Teaching summarizing skills to efl learners at ho chi minh city university of technology (hutech)

ABSTRACT The ability to write an effective summary is one of the writing skills which university students should possess so that they can summarize lecture notes to facilitate their stud

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

_

TEACHING SUMMARIZING SKILLS

TO EFL LEARNERS

AT

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL

Submitted by NGUYEN THI HOANG HOANH

Supervisor : NGUYEN HOANG TUAN , Ph.D

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2007

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

TEACHING SUMMARISING SKILLS TO EFL LEARNERS AT HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (HUTECH)

In terms of the statement of Requirements for Thesis in Master’s Programmes

issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2008

Nguyen Thi Hoang Hoanh

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Nguyen thi Hoang Hoanh, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited

in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan

or reproduction of theses

Nguyen thi Hoang Hoanh

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude

to my thesis supervisor, Mr Nguyen Hoang Tuan for his enthusiastic guidance, valuable comments and support in the preparation until the completion of this thesis

Secondly, I would also like to thank all my lecturers at the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities of this Master course

Thirdly, I particularly appreciate my colleagues and second-year majors in English at HUTECH for their valuable support and cooperation in helping me to carry out the survey questionnaire Their answers and ideas play an important role

in conducting this thesis

Finally, my very heartfelt gratitude is sent to my family members for their moral support during the time I have done this study

ABSTRACT

The ability to write an effective summary is one of the writing skills which university students should possess so that they can summarize lecture notes to facilitate their study or summarize an assigned material to make sure that they understand it Furthermore, while students are writing their theses as the requirement of graduation, they usually have to grasp the main ideas of related theories to present these in the literature review

This thesis investigates and conceptualizes the nature of teaching and learning summarizing of second-year students at Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HUTECH) The purpose of the study is to find out the factors that affect students’ summarizing skills

In order to do this, class observations were performed and questionnaires for both teachers and students were delivered in order to (1) elicit information about teachers and learners’ ideas about writing summaries (2) explore the problems they have faced and (3) obtain their suggestions on how to improve the learners’ ability

of summarizing In addition, there were informal interviews with both teachers and students to get more necessary information for the study

The theoretical framework to the study is a review of the literature relevant

to this vital writing technique such as definition and purpose of summary, how summarizing different from paraphrasing and retelling, the role of summarizing, and techniques for writing good summaries

The research subjects were both English teachers and second-year students who majored in English at HUTECH To ensure the validity of the methodology for obtaining answers to the research question, the procedures for sampling design to collect appropriate data for the study were carried out accurately and objectively so that the sampling strategy would make possible the ability to generalize from the sample to the total population of students of English majors at HUTECH

The research was carried out during the fourth semester at HUTECH when second-students were taking the course of Thesis Writing, which provided students with certain background and knowledge to write their thesis as one of the graduation requirements

Data obtained from the subjects’ responses were analyzed by the SPSS software The findings revealed some insights into the obstacles that these student subjects faced while writing summaries before they attended the course They also showed that classroom instructions on how to summarize effectively were necessary

From the findings’ analyses and discussions, the thesis suggests several recommendations to the improvement of students’ ability to write an effective summary

It is hoped that the study will contribute to the development of teaching and learning writing at HUTECH in general and in this sub-skill of writing in particular

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of original ……… i

Retention and use of the thesis ……… ii

Acknowledgements ……… iii

Abstract ………iv

Table of contents ……… vi

List of tables ……… ix

List of charts ……… xi

Abbreviations ……… xiii

Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background to the study ……… 1

