integrated summary writing - mubashir
TRANSCRIPT
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Integrates Summary Writing
Intermediate
For Senior ESL students
M.Ed. TESOL – Program
2013
By
Qeyamuddin Mubashir M.Ed.
Advisor:
Beth Trudel and Aziza Sherzai
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Needs analysis for English Department at Kunduz University
I.
A. Kunduz University
In 1996 Kunduz Teacher Training College promoted to Kunduz institute of pedagogy and
belonged to ministry of higher education and had only one faculty, the faculty of education.
By 2011 it developed a lot and the faculties increased to three; faculty of education, faculty
of agriculture and faculty of law. In 2012 Kunduz institute of higher education developed to
Kunduz University and the faculties increased to four; faculty of economics. Now in 2013,
Kunduz University has six faculties: faculty of education, stomatology, and computer
science, faculty of law, agriculture and economics.
The goal of Kunduz University is to prepare skilled and expert teachers, dentists, lawyers,
engineers, agriculturists, good administrators, accountants and good leaders and learned
individuals to the Kunduz and Afghan society.
B. English Department
Since the establishment of Kunduz Institute of Pedagogy English Department was working as
part of languages department belonging to faculty of education. In the 2008 the English
department separated from the languages department and become an independent. Right
now, Kunduz English Department has 7 instructors who teaches in four different classes;
freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.
Mission of the department
English Department programs in MoHE-supported higher education institutions will provide
leadership and support for the development of English speakers who have a broad understanding
of the modern world and are capable of utilizing English in a range of professional capacities,
including the teaching of English Language, all for the purpose of contributing to the
development of the local and global communities.
(Ministry of Higher Education, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Common English Curriculum
Framework: 2011, p.5)
The English Department of Kunduz University believes that this University (Kunduz University)
provides quality English classes, Effective English materials, trainings, seminars, and high
qualified English trainers in order to enable the students‘ to gain knowledge, to know the
importance of English language in their daily lives, become caring, competent, responsible
citizen who value education as long life process.
In four years the English Department of Kunduz University provides the students the certificate
of (BA) Bachelors of Arts degree ( Kunduz English Department Curriculum: 2012, p5).
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Goal
The main goal of English Department at Kunduz University is to prepare professional teachers to
teach at public and private schools, colleges and universities ( Kunduz English Department
Curriculum: 2012, p6)
Bachelors of Arts programs in English Language and Literature departments and in and English
departments in Teacher Education programs of public higher education institutions are designed to
prepare students to be expert users of the English Language. As expert English speakers, students
will be able to use English professionally to interact and work with private and public entities,
access global information, improve communication between English speakers and non-English
speakers living and working in Afghanistan, gain an aesthetic understanding of English, and
ultimately improve the quality of life for themselves, their community, and their country. All
students learn from a set of general core requirements in English Language and then work toward
specializations in Applied Linguistics, English Teaching, Translation and Interpretation, English
Literature, or English Writing.
(Kunduz English Department Curriculum: 2012, p6)
C. Students
There are around 232 students in the Kunduz English Department of which 42 students are
female and 190 of them are male. The students come from different provinces of Afghanistan but
mostly they are from northeast the zone in which Kunduz is. These students study in four classes
and two shifts, morning and afternoon.
Students of English department at Kunduz University have many different goals. Many students
study English to become professional teachers specially females. Mostly some male students
study English because they want to work in foreign organizations become translators and work in
governmental high position.
II. There are many strengths and areas of improvements in our department, faculty and students.
The English department in Kunduz University has professional teachers, good curriculum, and
good administration. For example, all the teachers have graduated from English literature and
English teaching departments of Afghanistan public universities. The teachers have designed
a curriculum based on Ministry of higher education common English curriculum framework.
The English department needs to have more professional text books and a special computer
lab for the students. As well as, the English department needs master teachers specially to start
night shift classes because it is a need for a department to have master teachers to start a night
shift class. Second, the faculties in the department are cooperative with each other in
designing the material, solving each other‘s problems and teaching. The points to improve for
our teacher are to have more modern teaching methodology workshops to have good classes.
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Students in this department are very enthusiastic to study English and actively participate in
the lessons. For more knowledge and solving their problems especially in monograph writing
they need integrated summary writing.
III. The students in the English department are multilevel, but by the time they get senior
students their English knowledge also grow. For this reason if I would like to design a unit
titled integrated summary writing for my students. I want to write this unit to help the
students in writing their monographs. When the students know how to write integrated
summary they will easily be able to summarize other writers‘ works in their monographs.
IV. The head of the department is responsible to share curriculum with the faculties and work
together to make/ review or improve it based on the students‘ needs. The students are
responsible to comment and reflect on the material they study and help the department
improve curriculum according to their needs and interest.
