Teaching Summarizing Skills at Secondary Level

Teaching summarizing skills at Secondary level

Loli Iglesias B07 Getxoko Berritzegunea [email protected] November 2013

INTRODUCTION

Summarizing is an essential thinking skill that has also been shown to be one of the

most effective strategies for building content knowledge. Therefore, there can be

no doubt that both language teachers and content teachers should help students

develop this complex thinking skill. Consequently, we would have to find an

answer to the following questions:

1) How can summarizing skills be taught?

2) How can content teachers in our CLIL classes teach them?

This publication attempts to give some practical hints for those teachers who are

interested in teaching summarizing skills to their students. The suggested activities

can be carried out in any content area, as long as coordination between the English

language teachers and the content-subject areas teachers takes place. The idea

behind this type of coordination is that the English language teacher develops the

linguistic exercises that will be needed in the content area when summarizing:

paraphrasing, synonym work, identifying main ideas and crossing out irrelevant

ones, linking devices, etc.

I would like to finish this brief introduction by saying that it goes beyond the scope

of this paper to describe this complex thinking skill in detail. As a teacher trainer,

my aim is to provide some examples of practical activities for the classroom.

Those of you who are interested in working on this skill can send me your content

proposals and I will gladly help you with the language tasks you require.



PRACTICAL TIPS FOR SUMMARY WRITING

A summary is intended to highlight objectively the main points of another writer’s

work. Although written in your own words, the summary does not include your

opinions of the piece you are considering. Since the summary eliminates those

details that are not needed to convey the major points, it is naturally shorter than

the original. In general, a summary is from one fourth to one half the length of the

original.

The problem we all face when attempting to summarize a piece of writing is

figuring out what to include and what to leave out.

Below are some tips on how to choose material to include in your summary.

Do not include your own thoughts on the matter.

Describe the issue as objectively as possible, whether you agree with it or

not.

Underline topic sentences and key ideas and cross out the less important

details

Take notes on those key ideas–jot down the information that clarifies the

topic sentence, for example.

When you summarize, you might try following these steps:

Read the piece for understanding first. Never summarize as you read the

article for the first time.

Before you begin to write, check the topic sentences and key words

(words that are underlined, italicized, or capitalized). These will clue you in

on main ideas.

Jot down the organization of the original and follow that pattern in your

summary.

Check your summary to be sure you have been objective. Your opinions

are not part of the original



CHECKLIST FOR THE STUDENT

Step 1: read the text carefully and identify the main ideas. Then decide which to

include.

Step 2: Paraphrase sentences when possible, use synonyms or similar words rather

than copying.

Step 3: Avoid adding your own ideas and opinions.

Step 4: Use connectors to shorten or combine sentences. The sentences you choose

should fit together and form a logical whole. In other words, will someone reading

your summary understand the subject?

Step 5: Check your work for mistakes and be sure you haven’t written more words

than you are allowed to.



CHECKLIST FOR THE TEACHER TO ASSESS STUDENTS’ SUMMARIES

- Is the summary’s length appropriate? (The student didn’t write more words

than he/she was allowed to)

- Is the summary neutral (objective) in its representation of the original

author's ideas, omitting the writer's own opinions?

- Are the original author's ideas expressed in the summary writer's own

words?

- Does the summary quote sparingly (usually only key ideas or phrases that

cannot be said precisely except in the original author's own words)?

- Will the summary stand alone as a unified and coherent piece of writing?

- Is the original source cited so that readers can locate it?



EXERCISE ON PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Read the text about our brain and the truth:

Our brain and the truth

Mankind has long hoped that science could find a way to determine if a person is

telling the truth or lying. In the 20th century, scientists constructed an instrument

called the polygraph, which is based on the fact that when people lie, they tend to

feel tense. The polygraph keeps a record of certain physiological signs, such as

heart rate or blood pressure. When these increase suddenly, a person is probably

feeling tense because he or she is lying. However, since the polygraph is really

measuring how nervous a person is, its results are not 100 % reliable. Now it seems

that scientists may have come up with a better idea: the fMRI.

The fMRI is an instrument which uses magnetism to draw a picture of brain

activity. In one experiment, researchers asked six people to tell a lie, and five

people to tell the truth, measuring them with the fMRI. The results were amazing.

The brain activity of the people who lied was radically different from that of those

who were telling the truth. For example, lying activated different parts of the brain

than truth telling. Furthermore, more parts of the brain were activated in the liars.

Research is still at an early stage. The study was small and tests have not yet

determined whether liars can trick the equipment, as some people are able to do

with the polygraph. When these tests are done, we may find that the fMRI is the lie

detector of the future.



