Interpretação de Texto: How to Become a More Successful Language Learner

How to Become a More Successful Language Learner

Mnemonics are techniques that make memorization easier by organizing items into patterns and linking things together. There are many kinds of mnemonic devices. You should experiment with different ones to see which work best for you. Here are some you may want to try.


1. Use rhyming – Items that rhyme are often easier to remember. When memorizing a list of words, if some rhyme with each other words that you know. For instance, in Russian, nash (“our”), vash (“your”), nas (“us”) and vas (“you”) should be learned together so that is named, the other one will instantly come to mind;

 

2. Learn classes of words – Sometimes it is helpful to learn words by class, such as color words, days of the week, months of the year, and numbers from one to ten. Try to memorize them in different orders, however;
 

3. Use natural word associations, such as opposites – In your own language, some words tend to be naturally associated. For example, given the word cold and asked for another word that instantly comes to mind, most people will mention hot. Word pairs like brother-sister, husband-wife, black-white are automatically associated in similar ways. Therefore, when words in a foreign language, try to form pairs so that when one is mentioned, the other instantly comes to mind;
 

4. Learn related words – Groups of words that share a common core, such as white, whiten, whitish, are more easily memorized together than are groups of unrelated words. If you have a list of words to memorize, try to organize them into groups that share a common core, or try to link a new word with previously, learned words that have the same core;
 

5. Group words by grammatical class – Sometimes it helps to organize a list of words by parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, verbs, and so on. Nouns are usually easier to memorize than verbs; and adjectives, in turn, are easier to memorize than verbs. To may, therefore, want to spend more time on the more difficult classes of words.
 

(Extracted from Rubin, J. & Thomson, I, 1985. How to Become a More Successful Language Learner. Boston, Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Inc. page 67-8)
Questions
 

36 . The objective of the text is:
 

(A) Associate new words with the learner1’s existing vocabulary.
(B) Teach how to associate words with their pronunciation.
(C) Teach new words in the context where they appear.
(D) Help people learn new vocabulary more effectively.
(E) Show people how to form new sentences.
 

37. Mark the alternative in which all pairs follow the patterns suggested in lines 16 to 24:
 

(A) tall/short; singer/cousin; bread/butter; cat/dog.
(B) difficult/easy; heavy/light; sensitive/ambitious; single/married.
(C) cause/effect; ozone layer/skin cancer; silver/gold; noise/silence.
(D) pen/pencil; teacher/student; intelligent/stupid; sociable/frustrated.

(E) doctor/patient; cheap/expensive; son/daughter; introspective/hungry.
 

38. The strategy mentioned in lines 25 to 30 suggests that we should group together items that:
 

(A) look similar but are not related.
(B) are etymologically related.
(C) are members of the same grammatical class.
(D) have been previously learned.
(E) are unrelated but have the same core.
 

39. According to the text, it is easier to remember items that:
 

A) end with the same sound.
(B) have different functions.
(C) have unrelated meanings.
(D) belong to distinct grammatical classes.
(E) are similar in length.
 

40. Select the alternative that could be replaced by the expression “FOR THIS REASON”.
 

A) however (line 15).
(B) such as (line 16).
(C) therefore (line 22).
(D) so that (line 23).
(E) in turn (line 34)
 

Vocabulary

Pattern – padrão, modelo
Make – fazer, criar, produzir, fabricar, efetuar
Kind – maneira, tipo, espécie
Device- dispositivo, artifício, meio, estratagema
Try – tentar, testar, experimentar
Often – frequentemente
Each other – uma a outra, um ao outro
Mind – mente, espírito, memória, cérebro
Helpful – proveitoso, útil
However – contudo, porém
Such as – tal como
Give – dar, fornecer
Ask (x) answer – perguntar (x) responder
Pairs – pares
Way – forma, maneira, modo, caminho
Therefore – portanto, assim
So that – de modo que
Related – relacionado, ligado, aparentado
Share – partilhar, dividir, distribuir
Core – núcleo, parte central, cerne
Link – ligar, vincular
Same (x) some – mesmo (x) alguns
Speech – discurso, fala, linguagem, língua
So on – assim por diante
In turn – por sua vez
May – pode, ser possível
Spend – gastar, passar, despender
Become – tornar-se, vir a ser
Learner – aprendiz, discípulo
Tall – alto
Singer – cantor
Cousin – primo
Bread – pão
Butte – manteiga
Son – filho
Daughter – filha
Belong – pertencer, dizer respeito a
Length – comprimento
Could – poderia
 

Mnemónica
 

Uma mnemônica é um auxiliar de memória.
São, tipicamente, verbais, e utilizados para memorizar listas ou fórmulas, e baseiam-se em formas simples de memorizar maiores construções, baseados no princípio de que a mente humana tem mais facilidade de memorizar dados quando estes são associados a informação pessoal, espacial ou de carácter relativamente importante, do que dados organizados de forma não sugestiva para o indivíduo ou sem significado aparente.
Porém, estas sequências têm que fazer algum sentido, ou serão igualmente difíceis de memorizar.
 

Gabarito

36 - d
37 - c
38 - b
39 - a
40 - c