2.3 Reading Comprehension Practice
Exercises
Practice Your Reading Skills: First Steps, Multiple Choice
- Read the following two articles listed below. Note that each article has a fairly challenging reading ease score.
“Improve your cultural fit, a.k.a. soft skills, for a competitive advantage” 45.5 Reading Ease Score
“Why the quest for good soft skills can often be the same as looking for ‘whiteness’: Soft skills are those skills which define the way we interact with each other in the workplace” 37 Reading Ease Score
2.Carefully read each article. Use skimming, scanning, and annotating strategies outlined previously.
3.Once you have read intensively, answer the multiple-choice questions provided below. The questions may refer to one or both of the articles.
Understanding Reading Requirements in this Course
In a business context, we are often tasked with relaying information that we have read to colleagues. We do this through discussions, emails, reports, and presentations. It is, therefore, critical to develop adequate reading skills and writing skills.
In an academic context, practicing answering reading comprehension questions is an effective way of developing “relaying” skills.
The GMAT, which is an acronym for the Graduate Management Admission Test, is a standardized test that measures a candidate’s facility in mathematics, verbal skills, and analytical writing. The GMAT is often used by business schools to determine who gains entrance to their MBA programs. According to GMAT Reading Comprehension: Six Question Types (2020), six types of comprehension questions deal with:
- the main idea
- supporting ideas
- possible inferences (inferences are conclusions or opinions that are formed based on known facts or evidence)
- real-world applications
- the structure of the piece
- style and tone (para. 3).
The six bulleted points above are reliable measures of reading comprehension required for functioning in a business milieu.
The questions developed below echo the GMAT model.
Exercises
Reading Comprehension: Second Steps, Reframing Content and Answering Questions
Take another look at “Improve your cultural fit, a.k.a soft skills for a competitive advantage” and try to answer these questions in complete sentences and in your words.
- What is the main point of the article? main point
- How has the basis for permanent residency changed? supporting details
- Define “soft skills.” How are they judged? supporting details
- Who is most likely to succeed in Canadian workplaces? inference
- In your country of birth—if it is not Canada—are job requirements similar or different in terms of points raised in this article? If your country of birth is Canada, select another country with which you are familiar. real-world application
- This article was written in 2012. Is it still relevant today? Refer to “Why the quest for good soft skills can often be the same as looking for ‘whiteness'” to support your answer. real-world application
When answering the questions,
- create a context for your answer by reframing the question,
- use your own words, i.e., paraphrase the author’s words (more on this later), and
- write in complete, grammatically-correct sentences.
References
Ahsan, S. (2021, April 9). Why the quest for good soft skills can often be the same as looking for ‘whiteness’: Soft skills are those skills which define the way we interact with each other in the workplace. The Globe and Mail (Online). http://ra.ocls.ca/ra/login.aspx?inst=centennial&url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/why-quest-good-soft-skills-can-often-be-same-as/docview/2510008903/se-2?accountid=39331 [Link accessible only to Centennial students]
GMAT reading comprehension: Six question types. (2020). Retrieved April 19, 2020. https://www.gmatsyllabus.com/verbal-section/gmat-reading-comprehension-six-question-types
Jetelina, M. (2012). Improve your cultural fit, a.k.a soft skills for a competitive advantage. Canadian Immigrant. https://canadianimmigrant.ca/careers-and-education/improve-your-cultural-fit-a-k-a-soft-skills-for-a-competitive-advantage
