Effectiveness of Reading Strategies for EFL students of Pre-Intermediate Level

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2. What is the first language?

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3. How old are you?

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4. What nationality are you?

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5. What is your hobby?

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6. Do you like to reading?

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      7. What type of reading materials do you prefer?

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8. What kind of books do you like to read?

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9. How often do you read?

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    10. Do you attend any reading club?

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    11.  What do you think, what is your English language level?

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  12. Do you want to improve your reading skill?

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  13. What do you expect from the experiments?

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Appendix 2

Diagnostic test 

Name:                                                                                            Total score: 70

Group:                                                                                           Gained score: 

Questions 1- 4 are based on the following passage. 

The cutting-edge science is ringing alarm bells. Avian flu virus picked up by pigs can swap genetic materials with another flu virus already in the pig and become a new, hitherto unknown flu virus for which no person, no animal has preexisting immunity. The kind of virus causes a pandemic because it spreads from human to human. 

If you took a peek into history, it turns out that previous influenza pandemics have similar scenarios. The greatest influenza pandemic in 1918 caused more than 20 million deaths of soldiers stationed in France. The last influenza pandemic was in 1968, known as the Hong Kong flu (H3N2). Thousands of deaths and millions were infected worldwide.  

The other examples are the Nipah virus and Japanese Encephalitis virus, which find pigs to be good hosts. With JE, the virus circulates in the blood of infected pigs. When infected pigs are bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. The pig doesn't get sick as such. The Nipah virus causes pneumonia symptoms in pigs. In humans, it causes encephalitis, and humans catch it only with direct contact with infected pigs. Symptoms range from mild headache to permanent brain damage, and can be fatal. 

It's merely a phenomenon of nature that the pig is the "mixing vessel" for the new germ. But make no mistake, the pig is not the villain, neither is the chicken. It's actually us, and our horrible farm practices, outdated agricultural policy and, most of all, reckless disregard of our ecology and environment. "Hygiene and management can control what eventually happens," says Lam. "Good farming practice will prevent serious outbreaks and infection to humans." Despite knowing that, animal diseases and the possibility of transmission to humans are becoming quite alarming. Of the 35 new emerging diseases in the last 20 years, more than 70 per cent involved animals. 

In fact, what we may have done is unwittingly create the perfect launch pad for an influenza pandemic that will likely kill large numbers of people across the globe. Although scientists say it's impossible to predict the odds that the virus will alter its genetic form radically enough to start leaping from human to human, the longer H5N1 is out there killing chickens, the higher the chances are. 

1. Which of the following statement can be inferred from the passage? 

(A) New emerging diseases causes more deaths of human than animal.

 (B) Animals are the villain for most flues. 

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(C) Hygiene and management can not control the spread of viruses. 

(D) The current bird flu epidemic may be a launch pad for the next influenza pandemic. 

(E) The influenza pandemic is always a regional phenomenon.  

2. Which of the following best describes the topic of the passage? 

(A) What causes the Nipah virus and Japanese Encephalitis virus to happen? 

(B) Does Hong Kong flu originate from pig? 

(C) From fowl to pigs to humans? 

(D) Is influenza pandemic horrible? 

(E) Shall we eat chicken? 

3. All of the following situations are similar to the spread of avian flu virus described in the first paragraph EXCEPT: 

(A) The BT2 spread from a pig to another pig, and thus causes significant disease in pig. 

(B) The AIDS viruses transferred from monkeys to man and spread across the world.  

(C) The SARS virus originates from some wildlife and is picked up by civet cats from which humans got it.  

(D) Nipah virus circulates in the blood of infected pig, which is bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. 

(E) H5N1 starts in chickens and leaps from human to human. 

4. What does the author mean by describing the pig as "mixing vessel"? 

(A) Pig is the place where various viruses reside. 

(B) Pig is the pot in which viruses swap genes and become new, deadly germs. 

(C) Viruses are mixed inside the body of pig. 

(D) New germs come to the body of pig and reside there. 

(E) Pig attracts viruses. 
 

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Questions 5-9 are based on the following passage. 

Indian firms have achieved the highest levels of efficiency in the world software outsourcing industry. Some researchers have assumed that Indian firms use the same programming languages and techniques as Chinese firms but have benefited from their familiarity with English, the language used to write software code. However, if this were true, then one would expect software vendors in Hong Kong, where most people speak English, to perform not worse than do Indian vendors. However, this is obviously not the case. 

Other researchers link high Indian productivity to higher levels of human resource investment per engineer. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top Indian vendors matched and then doubled Chinese productivity levels in the mid-eighties, human resource investment per employee was comparable to that of Chinese vendors. Furthermore, by the late eighties, the amount of fixed assets required to develop one software package was roughly equivalent in India and in the China. Since human resource investment was not higher in India, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity. 

A more fruitful explanation may lie with Indian strategic approach in outsourcing. Indian software vendors did not simply seek outsourced contract more effectively: they made aggressive strategic in outsourcing. For instance, most software firms of India were initially set up to outsource the contract in western countries, such as United States. By contrary, most Chinese firms seem to position their business in China, a promising yet under-developed market. However, rampant piracy in China took almost 90 percents of potential market, making it impossible for most Chinese firms to obtain sufficient compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in competitive environment.  

