Concept Mapping and Summary Writing as Complementary Strategies for Developing EFL Content Comprehension

Abstract

This is an exploratory study in an undergraduate EFL business-writing course studying participants' ability to read, comprehend, and represent text visually using concept mapping (CM), summary writing, and social network analysis techniques as complementary strategies. The idea with this experiment was to explore if students are capable of analyzing business and technology information from technical readings in a way to represent it graphically with CMs and social networks. Preliminary data from the case study showed that students were reasonably successful in processing texts on topics related to the Tesla electric car company's business and technology models. Multiple iterations and guided instructions when designing CMs demonstrated the interplay of various actors, processes, interactions, and contexts. Student performance indicated significant expertise with CM design and text summarization but inadequate performance designing social networks, indicating the necessity for more structured instructions and practice.