Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
小题1:What do we know about the ways pre-school children are usually taught?
A．More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored.
B．Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print.
C．The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers.
D．Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures.
小题2:What does Shayne Piasta suggest pre-school teachers should do in class?
A．Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean.
B．Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters.
C．Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills.
D．Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures.
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE about the study on language skills of pre-school children?
A．Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children.
B．Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading.
C．Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom.
D．Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching.
小题4:Which section of a magazine does the passage probably come from?
A．Fashion.B．Economy .C．Entertainment.D．Education.
答案
小题1:A
小题2:B
小题3:C
小题4:D
解析
试题分析：本文讲述的内容是幼儿教育方面的一个新的研究成果，告诉我们要更多注意文字和语言方面，而不仅仅是图片的教育。
小题1:A 推理题。根据文章第一段Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.可知现在的老师和父母亲过度的关注图片教育孩子，而忽视了文字和语言方面的教育。故A正确。
小题2:B 推理题。根据文章第三行Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach可知他建议对方做出改变，也就是从以前的方法转换到现在的注意文字和语言方面。故B正确。
小题3:C 细节题。根据文章倒数第二段后2行The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.可知C项内容正确。
小题4:D 推理题。本文讲述的内容是幼儿教育方面的一个新的研究成果，故最可能出现在杂志的教育专栏。故D项正确。
点评：本文讲述的内容是幼儿教育方面的一个新的研究成果。文章基本上是考查细节题，对此类题型考生可以首先从问题中找到关键词，然后以此为线索，运用略读及查阅的技巧在文中迅速寻找这一细节，找到后再把这一部分内容仔细阅读一遍，仔细比较所给选项与文中细节的细微区别，在准确理解细节的前提下，最后确定最佳答案。
知识点
科教类阅读的定义
科教类阅读的概念：
科教类阅读主要考查考生对书面语篇的整体领悟能力和接受及处理具体信息的能力。试题的取材，密切联系当前我国和世界经济、科技等方面的变化，有关数据的来源真实可信。