reading a long text in our own language

[keannu]

What is "reading a long text in our own language"? Was this written by a non-English speaker? What does "a long text" mean? the carefully chosen extracts? I don't get it at all.....

ex)It is true that concentrating on some selected highlights of the work constitutes a form of sampling that does not guarantee an overall grasp of the whole work. But then does any method ever do that? Even if teachers read through and explain every single word of a shorter text in class, can they be sure that what has undoubtedly been taught has also been learnt? We feel that if we choose extracts carefully and present them throught enjoyable group activities, our students have more chance of gaining true familiarity with any work of English as a whole. After all, such an approach replicates the experience of reading a long text in our own language. We may well read it from beginning to end, but it will not exist as a chronological entity in our minds. Our memory will impose its own overview, lingering upon some aspects rather than others, telescoping events, organizing new configurations.

[emsr2d2]

What is "reading a long text in our own language"? Was this written by a non-English speaker? What does "a long text" mean? the carefully chosen extracts? I don't get it at all.....

ex)It is true that concentrating on some selected highlights of the work constitutes a form of sampling that does not guarantee an overall grasp of the whole work. But then does any method ever do that? Even if teachers read through and explain every single word of a shorter text in class, can they be sure that what has undoubtedly been taught has also been learnt? We feel that if we choose extracts carefully and present them throught enjoyable group activities, our students have more chance of gaining true familiarity with any work of English as a whole. After all, such an approach replicates the experience of reading a long text in our own language. We may well read it from beginning to end, but it will not exist as a chronological entity in our minds. Our memory will impose its own overview, lingering upon some aspects rather than others, telescoping events, organizing new configurations.

"Text" is just a word used to describe any piece of writing, so "a long text" is a piece of written work which is long (contains many words).

[keannu]

"Text" is just a word used to describe any piece of writing, so "a long text" is a piece of written work which is long (contains many words).

What I asked was in "reading a long text in our own language" if our own language means a foreign language other than English and also I don't clearly understand the later part...I'm sorry I'm at a loss what to ask, the whole paragraph is all greek to me..I'd better think a lot..

[5jj]

What I asked was in "reading a long text in our own language" if our own language means a foreign language other than English ...

One of the things you asked was :

What does "a long text" mean?

emsr2d2 answered that. Thank you, emsr2d2.

[emsr2d2]

One of the things you asked was : emsr2d2 answered that. Thank you, emsr2d2.

Phew. Thanks. I thought I was going slightly mad.

Anyway, "a text in our own language" (in your original piece) means a text written in whatever your native language is.

[keannu]

Thank a lot! Is the author saying to truly understand a literary work, we need to have a joyful reading activity which will lead to memorize it far better than when we just memorize a text either long or short in a boring way? I'm actually curious about the theme the writer is trying to make. The last underlined sentence is also hard to understand...Could you give me a hand?

ex)......Our memory will impose its own overview, lingering upon some aspects rather than others, telescoping events, organizing new configurations.

[keannu]

Thank a lot! Is the author saying to truly understand a literary work, we need to have a joyful reading activity which will lead to memorize it far better than when we just memorize a text either long or short in a boring way? I'm actually curious about the theme the writer is trying to make. The last underlined sentence is also hard to understand...Could you give me a hand?

ex)......Our memory will impose its own overview, lingering upon some aspects rather than others, telescoping events, organizing new configurations.

If someone can summarize the theme by one sentence or two, I can get the meaning of every part.

[5jj]

Our memory will impose its own overview - the picture of the work that we have in our memory may be different from the work itself; our memory creates a picture of its own
lingering upon some aspects rather than others - it will spend more time on some aspects of the work than others
telescoping events - it will shorten, abridge, run together some events
organizing new configurations - it will makes new arrangements, orderings of some events.

[keannu]

Our memory will impose its own overview - the picture of the work that we have in our memory may be different from the work itself; our memory creates a picture of its own
lingering upon some aspects rather than others - it will spend more time on some aspects of the work than others
telescoping events - it will shorten, abridge, run together some events
organizing new configurations - it will makes new arrangements, orderings of some events.

Thanks a lot Master, but I meant the summary of the whole following writing in one sentence or two, I can't understand so many parts of the writing, I really feel stupid..I'm sorry!!!

ex)It is true that concentrating on some selected highlights of the work constitutes a form of sampling that does not guarantee an overall grasp of the whole work. But then does any method ever do that? Even if teachers read through and explain every single word of a shorter text in class, can they be sure that what has undoubtedly been taught has also been learnt? We feel that if we choose extracts carefully and present them throught enjoyable group activities, our students have more chance of gaining true familiarity with any work of English as a whole. After all, such an approach replicates the experience of reading a long text in our own language. We may well read it from beginning to end, but it will not exist as a chronological entity in our minds. Our memory will impose its own overview, lingering upon some aspects rather than others, telescoping events, organizing new configurations.

[emsr2d2]

If a group of people read the same text or the same extracts from a text, they will not all get the same impression from it. Everyone's experience or impression of a piece of written work, whether they read it themselves or it is taught to them, is affected by their own personal experiences and feelings.