2007 6 30 3

CELEA JournalBim onthly

Jun2007 Vol 30 No 3

THE THEORY OF SENSE RELATION AND ITS APPLICATION IN READING COMPREHENSION

Mao Mingyong Chongqing Jiaotong University

Abstract The usefulness of sense relation in facilitating reading co m prehension is obviousThis paper analyzes its function in the correct understanding of a piece of written information
Key w ords sense relation application reading co m prehension

1 Introduction
As we know reading skillis a very im portantlanguage skill In the College English Syllabus for non English Majors the goal of English teaching is to train the students for a strong reading ability and a certain ability to listen speak write and translate enabling the m to co m m unicate in English And in College English Test Band Four and Band Six reading co m prehension accounts for forty percent of the total scoreFro m the above we can see the im portance of reading both in exa minations and application However the actual case is that how to teach reading wellis a headache for m any English teachers and in the m eantim e reading co m prehension is one of the biggest obstacles for students to pass English exa minationsincluding CET 4 and CET 6 In order to solve the proble ms m any people have done a lot of research w ork and m ade their ow n contributions In this paper the author will approach reading co m prehension fro m the perspective of a se m antic theory sense relationFirst Iwillintroduce the theory at the level of both w ords and sentencesThen I will proceed to analyze the question types of reading co m prehension in CET 4 and CET 6 and the corresponding reading skills required in the syllabus m entioned earlierFinally the application of the theory in reading co m prehension will be discussed in detail

2The Theory of Sense Relation

According to the definition in Linguistics A Course BookHu Zhuanglin 1988 145 sense relates to the co m plex syste m of relationships that hold between the linguistic ele m ents the mselves m ostly the w ords it is concerned only with intra linguistic relationsTherefore sense relation can exist between both w ords and sentences

2 1 As we shall see belo w there are a nu m ber of different types of lexical relation introduced in Hu Zhuanglin s book 2 1 1 Synony m ySynony m y is used to m ean sa m eness or close similarity of m eaning Hu Zhuanglin 1988 145 Different phonological w ords that have the sa m e or very similar m eanings are synony ms So m e exa m ples might be the pairs belo w
sofa boy lad lawyer attorney toilet lavatory Couch

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2 1 2 Antony m yThe term antony m y is used for oppositeness of m eaning w ords that are opposite in m eaning are antony ms Hu Zhuanglin 1988 146 there are several types of As a m atter of fact antony m y
1Co m ple m entarity This is a relation between such pairs of lexicalite ms that the positive of one im plies the negative of the other For exa m ple Dead alive single m arried m ale fe m ale 2Gradability Thisis a relation between antony ms w here the positive of one does not necessarily im ply the negative of the other because there are usually interm ediate terms between the pairsFor instance between the gradable antony ms hot and cold there are interm ediate terms such as warm and cool hotwarm cool coldOther exa m ples m ay include Old young long short near far big sm all 3Relational opposites This is a relation found with pairs of w ords that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between ite ms For exa m ple Buy sell push pull husband wife above below 2 1 3 Hypony m yHypony m y is a relation of m eaning inclusionIt s a m atter of class m e m bershipTo put it another way if a w ord Ais a kind of another w ord B then the lower upper term Bw hich is m ore general is the superordinate or hypony m So m e exa m ples are

Dog and cat are hypony ms of anim al

Sister and m other are hypony ms of wo m an 2 1 4 Polyse m y and ho m ony m y Not only do different w ords have different m eanings but the sa m e w ord m ay have a set of different m eanings as wellIn this case it can be either polyse m y or ho m ony m y Although both of the m deal with m ultiple sense are usually listed under the sa m e lexical entry in a dictionary w hile ho m ony m ous sense are given separate entries An exa m ple of the distinction is fro m Collins Dictionary of the English Language Hanks 1986 736w here various senses of hook are treated as polyse m y and there listed under one lexical entry w hile on the other hand tw o groups of senses of hooker are treated as ho m ony m y and given tw o separate entries

2 2 Sense relations between sentencesIn section 2 1 we have explored the lexical relations briefly Now let s m ove on to sense relations that m ay hold between sentences 2 2 1 Entailm ent Entailm ent can be illustrated by the follo wing tw o sentences with sentence A1 entailing sentence B1
He killed the banker A1 B1 the banker died In terms of truth value the following relationships exist between these tw o sentences If A1 is true B1 is necessarily true If A1 is false B1 could be either true or false If B1 is true A1 m ay be true or false If B1is false A1 is necessarily false The source of entailm ent relation can be either lexical or syntacticIn the exa m ple above it is obviously lexical because entailm ent derives fro m the lexical relation between kill and die In so m e sense the m eaning of kill contains the m eaning of die This is so m ew hat similar to hypony m y w hich we m entioned earlier And as a m atter of fact hypony m y between lexical ite ms is a regular source for entailm ent between sentences For exa m ple the noun rose is a hypony m of flower so sentence A2 bellow entails sentence B2
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A2 He bought so m e roses for his girlfriend B2 He bought so m e flowers for his girlfriend The other source of entailm ent is syntacticFor instance active and passive versions of the sa m e sentence will entail one anotherThus sentence A3 below entails sentence B3 and vice versa A3 The boy broke the window B3 The window was broken by the boy Actually the relation of entailm ent allows us to define paraphraseLike sentences A3 and B3 above paraphrases are sentences w hich have the sa m e set of entailm ents or in other w ords m utually entail each other

