The effect of text summarization on learning to read

Summarizing is recomposing a text in which one expresses in a minimum of words the ideas, the arguments, the very movement of the author's thought, remaining faithful, as far as possible, to his spirit and his tone. In fact, a summary is a text rewritten in a limited space. It must therefore get to the point. The summary is an important tool for any research or presentation in the humanities and social sciences because it condenses the argument and thus makes criticism and comparison easier. Reading is a complex activity at the crossroads of various disciplines, namely neurobiology, linguistics, cognitive psychology and sociology. Reading is asking questions of a text, gathering information, proceeding by hypothesis and anticipation, grasping a global meaning, finding the answer to a problem, in short, it is putting in place mental structures. In order for students to learn to read, the teacher must plan different activities so that students acquire various skills. The skills involved in reading are, first of all, linguistic, allowing students to master the written code, grammar rules and syntax.