Question

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.

Answer 1

【小题1】A
【小题2】B
【小题3】C
【小题4】D

解析试题分析：本文介绍了一项新的研究发现：提醒学龄前儿童注意单词和字母，可以引导学生成为更好的读者。一个在Ohio 州立大学的助理教授做了为期两年的对比研究，发现被提醒注意文字的学龄前儿童，在阅读，拼写和理解方面的技能明显更好。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第一段的第一句话：老师和父母通常提醒学龄前儿童注意故事书里的图画。可知：学龄前儿童学习时更注意图片，忽视单词和字母。故选A。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据第二段的“If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” 推断Shayne Piasta 建议老师在课堂上改变教学方式，更加注意单词和字母。故选B。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据第三段的It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms. 判断：Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read 旨在调查在教师向学龄前儿童读书的研究的结果。故选C 。
【小题4】推理判断题。阅读全文。尤其是第一段可知，本文旨在介绍学龄前儿童的教育问题，由此判断应该来源于杂志的教育类，而非A 时尚; B 经济或 C 娱乐。故选D 。
考点：科普类短文阅读。