Reading and Responding: Text Types, Inference and Vocabulary
What this domain asks you to do
Reading tasks present authentic-style texts: notices, advertisements, personal letters, emails, articles, short stories and infographics. You must locate information, interpret implied meaning, identify text purpose and audience, and deduce word meaning from context.
Concepts to master
- Text structure: an article has a headline, orientation, body with arguments, and conclusion; a letter has a salutation, opening, body, closing and signature; an advertisement has a slogan, product details, price and contact.
- Reference words: ini, itu, tersebut, hal ini, yang - questions often ask what a pronoun refers to. Trace back to the nearest matching noun.
- Cohesion: namun, sementara itu, selain itu, oleh sebab itu, dengan kata lain.
- Word building for inference: if you know tumbuh (grow), you can infer pertumbuhan (growth); lingkung gives lingkungan (environment).
- Formal vs informal lexis: hendak/mau, namun/tapi, demikian/begitu, apabila/kalau.
Traps that appear in questions
- Pronoun reference: Hal ini menyebabkan ... refers to the preceding clause, not the last noun.
- True/false with absolute words: options containing selalu, semua, tidak pernah are usually wrong unless the text says so.
- Inference beyond the text: choose the answer supported by evidence, not the one that sounds generally true.
- Purpose vs content: a notice saying Dilarang parkir has the purpose of prohibiting, not informing about parking.
- Tone questions: sayangnya, untunglah, ironisnya reveal the writer's attitude.
Worked example
Sentence: Banyak petani beralih ke tanaman organik karena harga jualnya lebih tinggi. Hal ini mendorong pemerintah memberikan pelatihan.
Question: What does hal ini refer to? Answer: the fact that many farmers are switching to organic crops because of higher selling prices - the whole preceding idea, not merely harga.
A useful procedure for each text: skim the headline and first sentence for topic, read the questions, then scan for the keywords of each question. For vocabulary items, substitute each option into the sentence and check that the surrounding logic still works; the correct option must fit both meaning and grammar.
Rule of thumb
When two options seem right, reject the one that adds information the text does not contain. The safest answer is always the one you can point to a specific sentence for.