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Integrated Summary Writing
Level: intermediate
Objectives of the Unit
By the end of this lesson students will be able to:
Differentiate between summary writing and integrated summary writing
Identify and list the elements of an integrated summary
write an integrated summary from two simple sources
write an integrated summary form a text and a video
Information for the unit
In this unit students will learn a unique and very important skill that is both useful in the
students‘ academic and daily life. This unit is mainly for the senior students of English
department and it is very helpful for them. As a graduation project in every academic institution
this is usually a rule to write a research paper. In writing a research paper it is needed to have the
skill of summarizing more than two sources. Therefore, I have designed this material to help
senior students to do integrated summaries of more than one (two, three or four writers). When
the student want to write a diploma project this a vital skill needed for them and this paper will
help them solve their problems.
As well as this unit will be helpful for the students when they go for graduate studies. In graduate
studies they will need to write many research proposals and do research studies and this unit will
help them to read a subject from different sources and find out the similarities and differences
between ideas and find the gaps to do more research about different topics.
This unit is also very much helpful for the university teachers. As a rule of ministry of higher
education teachers should conduct a research every three year and promote their academic ranks.
In conducting their research studies they need to write a literature review and this skill of
integrated summary writing is the only skill that can lead them to write a good literature review
and find the gaps to their studies.
Competencies
To know this unit the students need to have a good reading, speed and comprehension, good
writing skills as to be able to write good paragraphs and simple essays. As well as the students
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should have the critical thinking skills to be able to find out the similarities and differences
between the writers‘ ideas in the texts they read. This is because; when the students write an
integrated summary they need to grasp the main idea from a text or a video. Then the students
should be able to analyze those ideas and put it in the form of paragraphs and write an essay for
an integrated summary.
Integration of skills
For the students to get the most of the unit and be able to apply the content I this unit in their
academic life I have consider all the four skills of the language in the activities of this unit:
listening, speaking, reading and writing. When the student write an integrated summary first they
need to read the text using good strategies to get the writers ideas from the text and write them
down in their notebooks. Then, the students discuss the ideas in groups and pairs to compare
their ideas or identify the very good ideas of the writers. In these kinds of activities which I have
put in this unit student practices both listening and speaking skills. When one student talks this is
the practice of speaking skill and when other listen to him, this is the practice of listening skill.
Since the name of this unit is integrated summary writing, students mostly practice writing skill.
To conclude I can say that to have a communicative and interesting unit all the four skills of the
language are considered when designing this unit.
Lesson one
Review of Summary Writing
Objective
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Differentiate between simple summary and integrated summary
Identify key points in a text
Write simple summary
Introduction of the class
Summary writing is a very important skill that helps students in every field of life from academic
to personal daily life. Summary writing will help student to identify the main ideas from a text
which helps the student in analyzing a text or article. This will also help them in writing their
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monographs and as well as understanding and simplifying other difficult texts and articles. This
skill is also helpful in any other fields when we want to deliver a speech somewhere or talk
briefly about a project or product. This skill will be everywhere helpful for us both in academic
life and real life.
Unit length: 100 minutes
Activity 1. PowerPoint – 20 minutes
Pair work:
a. What do think, summary writing is dear students?
b. In this activity the teacher communicatively present the summary writing in the
PowerPoint format on the projector and on the beginning of every slide the teacher will
ask a question from students in order to involve them in the class.
Review of Summary Writing
I. What is a summary?
A summary is a shortened passage, which retains the essential information of the original. It is a
fairly brief restatement --- in your own words ---of the contents of a passage.
Note: you simply report back what the writer has said, without making value judgments.
II. Characteristics of a good summary
Can be understood without reference to the original;
Is a faithful reproduction of, or contains only the ideas or information of, the original;
Is brief without any unnecessary detail;
Is a readable unified whole
III. Techniques in summary writing
The first step in summary writing is reading. To be able to get the original idea of the text
properly and write an understandable summary we should read the passage many times. While
we write summaries we should be brief and to the point, and the summary should be in our own
words.
The reading process varies
Scan for a piece of information
Skim for main ideas
Read for comprehension
Read for analysis
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Steps in writing a summary
The first step to writing a summary is reading
Skim the article to get the main idea.
Read the article slowly to understand it very well for detailed analysis.
Read the article with grain.
Read for both structure and content it means reading with the author.
o What it does
o What it says
How to read
Underline main ideas, key words, thesis, supporting details and answer to questions.
Strong readers think while reading and interact with the text.
They have conversation with the author.
Use your dictionary.
Put difficult passages into your own words.
Look for main division of the article.
When writing a summary
―Listen‖ to the author because you are trying to restate his/her ideas.
Represent the article accurately and fairly.
Be direct and concise.
Be objective and neutral.
