I. What is rendering?

Imagine you work in an office. Imagine one morning your boss comes up to your desk with a file of papers and says: «I want you to read this up, represent it in a smaller volume, suppressing all insignifi­cant information, and give your own conclusion». Me/she won’t be say­ing like that, actually. He/she will say «Render-this, please»

Rendering is defined in the Webster's dictionary as «art of mak­ing presentations». Art indeed, as it requires a lot of your skills and knowledge of reconstructing and rearranging a written passage without any considerable damage to its context and idea(s).

You may have to prepare rendering for two main purposes:

Z> one can read your rendering and won’t have to take up the original passage.

О one can read your rendering and decide for themselves if they need to take up the original passage or not.

Rendering can’t be produced without thorough comprehension of the passage. Dividing the text into logical parts and singling out the main idea of each of them can be an essential help in understanding the passage. You will have to read the original more than once.

All methods of rendering are based on the notional compression of the text, which presupposes the elimination of all types of redun­dancy, i.e. elements that repeat each other.

A rendering is a text based on the notional compression of the original with the aim of rendering its general matter. The material in a rendering is presented from the point of view of the author of the origi­nal and does not include any elements of interpretation or evaluation. Rendering can be performed with two aims: informative and educa­tional. Since the objective of this textbook is to provide you with tools for oral rendering in the framework of Conversation Practice lessons, you will still be asked to give your opinion of the original text at the end of your rendering.

A rendering is usually kept to the following structure:

О introduction, where you provide all necessary background in­formation such as the title and source of the passage and state the main idea О the body, where the main idea is revealed

О the conclusion on the passage

О your opinion of the problem (position) introduced in the pas­sage

There are several basic principles you are to follow in order to make a successful rendering:

О You have to develop your power of judgment, so that you may be able to decide rightly what must be expressed and what must be suppressed.

О In rendering, facts should be expressed as plain statements, with constant reference to the author of the passage. Try to avoid evaluative words and phrases in the body of the ren­dering, keep them for expressing your own opinion.

3 Figurative language is in most cases unsuitable

To master rendering you will need certain skills that are dis­cussed further.

Note: Rendering is, so to say, a working name for a type of edu­cational activity/exercise commonly used in Russian Uni­versities. In British and American Universities a term «ab­stracting» or «summarizing» is used to mean an inde­pendent work (not a step in the process of rendering as we view it here) and is also translated into Russian as «рефе­рирование». An abstract is usually done in written form and presupposes no personal opinion or interpretation (for more information see Unit V).

PART 8

® SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

Science and technology encompass our

daily lives in countless ways. Each day, we experience de­velopments in science and technology in the food we eat and water we drink; our transportation from home to work or school and leisure time activities; the media we view, and so forth. New developments in both science and tech­nology require that we as citizens make informed personal and public choices about the uses and abuses of science and technology. As newer technologies develop, new ques­tions arise that require us to grapple socially and intellec­tually with a range of complex questions. How can sci­ence and technology help us to learn about other people and events? How do science and technology affect me and my community? Young children are eager to learn about inventions and inventors and how inventions have changed their lives. They also like to hypothesize about future change and its possible impact on them.

The use of the newer technologies in classrooms helps students to become more motivated and directly involved in their own learning. Remy provides a strong rationale for including the study of science, technology, and society within the social studies program and suggests strategies concerning ways to accomplish this task. Svingen suggests several ways teachers of geography can use electronic tech­nology applications (CD-ROM, video, computers, net­works, and tools) to promote active learning through cre­ative teaching. Many of these same teaching and learning applications can also be used when learning other social science disciplines. Wilson and Marsh provide a strong rationale for the use of the Internet as a way to promote interactive student learning by allowing students to ac­cess various data bases. They describe several educational networks currently available and suggest ways for teach­ers to get started using these newer means of communica­tion to promote student learning.

Smith writes that television has both positive and nega­tive influences on students who spend more time watch­ing TV than they spend in the classroom. He argues that teachers can use TV to help young learners develop citi­zenship competencies and suggests several ways for stu­dents to use TV constructively for active learning. Aronson also believes that TV can be used to teach about the world to help learners deal with issues related to multiculturalism and tolerance. He also recommended that teachers help students develop media literacy competencies. Several valuable resources and references are also included in this article.

Finally, Volk discusses the influence that the United States Constitution has on technology and outlines recent court cases related to uses and abuses of technology. Le­gal questions arising from applications of technology can be used by students to study about the relationships of technology to society.

Science and technology are here to stay. Both influ­ence our personal lives and societal actions and values. Discussions on issues related to science, technology, and society can be addressed effectively by young learners within social studies programs and content.

Assignments:

1. Read the text thoroughly and translate some of the fragments where

necessary.