14
students answered the questionnaire, in 2009 12 students answered, in
2010 12 students answered, in 2011 13 students answered and in 2012
16 students answered the questionnaire, for a total of 57 students and
399 responses. The following is a short summary and discussion of their
answers. These are the students’ actual answers and they are unedited.
Difficulty of Paraphrasing
The first question I asked was, “Were the paraphrasing exercises

easy or difficult? Why?” Only three out of the 57 respondents said the
exercises were easy:

• “Easy. Because we can use dictionary.”

• “It is not difficult because we can use an electronic Japanese-
English dictionary.”
• “They were easy because this class was easy to understand.”
The rest of the students felt the exercises were very difficult (3 students),
difficult (42 students), a little difficult (7 students), not too difficult (2
students), not very difficult (1 student), not easy (2 students), sometimes
easy, sometimes difficult (2 students) and at the proper level (2 students).
The students gave many reasons why. Some said they were difficult
because they had never done paraphrasing exercises before. Several
students said they had difficulty because they didn’t understand the
original sentence:
• “They were difficult because we have to understand what the
sentences say precisely, and have to understand the meanings of
each words precisely.”
• “They were very difficult for me! To begin with, I couldn’t realize
the meaning of the original sentence. I think I have to practice
reading accurately before practicing paraphrasing.”
• “I think they were difficult because I didn’t understand correct
meanings or subtle differences of some English words.”
Others said they didn’t have enough vocabulary, or they didn’t understand
the nuances of English words, or they had weak grammar skills:
• “They were difficult because I have a poor vocabulary and I don’t
know idiom well.”
• “It was difficult because I have a limited vocabulary.”
• “It was difficult for me because I sometimes have difficulties to
find different words to say the same thing.”
• “It was a little difficult because I have a little vocabulary and do
not understand English grammar well.”
• “They were very difficult for me. Because my ability of English
grammar is weak.”
One student found paraphrasing difficult but fun: “It was difficult but
very fun to think about the structure, vocabulary and create my own
sentences.”

Paraphrasing and Writing Skills
The second question I asked was, “Did the paraphrasing exercises

help you improve your writing skills? Why?” All of the students except
three answered yes to this question:
• “I am not sure if it helped me, but after I start paraphrasing in
class, I started to think how I can write sentences in different way
in other English classes.”
• “I’m not sure my writing skill had improved, yet I found many
grammar mistake and difference, e.g. think of/about, which used
to seem to me “the same” and better /effective words/sentences.”
• “I have no opinion either way. My writing skill is still bad. I want
to practice more. If I do more, my skill may be a little improved.”
Several students wrote that they could use different words, especially
academic words, to express themselves in many different ways:
• “It really helped me to improve my writing skills because I could
avoid repetitive words when I write my essays.”
• “Yes, I like paraphrasing exercises. Now I can use academic
words.”
• “Yes, I could learn a lot of academic words and natural expression
of English.”
• “Yes! Your lecture is very understandable. I became to be able to
be conscious of words when I was writing my essay.”
• “Yes, because when I write an essay, I find different grammar or
words.”
Three students said the paraphrasing exercises helped them when they
wrote their essays:
• “Yes, because paraphrasing exercise was useful to write a essay.”
• “Yes. Because I could use paraphrasing when I wrote conclusion
in English composition.”
• “Thanks to the exercises, I now can think of several forms of
writing and can choose which one fits better to other sentences in
my essay.”
One student mentioned how the exercises helped her understand
plagiarism:

• “I think it helped me a lot. Until I practiced paraphrasing in the

writing class, I didn’t know the rules and about plagiarism. Even I
can’t paraphrase well, now I know how to paraphrase correctly.”
One student felt the exercises prepared her for writing a research paper:
• “Yes. I really think so, because I know how to paraphrase when I
write my research paper.
Paraphrasing and Grammar Skills
The third question I asked was, “Did the paraphrasing exercises

help you improve your grammar skills? Why?” All but seven said yes.
Two students said no, two students said so-so, two students said they
didn’t know, and one said she wasn’t sure. Several of the students
said that paraphrasing made them think about grammatical rules more
carefully:
• “Yes. Because I came to think about grammar.”
• “Yes, they did, because when I change a word, I also have to
think that this grammar is right or not.”
• “Yes, it did. Thanks to the paraphrasing, I could notice my wrong
expression and usage of my grammar.”
• “Yes. I found my weak point is articles from the exercises, so I
paid more attention to articles.”
• “It helped me improve my grammar skills because I had to
change sentence structure when I do paraphrase. Therefore, I
came to pay attention grammars.”
Students wrote about using grammar:
• “Yes, they did, because I can learn grammar practically than I just
study grammar in grammar class.”
• “Yes. Because they reminded me of lots of grammar that I studied
before, but I completely forgot.”
• “I don’t know whether the paraphrasing exercise relates with
grammar skills. I think if we aren’t good at using grammar, we
can’t make good paraphrasing.”
Changing word order was mentioned several times:

• “Yes! Because we need to change the grammar and the order.”

• “Yes. I had a lot of discovery on paraphrasing (e.g. changing
organization).”
• “Yes. Because when I tried to change word order, I became
careful about grammar.”
Looking up words in their dictionaries was mentioned as a way to learn
how to use the words:
• “Yes, when I make paraphrasing, I looked up words in the
dictionary, and learned how I can use the words.”
Students said they learned from my explanations of grammar and
vocabulary:
• “Yes, because you explained not only vocabulary but also
grammar a lot in class.”
• “Yes, because my teacher taught me my grammar mistakes in
details.”
Many students said they learned a lot of grammar, especially from their
mistakes that were corrected:
• “Yes, they did because the teacher corrected my grammar
mistakes carefully.”
• “Yes. When my grammar wasn’t good, you corrected it, so I
learned about grammar.”
• “Yes, I can notice my mistakes because teacher gives me a
corrected paper.”
• “Yes. My teacher corrected my errors, so I could noticed my
mistakes in grammar. I learned grammar from them.”
• “Yes. Because my teacher taught me a lot of grammar and
corrected my mistakes.”
• “Yes. You put right my grammar mistakes, so it is very helpful.”
• “Yes, because I could check my grammar mistakes and know the
right grammar.”
• “Maybe, yes. My paraphrasing exercises were checked and
corrected, and that reminded me of my grammar errors.”
• “Yes, it did. My writing was corrected by Tammy. I realized
that I didn’t realize the rule of articles. I want Tammy to correct
more!!”

Paraphrasing and Vocabulary Skills
The fourth question was, “Did the paraphrasing exercises help you
improve your vocabulary skills? Why?” One student said, “I’m not sure”
and another said, “A little bit. When I did the exercises, I think about the
sentence in my head, then make the sentence differently, so I just used
vocabularies which I know well.” The rest of the students said yes. Many
of the students said they learned a lot of new words, synonyms, idioms,
and collocations by using their dictionaries:
• “Yes. I could use a synonym dictionary for the first time and I
could learn a lot of words.”
• “Yes. Since I used my dictionary very much.”
• “Yes, I had to look up many synonyms. Also, I could enrich my
vocabulary.”
• “Yes, they did, because I always used the same words, so by
paraphrasing, I started to use many words.”
• “They did very much, and I enjoyed using a rich vocabulary in
the exercises.”
• “Yes, they did, because I always used the same words, so by
paraphrasing, I started to use many words.”
• “Yes. Because I was able to learn a lot of synonyms.”
• “Yes, because I looked up to my dictionary when I encountered
new words I didn’t know.”
• “Yes. I could learn new words and idioms through the exercises.”
• “Yes. I’ve learned collocations and word choice in each situation
because I carefully checked the dictionary.”
• “Yes, It’s necessary to have rich vocabulary for paraphrasing
exercises.”
Two students also said they learned nuances of words:
• “Yes, I could learn that there are many words in same meaning
and nuances are a little different.”
• “Yes, I had to use a lot of synonyms when I paraphrased. Besides,
I could learn the nuance of each words and little differences
between each words.”

