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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Does this apply to other speakers who do not speak English?
If someone whos native language is not English can you understand this?
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
I'll give that to an intermediate adult class tonight and see what happens. I predict a crash and burn. ED:Actually, scratch that, I'll give it to my upper-inter teenagers tomorrow, they're clever little shits, if anyone can manage it.... I still say no, though.
MissA:
I was wrong. It was no hassle for them at all. They read it at the exact same speed as they would have read a normal text and had a full written translation done in about two minutes each.
make that 3 for crash and burn
Miss A can you take a photo of all the dumb looks they display when you unveil the task?
MissA:
I'll try! Photographing teenagers, though.... expect lots of rabbit ear fingers and covered faces.
works with any language, but requires knowing words before reading
(that means - if You can read this first note - You probably know English quite well)
Totally inane aside, I looked into that article and apparently it has been disowned by Cambridge university as no such study has ever been done under their auspices.
Of course that doesn't make it any less interesting, and I too will be interested to find the results on non-native speakers / readers.
I also want to show it to my students/friends. I am very curious how they will do.
My experience with other tasks suggests the bright kids I know will do best. I know pre-teens here who are better at conversational skills than young adults who have spent years learning English. Proof, to me at least, that starting young is the best way to learn a language !
I am not a native English speaker.....This is my second, if not third, encounter with this text. The first time I saw it I didn't even figure out it was some sort of a 'test'. I got the message right...and thought someone was simply careless about their spellings......BUT I didn't miss even a single word. Was only when I got to the end that I realised it was some interesting 'silly' game. So, yes, non native speakers of English can not only understand the text but also easily figure out what's happening.
I think that some non native speakers can, like the poster above. The students that read every letter, then translate it to chinese to understand it, then try to make it back into english..... they cant do it, they are also the ones that never reach a level of fluency
This text is not written by non-native speaker or low level English speaker, IMHO. Every word contain all necessary letters, and text needs only letters reshuffling. Text is scrambled as an exercise!
I use scrambling game at Summer Camp with 9 - 14 years old students. Teacher get all silence in the class, if scrambling game is set as competition.
If students find scrambled text too difficult, one must choose easier text.
I am non-native teacher.
Update: success! In fact, not only was it piss-easy for them, I purposely chose an internet version that had two actual mistakes to see if they noticed (extra letters in the words) and they got quite indignant and pointed both out. It's not often I say this but...... I was wrong.
philbravery:
Dam
there goes' my beer money for the week.
hang on
your not teaching Chinese at the moment
I call do over by a teacher in China
I can't comment for some reason Phil. Yes, I am not in China any more but the question did not specifcy "Chinese", merely non-native, so I'd say the principle holds just fine.
I'd like to see it tried on a Chinese class, though. It would be interesting.