ERIC Number: ED564220
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Aug
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Improving Summarizing Skills with TED Talks: An Account of a Teaching Lesson Using Explicit Instruction
Hashimoto, Shin'ichi; Fukuda, Eri; Okazaki, Hironobu
Research-publishing.net, Paper presented at the 2015 EUROCALL Conference (22nd, Padova, Italy, Aug 26-29, 2015)
This paper reports on a study which investigated the effectiveness of an explicit instruction approach in a Japanese university setting with third-year science and technology students in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. The two aims of this study were: 1) to explore changes in students' attitudes and understanding of summary writing, and 2) to observe changes in the ability of students to incorporate specific ideas of summary writing. First, students were given a short questionnaire about their current knowledge and background related to summary writing to provide a base measure. Next, the instructor presented information about specific features of summary writing. Then, students were introduced to a short TED Talk on a technical topic as the content material. Using this content, students were put into groups to discuss and identify the main points of the talk. For homework, they were assigned to write individual summaries. In the next class, students shared their individual summaries with their group members and produced a second draft to be evaluated. Finally, a post-questionnaire about summary writing was given to students. In the future, the researchers aim to make lessons like the above part of an on-line Learning Management System (LMS) that they are currently developing. [For full proceedings, see ED564162.]
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, College Students, English for Special Purposes, Writing Skills, Writing Improvement, Documentation, Writing Instruction, Science Education, Technology Education, Writing Attitudes, Lecture Method, Teaching Methods, Homework, Writing Assignments
Research-publishing.net. La Grange des Noyes, 25110 Voillans, France. e-mail: info@research-publishing.net; Web site: http://research-publishing.net
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A