5. Which of the following statements concerning the productivity levels of engineers can be inferred from the passage? 

(A) Prior to the 1980's, the productivity levels of the top Indian software firms were exceeded by those of Chinese software firms. 

(B) The official language of a country has a large effect on the productivity levels of its software developers. 

(C) During the late 1980's and early 1990's, productivity levels were comparable in China and India. 

(D) The greater the number of engineers that a software firm has, the higher a firm's productivity level. 

(E) The amount of human resource investment made by software developers in their firms determines the level of productivity. 
 

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6. The primary purpose of the passage is to  

(A) contrast possible outcomes of a type of business strategy  

(B) suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business strategy 

(C) illustrate various ways in which a type of business strategy could fail to enhance revenues 

(D) trace the general problems of a company to a certain type of business strategy 

(E) Criticize the way in which managers tend to analyze the costs and benefits of business strategies 

7. Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph? 

(A) A thesis is presented and supporting examples are provided. 

(B) Opposing views are presented, classified, and then reconciled. 

(C) A fact is stated, and an explanation is advanced and then refuted. 

(D) A theory is proposed, considered, and then amended. 

(E) An opinion is presented, qualified, and then reaffirmed. 

8. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of Indian software developers? 

(A) Their productivity levels did not equal those of Chinese software engineers until the late eighties. 

(B) Their high efficiency levels are a direct result of English language familiarity. 

(C) They develop component-specific software. 

(D) They are built to outsource the western orders. 

(E) They develop more packages of software than do those in Chinese developers. 

9. The author suggests that if the researchers of India mentioned in paragraph 1 were correct, which of the following would be the case? 

(A) The computer used in India software firms would be different from the computer used in China firms. 

(B) Indian engineers would be trained to do several different programming jobs. 

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(C) Familiarity with English language would not have an influence on the productivity levels of engineers. 

(D) The engineers in India-run firms would have lower productivity levels if they have a poor command of English. 

(E) The production levels of India-run firms located in the China would be equal to those of firms run by China firms. 

Questions 10-14 are based on the following passage. 

The fact that reducing price can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not mean that every reduction in price will create such an advantage. Price reduction, like improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the basis of direct, tangible benefits such as increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par with its competitors because it provides product at an acceptable price and keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then reduction in price may not be effective, since price is not necessarily the deciding factor for any customer in any situation. 

This truth was not apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor, which failed to improve its competitive position despite its attempt to reduce price. The software managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia that arises from the inconvenience of switching operating system. Nor did they analyze their reduction in price to determine whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of price that would excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy.  

10. According to the passage, reduction in price are comparable to improvement in service in terms of the  

(A) Tangibility of the benefits that they tend to confer 

(B) increased revenues that they ultimately produce 

(C) Basis on which they need to be weighed 

(D) Insufficient analysis that managers devote to them 

(E) Degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide 

11. The passage suggests which of the following about price charged by an operating system software vendor prior to its strategy in reducing its price? 

(A) It was slightly low to that of the vendor's competitors. 
 

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(B) It threatened to weaken the vendor's competitive position with respect to other operating system software vendor 

(C) It had already been reduced after having caused damage to the vendor's reputation in the past. 

(D) It enabled the vendor to retain customers at an acceptable rate 

(E) It needed to be reduced to attain parity with the software provided by competing vendors. 

12. The passage suggests which of the following about price charged by an operating system software vendor prior to its strategy in reducing its price? 

(A) It enabled the vendor to retain customers at an acceptable rate 

(B) It threatened to weaken the vendor's competitive position with respect to other operating system software vendor 

(C) It had already been reduced after having caused damage to the vendor's reputation in the past. 

(D) It was slightly low to that of the vendor's competitors. 

(E) It needed to be reduced to attain parity with the software provided by competing vendors. 

13. The discussion of the operating system software vendor last paragraph serves which of the following functions within the passage as a whole? 

(A) It describes an exceptional case in which reduction in price actually failed to produce a competitive advantage. 

(B) It illustrates the pitfalls of choosing to reduce price at a time when business strategy is needed more urgently in another area. 

(C) It demonstrates the kind of analysis that managers apply when they choose one kind of business strategy over another 

(D) It supports the argument that strategies in certain aspects are more advantageous than strategies in other aspects. 

(E) It provides an example of the point about reduction in price made in the first paragraph. 
 
 

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14. The passage suggests that operating system software managers failed to consider whether or not the price reduction mentioned last sentence 

(A) Was too complicated to be easily described to prospective customers 

(B) Made a measurable change in the experiences of customers purchasing 

(C) Could be sustained if the number of customers increased significantly 

(D) Was an innovation that competing vendors could have imitated 

(E) was adequate to bring the vendor's general level of price to a level that was comparable with that of its competitors 
 

Answers 
 

2. D
3. C
4. A
5. B
6. C
7. B
8. C
9. D
10. D
11. C
12. D
13. A
14. E
15. D