2 2 2 PresuppositionIn the following pair of sentences sentence A4 presupposes sentence B4

My elder sister is a nurse A4 B4 Ihave an elder sister We can see that presupposition is similar to entailm entin that w hen Ais true Bis true in both cases However there is an im portant difference between the m Unlike entailm ent presupposition is not vulnerable to negationThat is to say w hen A is false B is still true And other sentences about the truth value in presupposition are When B is true A can be either true or false When B is false no truth value can be said about A

2 2 3 Im plication The term im plication is used to refer to the relation between the follo wing two sentences
Few students can pass the exa mination A5 B5 So m e students can pass the exa mination According to the Leech translated version 390 in a broader sense both entailm ent and presupposition belong to the relation of im plication because a conclusion that is sentence B can be draw n fro m sentence A However their difference fro m im plication is that the form er is vulnerable to conjunctionThat is to say if sentence A is put together with the negative fro m of its entailed or presupposed sentence B then the result will be ridiculousFor exa m ple The banker isn t dead but he killed the banker Idon t have an elder sister but m y elder sister is a nurse However so far as im plication is concerned we can safely say Few students can pass the exa mination or m aybe none at all can Therefore in the relation of im plication w hen there is no contradiction with the hypothesized proposition in the context both sentence B and A can be true

2 2 4 Other relationshipsBesides the above relationships there are also other sense relations between sentences or between constituents within a sentence
1A6 is synony m ous with B6 A6 The boy broke the window B6 The window was broken by the boy 2A7 is inconsistent with B7 A7 My sister is m arried B7 My sister is single 3A8 is a contradiction so it s invariably false A8 My un m arried sister is m arried to a bachelor 4A9 is se m antically ano m alousIn the sentence below the abstract notion intentions can not be harbored by the inanim ate subject typewriter
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A9 His typewriter has had bad intentions

3The Question Types of Reading Co m prehension in CET 4 and CET 6

According to the require m entslisted in the College English Syllabus for Non English Majors students need to m aster the following basic reading skills 1Understanding the topic and m ain idea 2Recognizing prim ary supporting details 3Distinguishing between facts and opinions 4 Making inference 5Drawing conclusions 6Skim ming to get the gist of a reading m aterial 7Scanning to find a particular piece of inform ation 8Guessing the m eaning of unknow n w ords or phrases 9Understanding the relationships within sentences 10Using reference skills In correspondence with these skills the reading co m prehension in CET 4 and CET 6 is actually aim ed at testing students ability to understand a passage at the level of w ords sentences and discourse Hence the questions designed for the purpose center upon these different aspects The m ost co m m on questions include 1 What s the passage m ainly about 2So m e people oppose the building of flats because 3 What s the author s attitude toward the environ m ental effects of pesticides 4 It can be inferred fro m the first paragraph that 5 It can be conclude fro m DrDubos re m arks that 6 It is im plied but not directly stated in the passage that 7The w ord rage line 11m eans 8The w ord the m in Line 8 Para 2 refers to Although individual questions differ they are in a way similar to the ones above Specifically speaking so m e of these questions are concerned with the m ain idea of a passage or m aking inferences fro m a paragraph w hile others belong to w ord attack reference or detail recognition and also be classified along tw o differentlinesOn the one hand fro m the structural point of view so m e deal with a m ore global understanding of a paragraph or a passage w hile the others deal with a m ore specific understanding of w ords and sentences On the other hand fro m the se m antic point of view so m e questions are related to the stated m eaning of a particular piece of inform ation w hile the othersim plied In fact no m atter itis a case of the understanding of w ords and sentence or that of the stated and im plied m eaning both of the m cover the various sense relations between w ords and sentencesAccording to our ow n statistics of the reading co m prehension questions in CET 4 and CET 6 held in recent years m ore then half of the m are closely associated with the understanding of details that is w ords and sentences As sense relation plays such an im portant role in clarifying the relationships between original m essages questions and answers teachers should equip their students with so m e knowledge of itThus we believe it will be of great help to students in reading co m prehension In the following section 4 the application of sense relation in reading co m prehension will be illustrated at length