Give balanced coverage.
Use your own words.
Quote sparingly.
Use attributive tags.
To do list
Do cite the author and title.
Do make the summary about 1/3 the length of the article.
Do focus on the main ideas.
Do change original wording but not ideas.
Do use author‘s tags/names.
Not to do list
Don‘t evaluate or give an opinion.
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Don‘t add ideas.
Don‘t include personal comment.
Don‘t use many (if any) quotations
Necessary elements for a good summary
Eliminate unnecessary words and repetitions.
Eliminate personal ideas and inferences.
Use transitions for a smooth and logical flow of ideas.
Conclude with a ‗summing up‘ sentence.
Edit the draft
Is all the important information in the summary?
Am I listing things out?
Am I saying the same thing over and over again?
Have I left out my personal views and ideas?
Does my summary ‗hang together‘?
Is my grammar, punctuation, and spelling correct?
Write the final draft
Activity 2. 20 minutes
In this activity the teacher asks students to sit in pairs, read the article Simple Ways to
Protect Water Quality and underline the key points. Then the teacher asks every pair to
share ideas with the class.
Identifying key ideas in a text
Being able to identify key points in a passage is a very important skill which helps the reader
to easily understand the main idea of that passage. Key points in a passage are those words,
phrases, short sentences or concrete facts that explain the main ideas of the text.
Simple Ways to Protect Water Quality
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Farmers are the biggest users of freshwater resources. The Food and Agriculture
Organization says agriculture uses seventy percent of all surface water supplies. That is the
world average. Without the right measures, agriculture can be a major cause of water
pollution.
But solutions do not have to cost much. There are simple methods for farms of any size to
reduce or prevent pollution of water supplies. We are going to talk about a few of them.
The first deals with fertilizers and poisons. One way such chemicals can enter the
environment is when they are not stored correctly. Stored chemicals can slowly leak into the
soil and get into groundwater. To help avoid such problems, chemicals should be kept in
structures with a floor made of cement.
Farm animals can also pollute water supplies. Animals like cattle, pigs, sheep and goats are
often left to feed on grass in open fields bordered by streams or rivers.
Large animals loosen dirt and rocks as they walk along waterways to drink. Animal waste
also enters water supplies. Experts say it is important to keep large farm animals away from
water supplies with the use of a fence or barrier.
Instead of leading animals to water, bring the water to them. It does not have to be
transported long distances. Farmers can send water through pipes to a watering area for their
animals with a pump powered by electricity or fuel. Human-powered treadle pumps are
another solution.
Trees, bushes and smaller plants can act as natural barriers along streams and rivers. Bushes
provide excellent ground cover when grown near waterways or along the borders of
fields. Animals avoid bushes with sharp thorns.
Tree roots provide natural support for soil. Trees planted near waterways help stop soil loss
from heavy rains. They also help keep the sun from drying out soil. Other plants and grasses
also help protect water quality. They hold soil in place during rains and ease the water flow.
These methods will not solve all water quality problems. But they are good first steps.
This Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter.
www.voaspecialenglish.com
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Activity 3. 30 minutes
Read the following article in groups of four. In this group one of the students should be the
secretary and write the summary of it.
1. * What are you going to do first dear students?
So That Nobody Has To Go To School
If They Don’t Want To By Rodger Sipher
A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is
in trouble.
One reason for the crisis is that present mandatory-attendance laws force many to attend schools
who have no wish to be her. Such children have little desire to learn and are so antagonistic to
school that neither they nor more highly motivated students receive the quality education that is
the birthright of every American.
The solution to this problem is simple: abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those
who are committed to getting an education to attend.
This will not end public education. Contrary to conventional belief, legislators enacted
compulsory-attendance laws to legalize what already existed. William Landes and Lewis
Solomon, economists, found little evidence that mandatory-attendance laws increased the
number of children in school. They found, too, that school systems have never effectively
enforced such laws, usually because of the expense involved.
There is no contraction between the assertion that compulsory attendance has had little effect on
the number of children attending school and the argument that repeal would be a positive step
toward improving education. Most parents want a high school education for their children.
Unfortunately, compulsory attendance hampers the ability of public school officials to enforce
legitimate educational and disciplinary policies and thereby make the education a good one.
Privation schools have no such problem. They can fail or dismiss students‘, knowing such
students can attend public school. Without compulsory attendance, public schools would be freer
to oust students whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the
institution.
Has not the noble experiment of a formal education for everyone failed while we pay homage to
the homily, ―you can lead a horse to water but you can‘t make him drink, ―we have pretended it
is not true in education.
