READING AND WRITING SKILLS

Warm-Up
 The word inside the oval is taken from the title of Lewis Carroll's poem.
Examine unusual word. Upon reading this title, can you guess what the poem will
be about? W associations do you have with the word? Write them beside the
lines. You will go bac these later.

Now, in order to have a better appreciation of the reading experience, let

us go direc to the poem:

JABBERWOCKY by
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and WhatA/ice Found There, 1872)

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were tie borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And
stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffing through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dea and with its head
4
He wentg umphing back.
READING AND WRmNG SKILLS
"And,hasthou slainthe Jabberwock?

summarize

or

after

Unit THE
5
Defining Reading
The previous poem revitalized your experience with reading because you were
reading a text with many unfamiliar words, It challenged you to pay more
attention to better understand what was on the page.
But what is reading, anyway? Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols
to derive meaning from a text. It is always an interaction between the text and the
reader. _ We read to gain and share information and ideas, whether for academic,
personal, or v professional purposes.
Reading is also a skill that can be improved through consistent practice. In order
to comprehend the text, we apply many skills simultaneously while we read:
identifying the author's purpose, grasping the main ideas of the text, locating
important details, using context clues to understand unfamiliar words, answering
specific questions, analyzing the text's points, and critiquing the textJhese, and
more, are some of the strategies that we can use to help us become better readers.

Applying Effective Reading Strategies

While reading our previous selection, you must have felt confused because there
were many words that you did not understand. You might have thought that the
piece you were reading was nonsensical! You must have employed several strategies
to help you make sense of the poem. Below are some reading strategies that you can
use to increase your understanding of the text.
Getting an Overview of the Text
At times, it may be a good idea to survey the text as a whole before delving
deeper into each part. Whenever you want to get the gist of the text's content,
you use previewing skimming, and scanning.
Pr eviewing

Previewing means looking at the readily visible parts of the text, lik titles and
subtitles, and also visuals and graphs, pictures, and charts. Previewinf
helps familiarize you with the contents of the selection and focus on th
important information in the text.To preview the text properly, first identifyY01
purpose for reading. Next, examine the titles and subtitles of the text. Afterwar
browse the introduction and the conclusion of the text. Finally, look visual
elements of the text. Take note of the things that interest you to bet* understand
the text later.
In the case of "Jabberwocky," an illustration could be useful in
helping understand the poem. It can give you an idea of what the
Jabberwock looked and what happened in the poem's narrative.

2. Skimming and scanning

S
kimming the text means you look for the main
point of the reading identify the ideas that develop it. Skimming
effectively means physically Your eyes rapidly along the page and
tracing your finger along the lines o text to speed up your reading.
This skill also involves quickly going

6
READING AND WRITING SKILLS
 beginning and concluding sentences of paragraphs because these usually
talk about the topic of the text.
Skimming may be a bit difficult with a poem like "Jabberwocky,"
especially since it has words that you are not familiar with. However, quickly
going over the text may give you an idea of the boy's quest to slay the
Jabberwock, which is an important idea in the poem.
Meanwhile, scanning the reading is looking for specific information. To
scan the text effectively, you need to have an idea of the details you are
looking for. The instructions of your teacher or questions about the text
may help you in knowing what to scan for. This strategy also involves
physically moving your eyes quickly along the lines of text. You do not have
to read every word; just read until you locate the details you are searching
for. Scanning the-text is especially useful when doing research or taking
examinations.
Scanning is a useful strategy to apply to the previous poem, especially
when searching for answers to discussion questions like "What weapon is
used to kill the Jabberwock?"
Using Context Clues
After using the previous strategies to go over the gist of the text, you are now
ready to have a closer look at some parts of the reading. One technique to improve
your reading comprehension and reading pace is using context clues.
Context clues are words, phrases, and sentences that surround an unfamiliar
word that can help you recognize the meaning of an unknown word because the text
gives you information about it. Thus, you can study how a word is used in a sentence
and discover an approximate definition. Getting the meaning of unfamiliar words
through context clues is a very useful process, because this allows you to read more
fluently and increases your vocabulary.
The most common types of context clues are the following:
Synonyms