4The Application of the Theory of Sense Relation in Reading Co m prehension

As m entioned in the preceding section 3 m ore than half of the reading co m prehension questions in CET 4 and CET 6 are based on the understanding of w ords and sentences In order to answer a question accurately students should first m ake sense of the question then locate the corresponding inform ation in the original text and finally choose the m atching answerAs a m atter of fact the process of performing these tasksisjustlike identifying the sense relations between the question original m essage and the right answer w hether at the level of w ords or sentences So in the teaching of reading it s really very necessary for teachers to highlight the im portance and usefulness of sense relation in reading
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co m prehension The following exa m ples are all taken fro m CET 4 and intended for showing the application of sense relation in reading co m prehension 1Synony m y Ex1 Brazil has beco m e one of the developing w orld s great successes at reducing population growth but m ore by accident than design Q According to the passage Brazil has cut back its population than design A by chance In this exa m ple the phrase cut back is synony m ous with the w ord reduce and the answer by chance is synony m of by accidentSo if students can understand the m eaning of these w ords and phrases the answer is easy to find 2Paraphrasem utual entailm ent Both synony m y and paraphrase refer to the sa m eness or close similarity of m eaning butthe form eris between w ords w hile the latter propositionsAs m entioned earlier in section 2 2 1 paraphrase can also be regarded as a relation of m utual entailm ent Ex2 Faces like fingerprints are unique Q By using the exa m ple of fingerprints the author tells us that A People differ fro m each other in facial features

Here the proposition people differ fro m each other in facial features paraphrases the proposition faces are uniqueTherefore it should be the right answer 3Antony m y Ex3 In the old days children were fa miliar with birth and death as part of lifeThis is perhaps the first generation of Am erican youngsters w ho have never been close by during the birth of a baby and have never experienced the death of a fa mily m e m ber Q The elders of conte m porary Am ericans A Usually witnessed the birth or death of a fa mily m e m ber In this case the expressions the elder and contem porary are antony ms of the w ords children and oldThus we know the elders of contem porary Americans refer to the children in the old days At the sa m e tim e according to the context witnessed the birth and death of a fa mily mem ber paraphrases were fa miliar with birth and death as part of lifeHence the answer is obvious 4Hypony m y Ex4 But we can easily tell the good guysfro m the bad guysbecause the tw o types differ in appearance as well as in actions Q According to the passage it is possible for us to tell one type of person fro m another because

A People differ in their behavioral and physical characteristics As m entioned in 2 2 1 hypony m y between lexical ite ms is a regular source for entailm ent between sentencesHere actions and appearance are hypony ms of behavioral and physical characteristics so the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions entails people differ in their behavioral and physical characteristics 5Polyse m y Ex5 People will be alert and receptive if they are faced with inform ation that gets the m to think about things they are interested inAnd so m eone with a history of doing m ore rather than less will go into old age m ore cognitively sound than so m eone w ho has not had an active mind Q People w ho are cognitively healthy are those A Whose minds are alert and receptive The key w ord in this exa m ple is sound w hich is polyse m ousUsually students are just fa miliar with its noun and verb m eanings But it can also be used as an adjective or adverb m eaning healthy
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dependable thorough etc So if students can understand the different m eanings of the w ord the answer will be very sim ple 6Presupposition Ex6 In m y fridgeless Fifties childhood I was fed well and healthily Q The state m ent In m y fridgeless Fifties childhood I was fed well and healthily suggests that

A there was no fridge in the author s ho m e in the 1950s This is a typical exa m ple of presupposition relation Here the state m ent in the original passage presupposes the answerTherefore the answer is correct 7 Im plication Ex7 Too m uch exposure to X rays can cause skin burns cancer or other da m age to the body Q It is im plied but not directly stated in the passage that A the patient can be exposed to a slight a m ount of radiation safely Here the im plication of the original m essage is that so me exposure to X rays can not cause skin burns cancer or other da m age to the bodyAnd the answer just paraphrases it

5Conclusion
In the light of the foregoing we can see the usefulness of sense relation in facilitating reading co m prehensionCertainly the correct understanding of a piece of written inform ation involves m any other aspects such as gra m m ar prag m atics relation We hope it can be of help to teachers and students as well

References Liu Runqing Hu Zhuanglin 2000Studies in English Language Teaching in China Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press Saeed J I 1997 SemanticsBlack well Publishers Ltd Yule G 2000 PragmaticesShanghai Foreign Language Education Press

continued fro m p 118 References Almeida d E a T 2002To chat or not to chat in the EFLclassroo m Paper presented at theLanguage Co m m unication Culture International Conference University of Evora Portugal Chun D M 1998 Use co m puter assisted class discussions to facilitate the acquisition of interactive co m petence God win Jones B 2005 Emerging technologies Messaging gaming peer to peer sharing Language learning strategies tools for the millennial generation Language Learning Technology Vol 9 No 1 Gonzalez D 2003 Teaching and learning through chat A taxono m y of educational chat for EFL ESL Teaching English with Technology Vol 3 Issue 4 Naidu S J Barrett P Olsen1995Im proving instructional effectiveness with co m puter mediated co m m unication ALT J3 2 Poole B J C M Calongne D Cox 2003To chat or to chatter Making online sense of M Ax mann the chat roo m environ mentPaper presented at the TCC 2003 Online Conference April Tschirner E 2001 Language acquisition in the classroo m the role of digital video Computer Assisted Janguage Learning Vol 14

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