SAMLE BIAS TEST 6B

METHODOLOGY 6B
ADAPT ACTIVITIES
SAMPLE BIAS TESTS


AUTHENTIC TEXT 1

Unit/Grad

Topic Activit

e

y

Type of Language
MixedLevel

Source of Authentic Materials

/
Skill

Activit
y
Unit 3/ Grade

Music

1

10

Bias- text

Reading

/>
* Original text:
Vietnam's Next Top Model, Cycle 4 is the fourth season of Vietnam's Next Top
Model. It was broadcast on VTV in 2013, featuring 18 finalists including 8 male
and 10 female contestants.
This is the first year the show includes male contestants in addition to female
contestants in previous years. The change was made after the 20th season of
America's Next Top Model, which opened to male models.


When its audition round kicked off in August, the show attracted 1,200
participants, the highest number of applicants so far. Fashion designer Do Manh
Cuong and makeup specialist Nam Trung, previous season's judges, stayed on the
jury this year. The board welcomed two new judges, supermodel Thanh Hang, and
famed Australian catwalk coach Adam Williams (briefly appearance due to become
a judge on Asia's Next Top Model (cycle 2). J. Alexander appeared as a special
guest judge in the final show.
The winner received a prize of up to 2 billion dong(US$95,080). The top
candidates had chances to get trained in Paris. The season premiered on October 6,
2013 at 8pm every Sunday on VTV3.
(183 words)
1. Type of mixed-level activity: Bias-text
2. Aims:
- Students will be able to get to know about Vietnam’s Next Top Model.

- This task uses for mixed-level students to help students to practice further reading
skill.
- It gives a chance for stronger students can learn more new words and complex
sentence structures.


3. Time allotted: 10 minutes
4. Work arrangement: individual work and pair work
5. Teaching aids: computer, handouts, projector, blackboard
6. Procedure:
- T delivers handouts of 2 versions for 2 relevant groups: A for weaker Ss, B
for stronger ones
- T asks Ss to read their own tasks and answer questions in 10’
- Then T ask Ss A and Ss B to work in AB pairs and share their answers to
make complete ones
Version A: (for weaker students)
The fourth season of Vietnam’s next top model was on TV in 2013. In this season,
there were 1,200 people who registered for this show. In this program, there were 4
juries such as Nam Trung(makeup specialist) , Do Manh Cuong (fashion designer),
Thanh Hang (supermodel), Adam Williams (famous Australian catwalk coach) and
J. Alexander (a special guest judge in the final show). The winner received a prize
of up to 2 billion dong(US$95,080). The top candidates had chances to get trained
in Paris. The show was on October 6, 2013 at 8pm every Sunday on VTV3.


(101 words)

Rationale for my changing:
 Firstly, I tried to make it’s more simple structures and low level vocabulary in
order to my weaker students don’t have difficulty in doing this task and fix to their

level of proficiency. For example:
 I joined two first sentences: “Vietnam's Next Top Model, Cycle 4 is the

fourth season of Vietnam's Next Top Model. It was broadcast on VTV in
2013, featuring 18 finalists including 8 male and 10 female contestants” into
the simpler one: “Vietnam’s next top model is the most of famous program
on TV in 2013.”
 I changed this complex sentence : “When it was hold in August, the show
attracted 1,200 participants, the highest number of applicants so far.” into


the simple structure: “There were 1,200 people who registered for this
show.”
 In term of vocabulary, I replaced some difficult words, such as “ be on”
with “premiered on”.
 Secondly, I cut down the second paragraph (from “This is the first...” to “ ...opened

to male models” ) to make the length in version A is shorter than version B. Also,
in order to students A have no the information to answer. Besides, I rewrote the
third paragraph (talking about the juries of the show) with 61 words by listing the
main juries with only 35 words: “there were 4 juries such as Nam Trung(makeup
specialist) , Do Manh Cuong (fashion designer), Thanh Hang (supermodel) and
Adam Williams (famed Australian catwalk coach) and J. Alexander (a special
guest judge in the final show).”

