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Abstract:Overlooked by practioners and most of the instructors, summary is in effect beneficial in that learners have access to promoting thinking capability as well as comprehensive level such as vocabulary, writing, reading comprehension. The pedagogical approach in implementing the undertaking including at least four stages. Texts with various genres are used as appropriate cases to demonstrate how this tool is put into use and as a result, the learners’ English competence advance rapidly.
Key words: Summary writing;critical thinking; pedagogy
1. Critical Thinking in English Study has been long ignored
For many years, the English education field including the College English syllabus haven’t integrate the development of critical reading, in other words, the ability of text thinking into it. The following excerpts are from the syllabus of College.
Based on Professor WANG SHOUREN, The Interpretation of Teaching Demand for College English Course, the College English include the following goals:
Emotional Attitude
A. International horizon
B. Patriotic awareness
C. Cooperation spirit
D. Confidence and Strong will
E. Interest and Motivation
Learning Strategy
A. Communicative strategy
B. Resource strategy
C. Adjust strategy
D. Cognitive strategy
Cultural Awareness
A. Cultural knowledge
B. Cultural understanding
C. Intercultural communicative awareness and ability
Language skills
Listening, speaking, reading, writing
Language knowledge
Phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, function and topic
All the description above serve the general purpose,Comprehensive language employment ability (运用能力). Obviously the ability of critical thinking is what is ignored, compared with the Language Goals in advanced countries. People in English field possibly hold the opinion that critical thinking is based on the knowledge, when the learners language knowledge and skills are not good enough, they couldn’t do justice to themselves. It is true that at the lower level Swaffar et al. (1991) asserted that learners use language to convey concrete information about the real world and their immediate physical environment, a process that does not inherently require interaction with texts. When there is textual interaction, learners typically engage in surface readings and sentence-level exercise that stay focused on closed, everyday situations with clear intent and unambiguous meaning. In sum, this learning context necessarily emphasizes the tangible.
Language-centered instruction Meaning-Centered instruction
TangiblesIdeas
Sentence-level focus onSupersentential focus on
Isolated information discourse
Unambiguous meaning;Ambiguity; covert, unstated
Clear intentobjectives
Literal meaningMetaphorical meaning
Closed, concrete situationOpen-ended situation
Emphasis on language detail Emphasis on meaning creation
Because of the linguistic challenge involved in recognizing and articulating the coherence and systematicity of discourse, researchers and practioner have long considered such textual thinking and engagement to appropriate only at meaning-centered instruction. However, as Swaffar et al. (1991) reminded us, because of the cognitive maturity and the extralinguistic capabilities that adult learners bring with them from their first language to the foreign language classroom, critical thinking is not necessarily a cognitive challenge. In other words, learners’ reasoning abilities considerably offset their linguistic limitations.
To foster the critical reading, the following steps are put forward and should be explored as the main means.
2. Relationship between summary writing and critical thinking
Summary writing in relation to improving the learner’s vocabulary, chunk of phrases, reading and writing level, and critical thinking in particular, has long been overlooked. Seldom can be found among the research documents and theorizing papers, especially in college English teaching.
First, what is summary? It’s a term familiar to learners, they are asked to write summary since primary schools in native language classes. Chances are that the policy makers in College English Syllabus hold the assumption that for non-English majors, language deficiency makes it impossible mission for them to evaluate and think critically in regard to what they read. It is not surprising that the English learners, are never required to write the summary during the tests or examinations, even if their cognitive level in L1 can compensate for the language problems. There is no denying the fact that ability to summarize information is one of the most important critical thinking skills one can develop. Taking large quantities of information, understanding what the words mean, and condensing it into a shorter version of the original allow you to analyzing and synthesizing ability to process the whole text.
Critical thinking, is quite different from what is usually thought of. It has neutral meaning. It doesn’t mean always take a negative opinion and find fault, as when you criticize people for something wrong. The essence of thinking critically is thinking beyond the obvious instead of thinking on the lines or between the lines. Rather, critical here applies to a mental stance of examining ideas thoroughly and deeply, refusing to accept ideas merely became they seem sensible at first thought and tolerating questions that often lack definitive answers.