1.2 Problem Identification ……… 3

1.3 Definition of term ……… 5

1.4 Scope of the study ……… 6

1.5 Structure of the study ……… 6

Chapter Two: Literature Review Introduction ……… 8

2.1 The Difference between summarizing, paraphrasing, and retelling ………… 8

2.1.1 Paraphrasing ………8

2.1.2 Retelling ……… 9

2.1.3 Summarizing ……… 10

2.2 Process and product ……… 11

2.3 Definition and purpose of summary ……… 13

2.4 Summary in daily life and in academic setting ……… 14

2.5 Types of summaries ……… 15

2.6 Organization of a summary ……… 16

2.7 Criteria ……… 18

2.8 Interrelationship between reading and summarizing……… 21

2.8.1 Recognizing main ideas ……… 21

2.8.2 Identifying organizational patterns ……… 22

2.9 The importance of teaching writing a summary ……… 23

Summary ……… 26

Chapter Three: Methodology

Introduction ……… 27

3.1 Research question … ……… 27

3.2 Subjects ……… 27

3.2.1 Student subjects ……… 27

3.2.2 Teacher subjects ……… 29

3.3 Data collection instruments ……… 32

3.3.1 Survey questionnaire for students ……… 33

3.3.2 Survey questionnaire for teachers ……… 34

3.4 Implementation ………35

Summary……….…… 37

Chapter Four: Findings and Discussion

Introduction ……… 38

4.1 Students’ responses ……… 38

4.2 Teachers’ responses ……… 53

4.3 Discussion……… ……… 63

Summary ……… 65

Chapter Five: Implications and recommendations Introduction……… 66

5.1 Implication ……… 66

5.2 Recommendations on the teaching and learning summarizing skills……… 69

Summary… ……….75

Conclusion ……… 76

References ……… .78

Appendixes Appendix1: Survey questionnaire for students ……… 80

Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for teachers ……… 82

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Distribution of students’ age and gender ……… 28

Table 3.2 Distribution of teachers’ age … 29

Table 3.3 Distribution of teachers’ gender ……… 30

Table 3.4 Distribution of teachers’ degrees ……… 31

Table 4.1 Frequency of English studying of second-year English majors at HUTECH ……… 39

Table 4.2 Students’ ideas about the most difficult skill ……… 40

Table 4.3 Students’ ideas about the most important skill ……… 41

Table 4.4 Frequency of learning how to write a summary ……… 43

Table 4.5 How did students do summarizing ……… 44

Table 4.6 Time spent on practicing writing at home 46

Table 4.7 Time spent on practicing reading in English 47

Table 4.8 Frequency of students’ recognition of the important of summarizing skills before the course ……… 48

Table 4.9 Frequency of students’ recognition of the important of summarizing skills after the course ……… 50

Table 4.10 Frequency of students’ self–remark on the degree of difficulty 51

Table 4.11 Frequency of students’ suggestions on how to improve their Summarizing skills ……… 52

Table 12 Distribution of teachers’ years of teaching ……… 54

Table 13 Teachers’ assessment about students’ achievement of the

language skills ……… 55

Table 14 Teachers’ ideas about the most difficult language skills for students to obtain ……… 56

Table 15 The distribution of teachers teaching each language skill……… 57

Table 16 Frequency of teachers teaching writing summary ……… 58

Table 17 Teachers’ assessment of how well their students do summarizing 59

Table 18 a and b Frequency of teachers’ recognition of the importance of summarizing skills ……… 60

Table 19 Teachers’ recommendations ……… 62

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 3.1 Distribution of students’ age and gender ……… 28

Chart 3.2 Distribution of teachers’ age ……… 30

Chart 3.3 Distribution of teachers’ gender ……… 30

Chart 3.4 Distribution of teachers’ degrees ……… 31

Chart 4.1 Frequency of English studying of second-year English majors at HUTECH ……… 39

Chart 4.2 Students’ ideas about the most difficult skill ……… 41

Chart 4.3 Students’ ideas about the most important skill ……… 42

Chart 4.4 Frequency of students’ learning how to write a summary ………… 43

Chart 4.5 How did students do summarizing? 45

Chart 4.6 Time spent on practicing writing at home 46

Chart 4.7 Time spent on reading in English 47

Chart 4.8 Frequency of students’ recognition of the importance of summarizing skills before the course……… 49

Chart 4.9 Frequency of students’ recognition of the importance of summarizing skills after the course……… 50

Chart 4.10 Frequency of students’ remark on the degree of difficulty ……… 51

Chart 4.11 Frequency of students’ suggestions on how to improve their summarizing skills ……… 53

Chart 4.12 Distribution of teachers’ years of teaching ……… 54

Chart 4.13 Teachers’ assessment about students’ achievement of the

language skills ……… 55 Chart 4.14 Teachers’ ideas about the most difficult language skills for

students to obtain ……… 56 Chart 4.15 Distribution of teachers teaching language skill……… 57 Chart 4.16 Frequency of teacher teaching writing summary……… 58 Chart 4.17 Teachers’ assessment of how well their students do summarizing 59 Chart 4.18 Teachers’ ideas about the importance of summarizing skills…… 61 Chart 4.19 Teachers’ recommendations……… 62

ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This thesis reports the findings of a survey conducted at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTEC) to investigate the problems of teaching and learning summarizing, one of the most essential sub-writing skills that English-majored students should master

