Summary writing instruction and student learning outcome

Abstract

This study aims to answer two questions: (a) to what extent do university students improve their summary writing through instruction; and (b) what attitudinal changes do students experience in writing a summary after instruction? Given fact that previous studies on summary writing of Korean college students have shown that they are lacking in this skill and need to be taught explicitly, this study demonstrates the effects of instruction. In total, 12 students were taught how to write a summary using a lesson module. Then, using the assessment tool that I created, students’ learning outcomes were evaluated. The findings showed that they became better at organizing the structure of summaries, paraphrasing, finding main ideas, avoiding trivial details and redundant ideas, and judging grammar and word choice. Along with positive changes in their scores, students reported desirable changes in their attitude, such as avoiding plagiarism and gaining confidence in organizing a summary.