Critical thinking include the following steps:
I. Summarize
Extract and restate material’s main message or central point.
II.Analyze
Examine the material by breaking into component parts. By seeing each part of the whole as a distinct unit, you discover how the parts interrelate. Consider the line of reasoning as shown by the evidence offered and logic used. Read “between the lines” to draw inferences, gaining information that’s implied but not stated. When reading, notice how the reading style and choice of words work together to create a tone.
III.Synthesize
Pull together what have been summarized and analyzed by connecting it your own experiences. In this way, you create a new whole that reflects your newly acquired knowledge and insights combined with your prior knowledge.
3. How Summary writing as an effective pedagogy works?
Part 1. Pay attention to major events or main points
At first, students work to identify the people, location, time, and major events of the passage, that is, who, where, when, and what. In order to lessen the challenge of the task the students undertake, it is conducted in pairs or in group under the teachers’ supervision in classroom. Thus, all the misunderstanding may be dealt with immediately, especially when the students are the green hand in writing summary. Another important issue to consider in this step is to select appropriate text, simple in structure short is length. And typically, the well –done summary meet the basic requirements; First of all, the number of words is just approximately one third of the original size, while covering the most important information and should be paraphrase in own words. In practice, learners confused the major points and details, and most often than not, the tone is even changed, namely, unable to tell the serious, sarcastic, light, humorous, and emotional. Here is the example.
For nearly 1,400 years Islam, though diverse in sectarian practice and ethnic tradition, has provided a unifying faith for peoples stretching from Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Starting in the 1500s, Western ascendancy, which culminated in colonization, eroded once glorious Muslim empires and reduced the influence of Islam. After the break up of the Ottoman Empire following World War I and the decline of Europe colonial empires following World War II, Muslim nations adopted western ideologies——ommunism, socialism, secular nationalism, and capitalism. Yet most Muslims remained poor and powerless. Their governments, secular regimes often backed by the West, were corrupt and repressive.
Because the students don’t have such experience to write the summary, typically they make the similar mistakes, and the following is just one of their assignments and presented randomly.
Despite Western-style governments, Muslim countries are mired in deep poverty and radical governments. This despite the fact that the religion has existed for several centuries. European colonization ruined the Islamic religion for a long time. You would find it hard to imagine how many Muslims there really out here.
As is seen the poorly written summary doesn’t follow the order of information found in the original. The phrase“several centuries”minimizes the historic significance of the religion, and sentence-level problems like “mired”, “you would” and “out here” change the formal tone of the original to a biased, informal representation. It is also approximately half the length of the original, which is too long.
By comparison , the students are give the hand outs as the example to follow.
For nearly 1,400 years, Islam has united people globally. Western interference through colonization and political ideologies, has not improved Muslim’s lives.
The reason for get excellence is in that this summary follows the order the original, maintains the original tone, is approximately 20% percent of the original’s length.
Part 2. Pay attention to supporting details
After covering the major events or main points, a summery need enoughdetails to support. It seems easy to locate them, but when the text is long and abstract, it’s indeed a challenge to get the specific and definite information. For instance, the time, the location, the characters and how the argument or narrative stories develop. For example, in a text named Washwoman by Singer from 21st Century College English, when the students describe the leading character, the washwoman as forgiving, the supporting details go awry. Simple as the language, due to the learners’ lack of critical thinking, they couldn’t tell apart the sentences used to make the description of the quality of tolerance to her son. The following details are in accordance with the generalizing word forgiving. “The son is rich, but he feels ashamed of his mother and never visits her. When she talks about her son, you can’t find any bitterness in her tone.” “On the wedding day, the son didn’t invite her mother. The washwoman waited at the steps of the church and watched the son lead the bride to the alter.”
Part 3 Additional requirements for the summary
Different from academic summary which stipulates that in the summary, the material should be restated or in other word, paraphrased rather than making use of the original words. Considering that the effective way to make the passive words into the active ones is placing emphasis on the recycling the words, every time a summary is assigned the learners are asked to practice the most frequently chunk of words or set phrases.
