THE EFFECT OF SUMMARY WRITING AS A CRITICAL READING STRATEGY ON READING COMPREHENSION OF IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

The present study investigated the effect of teaching summary writing as a critical reading strategy on Iranian EFL learners' reading ability. This study tried to determine the extent to which awareness raising along with efficient amount of practice of English summary writing as a critical reading strategy affects the reading ability of Iranian Intermediate learners. To answer this question, 60 Intermediate language learners in an English institute inZanjan were randomly selected via administration of a PET exam to 300 language learners. Then, they were divided into two groups of 30 participants. Participants in the experimental group were instructed on a certain plan to learn and practice the concept of summary writing. In this study the focus was on standard patterns of summary writing as critical strategy in which participants were assisted to write summaries for the texts they studied. In the control group no treatment has been done and learners received a normal routine of the semester as they always did. A validated standardized test of reading was administered to both groups, the papers were assessed carefully. The data retrieved from both groups were analyzed through calculating a t-test. The results indicated that the means of the two groups were significantly different. The experimental group scored significantly higher than control in the post test.