The main purpose of the study is to find out the factors that have led to students’ failure in writing summaries according to both writing teachers’ remarks and second-year students’ performance in class

defines the terms as well as the scope of the study, and introduces the structure of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

Since the open-door policy came into existence in 1986, foreign languages, especially English, have become more and more important This leads to the boom

of foreign language centers, mainly English in the early of the 1990s English has also been taught in high schools and universities and has even become a major in several universities

Along with this increase in importance of English there are methodological concerns Authorities and English teachers have been making every effort to

Most authors on methodology agree on developing the four language skills equally Nevertheless, there is a tendency to focus more on speaking and listening skills than on either reading or writing at most foreign language centers (FLCs) in HCMC such as those centers managed by The Department of Education and Training of HCMC (DETH), by Dương Minh’s Foreign Language Schools, and by HCMC University of Pedagogy (HUP) The textbooks currently used in those FLCs are integrated skill textbooks which focus on developing learners’ communicative skills The writing activities, if there are any, are usually used as a means to consolidate the learning of new grammatical rules or structures and vocabulary which learners have learned in each unit, not as a skill itself Of course, those learners have never been taught how to summarize This is not a surprising finding when English proficiency in communication is now a vital requirement for employment and promotion

At HUTECH, many teachers and students share this tendency In spite of the university’s curriculum stresses on developing the four language skills equally, writing is less considered important than the other skills by its students This is the reason why most students fail to meet the requirement of adequate writing skills in their academic setting and nearly all of them have difficulty with summarizing

Summarizing has not been only neglected only at HUTECH, but also at other universities in HCMC Even English-majors at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) are not instructed the process of summarizing

In fact, the University of Social Science and Humanities (USSH) used to apply summarizing textbooks to teach their first-year and second-year students

These books were the two of the New Concept English series by Alexander, L.G (1967) – Practice And Progress and Developing Skills This university discontinued

using these textbooks since the early 1990s

Another institute used to apply summarizing textbooks was the former Teachers’ Training College (now Saigon University) This college applied the

textbook A First Book in Comprehension Précis And Composition (also by

Alexander, L.G.,1965) in its writing classes for first-year students However, this textbook has not been in use since the early 2000s

Although one may criticize that those textbooks do not really teach the process of summarizing because they consist of comprehension/précis exercises, the summarizing practice still benefit students as Alexander (1967) believes that

“Writing skill can best be developed through carefully controlled and graded comprehension/précis exercises Précis writing is not a sterile academic exercise useful only for examination purposes It can be used effectively to develop a student’s writing ability.”

1.2 Problem Identification

At HUTECH, teaching summarizing skill is optional and whether it is taught

or not depends on the writing teachers’ attitudes toward this sub-writing skill However, few writing teachers consider summarizing important and find it necessary to teach their students how to summarize The fact that English majors at

HUTECH have hardly been instructed and encouraged to summarize cause them to miss a lot of opportunities to practice writing because summarizing is a common academic activity They need to summarize lecture notes to facilitate their study or

to summarize an article to share what they have read with others who have not The more students are encouraged to summarize, the more they read and therefore, indirectly improve their writing skills as research has repeatedly showed the positive effects of reading on L2 writing In addition, when students are to write their theses for graduation they have to summarize various ideas and opinions from different authors for their literature review Besides, practice in writing summary will also help students read with greater accuracy and write with greater conciseness and directness Students cannot summarize effectively if they have not read carefully then discriminate between principal and subordinate ideas Such discrimination, in turn, will help learners sharpen their own style and avoid the prolixity that creeps into careless writing (Leggett, 1988; Alexander, 1989; Langan, 1996)

In the past years, many generations of students at HUTECH have failed to summarize adequately This failure is the main reason for carrying out the study which focuses on the factors that affect students’ summarizing ability

Recently, the HUTECH’s English department has concerned more and more about the problem Therefore, summarizing was officially embedded in the course

of Thesis Writing for second-year students the first time in the academic year 2006 – 2007

1.3 Definition of term

- Summary and précis: summarizing and précis are synonymous in both British

and American English Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines précis as “a

much shorter version of an article, a speech, etc giving the main points or ideas from it; a summary” The Random House College Dictionary gives précis the

definition as “an abstract or summary”

Methodologists such as Marzano et al (2001) view summary as “a

shortened version of an original text” which “should include all main ideas and important details, while reflecting the structure and order of the original”

