Gateway of Profiency

Abstract

Gateway to Proficiency is intended for intermediate and upper-intermediate level learners of English who are preparing for proficiency examinations given by Hacettepe University, School of Foreign Languages. The material in the book may as well be relevant to some other proficiency examinations given by Turkish universities. The goal of the book is to familiarize learners with the tasks they may encounter in the examination and provide them with meaningful practice towards the necessary skills, strategies and knowledge. Gateway to Proficiency is composed of three sections: Use of English, Reading • Comprehension, and Writing an Essay. Use of English section offers a quick revision of grammatical structures and vocabulary that the learners are already familiar with. The aim of this section is to help learners make use of their knowledge in meaningful contexts. In this section, learners are given the opportunity to deal with exam-type tasks with a wide range of contextualized exercises. Reading Comprehension section aims at helping learners improve their ability to comprehend texts, exposing them to authentic or semi-authentic written materials from various sources. The progression of exercises leads the learners to develop the necessary reading skills such as recognizing main ideas and specific details, making connections between ideas, understanding structural details and figuring out the meanings of unknown words using linguistic and contextual clues. The purpose of Writing an Essay section is to help learners improve their essay writing skills. The first part of the writing section presents the fundamentals of essay writing, while the other three parts guide learners to write three basic types of essays: Opinion Essay, Comparison and Contrast Essay, Cause and Effect Essay. The material is a developmental one, providing a step-by-step guide to building and improving writing skills. Each part of the writing section first provides learners with a sample text, then, with necessary language structures followed by information on essay organization. The writing activities combine writing strategies with a review of appropriate grammatical structures.