Ask high school teachers if recalcitrant students learn anything of value. Ask teachers if these
students do any homework. Quite the contrary, these students know they will be passed from
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grade to grade until, as is more likely, they receive a high school diploma. At the point when
students could legally quit, most choose to remain since they know they are likely to be allowed
to graduate whether they do acceptable work or not. Abolition of archaic attendance laws would
produce enormous dividends.
First, it would alert everyone that schools is a serious place where one goes to learn. Schools are
neither day-care centers nor indoor street corners. Young people who resist learning should stay
away; indeed, an end to compulsory schooling would require them to stay away. Second,
students opposed to learning would not be able to pollute the educational atmosphere for those
who want to learn. Teachers could stop policing recalcitrant students and start education.
Third, grades would show what they are supposed to: how well a student is learning. Parents
could again read report cards and know if their children were making progress.
Fourth, public esteem for schools would increase. People would stop regarding them as way
stations for adolescents and start thinking of them as institutions for education America‘s youth.
Fifth, elementary schools would change because students would find out early they had better
learn something or risk flunking out later. Elementary teachers would no longer have to pass
their failures on to junior high and high school.
Sixth, the cost of enforcing compulsory education would be eliminated. Despite enforcement
efforts, nearly 15 percent of the school-age children in our largest cities are almost permanently
absent from school.
Communities could use these savings to support institutions to deal with young people not in
school. If, in the long run, these institutions prove more costly, at least we would not confuse
their mission with that of schools.
Schools could be for education, at present, they are only tangentially so. They have attempted to
serve an all-encompassing social function, trying to be all things to all people. In the process they
have failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish.
Activity 4. 30 minutes
1. Work in pairs and please highlight the summary writing principles followed in this
writing this summary.
Compare your very good summaries to the author’s summary.
* 2. Which one is better and why? If you think your summary is better, please tell us why.
Example summary, paraphrase and quotation from the essay:
Example summary: Roger Sipher makes his case for getting rid of compulsory-attendance laws
in primary and secondary schools with six arguments. These fall into three groups-first that
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education is for those who want to learn and by including those that don‘t want to learn,
everyone suffers. Second, that grades would be reflective of efforts and elementary school
teachers wouldn‘t feel compelled to pass failing students. Third, that schools would both save
money and save face with the elimination of compulsory-attendance laws.
Example paraphrase: Roge Sipher concludes his essay by insisting that schools have failed to in
their primary duty of education because they try to fill multiple social functions.
Example quotation: according to Roger Sipher, a solution to the perceived crisis of American
education is to ―Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allows only those who are committed
to getting an education to attend‖ (page#)
http://owl.englis.purdue.edu/owl/recousrec/563/03
Barriers
Since this unit is design mainly for senior students, they should have studied summary
writing before becoming senior, but most of the time the teachers don‘t have any specific
thing by the name of summary writing in their junior or senior class syllabus I think the
problem would be that students do not study summary writing in the junior class or even
in senior. Then to solve this problem I will give some more exercises of summary writing
for student.
Integration of skills
In this unit I have integrated all the four skills of the language; reading, writing, speaking and
listening. In the first activity of this lesson students work in pairs both listen to each other and
speak. In the second activity of this lesson, students in pairs first read the text and then discuss
as a whole class which three skills are integrated, reading, speaking and listening. When the
students work in groups in my last activity they read, speak, listen to each other and write the
conclusion of the groups work.
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Lesson 2
Integrated Summary Writing
Length: 95 minutes
Objective
By the end of the class students will be able to
Clarify an integrated summary
Create graphic organizer to prepare to write integrates summary
Analyze an integrated summary model
Introduction of the class
Being able to write and integrated summary is a very important skill which is both helpful in the
academic life and in the real life. Students and teachers in their academic life usually write
monographs, conduct researches which integrated summary writing skills is a key to do these
tasks. For example in writing monographs student must read many sources and summarize them
in their monographs comparing and contrasting the writes‘ ideas about specific topics. As well as
in getting a job, you will have to summarize one, two or even three sources. This is an important
skill you will use in your real life.
Underlining key points from the source
Activity 1. 35 minutes to read and underline key points
Please read the following articles, underline and write its key points.
a. Teacher asks the students to sit in pairs. To half of the pair in the class the teacher gives
the article Motivation by Jeremy Harmer and to the other half of the class a different
article; Motivation by Barbara K. Hofer and underline key ideas
b. When the students finish reading then teacher makes new pairs one student from article A
and one person from article B to share their summaries and find out the similarities and
differences between the two writers‘ ideas and fill in the graphic organizer.
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c. Then teacher asks the students to share ideas and discuss as a whole class about the
similarities and differences between the two authors‘ ideas.
Motivation
At its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do
things in order to achieve something. In his discussion of motivation, Douglas Brown includes
the need for ego enhancement as a prime motivator. This is the need ‗for the self to be known
and to be approved of by other‘ (Brown 2007:169). This, presumably, is what causes people to
spend hours in the gym! Such a view of motivation also accounts for our need for exploration
(‗the other side of mountain‘).
