Current literature in literacy and reading comprehension indicates that international students struggle with identifying the main idea of an English academic text. English language learners from various backgrounds and levels of linguistic proficiency face this challenge throughout their college years. This missing link can become a significant barrier to their educational achievement, and can be addressed by effective pedagogical methodologies. Best practices in teaching how to find the main idea of a variety of texts will be presented as they were implemented in English as a Second Language classrooms at Hudson County Community College, New Jersey. The framework of these teaching techniques is based on understanding the use of explicit instruction of text structure and rhetorical modes, in addition to chunking, text mapping, and key-word identification. Participants’ activities will include hands-on analysis of a short text and a discussion on how to apply the tailored academic strategies to identify the main idea.

Authors:
Patrizia Barroero, Hudson County Community College, United States
Saliha Yagoubi, Hudson County Community College, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Patrizia Barroero is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Hudson County Community College in United States

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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