methods of teaching english

ng is an important writing skill in our schools and universities. One important purpose of studying this type of writing is to enable our students to demonstrate their understanding of reading material to their teachers . Therefore; the better the students can summarize, the more likely they can prove to their teacher that they really understand assigned reading material in whatever field. Thus, it is necessary to teach our students summary writing strategies in the foreign language to enhance their reading and writing abilities.
       The study aims at investigating the effect of teaching summarization strategies on the achievement of EFL Iraqi students to enhance their writing ability.
       The researcher hypothesizes that there are no statistically significant differences between the experimental group, which is taught summarization strategies; and the control group which is not taught summarization strategies, in their achievement scores in summary writing.
       To fulfill the aim of the study, an experiment is designed. Two groups of thirty - four students each are randomly chosen from the 5th year/the scientific branch of Al – Nahdhah secondary school for girls. One of the two groups is assigned to be the experimental group, which is taught summary writing strategies suggested by Palmer (1996), and the other one is the control group, which is not taught summary writing strategies. Both groups are matched in their achievement in English in the previous academic year 2002 – 2003, IQ test, pre – test, and the level of parents' education.