Part 4 Evaluation of the Text’s hidden meaning
In hope of promoting in students an understanding of the text as the message system that carry underlying meaning, the final part of the summary requires the students to relate their personal experience and value system to the text they are reading. By identifying and analyzing the utterance, the characters, the behaviors, the students are trying to referring to the texts in stead of their presupposition to get the sound and logical conclusion. Of course, in this part, there is no need to arrive at the consensus, for the simple reason that each student’s view point and perspective differ greatly. In a text in 21st Century titled Mothers, seemingly it is a tribute to devoted and loving mothers and their influence on their children, actually it is the praise for the spirit of Christian. The words and sentences concerning Bible, Jesus Christ are overwhelming. As a result, when the students comment the article and reflect on what the article is trying to persuade the readers, they at least know how to read the text in a critical and thinking way. The words and sentences are:
An old Jewish proverb says, “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.”
On account of the many tributes paid to mothers from the Eve.——
My mother was an angel.
My mothers birthday, Christmas, is symbolic of her human warmth, her giving nature, her noble character, and her high Christian values.
I consider the wonderful parents that God gave me my greatest blessing, for they both believed it was always more blessed to give than to receive.
All the information aforementioned obviously is in regard to religion, if the students are well informed about Christian and its teaching, say, love, giving, charity, blessing and the like. Unfortunately, for most students who are brought up and educated deprived of the religion, they are unaware of the underlying meaning and powerful influence on Western culture, faith, values even every aspect of the life. With the sensitiveness of religion in mind, the students find it easies to understand literature and texts.
4. Summary writing foster critical thinking
The summary writing pedagogy presented above include 4 parts, covering from the major events, detailed supporting information, the recycling of the most frequently and useful phrases, and last but not least, the implication of the text. The focus on different parts aim to enhance different competence, with part one emphasis on global, part two on local, part 3 on vocabulary and most importantly part 4 on critical thinking. Each part interconnects closely with on another, while the highlight is critical thinking. Students practiced this way, and data demonstrates that their critical thinking increased and meanwhile this pedagogy got positive response from the students.
Key words: Summary writing;critical thinking; pedagogy
1. Critical Thinking in English Study has been long ignored
For many years, the English education field including the College English syllabus haven’t integrate the development of critical reading, in other words, the ability of text thinking into it. The following excerpts are from the syllabus of College.
Based on Professor WANG SHOUREN, The Interpretation of Teaching Demand for College English Course, the College English include the following goals:
Emotional Attitude
A. International horizon
B. Patriotic awareness
C. Cooperation spirit
D. Confidence and Strong will
E. Interest and Motivation
Learning Strategy
A. Communicative strategy
B. Resource strategy
C. Adjust strategy
D. Cognitive strategy
Cultural Awareness
A. Cultural knowledge
B. Cultural understanding
C. Intercultural communicative awareness and ability
Language skills
Listening, speaking, reading, writing
Language knowledge
Phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, function and topic
All the description above serve the general purpose,Comprehensive language employment ability (运用能力). Obviously the ability of critical thinking is what is ignored, compared with the Language Goals in advanced countries. People in English field possibly hold the opinion that critical thinking is based on the knowledge, when the learners language knowledge and skills are not good enough, they couldn’t do justice to themselves. It is true that at the lower level Swaffar et al. (1991) asserted that learners use language to convey concrete information about the real world and their immediate physical environment, a process that does not inherently require interaction with texts. When there is textual interaction, learners typically engage in surface readings and sentence-level exercise that stay focused on closed, everyday situations with clear intent and unambiguous meaning. In sum, this learning context necessarily emphasizes the tangible.
