some strategies to teach how to summarize a passage effectively

It provides students with valuable practice in reading and writing as it forces students to focus on understanding the whole passage to pick out the main ideas and communicate their mean

MÔN TIẾNG ANH – MÃ CHẤM: A01a

SOME STRATEGIES TO TEACH HOW TO SUMMARIZE A PASSAGE EFFECTIVELY

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION ……… 2

PART I: THEORY OF SUMMARY……… 4

1 Definition of summary ……… … 4

2 Characteristics of a good summary ……… 4

2.1 Language ……… 4

2.2 Content ……… 6

2.3 Length ……… 7

3 Processes of summarizing ……… 7

3.1 Selection process ……… … 7

3.2 Reduction process ……… 7

4 Strategies for summarizing ……… 8

4.1 Journalists’ questions ……… …… 8

4.2 “Somebody Wanted But So” ……… …… 9

4.3 Writing one-sentence summary ……… … 10

4.4 Using annotations or maps ……… 10

PART II: APPLICATION ……… 13

1 Guided practice ……… 13

2 Suggested exercises ……… 20

CONCLUSION ……….…37

References……… ….38

INTRODUCTION

Writing a summary is of paramount importance in language learning It provides students with valuable practice in reading and writing as it forces students to focus on understanding the whole passage to pick out the main ideas and communicate their meaning in their own words Their vocabulary and grammar are, therefore, improved considerably It also helps with developing critical thinking skills because students have to decide on the main ideas of the reading to include in the summary

With the recognition of the importance and usefulness of summarization,

a task of summarizing has been introduced in the national exam of selecting English-gifted students in the last few years Summarizing seems to be a big challenge to most students They do not know how to start with this new kind of task in the exam They often either copy verbatim, write long, detailed

“summaries” or write excessively short ones missing information This failure can be partially explained by the lack of careful and detailed guidance from teachers in supporting learners to find the most suitable and effective strategies

It is understandable as summarizing skills are not officially taught in the school

In class, students may only be required to summarize a text with nonspecific instructions These instructions are not technical enough to be helpful for students

This matter has inspired the author to conduct an investigation on “Some strategies to teach how to summarize a passage effectively” with a view to sharing her practical experience with other teachers The subjects of the study are English-gifted students who are carefully selected for intensive training for the national exam of English proficiency held by the Ministry of Education and Training annually All of them have learnt English at least 6 years and have a good command of English

The study is composed of two main parts Part I is the theoretical foundation in which the definition, the characteristics, the processes and the

strategies of a summary are reviewed Part II presents the application In this part, the guided practice as well as suggested exercises are provided

PART I: THEORY OF SUMMARY

In short, the various definitions of summary suggest that a summary is a brief statement that represents the condensation of information and reflects the gist of the discourse It can be thought of as a study outline that is connected by sentences rather than numbers, letters or indentations (Johnson, 1983)

2 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SUMMARY

2.1.Language:

 Condensed

- Use only necessary words and phrases

- Say an idea only once; don’t repeat

 Restated

- Put the author’s ideas in your own words, avoid direct quotations

 Unbiased

- Omit any personal opinions, ideas, thoughts, illustrations, and inferences

An outstanding feature of a summary is the use of reporting words Reporting expressions are of great importance:

- to show clearly whose idea you are dealing with at this point in your essay

- to indicate the mode of argumentation being used by the writer, e.g.: believing, conceding, using analogies, giving examples, …

- (Title) offered a detailed and

practical introduction to (topic)

- (Title) is a detailed account of

 Verb + that + Clause

E.g explain, argue, believe, claim, …

The writer explains that this bridge was built to reduce the traffic problems in the city

 Verb + Noun/ Indirect question

E.g present, describe, explain, …

The author first describes the Petronas Towers in Malaysia

The writer explains why the dam was constructed

- The summary begins by citing the title, author, source, and, in the case

of a magazine or a journal article, the date of publication and the text

 Thesis statement

- is summarized clearly and accurately in a one-sentence thesis statement

- does not contain specific details discussed in the text

- is stated at the beginning of the summary

 Supporting ideas

- Cover all of the author’s major supporting ideas

- Show the relationships among these ideas

- Omit specifics, such as illustrations , descriptions, and detailed explanations