Synonyms are used when the text has words or phrases that are
similar in unknown word. Though their meanings are similar, they
are not exactly the same because a word may have different
associations with it. Synonym clues may be signaled by the
following words: "like" or "as." Examples:

Unit THE
a. Humpty Dumpty took great pleasure in obfuscating the poem's
meaning for Alice. His explanations about the poem were confusing
and complicated.
b. Alice envisaged the Jabberwock in her mind. She imagined its sharp
claws and jaws, and then shivered in fright.
c. The narrator in the poem was euphoric at his son's victory, for he
cried out triumphantly when the boy came home.

i: READING PROCESS 7

Unit THE
2. Antonyms
An antonym is a word that reveals the opposite meaning in
relation to the unknown word. When you see words like "although,"
"but," "despite" "instead," "in contrast," "unlike,"
"however," "even though," "on the contrary" and "conversely," these
usually precede antonyms because these are used to show
contrasting ideas. Examples:
a. The boy in the poem surreptitiously set out to find the monster.
He did not tell anyone about his plans because he did not want
them to worry.
b. The Jabberwock was relentlessly pursued by the boy, unlike the
others who gave up easily when they heard how terrifying the
creature

c. The hero in the poem did not give in to trepidation; rather,

he bravely stayed the Jabberwock with his sword.
3. Examples
Examples are specific details in a text that are used to clarify the
meaning of a word. Examples:
a. There are many eccentric creatures in the forest, such as mome
raths and borogoves.
b. Only a few weapons are truly nifty in hunting monsters, like the
vorpal sword.

c. The boy's father was ecstatic when he found out that the Jabberwock
was conquered by his son. His behavior included laughing,
cheering, and hugging his son.
4. Explanations and definitions
Explanations may be given as clues to describe an unknown
term. When phrases like "because" or "that is" ollow a word, these
may be explanations. Meanwhile, definitions may follow an
unfamiliar word. Terms like •is,' "means,""ts defined as," and "refers
to" are used with definitions.
Examples:
a. Humpty Dumpty told Alice that "brillig" means the same thing as fou r
o'clock in the afternoon, because that is when people started broiling
things for dinner.
Hearing someone means he is whistling'
bellowing, and sneezing all at once—can be a funny sight.
Alice thought that "toves" were curious creatures, since they we re

part-badger, part-lizard, and part corkscrew.

Situations
The situation in which a word is used can also be helpful in
determining the meaning of that word. The meaning of a word may
change depending context, or how and where it is used.
ANDWRITINGSKILLS
 Examples:
a. The boy wondered if he should have brought some back up, in case he
could not take on the Jabberwock by himself.
b. The hero's conquest of the Jabberwockis an exemplarycase ofbravery.
c. The hero is lucky that the murder of the Jabberwock does not merit a
case in court!
In the first example, "case" is part of the idiom "in case," which
means "if it should happen." In the second sentence, "case" pertains to
"an instance of the occurrence." Finally, "case" in the third sentence
refers to "charges raised in court for a crime."
Using Connotation and Denotation
Another way of improving your comprehension of a text is trying to
understand the different meanings that particular words can have. Words only
make sense to us if we understand what they mean. Two ways of describing the
meaning of a word are called denotation and connotation. Denotation is the
basic, precise, literal meaning of the word that can be found in a dictionary.
Connotation, meanwhile, is the positive, negative, or neutral feelings, attitudes,
ideas, or associations with a word. These shades of meaning are affected by social
overtones, emotional meanings, or cultural implications.
To illustrate the difference between denotation and connotation, compare the
following meanings of the words "father" and "daddy"'
Father
Denotation: a male parent.
Connotation: -association: positive
—feelings: love and respect
Daddy
Denotation: a male parent.
Connotation: —association: positive
-feelings: love, familiarity, childhood
The denotations synonymous because they both
pertain to a male parent. However, denotations do not reveal the individual
responses of people to a word.UDaddy"is more connotative than "father," even
though they denote the same thing because many children have fond memories
of their fathers. Of course, this does not discount that each reader has a different
relationship with his or her father. Two words may have the same definition, but
can have different emotional content.
Connotations, therefore, portray more multifaceted definitions of a word
whether these are positive, negative, or neutral. Positive connotations are
Unit THE
generally favorable associations toward a word. Negative connotations,
meanwhile, tend to have unfavorable feelings or ideas toward a word. Neutral
connotations bring up impartial associations towards a word.
Let us apply these to the following example: Compare the associations with
the words "shanty."All ofthese words denote places where people live. l:
READING PROCESS I
9