Order the following statements so as to summarize the text

Consequently, researchers have developed the fMRI, which uses magnetism to

measure brain activity.

Research on the instrument is continuing.

The polygraph, which is the lie detector invented in the 20th

century, is

not completely accurate because it only measures how tense a person is.

In short, the fMRI has shown that brain activity in liars is different from

that in people who are telling the truth

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MODEL SUMMARY

(Text: “Our brain and the truth”)

The polygraph, which is the lie detector invented in the 20th

century, is

not completely accurate because it only measures how tense a person is.

Consequently, researchers have developed the FMRI, which uses

magnetism to measure brain activity. In short, the FMRI has shown that

brain activity in liars is different from that in people who are telling the

truth. Research on the instrument is continuing.



AN EXAMPLE OF A SCIENCE TEXT

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is found only in yellow animal fats, in egg-yolk, milk and cheese. It is

particularly plentiful in fish-liver oils, hence fish-liver oils are used for preventing

and curing illness caused by lack of vitamin A. In a well-fed, healthy human being,

the liver can store up sufficient vitamin A to meet the body's requirements for six

months.

Although vitamin A itself is not present in plants, many plants produce a substance

called carotene, formed from leaf-green which our bodies can convert into vitamin

A. Carotene is the yellowish-red colouring matter in carrots. The greener a leaf is,

the more carotene it usually contains. Hence the importance of green, leafy

vegetables in the diet as a source of carotene. Tomatoes, papayas, mangoes and

bananas contain more carotene than most other fruits. Red palm oil contains so

much carotene that it is used instead of cod-liver oil. Thus, it is very valuable, both

as a food-fat and for deep-frying.

Vitamin A and carotene are insoluble in water and they are not destroyed by heat

unless oxygen is present. Boiling in water, therefore, does not destroy much

vitamin A or carotene.

Vitamin A encourages healthy growth and physical fitness. Young animals soon

stop growing and die if vitamin A is not present in their diet. This vitamin keeps

the moist surfaces lining the digestive canal, the lungs and air passages healthy. It

also helps keep the ducts of the various glands, the tissue that lines the eyelids and

covers the front of the eyeball functional. As vitamin A helps these tissues build up

resistance to infection, it is often called the anti-infective vitamin.

Some of the most common disorders in people are caused by a shortage of vitamin

A, when the moist tissues become dry and rough. This often causes serious eye

disease, followed by infection of the air-passages. The skin may also

become flaky and rough. Another defect caused by shortage of vitamin A is 'night-

blindness', when the affected person has distinct vision only in bright light.

As the body cannot produce vitamin A, it has to come from external sources. Thus

a well-balanced diet is required and is usually sufficient to provide the necessary

amount. There is therefore no need to supplement the need in the form of pills.

(Taken from http://www.englishdaily626.com/summary.php?020)

http://www.englishdaily626.com/summary.php?020



EXERCISE TO IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEAS OF A TEXT

(Text: “Vitamin A”)

When writing a summary, it’s important to include only the main ideas of a

text. Read the text about vitamin A.

Which of the ideas below would you include in a summary of the text?

1. Sources of vitamin A

2. Examples of all fruits containing carotene

3. Description of what physical fitness means

4. Main functions of vitamin A

5. Detailed description of skin disorders caused by lack of vitamin A

6. Brief account of the things we can do to get the necessary amount of

vitamin A in order to be healthy

After checking with your teacher, combine those sentences using connectors to

write a summary of the original text.



EXERCISE ON LINKING DEVICES


Choose the correct linking word and you will get a summary of the text you

have read:

Vitamin A is found only in certain food substances and it is also

abundant in fish-liver oils. Fortunately, our liver is able to store some

vitamin A to meet our requirements. (Even though / However) vitamin

A cannot be found in plants, carotene is a substance which our bodies

can convert into vitamin A. It is found in green leafy vegetables, carrots

and some fruits. Vitamin A is not easily destroyed by heat. It is essential

for healthy growth and physical fitness. It also helps keep the eyes from

infection.

(In spite of this / Consequently), a lack of vitamin A could lead to eye

diseases. If we eat healthily, we will not have to take extra vitamin

supplements. (Therefore / Although), we should follow a well-balanced

diet so as to ensure that the body receives the necessary supply of

vitamin.



EXERCISES TO IDENTIFY TOPIC SENTENCES


The topic sentence is the most important sentence of a paragraph. Identifying topic

sentences will help you to write a good summary.

