268 Reviews

Erlinda R. Boyle teaches in the English Language Teaching Unit of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has taught Business Communication Skills for several years.

PARA COMPREENDER TEXTOS EM INGLfiS. Angela Nunes Martins da Gama, Lucia Ciminelli Barbosa, Lucia de Macedo Silva Reis, Lucia Maria Alves Ferreira, Lucia Valeria Port0 Madeira, Nadia Guimaraes de Souza, and Rosangela Avila Dantas. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Editora Central da Univer- sidade Gama Filho e Univerta, 1992, 112 pp.

Reviewed by Cynthia A. H&gins and Sunny Hyon

In the last two decades, the ESP movement in Brazil has been influenced by the idea of “conscientizado,” whose aim is to relate language learning to student experience and empowerment (Freire, 1988). ESP textbook writers are thus faced with the challenge of developing authentic-style reading mate- rials relevant to the life experiences and purposes of diverse audiences. The authors of Para Compreender Textos em Znglbs, an intermediate-level ESP reading textbook, offer a valiant attempt at addressing these concerns. How- ever, although the textbook succeeds as a collection of stimulating, “real- world’ texts appealing to university students, the combination of reading texts and tasks often seems at odds with the purposes of the student audiences.

Para Compreender Textos em Zngltfs is organized into 32 chapters which are divided into 17 Atividades (short reading passages followed by basic compre- hension exercises), 15 Unidudes (longer readings with more detailed compre- hension tasks), and 13 Textos Complementares (a collection of additional read- ings). This locally produced textbook is notable for its attractive, high-quality appearance and eye-catching layout. The reading selections are primarily from popular U.S. and British newspapers and magazines such as Time, The London Suna!uy Times, Psychology Today and New Woman. The selections represent “popular” topics among young people such as obesity, date rape on campus, fitness, nuclear war, and premarital sex. These topics work well at motivating student reading.

In their statement of objectives, the authors note that, in selecting their texts, they have been influenced by the theories of Kenneth Goodman, who argues that previously held knowledge of the world can help readers create and revise hypotheses about texts. ESL reading specialists such as Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) have also noted that previous knowledge structures, or schemata, can aid reading comprehension. They have proposed that both con- tent schemata (knowledge of the topic), as well as formal schemata (knowledge of the rhetorical structure of a text), may improve ESL students’ reading comprehension. Indeed, the reading texts of Para Compreender Textos em Znglbs work well for this purpose. As all the selections are on social and personal issues of interest to university students, students can apply their

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background knowledge, or content schemata, to these texts as they read. Similarly, the format of the magazine, newspaper, and academic texts are likely to be familiar to university students, allowing them to bring their formal sche- mata to the reading, as well. The lessons also include a number of pictures and diagrams from the original texts which serve as nonlinguistic clues about both the topic and the text structure.

The tasks are not as effective as the texts themselves at activating students’ prior knowledge structures. In a typical Atividade, students are presented immediately with a short text or illustration, followed by basic comprehension exercises, given in Portuguese, which may include matching, sentence com- pletion, and vocabulary recognition. The Uniuizdes involve slightly longer texts which are presented in increments, with comprehension checks interspersed throughout. Typical exercises here (again, in Portuguese) include paraphrasing the main idea, comparing the content of two related texts, and identifying the purpose of a paragraph. Most of the lessons, therefore, fail to include any prereading preparation to familiarize students with the topic at hand. Only two Unidades (12 and 15) preface the reading passages by asking students to reflect on the topics (child development and nuclear war, respectively). Some of the other lessons do, in fact, ask students to relate the reading to their own experiences in Brazil, but only as follow-up questions to the passage. In addi- tion, little preparatory instruction is given on the formal/rhetorical aspects of the reading texts, but this lack seems to be characteristic of ESWESP reading textbooks as a whole and, thus, does not present itself as a particular weakness of this textbook. Indeed, in Genre Analysis (1990), Swales has noted the need for ESP reading curricula to include more explicit instruction on the rhetorical and formal characteristics of different genres of texts.

From a practical perspective, the exercises may prove difficult for teachers to use and for students to follow. A single chapter often shifts quickly from matching exercises to cloze passages, to filling in the chart, to stating the main idea, and as such, the lessons fail to thoroughly develop any particular strategy or skill area. Students may not be able to make the cognitive shifts necessary between activities containing no more than a few questions each. Teachers, as well, will be limited in developing a comprehensive lesson around any given exercise.

In addition to the lack of prereading preparation and task development, we are also concerned with appropriateness of the texts and tasks for the purposes of the audience. In their introduction, the authors state that the textbook is aimed at two groups: students at the Universidade Gama Fill-10 (Brazil) who are concentrating on English language studies, and students using English texts to relate to their own field of study or profession. The reading selections - excerpts from American and British pop culture - are perhaps appropriate for the student of general English, but ill-suited for the second population of stu- dents required to read academic and professional texts in English. On the other hand, the tasks, which involve responding to reading passages by answering questions in Portuguese, may suit the second group of students reading En- glish texts to further their work in their mother tongue. However, the lessons

270 Reviews

fail to provide students specializing in English language study any opportunities for responding to and reflecting on reading passages in English. Reading is thus presented as an isolated skill, rather than one which is integrated with writing, speaking, and listening in English.

Indeed, this singular focus on reading abilities seems to be characteristic of Brazilian ESP in general. In his review of The Brazilian ESP Project: An Evaluation, Lackstrom (1990) notes, “the focus of the ESP materials was on the reading skill, except where local conditions demanded attention to spoken English” (p. 95). However, J. M. Swales (personal communication) has noted that this pattern in Brazilian ESP is changing and suggests that the “current trends to move cautiously away from total concentration on reading skills be . . . encouraged.” Instructors using Para Compreender Textos em Inglb might thus be advised to supplement the textbook exercises with English writing and speaking tasks, particularly with students focusing on English lan- guage studies.

In all, Para Compreender Textos em Inglks offers an interesting set of read- ings appealing to the life experiences of university students. In this way, the book reflects the philosophy of “conscientiza$io” by providing material rele- vant to the backgrounds of its readers. Where the book is less successful, however, is in selecting an appropriate combination of texts and tasks to address the very different (perhaps divergent) needs of its two intended au- diences. The materials meet each group half-way and as such, fall short of fully satisfying the goals of either. The authors might have benefited by targeting a narrower audience with more common purposes.

REFERENCES

Carrell, P. L., & Eisterhold, J. C. (1983). Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy. TESOL Qua&e+, 17, 553-573.

Freire, P. (1988). The adult literacy process as cultural action for freedom and education and conscientiza@o. In E. R. Kintgen, B. M. Kroll, and M. Rose (Eds.), Perspectives on literacy (pp. 398409). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Lackstrom, J. E. (1990). Review of The Brazilian ESP Project: An Evalua- tion. English for Specific Pulposes, 9, 95-101.

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research set- tings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cindy Hudgins is a lecturer at the English Language Institute, University of Michigan.

Sunny Hyon is a PhD candidate in the Program of Linguistics, University of Michigan.