2.3 Length:

The summary should be no more than 1/3 the length of the original paragraph or article

Notes:

A summary should not include:

- Your personal opinion, inference, suggestion or advice

- Paraphrase of technical terms

- Copied material or a string of quotes from the selection

or take notes on the key ideas as you read

* Identify important information of the text:

- Pay attention to signal device that author uses to stress importance: introductory statements, topic sentence, summary statements, underlining, italics, …

- Seek key words and phrases that manage to capture the gist

* Strip away the redundant examples, descriptions, detailed explanations

* Save the crucial details that support the main idea

3.2 Reduction process: condense the ideas by substituting general ideas for

more detailed ones

- Using your own words, present the author’s thesis and other main ideas

in a few concise sentences Do not copy sentences directly from the original text

Use your own words to convey the main ideas as clearly and concisely as possible

- Substitute a superordinate term for a list of items

E.g If a text contains a list such as chair, table, desk, bed

→ substitute the word furniture

- Substitute an encompassing action for a list of subcomponents of that action

E.g “John left the house He went to the train station He bought a ticket to London.”

→ John went to London by train

- Do not give your own opinion or interpretation of the material you are summarizing Your goal is an objective, accurate, condensed overview of the selection that does not reveal your attitude toward the ideas presented

4 STRATEGIES FOR SUMMARIZING

4.1 Journalists’ questions:

Called Journalists’ questions or 5 Ws and an H, these simple questions help writers identify important information about a topic Only after the questions have been answered, can writers organize their summaries This strategy proves

to be effective to deal with descriptive passages

* WHO: - Who are the primary or most important characters?

- Who are the secondary characters?

- Who participated?

- Who is affected?

* WHAT: - What is the topic of the lesson?

- What is its significance?

- What is the problem?

- What are the issues?

- What happened?

* WHERE: - Where did the event occur?

- Where is the setting?

- Where is the source of the problem?

* WHEN: - When did the event occur?

- When did the problem begin?

- When is it most important?

* WHY: - Why did the event, issue, or problem occur?

- Why did it develop the way it did?

* HOW: - How is the problem important?

- How can the problem be resolved?

- How does it affect the participants or characters identified?

Not all these questions will be answered in a paragraph In other words, some

of the questions might be irrelevant to the topic For example, if the topic focuses on weather trends of the past 10 years, the Who element will probably not be particularly important

4.2 “Somebody Wanted But So” Strategy

The Somebody Wanted But So strategy goes by many names, depending

upon the genre or content being studied The strategy helps students understand the various plot elements of conflict and resolution Either during reading or after reading, students complete a chart that identifies a character resolved (or failed to resolve) those problems The strategy helps students generalize, recognize cause and effect relationships, and find main ideas However, it seems

to be inappropriate for students to summarize a long complex passages with many strata of meaning

- Somebody/ Someone = main character or a group of people

- Wanted/ Because = main events or a group’s motivation

- But = the conflict or problem

- So = the resolution of the problem

Somebody Wanted But So

stepsisters and mother didn’t want the beautiful Mary at the ball

Her fairy godmother waved her wand and

a carriage, a gown,

a carriage men appeared

The incumbent had more political clout and money

She was soundly defeated

4.3 Writing one-sentence summary

Students sometimes need to summarize a paragraph in one sentence, for example, when writing a short answer to a test question, or when citing a research study in an essay To write one-sentence summary, you need to figure out the topic and controlling idea covered by the text and then find a way to capture them in a few words

Despite its benefits, this strategy cannot help students deal with their task in the national exam of selecting English- gifted students as they are required to write a paragraph to summarize a given passage

4.4 Using annotations or maps

According to Rinehart and Thomas (1993), an effective summary requires reflection and decision making They argue that for a good summary one must see how text ideas relate, reduce important information to the given level of organizational gist, and finally capture that gist in written form Using annotations and maps is highly recommended strategy to figure out the main ideas and major details Certain type of text can use either or both of annotations or maps

Summary of a paragraph = MAIN IDEA + major details

* Annotating:

After reading the passage, students should annotate by:

 [Placing brackets around the main idea]

 Underlining key words and phrases that support the main idea

 Crossing out any information that is not important

* Mapping:

 Make a map with the information you underlined and marked

 Write a summary that includes all the important information you’ve identified

 Paraphrase – don’t copy the exact words from the reading; try to put the information in your own words

The subjects of this study are English-gifted students who had learnt English at least 6 years and have a good command of English They are all carefully selected to take part in the annual national English language proficiency exam In this exam, they are expected to summarize a passage of advanced level The fourth strategy rather than the first three strategies,

MAIN IDEA

DETAIL 3 DETAIL 2

DETAIL 1

therefore, does seem to help them summarize those kinds of passages In the next part, the author will give more detailed guidance on how to apply this strategy in the real context

PART II: APPLICATION

1 GUIDED PRACTICE

In this stage of the lesson, the teacher carefully guides students to carry out all the steps of annotating and mapping techniques respectively Teacher can ask students to either make annotations or draw maps or both depending on the complexity of each passage

Practice 1: Summarize the following passage

Computers have become a necessity for both small and large business today It takes a computer less than a second to retrieve information that takes a person several hours to obtain It is for this reason that banks, airlines, and fast food restaurants rely so heavily on them In addition, computers can store large amounts of data in a relatively small space Because of this, offices need less storage space equipment such as file cabinets and supply closets

It is for this reason that banks, airlines, and fast food restaurants

rely so heavily on them In addition, computers can store large

amounts of data in a relatively small space Because of this,

offices need less storage space equipment such as file cabinets and supply closets

* Suggested summary:

Computers are important for businesses because of their speed in retrieving information and their ability to store large amounts of data in small spaces

Practice 2: Summarize the following passage

THE ECOLOGY OF WAR

By Rick Boling

“Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave … eats a bread it does not harvest … pity the nation that boasts not except among its ruins … and those whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.”_ Kahlil Gibran

When Kahlil Gibran, patron saint of Lebanon, wrote these words he never imagined that the country he was describing would be his own For like Henry David Thoreau, Gibran was first and foremost poet laureate of the land “Every time I close my eyes,” he once said, “I see those valleys full of magic and dignity and those mountains covered with glory and greatness trying to reach the sky.”

But according to Lebanese ecologist Ricardo Haber, Gibran could never describe those magical mountains and valleys today “Where would he get his inspiration?”, asks Haber, founder of a conservationist group called The Friends

of Nature “What landscape would he see?”

Reflected in Haber’s despair is the environmental devastation that has left his once-lush country under an avalanche of physical and psychological debris From the destruction of its famous cedar forests to the now-rancid shores of the Mediterranean, Lebanon is reeling under perhaps the worst ecological disruption suffered by any country in history

Once a nation whose staple foods included an abundance of fish drawn from the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean Lebanon, for the first time in his history, is now forced to import fish from Syria and Turkey According to Haber, the scarcity has resulted from the beleaguered nation’s inability to

enforce laws protecting the integrity of its seas Perhaps the major problems, he notes, are the new preferred tools for fishing – dynamite and poison bait These illegal techniques allow fishermen to catch large numbers of fish, notes Haber, a professor at the American University of Beirut But they also destroy the ocean habitat The sea is further polluted by solid wastes and chemicals scattered along the rocky beach “Treatment facilities were being built, Haber explains, “but we can’t construct a plant or regulate an industry with the Shiites on one side of town and the Druse on the other.”

At the other end of the ecological spectrum, Haber adds, stand the pitiful remains of the famous cedar forests, whose trees have been cut for camouflage and firewood Another, less direct cause of deforestation is the vicious shooting

of birds – a psychological manifestation, says Haber, of the anger and frustration accompanying the war In the past ten years, he notes, some 400.000 people have been involved in a “virtual massacre of birds” in the skies over Lebanon

As these birds, including stocks, falcons, eagles, and swallows are killed, he notes, the forests’ tree-eating insects reproduce unchecked

Destruction of the forests, moreover, has caused soil erosion and diminished the supply of fresh water Without forested watersheds, says Haber, much of the topsoil and rainfall just runs into the sea

Finally, the disruption of war has also taken its roll on Lebanon’s agriculture Land not destroyed by the negligence of the feuding Lebanese has been devastated by occupying forces, who build trenches and burn crops And lack of government planning has allowed uncontrolled urbanization at the expense of fertile plains For Haber, this is where the war has had the most drastic effect “To my mind,” he says, “the worst oppression one can inflict on people is to destroy their agricultural potential and leave them wanting for food”

