This article presented the results from a study of language attitudes to determine which reading tasks EFL learners think were effective.
The two tasks were writing summaries after reading and writing journals after reading. The teaching procedures in the two groups were all composed of three steps: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. The teaching procedures followed the five procedures suggested by Brown, namely goals, objectives, materials and equipment, procedures and evaluation.
The pre-reading and during-reading stages were the same between the two groups, except that one group wrote summaries at the post-reading stage while the other one wrote journals. In the journal writing group, students were to write their reactions, comments, questions and feelings about the text read.
The results showed that students from RJ (journal writing) had a more positive attitude towards the reading task than students from RS (summary writing), which means that the students liked the task of reading with journal writing more than the task of reading with summary writing. It was found that many students thought the reading tasks assigned to them could help improve their reading comprehension. Students in both groups reported the application of reading strategies, gaining writing skills.
Students also reported problems and suggestions. The problems were vocabulary, understanding of the content of the reading tasks, and motivation.
The authors discovered pedagogical implications of the approach: 1. Teachers must be careful in employing summary writing in class because students dislike its tight format. 2. Writing journals increases students’ motivation for learning. 3. Teacher’s feedback should be given to the students’ journal. 4. Reading strategies should be taught explicitly.
I found this article echoes with the learning assignment of LLSS538. We practice teaching reading under the same theoretical frame. This article described some of my teaching experiences. Students are afraid of writing summaries because they are afraid of making mistakes. This is partially caused by the wide practice of standardized examination, partially caused by Chinese in-built characteristics as a nation. Yet, according to my experiences, writing summaries could be more beneficial and fruit producing though sometimes less of fun. This could be a new direction for further research. That is, how to make summary writing more interesting to students and helpful to their reading.
This research reminds me of my own learning experiences. I was afraid of writing summaries too because it challenges my understanding very strictly and calls upon my writing ability. On both side, I had to be exact and accurate. Whereas, in journal writing, I can writing anything related to the content, no matter how much of the whole text I had got. Journal writing is more of fun and less challenging. For this reason, I am wondering if the design of the research to compare which approach is more welcome and efficient sounds “unfair”.
I think that when students make a personal connection to writing they are more interested in it. Anytime I ask my students to write a summary they are never excited but if I ask them to write a journal entry about something that interest them, they write until time is up. When students talk about themselves and make a personal connection to their life and writing they seem to become part of their writing.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same as you do when it comes to writing a summary, and I feel that there are many students who experience the same thing. I wonder if as teachers if we could combine summary writing into journals, and like ndchavez said, have students try to relate the summary to something that interest them, so they are not so bored, and engage more with the project.
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