Marrion Williams and Robert Burden suggest that motivation is a ‗state of cognitive arousal‘
which provokes a ‗decision to act ‗, as a result of which there is ‗sustained intellectual and/ /or
physical effort‘ so that the person can achieve some ‗previously set goal; (Williams and Burden
1997:120). They go on to point out that the strength of that motivation will depend on how much
value the individual places on the outcome he or she wishes to achieve. Adults may have clearly
defined or vague goals. Children‘s goals, on the other hand, are often more amorphous and less
easy to describe, but they can still be very powerful.
In discussion of motivation can accepted distinction is made between extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation, that is motivation which comes from ‗outside‘ and from ‗inside‘.
Extrinsic motivation is the result of any number of outside factors, for example the need to pass
an exam, the hope to financial reward or the possibility of future travel. Intrinsic motivation by
contrast, comes from within the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by the enjoyment
of the learning process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better.
Most researchers and methodologists have come to the view that intrinsic motivation produces
better result than its extrinsic counterpart. Even where the original reason for taking up a
language course, for example, is extrinsic, the chances of success will be greatly enhance of the
students come to love the learning process.
This chapter was written by Jeremy Harmer.
Motivation
Researchers typically consider there indices of motivation: choice effort, and persistence;
achievement is an outcome of these variable. Accordingly, students who are motivated to learn
choose tasks that enhance their learning, work hard at those tasks, and persist in the face of
difficulty in order to attain their goals. So it should be no surprise that motivation is important to
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consider if we want to enhance student learning. Why students vary in their motivation is a
compelling question and several theoretical frameworks help provide answers.
Some students may be driven by a high need for achievement (McClelleand, Atkinson, Clark, &
Lowerll, 1953). Need for achievement may be characterized as an n individual trait or
disposition, and it is likely to be the outcome of early environments in which parents set high
standards and valued achievement. In general, students differ from one another in the degree to
which achievement for its own sake is meaningful to them, but his difference explains only one
aspect of motivation, which is also considered to be contextual and malleable. A particular
student may exhibit a striving for achievement no the soccer field but not in your class, or
perhaps appears more motivated to achieve in some parts of your course than in others; and we
have all known students who did not appear motivated at the start of a course but became deeply
engaged. Moreover, classroom environment and instructional practices can foster certain types of
motivation over others, as can the overall climate of an educational institution.
This chapter was written by Barbara K. Hofer of Middleburry College.
Plan for Integrated Summary
Authors’
Names
Important
elements of
Motivation
Types of
motivation
Importance of
motivation
Points of
Agreement
Points of
Differences
Barbara
K. Hofer
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Jeremy
Harmer
Activity 2. 30 minutes
Read the information on the integrated summary.
*1. How is this different than writing a simple summary?
*2. In pairs, discuss what you think are the three most important points?
What is integrated summary writing?
Integrated summary writing is summarizing more than one author‘s article (two, three, or four)
about the same topic. In integrated summary we usually compare and contrast authors‘ ideas. We
can integrate two or three summaries all from a text or we can integrate a text source with an
audio or video source. As in the simple summary writing, in any ways of integrated summary the
authors original ideas should be kept not changed. However, the authors‘ ideas should be stated
in your own words; meaning that you should paraphrase them. Also, you are not providing your
ideas or judgment, just the authors‘ ideas.
Why integrated summary writing is important?
Integrated summary writing is important in many fields. When we do a research project, we have
to write a literature review. In a literature review, we usually read two or three works of experts
related to our topic, and summarize the work of every author comparing and contrasting all the
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different authors‘ ideas. To write this review we have to summarize every author‘s or every two
or three authors‘ work. When we write a literature review we have to use integrated summary
writing.
Characteristics of a good integrated summary
When we write integrated summary, we should consider the following point to have a good
integrates summary.
Integrated summary should be the restatement of the writers‘ words and follow the
authors‘ original ideas.
It should have an introduction, and the first line of the introduction should include the
article titles and authors‘ names.
The similarities and differences should be discussed in the body paragraphs in detail.
The information in the integrated summary should not be dominated by one author.
The integrated summary should be about 1/3 the length of the article.
Attributive tags should be used. For example, Smith said, Smith believes, Smith claims.
Remember not to include your own ideas or responses.
Techniques of integrated summary writing
The integrated summary writer should read the original texts at least two or three times
before summarizing in order to get the main idea.
The integrated summary writer should paraphrase the original writer or put the authors
The integrated summary writer should quote sparingly.
Activity 3. 30 minutes
In pairs, read the integrated summary modal below and answer the questions.