Paraphrasing and Paraphrasing Skills
The fifth question was, “Did the paraphrasing exercises help improve
your paraphrasing skills? Why?” All but five of the students said yes:
• “No, I think I have not paraphrased correctly yet.”
• “So-so”
• “A little.”
• “I have no opinion either way. I don’t have absolute confidence
that my paraphrasing skills improved.”
• “It’s dubious for me, because I was often perplexed about how to
rewrite sentences.”
Several students said it was their first time to do paraphrasing. Several
mentioned they had become faster and better at paraphrasing the more
they did them:
• “Maybe yes. Because at first, I only tried to change a word, but
now I tried to change sentences.”
• “Yes, I could study the structure of sentences.”
• “Yes, they did, because it kept me thinking how many ways I
could paraphrase.”
• “Yes, it did, because we grappled with it routinely.”
The paraphrasing exercises also helped students write essays:
• “Yes, I have become to always think about paraphrase when I’m
writing English.”
• “Yes. It was helpful when I paraphrased the conclusion of the
essays.”
• “Yes. I can practice many time and I could know how I can use it
in writing essay.”
• “Yes. By the paraphrasing exercise, I learned how to paraphrase
sentences and words. Then I can try to use it in homework
essays.”
The sixth question was, “Was it helpful to be given possible

paraphrases? Why?” One student said, “Sorry I don’t know.” All the
other students said yes. Students wrote the most detailed answers to this
question:
• “Yes, it was very important for me. I can get good and correct
paraphrases.”
• “Yes, it was because I could learn the way of thinking of native
speakers.”
• “Yes, it was, because there were many special ways of expressing
and that was exciting for me.”
• “Yes. Possible paraphrases that you gave us were excellent, so
they were helpful.”
• “Yes. I was surprised a word could be changed in such ways.”
• “Yes, I want to know many sentences which are used paraphrase,
because I know many paraphrases, I am stimulated that there’re a
lot of paraphrases, not only one sentence.”
• “You gave us a lot of different answers. If we make mistakes, you
correct those very carefully.”
• “Yes, Tammy gave us some examples and I could learn a lot of
ways to paraphrase some sentences.”
• “Yes, I could realize paraphrases which I didn’t know or come up
with.”
• Yes, because I could learn another English expression which I
didn’t think of.”
• “Because there are some phrases Japanese can’t find even though
we use dictionaries.”
• “Yes. It’s useful to know many patterns of paraphrases.”
• “Yes. Because I could learn the different way of paraphrasing
which never occurred to me.”
• “Yes. Because those possible paraphrases can be used as a
reference next time.”
• “Yes. Tammy teach us a lot of examples of right paraphrases. By
knowing a lot of ways, I can get new knowledges about English
vocabulary and grammar.”
• “I think it is useful, even if my paraphrasing is not so bad.
Because in your handout, there are a wider variety of possible

paraphrases. To be a better writer, it is very important to write

the sentence which has the same meaning in different ways. This
always improve our writing skill.”
• “Yes, because it tell me useful grammar or vocabulary. I know
natural way of saying. My electronic dictionary isn’t good.”
• “Yes. Because possible paraphrases which I didn’t thought of
were good for a next paraphrasing exercise.”
• “Yes, it is great help to correct my own mistakes and learn other
patterns of paraphrase.”
• “Yes, it was. I could learn the correct paraphrases and use it to the
next exercise.”
• “Yes. Because I learned many ways of expression by possible
paraphrases.”
• “Yes, so I could compare my sentences and example sentences.”
• “Yes. It is because I can find other possible answer as I can only
know my answer. Sometimes both answers are different so it was
very good to get the possible paraphrases.”
• “Yes. I could learn what was good or bad point in my paraphrases
from possible paraphrases.”
• “Yes, it was really helpful for me because to know other’s way of
paraphrasing inspired me and also gave me fresh sight.”
• “Yes, it was. It is necessary to be given them because if I can’t do
good paraphrases, I can learn possible paraphrases from it. I want
to know possible paraphrases.”
A Good Use of Class Time
The last question was, “Were the paraphrasing exercises a good

use of class time? Why?” Only two students said no and the rest of the
students said yes. Some students felt there was not enough time in class
to do the exercises and that it was better to do the exercises as homework:
• “Maybe no. Because I need a lot of time to do it, I often could not
finish it in the part of class time.”
• “No, it were not. I want to do it at home because it’s difficult to

do in class within short time.”

• “Yes, but I think it’s good to do these exercises at home as
homework, and we correct and discuss about those in class
because I think I could think and do better those exercises taking
time at home.”
Several students said that the time to do the exercises was limited, and
several said having a limited time made them concentrate more:
• “Yes. If I do in my home, it will take a lot of time. I should do it
in limited time.”
• “Yes. Because I could concentrate upon it.”
• “Yes, they were, because I can concentrate on the work in a short
time.”
• “Yes, I can concentrate on these things.”
• “Yes, they were because the time was limited.”
• “Yes. I had to write within a limited time. When I wrote it in my
house, it takes much more time to write.”
• “Yes, they were, because it was important to do these exercises in
limited time.”
• “Yes. I could concentrate my attention on work.”
• “Yes. We had to paraphrase with the limited time, and the limited
time made us concentrate on our paraphrase exercise more.”
• “Yes, because I can concentrate on my work in class.”
• “Yes. Because the paraphrasing needs concentration.”
• “Yes. In a limited time, I can be concentrated in paraphrasing.”
• “Yes, it gives time to students, so they try hard to paraphrase
them in class. Students would forget or do them roughly if the
exercises were homework.”
Several students felt doing the exercises in class was a good use of time
while I talked with each student individually about their essays:
• “Yes, we can do paraphrasing exercises while you talk about our
essay with each students. It was very effective.”
• “Yes. Because we exercise the paraphrase when Tammy talk
about essay with each students and we were waiting our turn. We
had time and it was good to have the paraphrase to do in such
time.”

• “Yes, they were, because it is efficient. When you and one student
talked about something writing the others concentrated on own
paraphrasing exercises.”
• “Yes. If I do not paraphrase, I was boring because other students
and you were consulting.”
• “Yes. We students did those exercises while Tammy teach one-
to-one, so it is a good use of class time, I think.”
• “I think it was. It was good to do it under the time pressure, and it
was a good use of time during Tammy talked to each of us.”
Conclusion
I did not feel confident when I first started teaching students how to
paraphrase. I didn’t feel like the textbooks and website I was using helped
me or the students understand the difficult process of paraphrasing.
I wanted to create paraphrasing exercises so that students looked at
paraphrasing in a new way, where they practiced changing vocabulary,
grammar and word order to rewrite a sentence in several different ways
but with the same meaning. I felt it was helpful to correct their mistakes,
to give them possible paraphrases, and to analyze the grammar and
vocabulary in the possible paraphrases. From the students’ answers on
the questionnaire, from the improvement I saw in their paraphrasing
exercises each week, and from the paraphrasing they were able to do in
their research papers, I feel the paraphrasing exercises I created helped
them improve their paraphrasing skills. Now I feel more confident
teaching paraphrasing.
This paper is dedicated to my students at Tsuda College and Sultan

Qaboos University.

Works Cited
Hacker, Diane. A Writer’s Reference 6th ed. Boston: Bedford’s/St. Martins, 2007.
Print.
Hacker, Diane and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual. 6th ed. Boston:
Bedford’s/St. Martins, 2012. Print.
Harlan, Chico. “Strict Immigration Rules May Threaten Japan’s Future.” The
Washington Post, 28 July 2010. Web. 28 July 2010.
Harnack, Andrew. Writing Research Papers: A Student guide for Use with
Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1994. Print.
Hedayat, Nel. “What Is It Like To Be a Child Bride?”BBC News Magazine, 4
Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.
Heffernan, James A.W., John E. Linclon, Cindy Moore. Writing: A College
Workbook 5th ed. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.
Myers, David G. Psychology. 7th ed. New York: Worth, 2004. Print. Oshima,
Alice, and Ann Houge. Writing Academic English. 4th ed. New York:
Pearson Education, 2006. Print.
“Save the Children: No Expert Birth Help for Millions.” BBC News. 1 April
2011. Web. 1 April 2011.
Sharpe, Pamela J. TOEFL iBit Internet-Based Test 2008. 12th ed. New York:
Barron’s, 2006. Print.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 12 July 2012.

