Exploring Students’ Integrated Reading and Summary Writing Processes Through an Online System

Abstract

English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students often encounter difficulties with English writing due to limited vocabulary and an inability to integrate reading and writing skills effectively. Summary writing is one of the most effective means of integrating English reading comprehension while developing writing skills. However, writing summaries requires unobservable cognitive processes of identifying main ideas in order to convert paragraphs into concise statements. This study contributes to the existing literature on summary writing by developing and testing an online summary writing system designed to support the cognitive processes of integrated reading and writing. The findings highlight the key factors and functions involved in the design system to support summary construction. The online writing system comprises Selecting, Organizing, and Integrating (SOI) modules with the functions of Vocabulary Helper, Online Dictionary, and Reference tools. The participants were 20 students in a reading class who were recruited to receive 11 weeks of English summary writing instruction. The data included pre- and post-TOEIC reading test scores, summary writing efficiency, action logs in the online system, and responses to a questionnaire. The results showed that the system functioned to scaffold students’ integrated reading and writing with the SOI functions, providing them with opportunities for repeated review of the selected vocabulary, main ideas, and important sentences. These were the fundamental factors in facilitating summary writing processes. Pedagogical implications are discussed.