1. *Highlight the principles of integrated summary writing followed in this
modal and then share ideas in the class.
Integrated Summary Model
The literature on capital punishment suggests that it fails as a deterrent in two key ways. First,
much of the literature suggests that capital punishment does not lower the crime rate. Helen
Prejean, in Deadman Walking, clearly notes that capital punishment does little to lower the crime
rate. Prejean argues that the ―evidence that executions do not deter crime is conclusive […] the
U.S. murder rate is no higher in states that do not have the death penalty than those who do‖
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(110). Prejean‘s point is reiterated from a historical perspective in ―Death and the American.‖
Here, the author notes that despite the social and economic upheavals that occurred from the
1930s to the 1960s, the crime rate barely changed (2). However, after the reinstatement of the
death penalty in the 1960s, the author notes that ―crime rates soared‖ (2). Steven Hawkins points
out that law enforcement officials also agree that the death penalty has failed to stop crime. He
explains that a 1995 Peter D. Hart Research Associates survey found that police chiefs believe
the death penalty to be ―the least effective way of reducing crime‖ (1).
Some of the literature suggests that, in addition to failing to lower the crime rate, capital
punishment can lead to more crime. In an interview with Helen Prejean, Judy Pennington notes
that in 1987, the crime rate in New Orleans went up 16.3 percent in the quarter following eight
executions (7). In Deadman Walking, Prejean elaborates on her position that capital punishment
can be related to an increase in crime. She notes that in Canada in 1975, the murder rate peaked
―one year before the death penalty was abolished‖ (110). Capital punishment opponents like
Thurgood Marshall and Donald Cabana agree with Prejean that capital punishment has failed as
a deterrent and cite similar statistical studies as evidence for this position (Fitzpatrick 3; Hawkins
1). Fitzpatrick also explains that Marshall would remind ―us that the question with respect to
deterrence is not whether the death penalty is a deterrent but whether it is a better deterrent than
life in imprisonment‖ (53). The literature reviewed seems to overwhelmingly suggest that capital
punishment is not the better deterrent.
Barriers
Because integrates summary writing is a new topic and needs more time to practice some
activities I think if could not manage the time to do the last activity, I will ask the students to do
that as a homework at home.
Integration of skills
Like the first unit, I again in the second unit I have considered all the four skills of the language;
speaking, listening, reading and writing while designing the activities.
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Lesson 3
Writing integrated summary from a text and a video
Class length: 100 minutes
Objective
By the end of this lesson students will be able to:
Write integrated summary from two different and difficult sources (a text and a video
source).
Take good notes in the class while lecture, reading a text or watching a video
Peer review classmates summaries for transitions
Introduction of the class
In this unit students will read and discuss about note taking skill that help them to take notes in
reading and to write an integrated summary. Then students practice integrated summary and
write, peer review for transitions and write a final piece of integrated summary. These activities
help students to get familiar with integrated summary completely and use it in their academic
life.
Activity 1. 15 minutes
1. In pairs please read the text Note Taking discuss with partners and select 3 points
you think are very important. *
2. The teacher will debrief the result of the pair works and discuss it in the class
writing important points on the board.
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Note Taking
Learning to make notes effectively will help you to improve your study and work habits and to
remember important information. Often, students are deceived into thinking that because they
understand everything that is said in class they will therefore remember it. This is dead wrong!
Write it down.
As you write notes, you will develop skill in selecting important material and in discarding
unimportant material. The secret to developing this skill is practice. Check your results
constantly. Strive to improve. Notes enable you to retain important facts and data and to develop
an accurate means of arranging necessary information.
Here are some hints on Note Taking.
1. Don‘t write down everything that you read or here. Be alert and attentive to the main
points. Concentrate on the ―meant‖ of the subject and forget the trimmings.
2. Notes should consist of key words or very short sentences. If a speaker gets sidetracked it
is often possible to go back and add further information.
3. Take accurate notes. You should usually use your own words, but try not to change the
meaning. If you quote directly from an author, quote correctly.
4. Think a minute about your material before you start making notes. Do not take notes just
to be taking notes! Take notes that will be of real value to you when you look over them
at a later date.
5. Have a uniform system of punctuation and abbreviation that will make sense to you use a
skeleton outline and show importance by indenting. Leave lots of white space for later
additions.
6. Omit descriptions and full explanations. Keep your notes short and to the point.
Condense your material so you can grasp it rapidly.
7. Don‘t worry about missing a point.
8. Don‘t keep notes on oddly shaped pieces of paper. Keep notes in order and in one place.
9. Shortly after making your notes, go back and rework (not redo) your notes by adding
extra points and spelling out unclear items. Remember, we forget rapidly. Budget time
for this vital step just as you do for the class itself.