Fast Class
Key word transformations

Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first
sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must
use between two and five words, including the word given. There is an
example at the beginning.
Example:
It hasn’t taken Sam long to learn Spanish.
picked
Sam ……...........................…………...........................…
has picked up Spanish very quickly.
1 We must take as much advantage as possible of any opportunity to speak English.

most
We have ……...........................…………...........................…… any opportunity to
speak English.
2 Honestly, I don’t mind where we go for our summer holidays.

matter
Honestly, ……...........................………...........................……… me where we go
for our summer holidays.
3 Could you speak English when you were younger?

able
When you were younger, ……..……...........................…….........................……
speak English?
4 What’s the answer to sixteen minus eight?

away
If you ……..............……...........................…….............…… sixteen, what’s the
answer?
5 Three hundred students entered the swimming competition last year.

part
Three hundred students ……...........................…………...........................…… the
swimming competition last year.
6 The students will finish their English course at the end of June.
have
The English course ……...........................…………...........................…… the
beginning of July.
Key word transformations © Oxford University Press 1

Fast Class
7 There will be no more oil available in this area in 2030.

run
Oil supplies in this area ……...........................…………...........................…… by
the year 2031.
8 My sister doesn’t like computer games very much.

keen
My sister ……...........................…………...........................…… computer games.
9 ‘Did you eat the chocolates?’ Maria said to Peter.

asked
Maria ……...........................…………...........................…… eaten the chocolates.
10 Bob hadn’t seen his uncle for several years.

gone
After several years ……...........................…………...........................…… , Bob saw
his uncle again.
11 I needed a cup of coffee this morning but I didn’t have time for one.
done
I ……...........................…………...........................…… a cup of coffee this
morning but I didn’t have time for one.
12 I’m not going to tolerate this untidiness any longer.

up
I have no intention ……...........................…………...........................…… this
untidiness any longer.
13 We went for a walk although it was raining yesterday.

spite
We went for a walk ……...........................…………...........................……
yesterday.
14 I’m sure it will be raining tomorrow.

bound
It ……...........................…………...........................…… raining tomorrow.
15 Could I borrow some change for the telephone?

lend
Could ……...........................…………...........................…… some change for the
telephone?
16 It’s ages since my sister and I had an argument.

out
My sister and I ……...........................…………...........................…… ages.

Fast Class
17 We are friends although we have disagreements about some things.

despite
We are friends ……...........................…………...........................…… disagree
about some things.
18 Has John caught a cold?

down
Can you tell me if ……...........................…………...........................…… with
a cold?
19 I was really bored by the film last night.

found
I ……...........................…………...........................…… last night.
20 I think it’s time the children went to bed now.

had
I think the children ……...........................…………...........................…… to bed
now.
21 The problem we were faced with was a serious one.

came
The problem we ……...........................…………...........................…… was a
serious one.
22 It was a mistake not to apply for the job.

wish
I ……...........................…………...........................…… for the job.
23 Being rich has no connection with being happy.

nothing
Being rich ……...........................…………...........................…… being happy.
24 I can’t wait to see the sights in London.

forward
I am ……...........................…………...........................…… the sights in London.
25 The tourist trade is much better now than it was last month.
picked
The tourist trade ……...........................…………...........................…… noticeably
since last month.
26 Governments should preserve all the world’s languages.

ought
All the world’s languages ……...........................…………...........................……
governments.

Fast Class
27 The tennis players’ match is still going on.

finished
The tennis players ……...........................…………...........................…… yet.
28 What time does your plane land tomorrow?

when
Can you tell ……...........................…………...........................…… tomorrow?
29 The family always spent their holidays climbing in the mountains.

used
The family’s holidays ……...........................…………...........................……
climbing in the mountains.
30 Physical exercise won’t hurt you if you are careful.

do
Physical exercise won’t ……...........................…………...........................…… if
you are careful.
31 How does a rock climber differ from a mountaineer?

between
What ……...........................…………...........................…… a rock climber and a
mountaineer?
32 This new dining table is bigger than the one we had before.
not
The dining table we had before ……...........................………….......................……
this new one.
33 It was not a good idea for you to refuse the offer of that job.
down
You should ……...........................…………........................... the offer of that job.
34 My teacher suggested that I spent the summer in England.

advised
My teacher ……...........................…………...........................…… the summer in
England.
35 The film is not as interesting as the novel was.

much
The novel ……...........................…………...........................…… the film.
36 Will your neighbours look after your dog when you go away?
take
Do you know if your neighbours
……...........................…………...........................…… your dog when you go away?

Fast Class
37 Tom, wouldn’t it be a good idea to take the students swimming tomorrow?

how
Tom, ……...........................…………...........................…… the students
swimming tomorrow?
38 Miss Jones first came to teach us a month ago.

for
Miss Jones ……...........................…………...........................…… a month now.
39 We are noticing a rise in the cost of living again.

appears
The cost of living ……...........................…………...........................…… again.
40 While we were going home, we had an accident.

way
We ……...........................…………...........................…… home when we had an
accident.
41 I’m worried about that bruise on your hand.

look
I don’t ……...........................…………....................…… that bruise on your hand.
42 Susan has had no success with her plans to work abroad, unfortunately.
through
Susan’s plans to work abroad ……...........................…………...........................… ,
unfortunately.
43 ‘Don’t forget to phone tomorrow,’ said my mother.

told
My mother ……...........................…………...........................…… to phone the
next day.
44 ‘Did anyone notice anything unusual?’ asked the police officer.

if
The police officer wanted to ……...........................…………...........................……
anything unusual.
45 Whatever you do, don’t lift that heavy suitcase.

up
I’d advise you not ……...........................…………...........................…… that heavy
suitcase.
46 Maybe John has not remembered about tonight’s party.

could
I suppose John ……...........................…………...........................…… about
tonight’s party.

Fast Class
47 You should not think that the accident was your fault.
blame
It would be wrong ……...........................…………...........................…… for the
accident.
48 I am sure Maria finds reading interesting because she has lots of books.
must
Maria ……...........................…………...........................…… reading because she
has lots of books.
49 I hope you were not discouraged by Sandra from going to the concert.
put
I hope Sandra ……...........................…………...........................…… going to the
concert.
50 I have been to this restaurant three times now.

time
This ……...........................…………...........................…… I have been to this
restaurant now.
51 I am so exhausted that I won’t be able to go out tonight.

too
I ……...........................…………...........................…… go out tonight.
52 The runners had a difficult time competing in the race.

part
The runners who ……...........................…………...........................…… the race
had a difficult time.
53 Do you know when the race is being held next year?

place
When ……...........................…………...........................…… next year?
54 It will be necessary to send this letter first class.

have
This letter ……...........................…………...........................…… first class.
55 ‘Are you waiting to be served?’ said the waitress to me.

asked
The waitress ……...........................…………...........................…… waiting to be
served.
56 Buying those jeans was not a sensible thing for me to do yesterday.

only
If ……...........................…………...........................…… those jeans yesterday.