- Summarize: to summarize means to make a summary of something It is the job

of “cutting down” or “trimming” Writing a summary or making a précis is very much like trimming a bush down to its trunk and main branches

- Paraphrase: to paraphrase is to express the meaning of something written or said,

using different words Usually, when students are assigned to paraphrase, they have

to “put things in their own words” (Marzano et al., 2001)

- Note taking and summarizing: note taking is used to refer to the activity of both

“making notes on a text which has been read” and “making notes on a text which has been heard” Therefore, “note taking is a form of summarizing” (Donn Byrne,

1988: 72)

- Retelling: to retell means to tell a story, etc again, using different words

Although some authors mention “written retellings,” retelling is mainly an oral

1.4 Scope of the study

The study was performed at HUTECH with two classes of second-year students majoring in English These students are going to take the course of Thesis Writing The primary purpose of the course is to provide the students with certain background and knowledge to write a thesis for their graduation Another purpose is

to instruct students the summarizing process, which is believed to benefit students

in their academic work

This gave an opportunity to conduct a survey into the problem in order to find the possible outcome from the application of summarizing instructions and to determine whether it is necessary to instruct students the process of summarizing

1.5 Structure of the study

This thesis comprises 5 chapters:

- Chapter 1 introduces the background to the study and identifies the problem under research – teaching summarizing skill to second-year students at HUTECH

- Chapter 2 reviews the literature related to the theories of summarizing including summarizing as product and/or process, definition and purpose

of a summary, distinction between summary in daily life and in academic setting, organization of a summary, and the importance of teaching summarizing skills

- Chapter 3 describes the methodology applied to collect necessary data for this study, introducing the research subjects, data collection instruments, and data collection procedures

- Chapter 4 reports and analyzes the research results as well as discusses the findings

- Chapter 5 presents the implications and recommendations for improving the quality of teaching and learning summarizing skills

2.1 The differences between summarizing, paraphrasing, and retelling

Summarizing, retelling, and paraphrasing are important skills for readers of all levels, especially for college students Summarizing, paraphrasing and retelling are closely related processes, and the ability to summarize depends on the students’ paraphrasing and retelling skills However, each of these processes is important in its own right as a tool for comprehension and discussion When students know the difference between these skills, they can choose the one they need for each circumstance

2.1.1 Paraphrasing

When students are admonished to “put things in their own words” when taking notes, they are indirectly being told to paraphrase Paraphrasing is, quite simply, restating ideas in different words A reader (or listener) can choose to paraphrase one statement, a group of statements, or an entire passage This is quite different from retelling and summarizing, both of which require a reader to gain a

global picture of the text Paraphrasing can be oral or written Orally, it can be as simple as, “Put my last directions into your own words.” A written paraphrase can

be much more complex, as students could paraphrase formally written text by rewriting it in an informal style (Marzano et al., 2001)

2.1.2 Retelling

Retelling is quite simple After hearing or reading a story, a child “retells” the events to a listener Many children will spontaneously retell exciting events, books, or movies to one another (and to any other listener who happens to be within earshot!) In recent years, retelling has become more popular as a tool for both instruction and assessment Although some books will refer to “written retellings,” for the purposes of this study, retelling is considered an oral event Retelling has been used for years as a dependent variable in reading research experiments Retelling made its way to the classroom Retelling is far from being just a repitition

of facts and events Retelling is beneficial for students from preschool to college and beyond Because it is an oral activity, retelling is an excellent bridge from social literacy activities into silent, individual ones Being able to talk through a story helps children/students to process what went on, and come to a new understanding of events or information (Marzano et al., 2001)

2.1.3 Summarizing

According to Marzano et al (2001), if paraphrasing is just restating ideas,

researchers—and students—for years Definitions for a summary abound It may be most useful to study some of the important characteristics of a summary Although there are some issues still up for debate, most people agree on the following points:

- A summary should be shorter than the original text How much shorter? It

depends A fifteen-page article could be summarized in one page, two pages, or even a single paragraph, depending on the purpose of the summary and the needs of the audience

- A summary should include the main ideas of the text Although this sounds

easy enough, it is where most students, and most adults, have trouble Stating the main ideas of a text is easy when the author comes out and states them The task becomes much more difficult when the main ideas are implicit, or unstated, as is usually the case of fiction

- A summary should include important details Summaries do need to include

the details that support an author’s main points A summary, therefore, is a shortened version of an original text, stating the main ideas and important details of the text with the same text structure and order of the original