Choose the best topic sentence in the following paragraph:

Vitamin A encourages healthy growth and physical fitness. Young animals soon

stop growing and die if vitamin A is not present in their diet. This vitamin keeps

the moist surfaces lining the digestive canal, the lungs and air passages healthy. It

also helps keep the ducts of the various glands, the tissue that lines the eyelids and

covers the front of the eyeball functional. As vitamin A helps these tissues build up

resistance to infection, it is often called the anti-infective vitamin.

A) Technical names for vitamin A

B) Main functions of vitamin A

C) Causes of young animals’ death

Now write a topic sentence of your own for each of the other paragraphs in

the text.



EXERCISE TO HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE KEY WORDS IN THE TEXT


(When the text the content area is going to ask students to understand and summarize

has got a considerable amount of difficult words for the students, the English language

teacher can pave the way. You can find an example below: “synonym match”)

Match the numbers and letters so that you can understand the meaning of the key

words from the text you have read:

1) Egg-yolk

2) Lack

3) Hence

4) Moist

5) Duct

6) Disorder

7) Cod

8) Flaky

9) Rough

10) Source

a) Tending to peel off or break easily into flakes

b) Wet, humid

c) A large marine fish with an important source

of liver oil

d) Disease, illness

e) Deficiency

f) Therefore, consequently

g) Not smooth

h) The yellow internal part of an egg

i) Absence of something required or desired

j) Any bodily passage, especially one

conveying secretions or excretions



MODEL SUMMARY


Vitamin A is found only in certain food substances and it is also

abundant in fish-liver oils. Fortunately, our liver is able to store some

vitamin A to meet our requirements. Even though vitamin A cannot be

found in plants, carotene is a substance which our bodies can convert

into vitamin A. It is found in green leafy vegetables, carrots and some

fruits. Vitamin A is not easily destroyed by heat. It is essential for

healthy growth and physical fitness. It also helps keep the eyes from

infection. Consequently, a lack of vitamin A could lead to eye diseases.

If we eat healthily, we will not have to take extra vitamin supplements.

Therefore, we should follow a well-balanced diet so as to ensure that the

body receives the necessary supply of vitamin.



EXERCISES ON PARAPHRASING

(Ideally, the content teacher should choose the texts he/she would like his/her

students to work with and ask the English language teacher to deal with the most

difficult passages by providing students with paraphrasing exercises that will help

them understand the content area texts. Below these lines you can find two

different types of paraphrasing exercises)

1) Read the short text below. Then look at the paraphrased sentences and

decide which one is paraphrased better for a summary. Explain your choice.

The globalization of food has played a major role in causing people to neglect the

unique food of their own cultures. This can be seen quite clearly in countries such

as Spain, Italy and France

1. The globalization of food has caused many Europeans to give up their

traditional diets.

2. Sadly, the globalization of food has led many people, for example, the

Spanish, the Italians and the French, to neglect the unique food of their own

cultures.



2) Paraphrase the following sentences using the prompts given and adding

the words that you need.

Oily types of fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are a great source of Omega -3

fatty acids – essential for making brain cell membranes, which are necessary for

brain function.

Oily fish / needed / brain function

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Urban planning is not a recent invention. People have designed their settlements

from the earliest times. Despite differences based on geography, culture, and the

needs of the population, the various planners had many things in common.

Urban planning is far from ...............................................................................

Although .............................................................................................................

The number of students going to university to study pure and applied sciences is

decreasing by about five per cent each year.

There is an annual fall ........................................................................................

Vitamin A and carotene are insoluble in water and they are not destroyed by heat

unless oxygen is present.

If.............................................................................................................................



LANGUAGE OF SUMMARIZING

Useful linkers

To express sequence order:

First

At the beginning

In the first part

In the introduction

Further on

Next

In the section which follows

In the next section

In the main part

Finally

In the end

At last

To add information to support the main idea:

In addition

Moreover

In addition to that

To express consequences of what was previously said:

Therefore

Thus

Consequently



To conclude:

In short

To sum up

In conclusion

All in all

On the whole

Useful noun groups:

The author

The writer

The scientist

The reporter

The reader

Useful verbs:

Argues

Writes

States

Points out

Explains

Mentions

Emphasizes

Concludes

Pretends

Underlines

Stresses



Useful sentences:

In this text, the author argues that…

In this text, the reader is informed about …

In this passage, the author analyzes…

In this passage, we are told about…

This is an article about…

This passage reflects the opinion of ... about…

This text expresses the thoughts of … concerning…

Teaching Summarizing Skills at Secondary Level

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