Unit THE
 h of these positive? Negative? Neutral? A "house" has a neutral it a which
€,otneone lives." A "home" has a more because it brings to inind "a place of
warmth and comfort and ity: I ""hönty" has a negative connotation
because it is associated with it a crudely built shack,"
Usually, youc knowledoe of how a word is used and the context clues in
the text will help you to detern)ine the type of connotation, To further
illustrate this, let us look at the following situation:
Archie has two aunts: Tita Jennifer and Tita Joanna, Tita Jennifer is proud of
her nephew; meanwhile, Tita Joanna does not favor him so much. This disposition
may color the language that they use.
For example, Archie likes to save money while he is shopping.
Tita Jennifer says: He is thrifty.
Tita Joanna says: He is stingy.
Both words talk about saving money, but
is their connotations are different "Thrifty" used
in this sense means that Archie values his
money and knows how to look for bargains.
He However, "stingy" suggests that Archie is
about greedy and selfish with his money.
"Focused"
that Archie is a hard worker.
synonyms He is very focused on his job.
is very obsessed with his job.
paying close
attention to the job; the
difference is in hints at
Archie's dedication and
Negative interest in his job, while that
he is a workaholic. The
examples above show that
glib, even are not exactly the
same.
the connotation and denotation
of a word helps us to be it communicates.
Your knowledge of context clues will help you
see is used in a sentence; this analysis helps
you to be sensitive to the word' meaning
because a word's connotations can create

WRITINGSKILLS
different impressions for readers. Examine the differences in the examples
below. Which of these are positive connotations? Why?

Chubby, voluptuous, fat

loudmouthed
routine, trite

Identify the-type Of context clues used for each of the following sentences
I saw a man vaping his e-cigarette. He was exha!ing
the vapor from the device.
2. Contactless payment technologies, unlike traditional modes
of payment, make use of smart cards to connect wirelessly
to e-readers for more efficient payment.
3. Signing an online petition, sharing a status message, or
liking a post are increasingly regarded as actions falling
under slacktivism, a digital form of activism with little
involvement.
4. Some parents are anti-vax—that is, anti-vaccinations—
because they believe these chemicals may trigger autism
in students.
5. Some people like making duck faces, or pressing their lips
together in the shape of a duck's bill, when they take
selfies.
6. "Watch this video to discover the meaning of life!" "This
beggar's response will restore your faith in humanity!" and
"See how one woman made a million pesos from her living
room" are types of headlines called
clickbaits.
 7. Advances in neuromorphic technology
have excited many scientists. These
systems that mimic the human
nervous system show much
promise in the field of medicine.
*These words are taken from Oxford Dictionaries' Words of
the Year for 2014.

B. Denotation and Connotation

 Evaluation
Select one reading strategy discussed in this lesson. In the space below, discuss how
to apply this strategy in your own words. Why did you choose this strategy? When
should this strategy be used? Can it be applicable for all reading materials? What are
the advantages and limitations of using this strategy? Do you think this strategy is the
most effective? Why?