In brief, these authors concluded that although summarizing, paraphrasing, and retelling are related, they are somewhat different in process, form, and product

- In terms of process a reader paraphrases by restating ideas from a text in a new way

- As far as form is concerned, retelling is orally restating what is remembered from the text

- Whereas a summary is a shortened version of an original text A summary should include all main ideas and important details, while reflecting the structure and order of the original (Marzano et al., 2001)

2.2 Process and product

In reality, learners speak their mother language fluently, but they cannot write effectively in the first language much less in English However, this does not mean that EFL learners are not able to master writing skills If they apply appropriate methods of writing and practise writing systematically, they can get certain progress and become acceptable writers, or even good writers Teachers of writing must discover what blocks learners from writing For this reason, the demanding duty of teachers is to introduce proper methods for learners to manipulate Should teachers of writing teach learners how to apply process approaches separately or to incorporate them with product approaches?

In some ways, Brown (1994:331) stated, “Make sure that the application of the process principle does not distract from a careful focus on the product as well” Otherwise, process approaches may sometimes cause problems that Tribble (1996:41) raised “a focus on the individual creativity of the writer is in many ways opposed to the behaviorist models implicit in audio-lingual methodology, or even to the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) model found in many examples of teaching materials” In addition, Horowitz (1986) (cited in Nunan, 1991:88), claimed that “process writing fails to prepare students to write examination essays

The approach is also based on an inductive approach to learning which only suits some learners” Furthermore, Zamel (1987) (cited in Nunan, 1991:88), put it that “despite insights into the complexities of the composing process revealed by process-oriented studies, most writing classes are still based on mechanistic, product-oriented exercises and drills which research has largely discredited.” The author also addressed that “when EFL students do get to write, teachers tend to view the resulting texts as final products to evaluate, which conveys to students the message that the function of writing is to produce texts for teachers to evaluate, not

to communicate meaningfully with another person.”

Brown (1994) puts it that:

The new emphasis on process writing, however, must be seen in the perspective of a balance between process and product As in most language teaching approaches, it is quite possible for you go to an extreme in emphasizing process to the extent that the final product diminishes in importance Try not to let this happen! The product is, after all the ultimate goal; it is the reason that we go through the process of prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing Without that final product simple in view, we could quite simple drown ourselves in a sea of revisions Process is not the end; it is the means to the end

(p 322)

Therefore, there is a need of combining both the product and process approaches in teaching writing Raimes (1993, cited in Nunan, 1999: 273) states that:

In a writing class, students need to be taught both how to use the process to their advantage as language learners and writers, and also how

to produce an acceptable product on demand A short coming of the debate around these issues is that process and product have been seen as either/or rather than both/and entities

As a product, writing can be an essay, a report, a story, and the like, and these products are supposed to meet certain standards of prescribed English rhetoric, reflect accurate grammar, and be organized in conformity with set conventions

(Brown, 1994) As a process, writing is supposed to focus on the process of writing that leads to the final written product; help student writers understand their own composing process and build their strategies for prewriting, drafting, and rewriting; let students discover what they want to say as they write, and encourage feedback both from the instructor and peers (Shih, 1986)

Nunan (1999: 274) concluded that “What we need in the writing classroom are both models and appropriate procedures In other words, we need both process and product.”

2.3 Definition and purpose of a summary

Reid (1994:229) defined a summary as “a brief description of the main ideas

or actions We summarize for some one who has not read … the book, article,…, that we have read The general purpose of a summary, then, is to give a limited amount of information to a specific audience”

Similarly, Blass and Durighello (1985) stated that the purpose of summary is

to synthesize, or bring together, the main ideas of a text Information which is not essential to understanding the text is omitted, so that a summary is considerably shorter than the original version

Because the summary condenses what the author said, it is always shorter than the original material Thus, to write a summary, the write must be selective; he/she cannot mention everything that the author mentions The trick is to choose the main points Sometimes these are quite clear At other times, however, the writer will have to use at least some of his/her “tools” to separate the main ideas

from the evidence introduced to support them or from digression or minor issues (Rosenberg, 1989)

2.4 Summary in daily life and in academic setting

According to Rentz (1992), summarizing is a common activity in our daily life We are continuously reconstructing and retelling what happens to us to people around us We regularly summarize events, ideas, news, dreams, what we have perceived, seen, heard, felt, read, or done We selectively summarize those parts that are the most important to us and that we think are of interest to others We condense, clarify, and point out only main events, ideas, and characters Unimportant details and nonessentials are left out We summarize for various audiences and purposes A friend, for example, asks us to tell him/her the terrible vacation we have had or a story we have read We may then summarize what to tell him/her by briefly depicting the worst parts of that vacation; or choosing the main ideas in the story (Reid, 1994)