Fast Class
57 The owner established the company in 2001.

up
The company ……...........................………….......................... the owner in 2001.
58 We booked seats but it was not necessary because there was plenty of room.
booked
We ……...........................…………...........................…… seats because there was
plenty of room.
59 It is difficult for Paul to decide what to do.

mind
Paul finds it difficult ……...........................…………........................... what to do.
60 Bad weather delayed the building project for several weeks.

set
The building project ……...........................…………...........................…… for
several weeks by the bad weather.
61 Sara cleaned every bit of her room before her cousin came to stay.
top
Sara cleaned her room ……...........................…………...........................……
before her cousin came to stay.
62 Travelling by bus is cheaper than travelling by train.

more
Travelling by train ……...........................…………...........................…… travelling
by bus.
63 Leaving school made me realise that my childhood was over.

brought
Leaving school ……...........................…………...........................…… me that my
childhood was over.
64 I never find time to tidy my desk.

round
I never ……...........................…………...........................…… my desk.
65 Please behave as if you are in your own house during your stay.
make
I’d like you all ……...........................…………...........................…… home during
your stay.
66 I am not tall enough to reach the top of this cupboard.

taller
If I ……...........................…………...........................…… reach the top of this
cupboard.

Fast Class
67 I’d like you to connect me to the managing director’s extension number.

through
Could you ……...........................…………...........................…… the managing
director’s extension number?
68 To tell the truth, we need a swimming pool for this school.

what
To tell the truth, ……...........................…………...........................…… a
swimming pool for this school.
69 Do you know whose this umbrella is, by any chance?

belongs
Do you know ……...........................…………...........................… , by any chance?
70 Was it Paul’s idea to go to the cinema?

came
Was it Paul ……...........................…………..........................…… the idea of going
to the cinema?
71 The boats began to move slowly out of the harbour.

way
The boats slowly ……...........................…………...........................…… out of the
harbour.
72 One runner did not succeed in finishing the race.

able
One runner ……...........................…………...........................…… the race.
73 It is not my fault that the glass broke.

blame
You cannot ……...........................…………...........................…… the glass.
74 I am starting to find watching television boring.

fed
I am beginning to get ……...........................…………...........................……
television.
75 Bad weather makes me feel really unhappy in the winter.

down
Bad weather ……...........................…………...........................…… in the winter.
76 Fog delayed my flight to Moscow this morning.

up
My flight to Moscow ……...........................…………...........................…… this
morning.

Fast Class
77 Help was urgently needed in the flooded area of the country.

need
They were ……...........................…………...........................…… in the flooded
area of the country.
78 I went to Italy with the intention of learning Italian.

that
I went to Italy ……...........................…………...........................…… Italian.
79 Remember to return the videos you have rented.

back
Don’t ……...........................…………...........................…… the videos you have
rented.
80 While we were going home yesterday we got caught in a thunderstorm.

way
We got caught in a thunderstorm while we were
……...........................…………...........................…… yesterday.
81 Has Mary altered her decision about moving to the countryside?

mind
Do you know if Mary ……...........................…………...........................…… about
moving to the countryside?
82 I’d like Kevin to stop telling me what to do.

wish
I ……...........................…………...........................…… telling me what to do!
83 ‘Are you pleased it’s nearly half-term?’ said the teacher to us.
know
The teacher wanted ……...........................…………...........................…… pleased
it was nearly half-term.
84 We are earning less than we are spending, I’m afraid.

expenditure
Our ……...........................…………...........................…… our income, I’m afraid.
85 I don’t think having luxuries in life is necessary.

necessity
I don’t ……...........................…………...........................… having luxuries in life.
86 I don’t earn anything like the amount I did before.

nowhere
I earn ……...........................…………...........................…… as I did before.

Fast Class
87 The date for the Barcelona Conference is the 23rd of March.

place
The Barcelona Conference ……...........................…………...........................……
the 23rd of March.
88 The house was not very attractive in appearance when we first saw it.
much
The house was ……...........................…………...........................…… at when we
first saw it.
89 No-one wants to buy this type of music any more.

longer
There ……...........................…………...........................…… for this type of music.
90 Looking back, I think I was right to study mathematics at university.

regret
Looking back, I ……...........................…………...........................…… mathematics
at university.
91 Our spending will have to be reduced next year.

back
We will have ……...........................…………...........................…… our spending
next year.
92 The children were absolutely certain that the film would be fantastic.
doubt
There ……...........................…………...........................…… minds of the children
that the film would be fantastic.
93 Did anyone raise the subject of the school trip?

brought
Can you tell me ……...........................…………...........................…… the subject
of the school trip?
94 I started learning English three years ago.

been
I ……...........................…………...........................…… three years.
95 They are moving our oral examination to an earlier date.

forward
Our oral examination ……...........................…………...........................…… to an
earlier date.
96 ‘Do you want to go for a walk?’ asked Bob.

felt
Bob asked me ……...........................…………...........................…… for a walk.

Fast Class
97 Olivia did not concentrate so she made a lot of mistakes.

would
If Olivia ……...........................…………...........................… made fewer mistakes.
98 Do you happen to know the time of the next train to London?

could
I wonder ……...........................…………...........................…… me the time of the
next train to London.
99 The children are always fascinated by nature programmes on TV.

find
The children ……...........................…………...........................…… when they
watch them on TV.
100 ‘What about going for a swim?’ said John to me.

should
John ……...........................…………...........................…… for a swim.

Fast Class
KeyAnswer
wordkeytransformations
1 to make the most of 37 how about taking
2 it doesn’t/does not matter to 38 has been teaching us/has been our
3 were you able to teacher for
4 take eight away/away eight from 39 appears to be rising
5 took part in 40 were on our way
6 will have finished by 41 like the look of
7 will (have) run out 42 have fallen through
8 isn’t/is not very keen on 43 told me not to forget/to remember
9 asked Peter if he had 44 know if anyone had noticed
10 had gone by 45 to pick up
11 could have done with 46 could have forgotten
12 of putting up with 47 to blame yourself/yourselves
13 in spite of the rain 48 must be interested in
14 is bound to be 49 didn’t/did not put you off
15 you lend me 50 is the third time
16 haven’t/have not fallen out for 51 am too exhausted to
17 despite the fact that we 52 took part in
18 John has gone/come down 53 is the race taking place
19 found the film really boring 54 will have/need to be sent
20 had better go 55 asked me if I was
21 came up against 56 only I had not/hadn’t bought
22 wish I had/I’d applied 57 was set up by
23 has nothing to do with 58 needn’t/need not have booked
24 looking forward to seeing 59 making/to make up his mind
25 has picked up 60 was set back
26 ought to be preserved by 61 from top to bottom
27 have not/haven’t finished their/the match 62 is more expensive than
28 me when your plane lands 63 brought it home to
29 used to be spent 64 get round to tidying
30 do you any harm 65 to make yourselves at
31 is the difference between 66 were/was taller I could
32 was not as big as 67 put me through to
33 not have turned down 68 what we need is
34 advised me to spend 69 who this umbrella belongs to
35 was much more interesting than 70 who/that came up with
36 will take care of 71 made their way
Key word transformations: Answer key © Oxford University Press 12

Fast Class
72 was not/wasn’t able to finish 87 takes place/will take place/is taking place on
73 blame me for breaking 88 not much to look
74 fed up with watching 89 is no longer any demand
75 really gets me down 90 do not/don’t regret studying
76 was held up by fog 91 to cut back on
77 in urgent need of help 92 was no doubt in the
78 so that I could learn 93 if anyone brought up
79 forget to take/bring back 94 have been learning English for
80 on our way home 95 is being brought/moved forward
81 has changed her mind 96 if I felt like going
82 wish (that) Kevin would stop 97 had concentrated she would have
83 to know if we were 98 if you could tell
84 expenditure is more/greater than 99 always find nature programmes fascinating
85 see the/any necessity of/in 100 suggested (that) we should go
86 nowhere near as much
Key word transformations: Answer key © Oxford University Press 13

