In EFL environments, the best way to learn English is considered to be through literacy. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of summary writing for the development of reading and writing skills of EFL middle school students.
For this study, three research questions were proposed: 1) How does summary writing affect students' reading abilities?; 2) How does summary writing affect students' writing abilities?; and 3) How does summary writing affect students' attitudes toward reading and writing?
To answer these questions, three groups were chosen as participants, consisting of five first-year and eight second-year middle school students. Five first-year students and four second-year students performed post-reading activity of summary writing exercises while the remaining four second-year students studied reading using traditional learning methods focused on translation and grammar. The experiment was conducted twice a week for four weeks. In order to measure the changes in the students' written skills, pre- and post-test of reading and writing were given before and after the instruction. In addition, for the purpose of exploring the process of the students' reading and writing development over the course of the experiment, reading tests and summary writing were conducted in every session. Finally, questionnaires were given in order to measure the change of students' attitudes toward reading and writing after the experiment.
The following results were obtained based on the data from the experiment.
Firstly, summary writing had a positive effect on the middle school students reading abilities in two ways: one being that it affected the students' top-down skill and the other being that it played an important role in reducing the gap in reading abilities between students in the same group.
Secondly, summary writing affected the middle school students' writing abilities in a positive manner. All participants' writing abilities improved dramatically due to the release of the learners' burden for writing through copying first and then composing their ideas later.
Thirdly, summary writing has positively affected students' attitudes toward the learning of literacy skills. Performing a student-centered task, learners could thus become active, and naturally, they got to gain interest and confidence in English.
Therefore, this thesis suggests that EFL learners be given summary writing practices as a post-reading activity in order to improve their literacy skills. To maximize the effort, teachers will play a crucial role in the writing instruction. From the outset, they should recognize the importance and function of summary writing, and then continue to develop more effective and systematic ways of summary writing not only appropriate to the learners' level and circumstances, but also fully integrated into their lessons.