Language-centered instruction Meaning-Centered instruction
TangiblesIdeas
Sentence-level focus onSupersentential focus on
Isolated information discourse
Unambiguous meaning;Ambiguity; covert, unstated
Clear intentobjectives
Literal meaningMetaphorical meaning
Closed, concrete situationOpen-ended situation
Emphasis on language detail Emphasis on meaning creation
Because of the linguistic challenge involved in recognizing and articulating the coherence and systematicity of discourse, researchers and practioner have long considered such textual thinking and engagement to appropriate only at meaning-centered instruction. However, as Swaffar et al. (1991) reminded us, because of the cognitive maturity and the extralinguistic capabilities that adult learners bring with them from their first language to the foreign language classroom, critical thinking is not necessarily a cognitive challenge. In other words, learners’ reasoning abilities considerably offset their linguistic limitations.
To foster the critical reading, the following steps are put forward and should be explored as the main means.
2. Relationship between summary writing and critical thinking
Summary writing in relation to improving the learner’s vocabulary, chunk of phrases, reading and writing level, and critical thinking in particular, has long been overlooked. Seldom can be found among the research documents and theorizing papers, especially in college English teaching.
First, what is summary? It’s a term familiar to learners, they are asked to write summary since primary schools in native language classes. Chances are that the policy makers in College English Syllabus hold the assumption that for non-English majors, language deficiency makes it impossible mission for them to evaluate and think critically in regard to what they read. It is not surprising that the English learners, are never required to write the summary during the tests or examinations, even if their cognitive level in L1 can compensate for the language problems. There is no denying the fact that ability to summarize information is one of the most important critical thinking skills one can develop. Taking large quantities of information, understanding what the words mean, and condensing it into a shorter version of the original allow you to analyzing and synthesizing ability to process the whole text.
Critical thinking, is quite different from what is usually thought of. It has neutral meaning. It doesn’t mean always take a negative opinion and find fault, as when you criticize people for something wrong. The essence of thinking critically is thinking beyond the obvious instead of thinking on the lines or between the lines. Rather, critical here applies to a mental stance of examining ideas thoroughly and deeply, refusing to accept ideas merely became they seem sensible at first thought and tolerating questions that often lack definitive answers.
Critical thinking include the following steps:
I. Summarize
Extract and restate material’s main message or central point.
II.Analyze
Examine the material by breaking into component parts. By seeing each part of the whole as a distinct unit, you discover how the parts interrelate. Consider the line of reasoning as shown by the evidence offered and logic used. Read “between the lines” to draw inferences, gaining information that’s implied but not stated. When reading, notice how the reading style and choice of words work together to create a tone.
III.Synthesize
Pull together what have been summarized and analyzed by connecting it your own experiences. In this way, you create a new whole that reflects your newly acquired knowledge and insights combined with your prior knowledge.
3. How Summary writing as an effective pedagogy works?
Part 1. Pay attention to major events or main points
At first, students work to identify the people, location, time, and major events of the passage, that is, who, where, when, and what. In order to lessen the challenge of the task the students undertake, it is conducted in pairs or in group under the teachers’ supervision in classroom. Thus, all the misunderstanding may be dealt with immediately, especially when the students are the green hand in writing summary. Another important issue to consider in this step is to select appropriate text, simple in structure short is length. And typically, the well –done summary meet the basic requirements; First of all, the number of words is just approximately one third of the original size, while covering the most important information and should be paraphrase in own words. In practice, learners confused the major points and details, and most often than not, the tone is even changed, namely, unable to tell the serious, sarcastic, light, humorous, and emotional. Here is the example.
For nearly 1,400 years Islam, though diverse in sectarian practice and ethnic tradition, has provided a unifying faith for peoples stretching from Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Starting in the 1500s, Western ascendancy, which culminated in colonization, eroded once glorious Muslim empires and reduced the influence of Islam. After the break up of the Ottoman Empire following World War I and the decline of Europe colonial empires following World War II, Muslim nations adopted western ideologies——ommunism, socialism, secular nationalism, and capitalism. Yet most Muslims remained poor and powerless. Their governments, secular regimes often backed by the West, were corrupt and repressive.
Because the students don’t have such experience to write the summary, typically they make the similar mistakes, and the following is just one of their assignments and presented randomly.