PARAPHRASING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1
Read the original text below. Highlight the words that you think are specialised words or
words that should not be changed when paraphrasing. Underline the words which should be
changed.
The United States, Germany, Japan and other industrial powers are being
transformed from industrial economies to knowledge and information based service
economies, whilst manufacturing has been moving to low wage countries. In a
knowledge and information based economy, knowledge and information are the key
ingredients in creating wealth.
(Source: Laudon & Laudon 2002, Management information systems: managing the digital firm, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.)
ACTIVITY 2
Read the two paraphrases of the original text below. Select the statement that describes the
most appropriate paraphrase.
Paraphrase 1
The United States, Germany, Japan and other economies are being dramatically
changed from industrial economies to knowledge and information based service
economies as manufacturing shifts to countries where the wages are low cost. In a
knowledge and information based economies, knowledge and information are the
focus in economic growth (Laudon & Laudon 2002).
Paraphrase 2
There has been a dramatic change in economies such as the United States, Japan and
Germany from industrial to service economies involved in knowledge and
information. As manufacturing shifts to countries where wages are low, economic
growth and information economies must focus on knowledge and information
production (Laudon & Laudon 2002).
(a) Paraphrase 1 is acceptable because it closely follows the sentence structure of the
original.
(b) Both paraphrases are acceptable because some of the keywords have been changed.
(c) Paraphrase 2 is not acceptable because the sentence structure has been changed.
(d) Paraphrase 2 is acceptable because both the sentence structure and the keywords have
been changed.
(e) Paraphrase 2 is unacceptable because the subject of the first sentence is different from
the original, i.e. ‘dramatic change’ rather than ‘the United States, Germany and Japan’.
ACTIVITY 3
Find the words in Paraphrase 2 that replace the key words in the original text highlighted in
blue below.
Paraphrase 2
The United States, Germany, Japan and other industrial powers are being
transformed from industrial economies to knowledge and information based service
economies, whilst manufacturing has been moving to low wage countries. In a
knowledge and information based economy, knowledge and information are the key
ingredients in creating wealth.
other industrial powers = _______________________
transformed = _______________________
whilst = _______________________
has been moving = _______________________
low wage countries = _______________________
key ingredients = _______________________
ACTIVITY 4
Build a paraphrase. Read the original text below and build a paraphrase from the selection
of phrases provided on the next page.
Information systems make it possible for business to adopt flatter, more decentralised
structures and more flexible arrangements for employees and management. Organisations
are trying to become more competitive and efficient by transforming themselves intro digital
firms where nearly all core business process and relationships with customers, suppliers and
employees are digitally managed (Laudon & Laudon 2002).
How would you begin your paraphrase?
Business can develop …
(a) more decentralised structures,
(b) flatter, less centralised structures
(c) centralised arrangements
Write Your Paraphrase Here
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Now ask your partner/group to peer review your paraphrase.
You can also compare your paraphrase with a sample version overleaf.
ANSWERS
ACTIVITY 1
The United States, Germany, Japan and other industrial powers are being transformed from
industrial economies to knowledge and information based service economies, whilst
manufacturing has been moving to low wage countries. In a knowledge and information
based economy, knowledge and information are the key ingredients in creating wealth.
ACTIVITY 2
(d) is correct – both the sentence structure and keywords have been changed.
ACTIVITY 3
other industrial powers = economies such as
transformed = dramatic change
whilst = as
has been moving = shifts to
low wage countries = countries where wages are low
key ingredients = focus on
ACTIVITY 4
Business can develop (b) flatter, less centralised structures….
Sample Paraphrase
Business can develop flatter, less centralised structures, as well as arrangements which allow
for greater flexibility, through the application of information systems. The pressures of
competition and efficiency require organisations to become digital companies where core
dealings with customers, suppliers and employees are facilitated electronically.
(This exercise adapted from RMIT University Study & Learning Centre 2005, Paraphrasing, RMIT, Melbourne, <
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/4_writingskills /writing_tuts/paraphrase_ll/activity.html>.)
Handout 3.12
Steps to Effective Paraphrasing and to Effective Summarizing
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
1. Read the material that you plan to paraphrase. Read it several times so that you
understand it well.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you
envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or
phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
4. Compare the length of what you’ve written to the original text. They should be
the same length. Remember, a paraphrase does not condense material.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have
borrowed exactly from the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it
easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Note: The paraphrase should make sense in its own right. This means that you are
writing a sentence or paragraph so it should still read like one. If the paraphrase
doesn’t make sense, revise it.
7 Steps to Effective Summarizing
1. Read the article.

2. Re-read the article. Underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Find the main
point of the article. Divide the article into sections or stages of thought, and label
each section or stage of thought in the margins. Note the main idea of each
paragraph if the article is short.
3. Write brief summaries of each stage of thought or if appropriate each paragraph.
Use a separate piece of paper for this step. This should be a
brief outline of the article.
4. Write the main point of the article. Use your own words. Be careful not to use the
author's words or to follow the sentence structure of the original passage. This
should be a sentence that expresses the central idea of the article as you have
determined it from the steps above.
5. Write your rough draft of the summary. Combine the information from the first
four steps into paragraphs. Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning of the
source and that you have accurately represented the main ideas.
6. Edit your version. Be concise. Eliminate needless words and repetitions.
(Avoid using "the author says...," "the author argues...," etc.)
7. Compare your version to the original.
Handout 3.12
References:
Dembkowski, S., Eldridge, F., & Hunter, I. (2006). The Seven Steps of Effective
executive Coaching. Retrieved August 5th, 2010
http://steps+to+Effective+Paraphrasing+and+to+Effective+Summarizing
Kies, D. (2010). Summarizing and Paraphrasing Successfully. The hyper Text Book.
Retrieved August 5th, 2010 from Document URL:
http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp2/summary.htm
Prepared by Mrs. Pascale Hajal-Chibani- DETE. NDU.

Introduction to Article Summary
Only 18% of grade 4 children can read for meaning: Report

Times Live- South Africa
08 February 2023
KGAUGELO MASWENENG
1There is a reading crisis in South Africa as only 18% of children in grade 4 can read for
meaning, and it is estimated this cohort is a full year behind same age children from 2019.
2This was revealed by the annual 2030 Reading Panel convened by former deputy
president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Tuesday.
3The report compiled by Nic Spaull, a researcher at Stellenbosch University, found despite
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2019 state of the nation address statement that reading was
a top 5 priority, there has been “no progress, no plan, no budget” for reading since then.
4It found 50% of children in no-fee schools do not learn the letters of the alphabet by the
end of grade 1 and there is no national reading plan and no national budget for reading.
5“Using Western Cape learning losses as a proxy, new research suggests the percentage
of grade 4 pupils who cannot read for meaning has risen from 78% (in 2016) to 82% (in
2021) as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the report.
The 2016 round of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study showed 78% of grade
4 pupils could not read for meaning in any language (all 11 official languages were
assessed), and they could not reach the low international benchmark because they were
unable to “locate and retrieve explicitly stated information or make straightforward
inferences about events and reasons for actions”,
6Children in 2023 are estimated to be a full year behind same age children from 2019. The
real possibility is the pandemic has wiped out a decade of progress in reading outcomes.
7In her background note for the Reading Panel, Dr Gabrielle Wills reported on the findings
of the “Covid Generation” research project summarising the impacts of the pandemic on
education from large studies in Mpumalanga, North West, Eastern Cape and Western
Cape. She reported learning losses for children in the early grades range from 50% to
120% of a year’s worth of learning.
8Put differently, the average 10-year-old in 2022 has worse reading outcomes than the
average nine-year-old from 2019.
To provide one concrete example: “Pre-pandemic, grade 2s in the Eastern Cape sample
would usually sound out an additional 23 letters correctly over a year. In 2020, alphabetic
knowledge development during grade 2 declined to only seven additional letters correct
per minute.”
9If South Africa maintained the trajectory of improvement from 2016 onwards, it was
estimated by 2031 about 36% of grade 4s would be able to read for meaning.
10“After taking account of the Covid-19 learning losses, it is estimated that if South Africa
manages to return to the pre-pandemic level of improvement from 2022 onwards, only
27% of grade 4s will be able to read by 2031. Another way of stating this is that even if
South Africa manages to get onto its pre-pandemic improvement trajectory, it will only get
to 2016 levels of performance again in 2026.
11“There is no budget for reading. The only reference to the budget that is specifically
allocated for reading is the R11m allocated to the Early Grade Reading Assessment which
targets 18 schools and where reporting shows the department of basic education managed
to reach nine schools.
12“Note there are approximately 15,000 primary schools in South Africa. To provide one
example of a governmental priority that has a budget allocated to it, one can look at the
mathematics, science, and technology grant which was allocated R423m for 2022/23.”
said the report.
https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2023-02-08-only-18-of-grade-4-children-can-read-for-m
eaning-report/
Preparing to interpret the text

● Cultural Knowledge/ Knowledge of the world
1. Do some research on Education in South Africa?