But hope for the Lebanese environment appears to be as elusive as and end to the hostilities A reversal of the situation would require an enormous cleanup effort based on cooperation among all citizens, adherence to existing

environmental laws, and creation of an environmental body with full political support

Such far-reaching changes in a country already losing its identity in the violence among various internal factions may be little more than pipe dreams For Haber, however, such nations are not just pie-in-the-sky ideas Unless steps are taken and pressure is brought to bear from the international conservation community, any hope of an ecological reversal may evaporate “We cannot afford the pace and magnitude of the damage,” says Haber, “for the point of no return is imminent.”

When Kahlil Gibran, patron saint of Lebanon, wrote these words he never imagined that the country he was describing would be his own For like Henry David Thoreau, Gibran was first and foremost poet laureate of the land “Every time I close my eyes,” he once said,

“I see those valleys full of magic and dignity and those mountains covered with glory and greatness trying to reach the sky.”

But according to Lebanese ecologist Ricardo Haber, Gibran could never describe those magical mountains and valleys today

“Where would he get his inspiration?”, asks Haber, founder of a conservationist group called The Friends of Nature “What landscape would he see?”

Reflected in Haber’s despair is the environmental devastation that has left his once-lush country under an avalanche of physical and psychological debris From the destruction of its famous cedar forests

to the now-rancid shores of the Mediterranean, [Lebanon is reeling

under perhaps the worst ecological disruption suffered by any country in history.]

The sea (1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Cedar forests (1)

(2)

(3)

The land (1)

(2)

(3)

Once a nation whose staple foods included an abundance of fish drawn from the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean Lebanon,

for the first time in his history, is now forced to import fish from

Syria and Turkey According to Haber, the scarcity has resulted from

the beleaguered nation’s inability to enforce laws protecting the

integrity of its seas Perhaps the major problems, he notes, are the new

preferred tools for fishing – dynamite and poison bait These illegal

techniques allow fishermen to catch large numbers of fish, notes Haber, a professor at the American University of Beirut But they also

destroy the ocean habitat The sea is further polluted by solid wastes

and chemicals scattered along the rocky beach “Treatment facilities

were being built, Haber explains, “but we can’t construct a plant or regulate an industry with the Shiites on one side of town and the Druse

on the other.”

At the other end of the ecological spectrum, Haber adds, stand

the pitiful remains of the famous cedar forests, whose trees have

been cut for camouflage and firewood Another, less direct cause of deforestation is the vicious shooting of birds – a psychological

manifestation, says Haber, of the anger and frustration accompanying the war In the past ten years, he notes, some 400.000 people have been involved in a “virtual massacre of birds” in the skies over Lebanon As these birds, including stocks, falcons, eagles, and swallows are killed,

he notes, the forests’ tree-eating insects reproduce unchecked

Destruction of the forests, moreover, has caused soil erosion

and diminished the supply of fresh water Without forested

watersheds, says Haber, much of the topsoil and rainfall just runs into the sea

Finally, the disruption of war has also taken its roll on

Lebanon’s agriculture Land not destroyed by the negligence of the

feuding Lebanese has been devastated by occupying forces, who build trenches and burn crops And lack of government planning has allowed uncontrolled urbanization at the expense of fertile plains For Haber, this is where the war has had the most drastic effect

“To my mind,” he says, “the worst oppression one can inflict on people

is to destroy their agricultural potential and leave them wanting for

Conclusion

Conclusion

food”

But hope for the Lebanese environment appears to be as elusive

as an end to the hostilities A reversal of the situation would require an enormous cleanup effort based on cooperation among all citizens, adherence to existing environmental laws, and creation of an environmental body with full political support

Such far-reaching changes in a country already losing its identity in the violence among various internal factions may be little more than pipe dreams For Haber, however, such nations are not just pie-in-the-sky ideas Unless steps are taken and pressure is brought to bear from the international conservation community, any hope of an ecological reversal may evaporate “We cannot afford the pace and magnitude of the damage,” says Haber, “for the point of no return is imminent.”