It is important for non-native speakers to gain some awareness of text conventions in the foreign language. Seeing how ideas are typically arranged can help the reader to make predictions about the content and likely development of a text.

The following aspects of meaning organization at the level of the text are especially relevant:

• conventions of text layout;
• typical openings and closures;
• how texts are structured or organized, including the logical relationships between paragraphs;
• how arguments within a paragraph or a whole text move from the general to the specific, or vice versa;
• how sentences are organized and how they relate to each other;
• the use of connectors or markers to signal the sequence in which events occurred or the author's attitude towards the facts;
• how comparison and contrast are normally employed.

Exercises which promote an awareness of such text organization include the following:

1. Completing skeleton outlines. For example, with the first three paragraphs of Text 5 ('It's unthinkable'):
   
   

   Read the text and complete the following outline of its contents: Small island / child poverty / __________ / child conviction rates / ________. UN Convention / basic standards / start of C20th / __________ / child labour / children invisible / seen as __________. NSPCC / Victorian times / Save the Children / free __________ and _________.

   
   This can help to make the structure of a text more visible to students.
   
   
2. Extracting the main information from a text by completing gapped sentences to reproduce the general sense. This is another good way to help students see the structure of a text more clearly, as the line of argumentation, the narrative or the description is pared down to the absolute minimum. For example, Text 6 ('Destination Gridlock') might be used as follows:
   
   

   Read the whole text and then complete the following skeleton summary. What do you notice about the way the author structures the article? A row of concrete pillars symbolize the failure of the Peruvian socialist government's plans for ……………………. in Lima. President Fujimori rejected the scheme as an example of the …………………………of the ………..…… and pushed ahead with privatization measures. But now Peru's Greens want …………………………….. Most Peruvians are not aware that the government commission responsible for the transport scheme has in fact ……………….

   
   
3. Expanding on a skeleton outline (closely linked to the subject matter of a text that students have recently studied). In this slightly more challenging task, learners have to create a piece of continuous prose, focusing once again on the way the outline structures the information to be conveyed. This is also a useful technique for developing essay-writing skills.
   
   
4. Discussing the possible order or likely chronology of a jumbled text. For example, with Text 7 ('Bangladesh'), one could simply re-order the six headed sections and ask students to restore the chronology. This exercise also works well with clearly structured narrative texts.
   
   
5. Dividing a text into paragraphs. Taking Text 12 ('The issue') as an example, one might remove the questions and paragraph divisions and ask students to divide the text into paragraphs.
   
   
6. Understanding the role of paragraphs. Using Text 12 again, the teacher might remove the questions but retain the paragraphs, and ask students to work out the questions which originally went with each paragraph (intermediate students could be given a jumbled list; advanced learners could attempt the task 'cold'). This exercise would help sensitize learners to the role of paragraphs and topic sentences and could lead neatly on to the next task.
   
   
7. Locating key or topic sentences. Identifying the principal sentence of each paragraph in long or complex texts is an especially important skill for L2 readers as it helps them to orientate themselves within the text and to process the text more quickly. This can be practised by getting students to underline each topic sentence in a multi-paragraph text and then discuss the reasons for their choice.
   
   
8. Supplying the missing topic sentences from each paragraph in a text. This is a very challenging exercise and can only be done with fairly straightforward texts in which topic sentences are short and to the point, preferably appearing as either first or last sentence in the paragraph.
   
   
9. Identifying generalized and specific points. For example, with Text 7 ('Bangladesh'), students might be asked to draw up a table like this:
   
   

   General	Specific
   Deep cultural and linguistic roots	Bangla language dates from 7th century; literature from 11th century
   Religiously distinct in region	Buddhist, not Hindu until 12th century; since then Islam has dominated
   Autonomous until 1757	Resisted Indian expansion and Portuguese raiders; British soldiers under Robert Clive victorious at Plassey/Polashi
   British left large landowners in control	Zamindars owned vast estates; upper-caste Hindus
   Bhadralok were money collectors, lived in cities, etc.	Bhadralok also Hindus; collected money from Muslim peasants; formed a new middle class, etc.

   
   
10. Re-ordering the different points of a text using a skeleton outline of its structure. For example, with a text about the introduction of central computerized recording of school exam marks in Argentina, students might be set the following task:
    
    

    Before you read the text, look at the following summary of its arguments and try to work out a logical order for them: Resistance to greater use of IT Elimination of human error and corruption The Argentinian government's standpoint Negative views of civil liberty organizations Presentation of the proposal Arguments in favour from schools The likely outcome Argentinian scepticism towards the project Positive reaction from universities Now read the text and see if your version matches the original. Here is the actual structure: Introduction - Presentation of the proposal Part One A Resistance to greater use of IT B Argentinian scepticism towards the project C Negative views of civil liberty organizations Part Two A Arguments in favour from schools B Positive reaction from universities C Elimination of human error and corruption Conclusion A The Argentinian government's standpoint B The likely outcome

    
    
11. Understanding how descriptive texts are organized. Descriptive texts typically move from:
    · outside to inside (top-down) or inside to outside (bottom-up);
    · detail to overall appearance, or vice versa;
    · a specific instance to a generalized statement, or vice versa.
    Students could be given an extract to illustrate each of these and asked to complete a grid such as the following to show which approach characterizes which text:
    
    

    TEXT	A	B	C	D	E	F
    Top-down
    Bottom-up
    Detail to overall appearance
    Overall appearance to detail
    Specific instance to general statement
    General statement to specific instance

    
    
    
12. Linking sentences in such a way as to establish a logical connection. A very useful exercise to sensitize students to this issue is to get them to link several short sentences to create a coherent paragraph. For example, the first paragraph of Text 12 ('The issue') might be used as follows:
    
    

    Read the following text and try to use the link words below it to connect the sentences to each other. You can either leave them as separate sentences or merge sentences, as you see fit: Tina Betts, 30, works freelance. She has no prospect of joining an employer's pension scheme. She is an ideal candidate for a stakeholder pension. Tina says: 'I had a personal pension before I went freelance. I stopped paying the £40 a month. I wasn't sure what my earnings would be'. She could now probably afford to put around £75 a month towards her pension. She's also saving up to buy a house. She isn't sure she wants to commit herself to regular monthly contributions. Her previous pension did not allow her to stop and restart payments without penalties. A stakeholder allows her to vary the payments if she wants to. although since because but therefore while whereas

    
    

See Grellet (1981: 44-52) and Nuttall (1996: 110-11) for extensive lists of useful exercises relating to text organization.