Summary Writing for EFL Students of Science and Technology

This guide suggests techniques for teaching skills in summary writing to students of English as a foreign language (EFL) in scientific and technical fields. Activities include: pre-summarization (identification of thesis sentences, conclusions and other essential components, multiple readings, notetaking and text-marking); summarization activities (summarization of text sections for class discussion, and full-text summarization); discussion of aspects such as summary length and level of abstraction; and evaluation and grading using peer comparison, class discussion, student-teacher conferences, and emphasis on positive aspects of student writing efforts. (MSE)