Rentz (1992) also put it that summarizing is a common academic activity The most essential language skill is reading, and the top category writing assignments is the summary of and reaction to a reading Thus it is an academic necessity for students to be able to summarize what they read Summarizing is a prefect way to share with others what we have read It is also an excellent way to record our understanding of a reading passage If we can really write a summary of

a story or article, it is obvious that we understood it and could interpret it This is

one of the reasons teachers and professors often require summary papers – they want to see if their students understood the reading assignment Writing a summary

is also one of the better ways to remember what we read

Similarly, Reid (1994: 229.) mentioned that in academic setting “summaries are often written than spoken” For example, we write a condensed form of a lengthy article by writing just about the main ideas selected in that article The purpose of written summaries is to inform the reader about the main ideas in the articles and/or convince the reader to read the whole article

In other words, Rentz (1992:1) concluded, “Summarizing is a perfect way to share with others what we have read”

2.5 Types of summaries

Reid (1994) pointed out that academic summaries are of various types Students can summarize lecture notes to facilitate their study, an article for those that have not read the article, a written material in the introduction to a paragraph or essay to evaluate that material, or an assigned material to make sure that they understand it

The length of any summary depends on the assignment, the audience, and the available material Sometimes the assignment for a summary is a single sentence; sometimes it is a paragraph or even longer A summary for an audience that has already read an article (and so needs only to be reminded of the main ideas), for example, will be shorter than a summary for an audience that has not read the

article The amount of information given in a summary also depends on the length

of the original material (Reid, 1994)

Furthermore, Rosenberg (1989) classified summaries into two types: paraphrased summary and overview summary Both cover the author’s thesis and indicate the conclusions reached or questions raised by the author Both versions also use brief quotations However, there are important differences In the paraphrased summary, the summary writer writes a condensed version of the original material When he/she restates or paraphrases ideas in his/her own words, he/she tries to maintain the same tone, style, tense, and organization as the original

On the other hand, when the summary writer writes an overview summary, he/she does not attempt to reproduce the author’s tone or style Instead, he/she stands apart, presenting an overview rather than a condensed repetition of the material

2.6 Organization of a summary

Reid (1994:230) put it that summary writing is complex The summary writer must be able “(1) to read the original material well and understand it thoroughly; (2) to identify the main ideas; and (3) to restate these ideas” The author also emphasized that writing summary means that you extract the main ideas from someone else’s work, and accurately states the main ideas without using the exact phrases or sentences of the original material; that is, summaries are written in your own words The author then concluded that successful summaries are clear and

balanced That is, the reader can easily understand the main ideas of the longer material In contrast, if the summary is not successful, the reader will be confused

Like most academic writing, summaries have the introduction, the body, and the conclusion The introduction contains the kind of the material (an article, a book, and so on), the title, and the author of the written material to make sure that the audience knows what is being summarized and where the material originated The body contains the main ideas of the material The important point is that words, phrases, and sentences of the author of the material should not simply be copied; instead, they should be the summary writer’s own sentences and vocabulary In other words, the body of the summary will be “a miniature version of the original material” (Reid, 1994: 238) The conclusion briefly relates the conclusion of the author of the original material and should not contain the summary writer’s own judgments or conclusions; that is, a summary should be objective and reports just the main ideas

Furthermore, Reid (1994) asserted that writing a summary is similar to writing original paragraphs In fact, the most difficult part of writing a summary is accurately extracting the main ideas of another person’s article without using the exact phrases or sentences of the original material

Bhatia (1993:19-20) suggested an organization of an academic summary as follows:

- the author's full name and title of the work being summarized, typically in the first sentence,

- the author's thesis (also known as the author's claim or sometimes main idea),

- all other key ideas from the text (or main ideas)

- ideas arranged in the same order and with the same emphasis as the original text,

- (sometimes) a few pieces of key evidence - most evidence is not discussed in a summary,

- a few significant direct quotations, and

- author tags indicating that the ideas discussed are the author's and not the writer's

