Delphi module

14.4.3.2
Written summaries

This is one of the most valuable FL learning tasks, one that can also serve as an effective assessment instrument, provided the aims are made clear and the criteria are precise enough. As a learning tool it is useful in that it involves students in comprehension, elements of translation and free writing. Sometimes referred to as précis, it is a key transferable skill that students are likely to require in their subsequent working life, and as such it can help to motivate students.

Students might be asked to summarize:

an FL text in English;
an FL text in the FL.

These require different abilities and, in the learning process, different support. In terms of formulating assessment guidelines and criteria:

FL-English summary is the more straightforward. Students have to distinguish main ideas from minor detail and organize them into a coherent text. Mark schemes should therefore allocate an impression mark to the quality of the summary. Although such an approach may slightly reduce the objectivity of marking, this need not be significant if the quality mark is limited to, say, 20% of the available marks.
As noted in the previous section, an FL-FL summary throws up problems with regard to how much of the source material it is legitimate to recycle. It requires clarity about what value is to be placed on students' rendering of factual content, on the one hand, and the quality of their use of the FL, on the other.