2. Find out what is the age of children who are taking Grade 4 in South Africa.
3. Find out what a Reading Panel is.
4. Who are the present authorities in South Africa? (President, political party,
etc.)
5. What do you know about Stellenbosch University?
6. What are no-fee schools?
7. Does Argentina have a Reading Plan? What do you know about curriculum
design in Argentina and in South Africa?
8. Locate North West, Eastern Cape and Western Cape on the map.
9. What is the “Progress in International Reading Literacy Study”?
10. What do you understand by “reading for meaning” (par. 5)?
11. Which is the official currency in South Africa?
● Linguistic Knowledge- Vocabulary

What is the meaning of the following words from the text? Try to guess the meaning
before searching for them in the dictionary.
1. COHORT (PAR 1.)
2. PROXY (PAR 5)
3. BENCHMARK (PAR. 5)
4. WIPE OUT (PAR. 6)
5. OUTCOMES (PAR. 6)
6. SAMPLE (PAR. 8)
7. SOUND OUT (PAR. 8)
8. TRAJECTORY (check pronunciation and word stress) (PAR. 9)
9. BUDGET (PAR. 3,4 11 AND 12)
10. ALLOCATE (PAR11 and 12)
11. TARGETS (check pronunciation) (PAR.11)
● Linguistic Knowledge- Grammar

1. Notice the use of the word WORTH in paragraph 7. What other structures do
you know with the word WORTH?
2. Notice the irregular comparative WORSE in paragraph 8. Which is the
superlative and which other irregular comparatives and superlatives do you
know? Write a sentence with each.
3. Notice the use of phrases with the word “ESTIMATED.” How are the phrases
different in structure? Can you deduce the rule these structures follow?
4. What verbal form follows the word “MANAGED” (PAR. 10)? Can you relate
this to any grammatical rule in English?
5. Notice the use of the linking word “DESPITE” in paragraph 3. What pattern
follows this word? Try replacing this word by ALTHOUGH and make the
necessary changes in the sentence.
6. Why is the word “AFTER” in paragraph 10 followed by a gerund?
7. Notice the phrase “Using Western Cape learning losses as a proxy” in par.5”
How can you rewrite this phrase. What do you know about the use of present
participles as adverbial clauses?
● Linguistic Knowledge- References

What do the following words refer to in the text? Mention the EXACT WORDS each
refers to.
1. IT (PAR. 4)
2. THEY (PAR. 5)
3. HER (PAR. 7)
4. THEN (PAR. 3)
● Preparing for your summary

Start by identifying: a) main idea (try to identify thesis statement- central idea that
guides the whole article), b) major supporting ideas, c) guide yourself by trying to
answer the following questions about the article: WHAT-
WHERE-WHO-WHY-HOW-WHEN and d) discard irrelevant information.
Take note of these. Now try to paraphrase these ideas in your own words. Then
make an outline of how you will organize these ideas in your text.
For next class you will be writing your summaries in a google doc provided by your
teachers. Approx. 200 words
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE MAR DEL PLATA
DISCURSO ESCRITO- PROF. DAFNE GREEN
SUMMARY ASSIGNMENT
NAME:
Reading and summarizing: Read the following text carefully. Using the
questions which follow after each section of the text as a guide,
summarize the article in about 300 words.
 MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR OWN WORDS. NEVER USE DIRECT
QUOTES FROM THE TEXT.
 THE QUESTIONS ARE INCLUDED AS A GUIDE. THEY ARE NOT TO
BE ANSWERED SEPARATELY AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO
ANSWER THEM IN YOUR SUMMARY IN THE ORDER IN WHICH
THEY ARE PRESENTED.
 WRITE YOUR SUMMARY AS TEXTO EN LINEA, ARIAL FONT 12.
 REMEMBER TO MAKE REFERENCE TO TITLE, AUTHOR, DATE OF
PUBLICATION AND SOURCE.
 CHECK THE GLOSSARY AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE.
'It's a nightmare': how coronavirus is wreaking havoc on

students' exams
Universities are rapidly shifting lessons and exams online, but there are worries
disadvantaged students could be left behind
Abby Young-Powell
Wed 25 Mar 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/25/its-a-nightmare-how-
coronavirus-is-wreaking-havoc-on-students-exams
Universities across the UK have closed down class teaching and are running
online seminars and tutorials because of the coronavirus pandemic. The race is
on to decide how to handle the summer exams so final-year students can
complete their degrees. But there are fears that disadvantaged students could
suffer the most through the rapid shift to online learning.
Many universities will replace traditional exams with online assessments, as

Oxford and Cambridge announced last week. At Imperial College London,
medical students have just taken unsupervised exams from home for the first
time.
Some universities are handling the change better than others, according to Dr
Doug Clow, who spent 20 years working on remote learning at the Open
University and is now advising universities on coronavirus. “There’s nothing that
isn’t on fire. Assessment drives what people actually learn, so if you’re changing
the assessment you really ought to change how you teach, but there isn’t time
for that,” he says.
What decisions do UK Universities have to take in view of the coronavirus

pandemic? What problems are anticipated? What changes need to be made?
As universities consider their options, one major concern is that disabled and
disadvantaged students could be left behind.
Susie Friedman, who studies sociology at Cambridge University and dictates

her exams due to RSI*, says changing the format for assessment could be a
“massive problem” for students who may need extra time, invigilators, special
software, or optional breaks. “It’s an additional layer that [doesn’t seem to be]
being dealt with,” she says. “It’s a nightmare.”
Students who don’t have access to reliable wifi, expensive computers, or quiet
space to sit an exam could struggle too. Eugene Sinclair, a final year
architecture student at Edinburgh University, doesn’t know whether he’ll be able
to complete his course because he can’t afford a suitable laptop. “I’ve got one
that’s OK for surfing the internet,” he says. “But for architecture you need to be
able to do 2D and 3D work. Before, I relied on the university’s computers. Now I
don’t feel like I can finish this course because I can’t produce anything.”
For these reasons, students from Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Bristol and
University College London have called for an overhaul* of final-year
assessments, proposing that they are given a choice between taking a mark
based on work completed to date or sitting exams later on.
Daniel Wittenberg, a languages student at the University of Cambridge, says

universities should cancel exams. “We’ve spent our whole lives preparing for a
very different type of exam,” he says. “The university [can’t] pretend this is going
to be a real reflection of our abilities.”
Sabrina Miller, who studies English literature at the University of Bristol, agrees:
“Your grades have a lifelong impact so it’s really stressful.”
But delaying exams could have a knock-on effect*, too. Employers and
professional bodies insist that measures taken during the pandemic must not
lead to lower standards.
As much as they want fair assessment, students also don’t want the disruption
to affect their future work prospects. On Monday, the Junior Lawyers Division
sent a letter to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) asking it to rethink its
decision to push back exams until this autumn, which could leave new
graduates unable to take them at all or out of work.
In order for assessments to go ahead some exams, such as those at Oxford,

will be open book. Another possibility is to run time, live exams taken from
home. “You could have a webcam to check students aren’t looking stuff up, and
find tools to check the typing style is right, or that could lock down the computer
if someone is browsing other sites,” says Clow. However, this would be intrusive
and technologically demanding, so it “probably isn’t the solution.”
What is a major concern for universities, what solutions are some universities
proposing and what could be some side-effects of these solutions?
The shift to online learning is also an adjustment for lecturers*. Many are
working hard to come up with innovative ways to keep students engaged online.
Sarah Wright, a senior lecturer in primary education at Edge Hill University,

says she’s implemented ping pong podcasts, where staff record a podcast for
students who then create their own to send back. “They can get away from their
screens and think about generating their own content,” she says.
Wright has also been running silent debates, where she puts a provocative
statement about education on an online corkboard and students respond using
online sticky notes. “Students are being disconnected from home and from their
sole purpose in life and we need to make sure they’re still connected,” she says.
“Simply putting up a PowerPoint is not good enough.”
Matt Huxley, a lecturer at Staffordshire University London, uses Microsoft

