Gisting



Abstract

In this study, we have investigated the effect of gisting as a reading strategy on reading comprehension and learning skills. Gisting refers to the skills of paraphrasing and shortening the available information and it is considered as best for comprehension process throughout the learning phase of life. For this research, we have used mixed methodology and researched the past study and current available data via conducting comprehension tests before and after the provision of training pertaining to gisting strategies. The result has significantly showed positive impact of gisting on the chose population reading abilities after training. Thus, it can be concluded that gisting has positive impact on student's learning and reading abilities.

Gisting

Purpose of Research

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of gisting reading strategies in the improvement of learning process of students. In this regard, the following research questions are required to be investigated:

To what extent do gisting reading strategies improve students' reading comprehension of multiple choice passages?

What is significant difference between the various types of reading strategies and student's reading comprehension of multiple choice passages?

Literature Review

Most of the students face difficulty in reading long paragraphs or chapters and grabbing the gist of the read paragraphs consistently. It is an on-going process, which requires constant attention and concentration. Many students face the above stated difficulty in reading comprehensions and these students may face difficulty in differentiating between the main idea and minute details while reading long comprehensive paragraphs. Therefore, reading strategies may prove to be helpful in addressing these problems faced by students, out of which summarizing is considered as the most effective strategy in constructing and retaining the brief summary of relevant paragraphs from the whole comprehension or text. Usually it is believed and hypothesized that students most probably remember only macro structure rather than microstructure of the read text, here macro structure of text represents the gist of the whole text. It is the widely used strategy by students to recall relevant information during examination, tests or quizzes. Unfortunately, many teachers avoid teaching this tact to students as they find it boring, time consuming and lengthy process. But gisting or summarizing plays a vital role in learning process of students and it has numerous advantages and make teaching process much more effective and useful. The process of gisting involves sorting down the read information and prioritizing it in terms of its relevance and writing in the brief form in order to memorize the concept and gist of text (Pakzadian, M., 2012).

Gisting refers to the skills of paraphrasing and shortening the available information that is considered as best for comprehension process throughout the learning phase of life (Caccamise, D., & Snyder, L., 2005). However, it is considered as a difficult task or skill to teach and train students. As per research, students who lack skill of gist are likely to write or say in greater detail or in fewer words in the assigned summaries (Thiede, K., & Anderson, M.C., ...