Despite Western-style governments, Muslim countries are mired in deep poverty and radical governments. This despite the fact that the religion has existed for several centuries. European colonization ruined the Islamic religion for a long time. You would find it hard to imagine how many Muslims there really out here.
As is seen the poorly written summary doesn’t follow the order of information found in the original. The phrase“several centuries”minimizes the historic significance of the religion, and sentence-level problems like “mired”, “you would” and “out here” change the formal tone of the original to a biased, informal representation. It is also approximately half the length of the original, which is too long.
By comparison , the students are give the hand outs as the example to follow.
For nearly 1,400 years, Islam has united people globally. Western interference through colonization and political ideologies, has not improved Muslim’s lives.
The reason for get excellence is in that this summary follows the order the original, maintains the original tone, is approximately 20% percent of the original’s length.
Part 2. Pay attention to supporting details
After covering the major events or main points, a summery need enoughdetails to support. It seems easy to locate them, but when the text is long and abstract, it’s indeed a challenge to get the specific and definite information. For instance, the time, the location, the characters and how the argument or narrative stories develop. For example, in a text named Washwoman by Singer from 21st Century College English, when the students describe the leading character, the washwoman as forgiving, the supporting details go awry. Simple as the language, due to the learners’ lack of critical thinking, they couldn’t tell apart the sentences used to make the description of the quality of tolerance to her son. The following details are in accordance with the generalizing word forgiving. “The son is rich, but he feels ashamed of his mother and never visits her. When she talks about her son, you can’t find any bitterness in her tone.” “On the wedding day, the son didn’t invite her mother. The washwoman waited at the steps of the church and watched the son lead the bride to the alter.”
Part 3 Additional requirements for the summary
Different from academic summary which stipulates that in the summary, the material should be restated or in other word, paraphrased rather than making use of the original words. Considering that the effective way to make the passive words into the active ones is placing emphasis on the recycling the words, every time a summary is assigned the learners are asked to practice the most frequently chunk of words or set phrases.
Part 4 Evaluation of the Text’s hidden meaning
In hope of promoting in students an understanding of the text as the message system that carry underlying meaning, the final part of the summary requires the students to relate their personal experience and value system to the text they are reading. By identifying and analyzing the utterance, the characters, the behaviors, the students are trying to referring to the texts in stead of their presupposition to get the sound and logical conclusion. Of course, in this part, there is no need to arrive at the consensus, for the simple reason that each student’s view point and perspective differ greatly. In a text in 21st Century titled Mothers, seemingly it is a tribute to devoted and loving mothers and their influence on their children, actually it is the praise for the spirit of Christian. The words and sentences concerning Bible, Jesus Christ are overwhelming. As a result, when the students comment the article and reflect on what the article is trying to persuade the readers, they at least know how to read the text in a critical and thinking way. The words and sentences are:
An old Jewish proverb says, “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.”
On account of the many tributes paid to mothers from the Eve.——
My mother was an angel.
My mothers birthday, Christmas, is symbolic of her human warmth, her giving nature, her noble character, and her high Christian values.
I consider the wonderful parents that God gave me my greatest blessing, for they both believed it was always more blessed to give than to receive.
All the information aforementioned obviously is in regard to religion, if the students are well informed about Christian and its teaching, say, love, giving, charity, blessing and the like. Unfortunately, for most students who are brought up and educated deprived of the religion, they are unaware of the underlying meaning and powerful influence on Western culture, faith, values even every aspect of the life. With the sensitiveness of religion in mind, the students find it easies to understand literature and texts.
4. Summary writing foster critical thinking
The summary writing pedagogy presented above include 4 parts, covering from the major events, detailed supporting information, the recycling of the most frequently and useful phrases, and last but not least, the implication of the text. The focus on different parts aim to enhance different competence, with part one emphasis on global, part two on local, part 3 on vocabulary and most importantly part 4 on critical thinking. Each part interconnects closely with on another, while the highlight is critical thinking. Students practiced this way, and data demonstrates that their critical thinking increased and meanwhile this pedagogy got positive response from the students.