2.7 Criteria

According to Reid (1994), constructing a successful academic summary is a process of reading and re-reading, underlining the main ideas, making notes about those ideas In addition, Rentz (1992) suggested that writing a good academic summary would involve using your own words as much as possible; accurately reflecting the author’s emphasis while refraining from including your own opinion; identifying the author and the title of the material; preserving the order and emphasis of the original work; referring to the author throughout your summary response; being comprehensive (your summary should include everything essential

to an accurate understanding of the material for the person who reads your summary); being selective (don’t include unimportant details); choosing only those basic parts of the material that are necessary to a proper understanding of the story;

being brief (a summary should present the general idea in less than one-third of the story’s original length It is possible, although difficult, to summarize a story in only one or two sentences); and reviewing your summary

Similarly, Omaggio (1986:87) pointed out these following guidelines when writing a summary:

a Decide what the main ideas of the text

b Include important details and leave out unimportant ones

c Mention the author’s name and/or the title of the text in the first sentence

d State only the author opinion; leave your own out

e Make sure your verb tenses are appropriate and consistent

f Use your own words as much as possible

g Order the ideas in your summary in a way that would be best understood by a reader

In order to check whether a summary is good or not, Blass and Durighello (1985) suggested that when you have finished, exchange your summary with another student, and evaluate it by answering the following questions: what are the main ideas of the summary? List them and decide if the writer has left out any Are any unimportant details included? If so, indicate which ones they are? Does the first sentence of the summary mention the author’s name and/or the title of the article? Does the writer express the ideas of the article without adding his or her own opinions? If not, indicate where the writer has interjected a personal opinion? What verb tense does the writer use? Is it consistent and appropriate? If not, why not?

Underline all the words and expressions that are identical to those used in the original text Has the writer used his or her words as much as possible? Are the ideas presented in a logical order? Does this summary give you a clear and concise picture?

In addition, Leki (1988) indicated that to write good summaries requires accurate reading and the ability to find the main ideas and most important supporting evidences Summaries are always shorter than the original text When you write a summary, you give your readers an idea of the content of an article or book and save them the time and trouble of reading the original

As for teachers, Marzano et al (2001) suggested that teachers should teach students the characteristics of a summary They should provide numerous examples

of well-constructed oral and written summaries Through discussion, they should have the class evaluate those summaries and attempt to draw conclusions about why they are good ones According to the author a good summary:

- is brief,

- describes the main topic or theme of the selection,

- includes only the important information,

- omits minor or irrelevant details,

- organizes the information in a clear way, and

- restates the meaning in the reader's own words

In addition, teaches should develop students' ability to summarize As with the other strategies, teachers must explain and demonstrate the process used to

create good summaries and then engage students in these same processes Teachers should begin working toward this goal by asking students to retell a narrative selection they have just read, record the statements of remembered ideas on the board, and discuss with them which ideas are more important than others In general, when teachers provide direct summarization instruction, they should move from using short selections to longer ones and from having students produce oral summaries to producing written accounts Also, it is recommended that writing be used as a major tool in teaching summarizing Unlike oral retellings, writing activities give students more time to reflect on and shape their summaries At the same time, written summaries allow teachers to analyze content more carefully than oral retellings permit Summarization instruction that involves writing avoids the limits of short-term memory and encourages students to evaluate, change, reshape, and rethink with the original printed text available Written summaries not only help students establish in their own minds what they think the text said, but written versions also tend to make the information more memorable (Marzano et al (2001)

2.8 Interrelationship between reading and summarizing

2.8.1 Recognizing main ideas

According to Meagher (1997), there is no thing more important in understanding what you read than being able to identify an author’s main point This is especially true to non-fiction and textbook materials, and this involves both

the recognition of stated and unstated main ideas The main idea is the most important idea of a single paragraph, of a series of related paragraphs, or of an entire passage or essay It sets the direction, states the main point or points of discussion, and suggests the purpose of the whole text In brief, the main idea is an umbrella idea encompassing all the details related to it Besides, a paragraph sometimes does not contain a topic sentence stating a main idea; readers then have

to infer the unstated main idea Inferring an unstated main idea in a paragraph is like summarizing it The skill of summarizing is one of the most important skills students must learn as freshmen at college or university

Summarizing, as Meagher (1997) put it that, giving answers to the questions on an essay test and writing up information gathered from various sources for a research paper When trying to infer an unstated main idea, readers who write are essentially summarizing what its supporting details are all about They are taking these details and generalizing from them a statement of the main idea To generalize means to formulate a general statement accounting for all the specific details This is essence

of summarizing and of formulating the main idea submittedly suggested by its supporting details

