Abstract

The intent of this interdiscursive endeavor is to argue that EAP text interpretation (reading) and production (writing) can be effectively integrated through the task of summary writing (SW), which academically-oriented students must be able to perform. A discourse-level error analysis enabled us to focus on various features of the summaries which, taken together, indicate how well the (SW) class students had mastered both the goals of text interpretation and the conventions of summary writing, the identification of superordinate and subordinate points, the inclusion of an opening statement of the gist of the primary text, explicit reference to the primary author and text, and successful paraphrasing and representation of substantial claims without pragmatic failure or cross-cultural fatigue. It is a pragmatic feasibility to teach EAP students to be discourse analysts to the extent required by this discourse relevant task, and by learning to do such analysis, they can, in psycholinguistic coinage, integrate formative techniques of comprehension by production and summative techniques of production by comprehension.

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