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Results therefore contradicted the «traditional» view and were consistent with the «social semiotic» view. It
is suggested that research on the role of context in second language learning should take account of the social
semiotic and study the mutual development of language learning and cultural learning in the process of
communicative interaction.
UNIT 8. READING/WRITING A SUMMARY
A. READING SUMMARIES WITHIN A TEXT
When skimming a long text, a good reader can spot those parts of the text where the writer has summarized
the points of his argument — either before he is about to present these points, or just after he has presented
them. This is basically the same reading skill involved in spotting the sentence which seems to summarize the
main ideas in each paragraph.
In some long texts, the entire introductory section may be a summary of the important points in the text (i.e.,
it may be a plan or map of the argument that the writer is about to present). In such cases, the introductory
section serves the same function as the Preface or Foreward to a book.
Similarly, a writer may pause to summarize what he has already told us before going on to some new aspect
of his argument. Such brief summaries are easier to spot if the writer has included subtitles for each part of his
argument. The summary of each part would most likely be found at the end of that part (before the next
subtitle), end is often signaled by words such as: thus, hence, in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude
and conclusion.
The final section of a long academic article is often a summary of the main ideas in the article. When this is
the case, by reading the introductory and final sections — even before he has skimmed the body of the text —
the reader can get a good idea of what the paper is all about.
In general, an introductory summary should be used as a guide to reading: it's as useful to the reader as a
map is to the navigator of some unknown territory. A concluding summary helps the reader to control for
important points he may have missed or misunderstood in the course of reading the body of the text. The skilled
reader will immediately go back to the body of the text to find or clarify anything in the summary that is
unfamiliar or unclear.
B. WRITING A SUMMARY (AFTER HAVING READ A TEXT)
There is a paradox involved in trying to summarize a text. On the one hand, the summary must be general
and focus on the most important ideas, at times substituting a single generalization for an extended segment of
text, or not even mentioning other segments of the text because in your judgement, they add nothing new. For
example, you may refer to part of the text as «the author's analysis of English economy» even though the text
does not provide that label. On the other hand, your summary must be specific and refer to important facts, to
points crucial to the development of the argument, or even to examples that provide essential support. It should
also be written in precise and specific language that reflects your analysis of the text.
Before you can write a good summary you must understand and analyze the text. You will probably have to
read the text, or at least parts of the text, more than once in order to answer such questions as the following:
1. What is the controlling idea or the main idea of the article?
2. What is the purpose of the article (regardless of whether the purpose is stated explicitly or only implied)?
3. How does the author develop his main idea — that is, what information is used to support the argument
and how is the information organized?
4. What is the author's attitude toward the subject?
Theoretically, a summary can be as short as a single sentence or as long as about one fourth of the original.
How long a summary should be and what kinds of information it should include and leave out depends on the
purpose of the summary. If you are summarizing an article in order to organize and study the information it
presents for an examination, for example, you will probably prefer a longer summary that includes essential
facts and some examples that illustrate important points. On the other hand, if your purpose is to make a
bibliographic note of the main idea of an article you have consulted in writing a paper, a sentence or two may
be enough to remind you what the article was about.