2.8.2 Identifying organizational patterns

Whether readers read for information, for understanding, or for pleasure, they should keep in mind the fact that ideas may occur at random, and that the writer deliberately structures whatever written for the sake of adequate clarity and

impressive effect For instance, a well-formed article or a typical non-fiction essay often begins with an introduction, and ends with a conclusion, between them being

a number of developmental paragraphs Narrative fiction also tends to follow a similar sequence: a setting or situation is established, a series of actions are described, and a resolution of some sort is finally raised The purpose of this familiar structure is, by connecting ideas in a logical way, to make a piece of writing as understandable as possible (Meagher, 1997)

2.9 The importance of teaching writing a summary

Rosenberg (1989) stated that teaching learners how to write summaries of what they read is good preparation for the kind of writing they will have to do in academic and professional settings Such writing gives learners the opportunity to practice a close reading of a text, highlighting the main ideas and explaining them in writing, to someone else, using the expository style usually followed in the professional world

In a similar way, Alexander (1967:ix) put it that “writing skill can best be developed through carefully controlled and graded comprehension/précis exercises Précis writing is not a sterile academic exercise useful only for examination purposes It can be used effectively to develop a student’s writing ability” In addition, Rentz (1992:1) stated, “Summarizing is a common academic activity…, and the top category of writing assignments is the summary of and reaction to a reading Thus, it is an academic necessity for students to be able to summarize what they read”

In addition, Raimes (1983) noted that summarizing provides students with valuable practice in searching for meaning and communicating that meaning Faced with a reading passage, they have not only to find out what the main ideas are but also to be able to express them in their own words This ability of the language learner to understand concepts, process them, and restate them in their own words is

a major goal of the language learning process

Summarizing helps learners understand the reading better According to Langan (1996:237), summarizing is “a real aid to understanding” When learners are forced to write down a good summary, they must read the original carefully and state the main ideas of the original They must “get inside the material and realize fully what is being said” before they can “reduce its meaning to a few words” Furthermore, Rentz (1992:1) considered that writing summary is “an excellent way

to record our understanding of a reading passage If we can really write a summary

of a story or article, it is obvious that we have clearly interpreted or understood it” Especially, summarizing helps learners remember what they have read better as Rentz (1992:1) emphasized, “Writing a summary is also one of the better ways to remember what we read”

Likewise, Langan (1996:245) advised learners to summarize their lessons so that instead of trying to remember lengthy and detailed lessons, they should use

“this sequence in order to deal with a textbook” The author also stated,

“Approaching a textbook in this methodical way will give you very positive results You will no longer feel bogged down in a swamp of words”

Marzano et al (2001) mentioned that summarizing is really an assessment of writing, not reading It is a fact of life that teachers cannot look into a student’s head and see how he/she comprehends a text In this day of large class sizes, teachers cannot always confer with every student, either There will always need to be some kind of written assessment of reading Assessing written work always carries some risks The surface features of a student’s response – that is, the grammar, punctuation, and spelling – can overshadow the ideas This problem, fortunately, is easily solved A good rubric can help a teacher focus on just the aspects of a summary that reflect reading comprehension Even a student who is a poor writer can show an understanding of a text in a written summary Many standardized tests have avoided the reading/writing question altogether by putting summary questions into multiple-choice format and asking students to choose the best summary of a passage This is a way that summarizing can be assessed without intimidating students who may not feel comfortable with writing tasks

McCormick (1986) concluded that teaching summarizing is no small undertaking It is one of the hardest strategies for students to grasp, and one of the hardest strategies for teachers to teach Teachers have to repeatedly model it and give their students ample time and opportunities to practice it But it is such a valuable strategy and competency Can teachers imagine their students succeeding

in school without being able to break down content into manageable small succinct pieces? Teachers ask students to summarize all the time, but they are terrible about teaching them good ways to do this

Summary

This chapter has reviewed briefly some literature on the concepts of approaching a summary as a process or as a product, definition of a summary, organization and structure of an academic summary, interrelationship between reading and summarizing, and the importance of teaching summarizing skills

3.1 Research question

The main purpose of my study is to highlight the importance of teaching and learning how to write a summary, because summarizing is one of the most essential writing skills for the second year students of English major at HUTECH to master

so as to be able to study their subject – Thesis Writing In other words, the objective

of my study is to find out the answer to the following research question:

Which factors affect the learners’ summarizing skills?

3.2 Subjects

3.2.1 Student subjects