Teams and Discord, a text chat for gamers that is similar to Slack. He’s aware
of the challenges: “If someone’s having problems I can’t see them.” Huxley
adds that it’s important to make sure everyone understands online etiquette*,
such as muting your microphone when you’re not talking, avoiding wandering
off during meetings, and preventing yourself from being distracted.
Not all lecturers are as tech savvy* as Huxley and Wright. “Some academics
who have less experience with technology are finding it more of a struggle,”
says Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.
What are lecturers doing to keep students motivated and active online?
There is one certainty: the pandemic is changing universities’ relationship with

technology. “Coronavirus is forcing things like online learning to happen in a
completely unprecedented way,” says Hillman. “That will likely be a permanent
change, but anybody who tells you with great certainty what’s going to happen
is being overconfident.”
Clow says the decisions universities make about online assessments will have
to stand the test of time. “We’ve got to make emergency decisions but we need
to bear in mind this could go on for a long time,” he says.
Students are facing a degree of disruption that most previous cohorts haven’t
faced, Clow adds. “What the sector is in the middle of doing is extraordinary,”
he says. “I hope we’ll look back on this period and think we did something
remarkable. Though that may be tough consolation for students doing exams
now.”
What conclusion does the author arrive at?
Glossary
WREAK HAVOC: to cause something to happen in a violent and

often uncontrolled way
RSI: People who suffer from RSI have pain in their hands and arms as
a result of repeating similar movements over a long period of time, usually as
part of their job. RSI is an abbreviation for 'repetitive strain injury'.
OVERHAUL: A thorough examination of a system

KNOCK-ON EFFECT: a secondary, indirect, or cumulative effect
LECTURER: someone who teaches at a college or university
ONLINE ETIQUETTE: Online etiquette is the correct or acceptable way of
communicating or behaving on the Internet. This is called online etiquette,
or netiquette for short.
TECH SAVVY: well informed about or proficient in the use of modern
technology, especially computers.
Summary Practice
This is a longer text for you to practice your reading and summary skills
Read the following article. Find main ideas and supporting details. Notice the two
subtitles in the article and how they mark new ideas. Take notes and try to organize
your notes in an outline before attempting to summarize the text. Make a summary
of approx. 250 words.
Decolonising education: A learning-teaching approach
byThe Conversation
10-11-2022 06:26
in Education
It has been seven years since students in South Africa began protesting in a bid to
“Africanise” the country’s university curricula. They viewed what they were learning as
too neoliberal – characterised by Western values pushing the marketisation of education.
They wanted universities to become more relevant to students in an African country and
more connected to their own lives.
The students’ calls propelled “decolonisation” to the forefront of national (and

even international) debate. Decolonisation in the university context involves dismantling
the institutional practices and policies that uphold white supremacist, Western values.
Since then there have been various initiatives at most of the country’s 26 public
universities designed to change what students learn and how.
Every academic has their own opinion and their own approach. Mine, as a university
educator who lectures future teachers, has been to adopt a teaching-learning approach
called defamiliarisation.
The idea of defamiliarisation was coined by Russian literary theorist Viktor Shklovsky. It is
a process of looking at things differently through art, poetry, or film so that you don’t see
them automatically; Shklovsky said that you could look at something you know several
times without really analysing it.
I have researched and used defamiliarisation in my teaching since 2015, finding it a good
place to contribute towards disrupting the sort of neoliberal curriculum student protesters
opposed. If a curriculum doesn’t consider the humanistic side of learning, the system and
institution can treat students as a form of human capital. That ultimately changes
education from a public good to a commodity.
By approaching my classes using defamiliarisation, I have been able to help students think
beyond the usual stories about history. Crucially, they have been put in charge of their
learning. In this way, education is shored up as a public good.
A SPACE TO SPEAK OPENLY
So, what does defamiliarisation look like in practise? One example is an activity a
colleague and I designed: we asked a group of students, as part of a lesson, to draw how
they saw themselves and how they felt about being taught in English at the university.
While English is widely spoken in South Africa, most of our students speak isiXhosa as
their first language.
Even though the question was about the university, many of the students’ drawn answers
were about society and their communities in reference to the university. These examples
showed that, for these students, the community and the university are not separate. The
question seemed to bring up deeper issues that neither the students nor I were aware of at
the time.
For example, one of the students I talked to about her drawing creatively explained how
her feelings were connected to her beliefs, culture, and context pertaining to the dominant
and gendered power relations in her community, and at the school she had attended.
She drew two portraits of herself: on the left, a false representation at the school she
attended, depicting the aesthetic beauty and success that came with being able to speak
English fluently and with excellent grades; on the right, a portrait of her dormant natural
beauty that held on to her culture and true identity.
Her drawing showed how she saw herself and how she thought the rest of society saw her.
Her drawing showed her race, language, culture, gender, and a false representation of
who she was in her school environment.
The student said that in her community, people often asked her about her race because
she spoke in a dialect that she may have picked up at a former Model C (whites only
during apartheid) school, and that was often associated with “white culture” in her
community.
The defamiliarisation approach allowed this student to make her peers and me aware of
her socio-cultural context and, more importantly, the challenges and subtleties of her
identity and how she felt about them. By doing this activity, she, like many of her peers,
could talk about herself creatively and effectively.
This approach developed students’ openness, compassion, sympathy and responsibility.
You could say that defamiliarisation gave the students the freedom to become their own
narrators. It also allowed them to understand what their peers were going through and
show compassion for them around instances of marginalisation in society. This, in my
opinion, is crucial for aspiring educators to fully comprehend the range of experiences and
viewpoints held by learners from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
EDUCATORS BENEFIT, TOO
I believe this kind of teaching was valuable and essential to assist students in developing
the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed for critical global citizenship. It
allowed them to communicate openly about victimisation and unjust treatment in South
Africa.
Even though in some instances it made them feel uncomfortable, defamiliarisation was
met with mostly favourable reactions from students. It helped them to open up about the
challenges in their own lives. And I still use the approach today, mostly through the
medium of film. For instance, I showed the movie Krotoa to a different class. It examines
the impact of Dutch colonisation on the culture and identity of the indigenous Khoi people
of the Cape in the 17th century.
Defamiliarisation helps educators, too. I have reflected on my role as a university lecturer

