reading packet
aseelab
week_4_-_employmenttext3marriagemotherhoodwages_activities.docxBiesenbach-Lucas
Advanced RWR
Employment Text 3: Marriage, Motherhood and Money - Activities
Source for Text 3 (APA style format):
Chiodo, A.J. & Owyang, M.T. (2003, April). Marriage, motherhood and money: Do women’s life decisions influence their wages? The Regional Economist, 5-9.
Pre-Reading Task A: Thinking about the Title
What are some “life decisions” that women make?
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How are these decisions different from those that men make?
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Do women in your country (= ______________________) typically have jobs? What kind of jobs?
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How do you think that marriage and motherhood might affect the amount of money women earn?
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Pre-Reading Task B: Scanning for Information, and Making Predictions
This text comes from the same publication as our previous text, “So Much for That Merit Raise”, so what predictions could you make about how this new text is organized (think about what subheadings you might expect)?
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Then, as you have done before, (on the next page) list the sub-headings (and sub-subheadings for one) from the text below in the column on the left; after that, predict what information you might learn about in the right column (use your own words!).
_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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_______________________ Prediction: ______________________________________
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Pre-Reading Task C: Information in the Graphs
On page 6, the authors have provided two graphs that show similar information for two different groups of people.
What do both graphs show? _______________________________________________
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Who are the two groups? _________________________________________________
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What is the difference between these two groups, according to the graphs?
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Pre-Reading Task D: Information in Print/Font That Stands Out
On page 9, you can see that the regular print text is “interrupted” by a sentence in larger and different font. Copy that sentence below; then, answer the questions about it.
Sentence : ____________________________________________________________
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According to the sentence, how much money women earn is influenced by four factors. Write each factor as a grammatical question (NOTE: these questions are presented as indicrect questions in the text, so you will have to restructure the words and word order in your question! Follow the hint for Q2.).
Q 1: ______________________________________________________________?
Q 2: When __________________________________________________________?
Q 3: ______________________________________________________________?
Q 4: ______________________________________________________________?
Now, based on these questions, what do you predict the findings actually mean? Write a hypothesis of what you think you will read. Follow the format below:
# 1 Women who _________________________________earn more/less money than women who____________________________________.
# 2 ______________________________________________________________
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# 3 ______________________________________________________________
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# 4 ______________________________________________________________
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Pre-Reading Task E: Identifying the Purpose of an Article/ of the Author/s
Next, read the first paragraph of the article on p. 6, and focus specifically on the sentences from “In this article” to “and childrearing.” These sentences provide you the authors’ purpose of their article, their explanation framework, and major findings. Complete the chart below with that respective information.
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Purpose |
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Explanation framework |
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Major findings
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For men:
For women:
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PART I: Comprehension and Text Activities
Reading Task: Responding to Comprehension Items After/While Reading the Text
Section: The Male Marriage Wage Premium (circle T=true or F=false; if F, provide a correction!)
T / F Married men with two or more children earn more than married men with no children.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
Section: Women and Wages – The Evidence (circle T=true or F=false; if F, provide a correction!)
T / F Young single women earn more than older single women.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
T / F Older married women earn more than younger single women.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
T / F Women who marry early earn more than women who marry later in life.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
Section: The Effect of Children (circle T=true or F=false; if F, provide a correction!)
T / F In the 1970s, women worked about twice as many hours as they did in the 1990s.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
T / F In the past two decades, married women with small children have been the largest group in
the labor force among married women with children.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
T / F There is a correlation between time of birth of children, number of children, and earnings.
(If there IS a correlation, what is it? ___________________________________________)
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
Section: Are the Theories of male Wages Gender-Specific? (circle T=true or F=false; if F, provide a correction!)
T / F Being married and having children both impact how much women earn.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
Section: Other Factors (circle T=true or F=false; if F, provide a correction!)
T / F Women may not accept a job in which they earn a lot of money but rather accept a job that
may not pay a lot but that allows them to take care of their children.
Correction? ________________________________________________________________________
Reading Task: Understanding the Theories
The authors explain the effect of marriage on how much people earn by reviewing their findings from a study conducted in 2002. In that study, the authors proposed three theories to help explain the influence of marriage on wages (pp. 6-7).
Complete the chart below first with the name of each theory (left column – the images might help you with the name), then with explanations for each theory and how each applies to men , based on the evidence/studies that the authors summarize on pages 6-7 (middle column). After that, complete the chart with explanations for each theory and how each applies to women , again based on evidence/studies that the authors discuss.
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Theory |
How does it apply to MEN? |
How does it apply to WOMEN? |
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(1) __________________
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(2) _________________
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Theory |
How does it apply to MEN? |
How does it apply to WOMEN? |
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Which theory can best explain how marriage affects earnings for men? _____________________
Why? ________________________________________________________________
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Which theory can best explain how marriage affects earnings for women? ___________________
Why? ________________________________________________________________
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In referring to the third theory (p. 6/p.7), the authors imply that a person’s attributes/ characteristics that “lead to success in the workplace” are the same as those attributes that “lead to success in finding and keeping a spouse”. In the chart below, check (√) if you think this is true; also, add more characteristics that you can think of, and check these, too.
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Leads to success in workplace |
Leads to success in marriage |
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responsibility |
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honesty |
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communication skills |
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Other: |
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Other: |
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Other: |
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Other: |
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PART II: Comprehension and Text Activities
Critical Thinking: Applying Information
Based on the article, what advice would you give to a male high school graduate who is wondering if he should marry his girlfriend? Why?
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Which studies to which the authors refer in the article would you cite as support?
(Use last names/ and year).
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Based on the article, what advice would you give to a female high school graduate who is wondering if she should marry her boyfriend? Why?
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Which studies to which the authors refer in the article would you cite as support?
(Use last names/ and year).
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Based on the article, what advice would you give to a female university graduate who just got married and wants to have children immediately? Why?
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Which studies to which the authors refer in the article would you cite as support?
(Use last names/ and year).
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Critical Thinking: Projecting – and Confirming
The text was published ten years ago, in 2004. The studies that the authors cite are even older. Do you think the findings for some of these studies would be the same today, or is the situation now different? Complete the chart with three studies that the authors summarize, project (=predict) if the results would be the same today - and b; then, conduct quick research and locate recent studies to see if these studies confirm or contradict your prediction.
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Researchers (year of study) AND major findings before 2004 |
Your prediction about current situation (2011-2014) AND reason/s why you think that |
Recent study: Researcher name (year of study) AND findings from those studies |
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Critical Thinking: Applying Ideas from the Text to Your Country
Which findings from the studies summarized in the text are the same as the situation in your country? Which findings are different from the situation in your country?
Same:
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Different:
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Vocabulary: Complete the parts of speech grid:
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Noun |
Verb |
Adjective |
Adverb |
Synonym of the bolded word |
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marital |
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discrimination |
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specialization |
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selection |
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promotion |
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experience |
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Paraphrases of Sentences from the Text:
Write paraphrases of the sentences below. Try to use a different sentence structure by using different parts of speech of the words in the sentences.
1. “A period of career building early in life is critical to a woman’s wage profile.”
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2. “The presence of children may be a more important determinant of a woman’s wages than her marital status.”
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3. “Women might accept lower wages in exchange for greater flexibility.”
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