For Version B, I decided to keep the original text for version B and add
some minor changes to fix and appreciate the real ability of my students.
 Firstly, I tried to make the text more challenging and difficult with wide range of
complex structures, high level vocabulary and grammar points, for examples:
 I combined two simple sentences: “But actually the umbrella was first

used as a shade against the sun. It was not invented for protection against


rain.” Into one complex sentence: “But actually the first purpose of the
use of umbrella was not invented for protection against rain, it was used
as a shade against the sun”.
 I rewrote the sentence: “The first people to use it were probably the
Chinese “ into “The people who were regarded as the first ones use it
were probably the Chinese”, and the sentence: “Then it appeared again in
Italy in the late sixteenth century” into “Until in the late sixteenth
century it reappeared in Italy” to make these sentences more complex
structure and longer.
 In term of vocabulary, I replaced some low level words into higher ones
such as
“hold” with “kicked off”, “ show attracted ” with “people applied for”,
so that it will challenge the students B about aspect of vocabulary.
 Secondly, I didn’t cut down the last sentence in the original like version A in order
to its length is longer than version A. But I cut down one sentence in the original
to Ss B don’t have information to answer that was “It is believed that the first
people to use the umbrella as protection against rain were the ancient Romans”
 Thirdly, in version B contains very explicit information so that Ss are hard to get
information. For example,


Ss have to use addition to answer the question 4 (how many juries were there) : 8
male and 10 female contestants and write the answer 18 contestants.

Task: Read a text about Vietnam Next Top Model and answer the following
questions:
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

When was the fourth season Vietnam's Next Top Model on VTV?
How many people registered for this show?
What was the new change in this 4th Vietnam’s Next Top Model Show?
How many candidates were there in the final round?
How many juries in total for the 4th Vietnam’s Next Top Model? Who are

they?
6. What did the winner of Vietnam Next Top Model received?
Suggested answers:

Questions

Version B

Version A

Q.1

√ It was on TV in 2003.

X

Q.2

√ 1200 people.

X

Q.3

X

Q.4

X

√ It included both male and female contestants.
√ There were 18 candidates in the final round.


Q.5

Q.6

√ There were 4 people: Nam Trung, Do Manh

√ There were 4 people: Nam Trung, Do Manh

Cuong, Thanh Hang and Adam Williams

Cuong, Thanh Hang and Adam Williams

√ He/she received 2 billion dong(US$95,080)

√ He/she received 2 billion dong(US$95,080) and

and get trained in Paris.

get trained in Paris

Rationale:
For version A, I adapted the original text by reducing the length by cutting
“August 2, 1922” as well as “Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his
real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study”. Then I
used simpler words and structures. For example, instead of using “was credited
with”, I used “was recognized as. Besides, I used “He was born in Scotland”
instead of “Scottish-born”.

As for structures, I change these complicated

sentences Alexander Graham Bell ……. in 1885” into “Alexander Graham Bell
(March 3, 1847), who was a scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator, was
born in Scotland. He was recognized as patenting the first practical telephone
and founding the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in
1885“. In paragraph 2, I replaced the first sentence with ” Although both his
mother and wife were deaf, he received many helps from his father, grandfather,
and brother in his work on elocution and speech”. Besides, I changed sencond


sentence into “He continued to study hearing and speech reseaches about
hearing devices and was awarded the first U.S paten for the telephone in 1876”.
In the last paragraph, I changed the first sentence into “Many other inventions
marked

Bell's

later

life,

including

groundbreaking

work

in

optical

telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics” as well as “Although Bell …..
until 1903” into “Although Bell was not one of the 33 founders of the National
Geographic Society, he had a strong influence on the magazine America from
1898 to 1903”. These changes make the sentences become clearer and shorter.
In terms of version B, I found it quite dificult and already suitable for stronger
students, so I decided to keep the orginal text. In this text, the vocabulary load is
challenging and there are some “red herrings” such as “Scottish-born”, “was
credited with”, “intrusion”, “culminated”, “associated with”, “profoundly”,
“groundbreakin”. Besides, the sentences construction is more complex, for
instance, some long relative clauses: “Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 –
August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator
who was credited with patenting the first practical telephone and founding the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885”, “His research
on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which
eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the

telephone in 1876”.


Regarding the purpose of the questions, both student A and student B can read at
their own pace. They can answer question 5,6 about the “juries of Vietnam Next Top
Model” and” the prize that the winner could achieve” because all these information
appear in 2 versions, in which version B contains
But neither A nor B students are able to answer all the questions by simply reading
their own text. For example, students A can’t answer questions 3,4 by reading their
own text because in their version don’t contain these information to answering two
questions 4 and 5. In contrast with Ss A, students B can’t find out information
from their own text to answering question 3.
The activity therefore ends in student-student collaboration where students work in
AB pairs to pool their knowledge and to answer all their own questions. In other
word, my adaptation is to produce complementary results for student pairs, leading
to student-student feedback .
Version A, with 101 words, is shorter than original one (181 words) because we
delete some . Besides, all of the information is explicit so students can easily answer.
For example, the answer for the question about “number of people registered for the
show” is in line 2.
Version A is easier in terms of vocabulary and structures. Instead of using the


For version B, it contains red herrings, which is more difficult and challenging for
Ss. For example,

Besides, more difficult words are used in version B such as “the show kicked off”
instead of “ the show was hold”