Abstract:
Undergraduates pursuing less known or recently introduced disciplines lacking vernacular reading
materials are forced to read authentic English publications to find data for their examinations and
assignments. The main problems related to these publications are their syntactic complexity and
lexical density. Students overcome these obstacles on the basis of guess work in regard to the former
and through the use of dictionaries in regard to the latter. These being ineffective strategies new
tactics are needed to address the issues.
The present research attempts to do it with the help of a grid containing 5 columns named: verb,
subject, WH, explanation and details. Very often writers in English employ cohesive devices (relative
clauses and relative pronouns in particular) whereby they can embed the main clause of sentences
with numerous extra information, making them become exceedingly long and unwieldy. This impedes
comprehension. For instance, as the data that inexperienced second-language readers can retain in
their short-term memory is limited, complex constructions tend to confuse them. Often, by the time
the readers reach the middle of such sentences they have forgotten the beginning thereby experiencing
semantic ambiguities. Research bears this out (Alderson, 1984, 143).
The grid helps to overcome this problem. Other functions of the grid is helping readers with regard to
perception. “Recognition” of main clause of a sentence and its “Constituents” is a vital factor
necessary to “perceive” meaning according to research (ibid). The grid makes the reader isolate the
verb first, using affixes, morphemes etc. as syntactic clues. After the recognition of the verb the reader
is encouraged to select the appropriate “WH question form” from column 3. Interaction with first and
third columns help the reader to identity the subject. By the time s/he reaches this point s/he has
deciphered the main clause of the sentence. Columns 4 and 5 meant for less important information are
filled later through logical analysis. Data in the columns are substituted with new information
subsequently to construct sentences for writing and speech. This technique was tried out in language
classes at Universities of Kelaniya and Moratuwa.