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10. Review your notes regularly. This is the only way to achieve lasting memory.
Source: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskillls/success/notes.html
Activity 2. 25 minutes
1. Watch the movie Action Research by Jana Duganzic, Taryn Durrant Leya Finau,
Nicola Firth and Mellisa Frank take notes individually.
2. Now share your notes with the person next to you. Then the teacher will play the
movie again to check and add to your notes.
The movie is attached in the book.
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Activity 3. 25 minutes
In pairs read the following text Action Research by Jeremy Harmer and highlight key ideas
and take notes of important point. Then share the key points of the text with your partners
AND then in the class.
Action research
For teachers “to fully embrace the principles and philosophy of action research, they
need to begin by reinventing themselves …… We can only create alternatives to the
existing method and structures after we have restructured ourselves” (Mingucci, 1999,
p. 16).
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
In this chapter; we look at action research – an approach that is particularly well-suited for
teachers conducting classroom research. Firs, we will define the approach and then provide an
example of the action research cycle. We will talk about getting started with a plan for an action
research study and about collecting data. Then we will consider quality control issues in action
research before summarizing a sample study. We will close with the usual ―payoffs and pitfalls,‖
but we will also make a case for the sue of action research as a powerful tool that can empower
teachers to take control of their own professional development.
Defining action research action research is becoming increasingly prominent in the research
methodology literature in our field. As an approach to research, it has been around since the
1940s, when it first appeared in the social science literature (Lewin, 1946; 1948). In the 1980s, it
was adapted by educator such as Carr and Kemmis (1986, who described it as follows:
Action research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participant in
order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of
those practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out. (p. 162)
This description is widely cited and it highlights the practitioner – driven nature of action
research as well as the social justice bias bequeathed to the concept by Lewin, a left—wing
sociologist. However, it is rather too broad to work as a definition for a form of research, being
basically a statement about reflective teaching.
For us, there are key differences between reflective teaching and action research one is that
reflective teaching can be a solitary and private practice, but in action research, the results of the
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process – the outcomes or products – should be published. We are using publish here in its
original sense: o make publically available to others for critical scrutiny. Another difference is
that reflective teaching could conceivably occur at one point in time, after a particular lesson,
whereas action research is cyclic and iterative.
We define action research as a systematic, iterative process of (1) identifying an issue, problem,
or puzzle we wish to investigate in our own context; (2) thinking and planning an appropriate
action to address that concern; (30 carrying out the action, (4) observing the apparent outcomes
of the action; (5) reflecting on the outcomes and on other possibilities: and (6) repeating these
steps again. To our minds, the cycle described above must be carried out at least twice (and
typically more often) for the investigation to qualify as action research.
A more philosophical definition of action research is provided by kemmis and Mc Taggart
(1982), who suggest that
[t]he linking of the terms ‗action‘ and ‗research highlights the essential feature of the
method: trying out ideas in practice as a means of improvement and as a means of
increasing knowledge about the curriculum, teaching and learning. The result is
improvement in what happens in the classroom and school, and better articulation and
justification of the education rationale of what goes on. Action research provides a way
of working which links theory and practice into the one whole: ideas-in-action. (p.5)
In this quote, the authors highlight connections between theory and practice. They also point out
that action research entails more than simply providing descriptive and interpretive accounts of
the classroom, no matter how rich these might be. Action research is meant to lead to change and
improvement in what happens in the classroom. But, in contrast to experimental research, as
Kemmis and Mc Tagger (1988) note,
[a] distinctive feature of action research is that those affected by planned changes have
the primary responsibility for deciding on courses of critically informed action which
seems likely to lead to improvement, and for evaluation the results of strategies tried out
in practice. Action research is a group activity. (p. 6)
Thus, action research is not simply some form of investigation grafted onto classroom practice;
rather, it represents a particular stance on the part of the practitioner – a stance in which the
practitioner is engaged in critical reflection on ideas, the informed application and
experimentation of ideas in practice, and the critical evaluation of the outcomes.
Characteristics of action research
To characterize action research in language classrooms, Nunan (1992) emphasizes the centrality
of the teacher. He notes that this approach will have component similar to other types of research
– that is, posing questions, collecting data, and then analyzing and /or interpreting those data.
However, it is differentiated by the fact that it will be carried out by practitioners investigating
their own professional context.
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Similarly, Kemmis and Mac Taggart identify three defining characteristics of the approach.
Education action research, according to these authors, (1) is carried out by classroom
practitioners: (2) is collaborative in nature; and (3) is aimed at bringing about change. Given this
view, a teacher‘s descriptive observational research that was aimed at increasing understanding
rather than bringing about change would not be considered action research by Kemmis and
McTaggart – particularly if the study was conducted without the involvement of others. For these
authors, collaboration and change are defining characteristics of the approach.
