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VCE Indonesian Second Language study materials
VCE Indonesian Second Language study resources

VCE Indonesian Second Language: Reading and Responding: Text Types, Inference and Vocabulary in Context

VCE Indonesian Second Language · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Reading and Responding: Text Types, Inference and Vocabulary in Context

What this section tests

Reading and responding presents authentic-style texts - advertisements, letters, articles, blogs, short stories, forms - and asks for literal comprehension, inference, and identification of purpose and audience. You must read for structure as well as words.

Concepts you must control

  • Text-type conventions: Pengumuman (announcement) is impersonal and brief; surat resmi uses Dengan hormat and Hormat kami; surat pribadi uses Salam rindu; advertisements use imperatives and superlatives. Recognising the type tells you where to look for the answer.
  • Affixation: meN-, ber-, di-, ter-, peN-, -kan, -i, ke-...-an. Ter- can mean accidental (terbawa) or superlative (terbaik). Root-word knowledge lets you decode unfamiliar words.
  • Reference words: ini, itu, tersebut, hal itu, yang point back to a phrase. Questions often ask what hal tersebut refers to.
  • Cohesion and contrast: namun, sebaliknya, selain itu, dengan demikian map the argument.
  • Colloquial and borrowed vocabulary: nggak, bikin, gimana in informal texts; English loanwords whose Indonesian meaning differs.

Traps

  1. A word appears in the text and in an option but the surrounding meaning differs - check the context, not the match.
  2. Questions about the writer's purpose or tone cannot be answered by copying a sentence; you must infer.
  3. Options that are true in general knowledge but not stated in the text are wrong.
  4. In multiple-choice items, two options are close; one adds a condition (selalu, hanya, semua) the text does not support.

Rule of thumb

Read the questions first, then skim the text for the paragraph where each answer lives, then read that paragraph closely. For vocabulary questions, substitute each option back into the sentence and test whether the sentence still makes sense.

Worked example

Text: "Meskipun harganya mahal, sepatu ini paling banyak dicari karena nyaman dipakai." Question: Why is the product popular? Options mentioning price are traps - meskipun concedes the price is high; the reason is nyaman dipakai (comfortable to wear).