and, frankly, to question aspects of my teaching that seem dominant and obvious to my
students but are just habitual to me. Learning about my students’ real-life experiences and
sentiments helped me empathise with them and value their individuality. It helped us to
connect in a meaningful way as equals.
Using this approach is a way for academics to return to the basics. That’s crucial if
universities are to offer a curriculum that centres students’ needs as the primary focus of
learning.
Zayd Waghid, Associate professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/education/decolonising-education-in-south-africa-learning
-approach-breaking-10-november-2022/
Some questions to help your reading.
● Why is the article called “decolonizing” education? What do you know about the
process of “colonization”?
● What do you understand by the term “defamiliarization”? What example of a
“defamiliarization” activity does the author provide? Why is it beneficial for the
students?
TIPS FOR IMPROVEMENT IN WRITING
Do not contract auxiliaries and negative or pronoun and verb/auxiliary in formal pieces of writing-
you can and you should use contractions in informal letter, emails, text messages, etc. (e.g. “did
not” instead of “didn’t” or “I would” instead of “I’d” in formal writing)
Avoid repeating the same vocabulary or structure. Find ways to paraphrase.
Remember to indent or double space to mark paragraph divisions.
When you use a formal register avoid informal expressions (e.g. “a little bit”, “cause”, “till”, “give
up”- use “a little”, “because”, “until” or “stop” instead)
Be careful with your punctuation. Do not use parenthesis as freely as in composition in Spanish.
Avoid using “etc.” Replace it by another item in the enumeration and link with “or” (e.g. “Skiing,
hiking, or other activities”)
Do not forget to write the SUBJECT of the sentences. Even if it seems obvious, you should not skip
it at this stage. (e.g. “IT is very important”)
Write your handwritten assignments or exams in ink.
Read the instructions VERY CAREFULLY. Misunderstanding instructions will mean less points or no
points at all if you misunderstand the whole instruction.
Be careful with the meaning of CONNECTORS or LINKING PHRASES. Be careful with the use of
ALTHOUGH- DESPITE/IN SPITE OF- BECAUSE- BECAUSE OF- DUE TO
Remember the rules of paragraph writing you learnt: TOPIC SENTENCE- SUPPORTING IDEAS-
CONCLUSION.
Avoid using YOU/YOUR/WE when you are generalizing at this stage. Prefer PEOPLE/SOME
PEOPLE/OTHERS/THEY, etc. Avoid including your opinion in summary writing.
When we mark a mistake with a “!” or a “*”, it means it is a serious mistake, such as TENSE USE-
VERB FORMS-NUMBER (adjectives do not take plural)- WORD ORDER- AGREEMENT (e.g “she DO”
INSTEAD OF “SHE does”)
When we write “?” we mean that we do not understand your idea or your handwriting.
Express your ideas simply but coherently, that is, your ideas have to flow and coincide with each
other. The causes for something happening have to be clearly expressed (CAUSE/EFFECT).
Make sure you are not including superficial or irrelevant information.
Check your mistakes and try to rewrite every writing task you were corrected on, even if the
teacher does not ask you to do so. It will help you self-monitor better.
Correction symbols:
W.W.- Wrong word (e.g. I WAS HEARING some music on my mobile should be WAS LISTENING TO)-
W.O.- word order (e.g. I wondered WHERE WAS SHE GOING should be I wondered WHERE SHE
WAS GOING)-
GR -Grammar-(e.g. DIFFICULTS moments- should be DIFFICULT moments)
ꓥ -Word missing (I LISTENED ꓥ HIM- should be I listened TO him)
Ts or T- Tense (e.g. I LIVED there since I was a child- should be I HAVE LIVED there since I was a
child)
p. or punc.- Punctuation. (I told him the truth, he was shocked- should be I told him all the truth.
He was shocked. Or I told him all the truth; he was shocked.)
// Start a new paragraph
Paral or ꞁꞁ- parallelism (e.g. I like READING AND TO SING- should be I like READING AND SINGING)
Colloc- collocation (STRONG rain- should be HEAVY rain)
Sp- spelling (BEATIFULL- should be BEAUTIFUL)
? I do not understand your idea or handwriting.
Rep. repetition of vocabulary, structure or idea
Logic- Your idea or argument is not logical.
Criteria for evaluation of summary writing or answers to content questions.
SCORING SCHEME
0-57%- Below Standard

CONTENT Message is impossible or very difficult to
understand- Question has not been or has
been partially answered- Ideas are repeated-
Lack of argumentation (cause-effect/logic)-
Concepts need explanation or rephrasing
ORGANIZATION Paragraphing is not existent- main ideas are
not considered- very few connectors or
linking words- some ideas are repeated while
others are missing- choppy use of language
LANGUAGE Serious language mistakes: verb tenses-
wrong word order- no agreement- Spanish
interference in written expression-poor
punctuation- problems in sentence structure
that hinder comprehension- too many
spelling mistakes- serious mistakes in
patterns- No or wrong use of complex
structures
58-71%- 4 or 5
CONTENT Message is understood, but there are some
confusing points- task is complete- there is
some variety in explanation, description or
argumentation- some ideas are relevant while
others are irrelevant
ORGANIZATION Paragraphing is well-developed most of the
time- some ideas seem to be well-developed
while others are confusing- appropriate us of
connectors and cohesive devices
LANGUAGE Language is fairly well-used with only minor
mistakes that do not hinder understanding-
there is a fairly good range of vocabulary and
structure- there is little Spanish interference-
there are a few cases of wrong spelling or
word order- student makes an attempt to use
complex structures- there is personal
elaboration in spite of the mistakes.
72-100% 6-10
CONTENT Message is clearly understood- answer is
complete and elaborate- ideas are described,
explained, rephrased and exemplified-
Variation in scoring will depend on writing
style, language use and depth of analysis
ORGANIZATION Paragraphs are well-organized- there is a
topic sentence and developing sentences that
make the reading smooth and easy- varied
and relevant cohesive devices and
connectors- elaborate text.
LANGUAGE There is a variety of structures and
vocabulary- very good use of language- no
grammar mistakes- spelling is correct- Good
use of formal language.
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOU SUMMARIES AND ANSWERS ON ALTERNATE LINES TO FACILITATE

CORRECTION. REMEMBER TO EDIT YOUR WORK BEFORE HANDING IN.

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U N M D P - F H - L E N G U A S M O D E R N A S

Tammy Guy Harshbarger

Paraphrasing is a complex process that requires advanced

My Experience Teaching Paraphrasing

In 1996 I first began teaching English language students how to

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 67 2012/12/26 15:31:02

them in your own words” (64-65). Steps on how to paraphrase or

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 68 2012/12/26 15:31:02

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 69 2012/12/26 15:31:02

conferences, I learned that they often paraphrased incorrectly because

Paraphrasing to Understand a Sentence

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 70 2012/12/26 15:31:02

in my students’ textbooks and on the Web. I also felt I needed to create

The Process of Paraphrasing

When I started to teach Academic Writing II in the Department

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 71 2012/12/26 15:31:02

The Process of Paraphrasing

To paraphrase a sentence is to rewrite the sentence using different

The process of paraphrasing:

Relationships between ideas:

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 72 2012/12/26 15:31:02

Relationships between ideas

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 73 2012/12/26 15:31:02

• worthless: unworthy, useless, no-good, of little/no value,

Reporting verbs: affirm, allege, argue, assert, assume, believe,

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 74 2012/12/26 15:31:02

reveal, report, say, show, state, stress, suggest, suppose, suspect,

Exercises to Build Paraphrasing Skills

Usually paraphrasing and plagiarism are discussed as a student is

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 75 2012/12/26 15:31:02

possible paraphrases and I explain the different kinds of vocabulary and

Paraphrase each part of this sentence in three different ways.

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 76 2012/12/26 15:31:02

It is not illegal in some cultures to be married to more than one

the monogamous relationship is the most common.

Combine these paraphrases into three different sentences.

The following quote can be paraphrased in several ways.

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 77 2012/12/26 15:31:02

4. Although having a multiple number of wives is not against the

In explaining the grammar and vocabulary, I show that chunks of

Paraphrase each part of this sentence in three different ways.

some 10 million girls a year

are married off before the age of 18

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across the world

according to a UNICEF report released this year

Combine these paraphrases into three different sentences.

The following sentence can be paraphrased in different ways.

some 10 million girls a year

are married off before the age of 18

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 79 2012/12/26 15:31:02

across the world

according to a UNICEF report released this year

These sentences can be paraphrased in the following ways:

Paraphrase each part of this sentence in three different ways.

Japan has long had deep misgivings about immigration

212285_Tsuda Review_no57-4校.indb 80 2012/12/26 15:31:02

has tightly controlled

the ability of foreigners to live and work here