Cohen and Manion (1985) offer similar characteristics. They argue that action research is first
and for most situational, being concerned with the identification and solution of problems in a
specific context. They also identify collaboration as an important feature of this type of research,
and they state that the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the
educational context in which the research is being carried out. If this educational context
involves an entire school or program (as opposed to simply a single class), certainly teachers
collaborating are in a better position to achieve this goal than are individuals working alone.
We believe that action research has all of the characteristics of ‗regular‘ research – that is, it
requires research questions. Data those are relevant to those questions, analysis and
interpretations of and some form of publication. We agree that it is the centrality of the
classroom practitioner as a prime mover in the action research process that defines the approach
and differentiates it from other forms of research. We also agree that action research should be
aimed at bringing about change rather than simply documenting what is going on. However, we
feel that Kemmis and McTaggart go too far in their assertion that in order to qualify as action
research, the process must be collaborative. Certainly, collaboration is highly desirable. But to
assert that such a process without collaboration cannot be called action research is unrealistic.
Many practitioners would dearly love to collaborate, but they are simply not in a position to do
so.
The action research cycle
Most writers on action research agree that it is an iterative, cyclical process rather than a onetime
event. In other words, unlike the ―on-shot case study‖ design in experimental research, at least
two action research cycles are required in order to resolve the problem or puzzle that initiated the
research.
There are many visual frameworks that depict the action research cycle. We like the following
image form wan Lier (1994a), which is simple and clear. It also depicts the fact that research‘s
goals many change over the course of an investigation. In addition, van Lier‘s model explicitly
includes the step of reporting on the outcomes of the study.
Inaction research, the practitioner first identifies a problem or puzzle and conducts a preliminary
investigation to gather baseline data. She then forms a hypothesis (though not necessarily in
formal hypothesis testing language) and plans the intervention. Next, she takes action and
observes the analogous to data collection.) Then the researcher reflects on the outcomes
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(analyzes and interprets the data) and identifies a follow-up issue (or continues with the same
issue), which informs a new cycle. Table 8.1 provides an example (p.231).
The sequence depicted in Table 8.1 would not necessarily stop at the end of the second cycle.
The process could continue indefinitely, as long as new puzzles or problems suggest new goals.
In the sample study at the end of this chapter, we will summarize an action research project that
continued through two phases and included several cycles.
III. Goal revises
II. Goal report
1. goal
Plan reflect
Act observe
Figure 8.1 cycles of action research (from van Lier, 1994a, p. 34)
What Action Research Is Not
Sometimes it is helpful in trying to understand the characteristics of something as abstract as a
research approach to determine what that entity is not, or what it does not do. Kemmis and Henry
(1989) mad these statements about what action research is not:
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1. it is not the usual thing teachers do when they think about their teaching. It is systematic
and involves collecting evidence on which to base rigorous reflection.
2. It is not (just) problem solving: it is involves problem posing, too …. It is motivated by a
quest to improve and understand that world by changing it and learning how to improve it
from the effects of the changes being made.
3. It is not research on other people. Action research is research by particular people on their
own work, to help them improve what they do, including how they work with and or
others.
4. It is not the ―scientific method‖ applied to teaching …. It adopts a view of social
evidence which is distinct from a view based on the natural sciences (in which the objects
of research may legitimately be treated as ―tings‖); action research also concerns the
―subject‖ (the action researcher) him – or herself.
Activity 4. 35 minutes
In groups of 3 and ask them to
1. First write fill in the graphic organizer with your notes from the video Action
Research and the text Action Research.
2. Then in groups discuss the graphic organizer and start writing the integrated
summary with your group members.
3. Later, the groups peer review their summaries for organization and transitions.
4. Finally the groups will go to their places and write the final draft of the integrated
summary.
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Plan for Integrated Summary
Authors’
Names
Important
elements of
Action
research
Ideas on
classroom
improvement of
the teaching
Practical
ideas for the
classroom
Points of
Agreement
Points of
Differences
Duganzic,
Durrant
Finau,
Firth and
Frank
Harmer
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Barriers
Since in this lesson I have a video for the students to watch, it might be a little
challenging for some struggling students to understand. To solve this problem when the
students did not understand some parts of the video I will explain those parts for them.
Integration of skills
Like the other three units I have considered all the four language skills speaking,
reading, writing and listening in designing this lesson.
References
Bibliography Action Research . (2012).
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Ashford Colour Press Ltd.
McKeachie, W. J. (2006). Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and Unviersity
Teachers. Boston: Hooughton Mifflin .
Trudell, B. (2013). Writing Instruction for Graduate Preprogram. Kabul: Graduate Studies Center.
Duganzic, Durrant Finau & etl, (2012). Action Research Movie: