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Teaching Students to Paraphrase

Ideas for scaffolding paraphrasing so that students correctly learn this valuable but difficult-to-master skill.

A teacher helping her middle school student with her writing

When discussing text in the classroom, it’s tough for students to shift from utilizing an author’s words (copying) to accepting the challenge to express that author’s idea in their own words (paraphrasing).

But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills : It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text. The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the appropriate words to reshape a sentence, but that is time well spent.

We also need to teach paraphrasing, of course, so that students develop the skill set required to avoid committing plagiarism unintentionally .

Student Tools

One way to support students is to make them aware of tools that may help when they’re paraphrasing. Think of these as training wheels—students won’t use them forever.

Academic Phrasebank : Ready-made phrases help students organize their sentences when they paraphrase. The site provides sentence starters for defining ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas, describing cause and effect, and explaining evidence to support statements.

For instance, if a student were paraphrasing vocabulary word X, they would be able to find sentence starters such as “The word X encompasses...,” “The word X is challenging to define because...,” and “The word X is intended to....”

Ashford University Writing Center : This website has a five-item quiz to review the paraphrasing process. It allows students to identify examples and non-examples of paraphrasing for a given text.

When examining non-examples, students are shown how replacing or rearranging words is akin to copying and pasting on a computer. Students see examples of effective paraphrasing, including a change of sentence structure or personal elaboration combined with limited quoted information.

Tone Analyzer : This tool allows students to enter a brief sample from a text and receive an analysis of the tone. When using this tool, students can request an assessment of whether the text illustrates anger, joy, sadness, etc. In addition to these emotions, the website includes language descriptors such as confident (used to describe texts that use active voice and/or words such as will , must , etc.) or tentative (texts with words such as seems , appears , might , etc.). This tool is useful in helping students successfully align the tone of their paraphrased material with the tone of the original text.

Student Self-Check Prompts

Students should outgrow the tools above, and teachers can encourage that growth by showing them how to monitor their own progress with paraphrasing. Students can self-check to determine how on track with paraphrasing they are by asking themselves these questions:

  • Can I identify elements of the text that are most significant (and thus appropriate to preserve) when I put it in my own words?
  • Can I recite elements of the text from memory in order to prepare to put it into my own words?
  • How can I adjust the sentence structure to preserve the meaning of the text?

Student Cautions

Because the journey to paraphrasing may involve a few hiccups, it’s a good idea to identify potential student challenges. When paraphrasing, remind students that they should:

  • Attempt to describe the text in their own words gradually, one component at a time (thanks to Doug Lemov and Maggie Johnson for this close reading strategy). For instance, they might first use their own words to describe significant phrases in the reading, and then make an effort to explain one or two key sentences, and finally attempt to paraphrase an entire paragraph.
  • Monitor the similarities between the text and the paraphrase. For instance, after describing specific sentences or paragraphs, they should note how many words are shared. Instead of using the same words as the author, focus on mirroring the same main idea. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale offers easy-to-follow models for how to achieve this.
  • Ensure that there is a sufficient number of word substitutions in the paraphrased material. (Substituting only a couple of words could constitute plagiarism.) Students should focus on changing the structure of the sentence . This may involve converting a simple sentence to a compound sentence or adding a prepositional phrase.
  • Avoid adjusting special language (acronyms, figurative language, jargon, etc.). These kinds of terms are considered common knowledge, so using them in a paraphrase doesn’t constitute plagiarism. Resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab can help students figure out whether a particular term is common knowledge.

Teachers can push students to move beyond copying by encouraging them to see paraphrasing as the go-to reading response. When we equip students with needed resources, we make student voice the rule instead of the exception.

In Your Own Words: 5 Ideas for Teaching Paraphrasing

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will often find themselves reminding students to put things “in their own words”, but for many students, this is not a simple task, and they will need thorough practice before it becomes an accessible skill. Before students can begin to paraphrase with ease, they need to understand the purpose for doing so, and develop strategies for making it happen.

It’s crucial that students understand why source attribution is so important in Western culture: we want to give others credit for their ideas when we share them. Some English as a Second Language students may come from cultural backgrounds that value shared information in a different way; in fact, often times, the use of others’ ideas can actually be seen as a sign of respect in some collectivist cultures. In some instances, there are no conventions for including citations in place.

and quoting sources. is used similarly to paraphrasing, and teaching these two writing techniques together can highlight the similarities and differences for students, hopefully, resulting in a greater understanding of how to properly use each technique to incorporate information from outside sources.

While paraphrasing is typically taught as a , students may benefit from exposure to it in a less formal way first. Paraphrasing comes naturally in speaking; we do it almost every day without realizing it. By engaging students in a casual and fun game of telephone, you can help them to connect paraphrasing to real life. Have students sit in a circle; the teacher can start the game by whispering a short, silly message to the student next to him. That student passes the message along to the next and so on. By the time the message has made its way around the circle, it will likely have changed into something completely different than the original. This is fun way to show students how easily information can get “lost” if we aren’t extremely careful with how we “pass it along”.

The second group can give it to a third group, and so on. The activity can get time-consuming, and three rounds of paraphrasing should be sufficient. At the end of the activity, the class can compare the final paraphrase with the original and check to see if the meaning of the original has remained intact. If the meaning varies greatly, it’s important to direct students to review the progression as the paraphrase was forwarded to each group. This will help to illustrate errors, which can be used as a valuable opportunity for learning.

Arming student with different strategies is essential, and helping students to think of paraphrasing as a task similar to the way they would simply is essential. An instructor needs to provide ample opportunity for students to engage in structured practice that allows them to develop a variety of strategies and then put them together.

Teachers can aid the process by making sure that the purpose and technique of paraphrasing is clearly understood, and providing well-structured activities for guided practice.

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Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies

By Judy Alden

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Paraphrasing is a skill that is often assessed in exams. Experienced teacher and assessment writer Judy Alden examines how to teach it, offering practical tips and techniques you can take straight to the classroom.

Introduction

As English Language teachers, one of our core aims is to teach our learners how to express themselves. And I’m sure, like myself, you receive a great deal of satisfaction when your learners are able to reproduce the language that you’ve taught them. But what else can we do to avoid learners simply sticking to the script? The answer is quite simple: we need to demonstrate the power of paraphrasing in the classroom.

Paraphrasing is an essential skill that helps learners develop their communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language. In other words, it’s an empowering skill that enables learners to keep learning new words or phrases similar to the ones they already know. This is why in this article we’re going to look at a paraphrasing technique, activities to encourages students to paraphrase, and how paraphrasing is often a skill that is assessed in exams in all the subskills.

Synonyms for all levels

Teaching synonyms is a straightforward technique that can be adapted to all levels of learners. In fact, it’s probably one of the first strategies used with lower level learners to start expanding their vocabulary. For example, when teaching the A2 word ‘ grandmother ’ the synonyms ‘ grandma, granny, gran, nanna, nan ’ can also be taught since they are the informal versions of ‘grandmother’ which native speakers would tend to use. With higher level students, you can use the same approach but with a more complex word bank of synonyms. Learners at all levels need to identify and separate which synonyms are formal ( green ) and which are informal ( blue ).

Mind map

Rather than teaching students how to express something with one word, think about having them build up sets of synonyms. Then learners will know how to create their own word banks of linking words that have similar meanings so they can express themselves in a variety of ways right from the start.

Four paraphrasing activities

As every teacher knows, having a toolkit of ideas keeps things fresh in the classroom. So how can we encourage our students to use paraphrasing strategies in the classroom on an ongoing basis? One way to achieve this is to include learner-centred ice-breakers to target this skill. Here are four ice-breakers that you might want to try or adapt for your learners.

Social Butterfly (speaking)

This ice-breaker focuses on paraphrasing when answering questions at an imaginary party. Elicit a few questions from your learners and write down a list of question prompts they need to ask people (e.g. …name? …age? …hobbies? …free time? …last holiday? etc). Then tell learners that they must go and mingle. Encourage them to be ’social butterflies’ and speak to as many people as possible in the allotted time (five minutes). When they mingle, they must take turns asking and answering the questions. Let learners know that whenever someone answers a question, they must say either ‘ Pardon? ’ or ‘ Sorry? ’ to prompt their partner to rephrase what they have said.

You might want to write one or two examples up on the board. For example,

What’s your name?

My name ’s Kasia.

I’m called  Kasia.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I usually go swimming  or visit  my friends .

I like going for a swim  or hanging out  with my mates .

To create a party-like environment, you could play music while learners complete the task. While the activity is taking place, monitor and record good examples of paraphrasing, then go over them as a whole group.

Full Picture (reading & speaking)

To avoid having this jigsaw reading task become a detailed reading task, text selection is essential for this five-minute ice-breaker. Choose a brief, three-paragraph text that has a clear beginning, middle and end – a text about a sequence of events, for example, works well for this type of task. Then place learners into groups of three and give each student a different paragraph. If possible, put each paragraph on different colour card. Give the class one minute to read their paragraphs without writing down any notes. When time’s up, they must place their texts face down. For the next three minutes, each teammate has about a minute to tell their team what their paragraph said, so they can decide on the order of the paragraphs. For the final minute, ask teams to give reasons for their decisions. This will encourage learners to further paraphrase their texts before you, finally, ask teams to turn the texts over and check if they figured out the correct order.

Back to the Board (listening & speaking)

Back to the Board is an ice-breaker that can be adapted for all ages and levels and is an excellent student-centred approach to revising vocabulary by paraphrasing key words. To set this task up, you need to divide the class into two teams and place two chairs at the front of the class facing away from the whiteboard or Smartboard. You’ll also need a list of vocabulary learnt in previous sessions and a scoreboard. Nominate one person from each team to sit with their backs to the board. Once they are seated, emphasise that they mustn’t peek! Then, write one word from your list on the board. Ask the class to describe the word on the board. The first person with their backs to the board to shout out the correct word earns a point for their team. Have a new pair come up, and keep repeating the process until you complete the list of words. The team with the most points wins.

It’s always a good idea to demonstrate at least one example before nominating the first two students:

  • Write the word on the whiteboard: e.g., houseboat
  • Demonstrate an explanation without saying ‘house’ or ‘boat’: It’s an unusual type of home that floats. You can see this kind of home on canals or lakes.

Message Trail (writing)

A very quick writing task to encourage learners to paraphrase when they write is called Message Trail. This ice-breaker is easy to prepare – all you need are four sentences targeting vocabulary and structures previously learnt in class. Put learners into groups of four and give each person a piece of paper that has a different sentence. Tell learners they need to change one word in the message so that it still has the same meaning then pass the message to the person on their left. Keep passing and rephrasing the messages until the teams run out of ideas of how to paraphrase the sentences. Finally, have each team read out their final sentence to compare the types of paraphrases they came up with. The team with the most paraphrases that still reflects the meaning of the first sentence wins.

It’s also a good idea to do one example with the class. For example:

I rarely  have enough time to clean my room.

I hardly ever have enough time to clean my  room .

I hardly ever have enough time  to clean my bedroom .

I hardly ever  have  time  to clean my bedroom.

Only on rare occasions  do I have time to clean  my bedroom.

Only on rare occasions do I have time to  tidy up  my bedroom.

Paraphrasing for exam success

You’ll be doing your learners a great service by reinforcing how to paraphrase in the classroom, as it is a skill that is needed for exams from A2 onwards. For speaking assessments, for example, encouraging learners to paraphrase by rephrasing statements, questions or ideas, and saying them in a different way, results in higher marks.

Many listening and reading exams often have questions that test listening or reading for detailed meaning, gist, feelings, attitudes and opinions, all of which require learners to decode paraphrases. In order to achieve this, learners need to piece together the different paraphrases they hear or read in order to arrive at the correct answer. So even at the lower end of the CEFR scale, paraphrasing comes into play.

Writing exams generally award lower marks if learners simply lift vocabulary off the question paper rather than paraphrase the information provided to complete the task. For example, the new B1 Preliminary Part 1 Writing task requires learners to write an email in about 100 words using four note prompts in a situational email. Learners should always aim to rephrase the prompts and the language that appears in the email in order to receive higher marks. Importantly, they need to identify what type of information they need to write about, rephrase information in the email and add their own ideas.

email

For example, learners should avoid copying large segments of text that appear in the email like this:

I’m really happy we’re working on the science project together too!

Encourage them to paraphrase like this:

I’m so glad we’re going to be partners for the science project!

Hopefully, by developing your learners’ ability to paraphrase in the classroom, they’ll have the skill and confidence to perform well in exams. However, the real icing on the cake is for learners to become self-aware of the power of paraphrasing and how it can support their language learning journey.

About the author

judy alden bio picture a

Judy Alden originally comes from Vancouver and has over 18 years’ experience teaching in South East Asia and Europe. She combines being a freelance assessment writer with delivering teacher training workshops, while also writing ELT course books and materials for international publishers.

As an assessment writer based in the UK, she often gets asked to produce listening assessments varying between British and American English. Judy has also written young learner assessment materials for the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education. 

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Advancing Learning: Confessions from an obsessive language learner: what I have learnt from continually studying languages for 32 years

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Advancing Learning: Developing real conversation skills

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Advancing Learning: Does anyone really need to use a dictionary?

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Advancing Learning: EMI: English as a medium of instruction

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Advancing Learning: The Fifth Skill – ‘viewing’

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Advancing Learning: Five strategies to help students cultivate a growth mindset

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Advancing Learning: Gamification

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Advancing Learning: Global Citizenship Education in the ELT classroom

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Advancing Learning: Guilt-free teaching – how your students learn more when you plan less

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Advancing Learning: Helping very young learners improve their collaboration skills

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Advancing Learning: How to approach essay writing

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Advancing Learning: Long live 'Life Skills'!

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Advancing Learning: Making blended learning useful and effective

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Advancing Learning: Moving towards learning-friendly teaching

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Advancing Learning: Multisensory learning in the inclusive classroom

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Advancing Learning: Online Language Teacher Education

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Advancing Learning: A practical guide to online professional development

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Advancing Learning: The secrets of using learning routines with young children

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Paraphrasing Techniques : Enhancing Pedagogy for Educators

In the realm of pedagogy, the concept of paraphrasing typically conjures thoughts of its utility in students’ academic endeavors.

However, what often remains less explored is the profound potential of paraphrasing techniques for educators themselves.

This can be achieved through the judicious application of paraphrasing techniques facilitated by modern paraphrasing tools.

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Ways Teachers Can Improve Pedagogy By Utilizing Paraphrasing Methods

What is paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is expressing a text or a passage in a new way while retaining the meaning of the original text. Essentially, it means changing words, shuffling sentence structure, and use of alternate voices. It is considered one of the best practices for teaching and overall, in the world of writing.

Improved Communication With Students

This is a sad one but not any teacher’s fault I believe. A teacher believes their way of teaching is the best as it’s easier to understand and explain to them. The students may think otherwise.

Growing up, I remember the kids rooting hard against the teacher who failed to explain tricky concepts to us. I feel ashamed now but I was just a kid and those were different times. Present time allows teachers to get help from any online paraphrasing tool  to help them prepare lectures.

paraphrasing strategy teaching

Just look at how the tool effortlessly explains the same thing but in a less jargon way. It can make those tenacious teachers finally realize the flaws in their methods by introducing new and easier ways of elaborating tough concepts.

Increased Class Engagement

The best teachers, in my opinion, are those who are actively engaging  their classrooms and not just reading paragraphs from a book for the sake of it. Those teachers have my respect. It’s one thing to paraphrase your lectures for teaching but another when you ask your students to do it.

The greatest learning experiences involve active participation from all the students and it’s the teacher’s job to make everyone participate. Paraphrasing enables students to break out of their typical thinking molds and look at the problem more critically, something even the best textbooks can fail to emulate.

Designing Outlines

When planning the lectures, teachers can create outlines that are much easier to give lectures from. Typically, the teachers prepare the lecture and then write down the key points to make it easier to connect point to point during the lecture.

It would be nice if the outline had clarity and was easy to read. Don’t want to be a deer in headlights when giving lectures. Don’t want to give students another reason to make fun of teachers.

To avoid this, the teachers can use paraphrasing techniques to craft outlines that are silky smooth to read off of and give lectures from.

paraphrasing strategy teaching

By Handing Out Paraphrasing Assignments To Students

This may seem like a cop-out point but let me explain. If the teachers are going to be handing out paraphrasing assignments, then you can assume they already know their answers.

Meaning they worked on the assignments and in turn improved their work. They have new ideas for explaining the same topics and it gives them an edge in teaching. The same logic can be applied to students. Paraphrasing exercises open up their minds to the possibility of critical thinking skills  and vocabulary improvement.

Students learning new things and improving in their academics is in fact, the direct result of teachers improving their work.

The problem with old-generation teachers (I’m resisting the urge to say, boomers) is that respectfully, they don’t adapt. They don’t want to adapt. They feel they know everything which is true to a certain extent.

I also believe that they should always be highly regarded but how far can you stretch that sentiment without a teacher’s willingness to improve their work? At least, the new-gen teachers are far more willing to take the bold step of improving their work.

Paraphrasing techniques used in paraphrasing tools are a way of improving their work by a margin. All it requires is some willpower from the teacher’s end.

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Rubina Numan

Rubina Numan, a seasoned Instructional Designer, is renowned for innovative, learner-centered experiences merging pedagogy with technology. With a BSc (IDT) from the University of Huddersfield , she holds over a decade of experience collaborating with diverse educational realms.

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Paraphrasing Strategy Resources:

  • Paraphrasing, Jerry Deyoung HS Economics Teacher, Riverbank CA (00:03:36) (Video)
  • Paraphrasing: Paul Kurdziel, English Teacher, Muskegon, MI (00:04:11) (Video)
  • Paraphrasing Strategy Class Demo ( Credit Unknown )(00:03:46) (Video)
  • Paraphrasing Strategy Group Practice (00:02:45) (Video)
  • Expert Commentary: Paraphrasing - Don Deshler, Keith Lenz (Video)
  • Paraphrasing: Chris Romero, Academic Strategies - Riverbank, CA (00:04:18) (Video)
  • Video Resources from the 2003 Paraphrasing Online Academy CD
  • Paraphrasing presentation (ppt)
  • Paraphrasing Strategy Scoring Activities (from PD Guide)
  • Paraphrasing Strategy study guide (doc)
  • As you read the manual activity
  • Muskegon High School 2003
  • Access CE and LS Checklists
  • I NSTRUCTIONS for the progress monitoring tool
  • Progress Monitoring tool for Paraphrasing  ENABLE MACROS
  • Description of Paraphrasing Strategy from the SIM website
  • Scoring Tips - Ehren, Graner, Cooke 2004
  • Paraphrasing Feedback checkis t
  • Paraphrasing Unit Organizer and handouts
  • Paraphrasing Strategy Key Learning Points handout
  • As You Read Activity
  • Building a House on Sand - Faggella-Luby, Graner, Deshler, Drew
  • Paraphrasing Unit Organizer
  • Sesquipedelian activity handout
  • Wandering in the Wilds Handout
  • Contents of Student Folder
  • Feedback Checklist - Basler
  • Paraphrasing Warm Up Activity - Fagan
  • Paraphrasing Cue Card Classroom Posters - Singh

Resources from Florida SPDG

  • Mini Cue Cards
  • Progress Chart
  • Verbal Practice Checklist
  • Paraphrase Score Sheet
  • RAP Bookmarks
  • Feedback Checklist
  • Student Folder Checklist

Teachers can access Florida Live Binder assets. Share this link and password: .  

https://www.livebinders.com/play/play_shared_binder/2667898?play_view=play . Password. LS PS

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Stratenotes and Strategrams

  • Strategram Volume 1 No. 3 Example Paraphrasing Progress Chart, Paraphrasing Verbal Checklist, Proper Use of Progress Charts
  • Strategram Volume 3, No. 1 Teaching the Paraphrasing Strategy to Younger Students
  • Strategram Vol. 3, No. 6 Paraphrasing Assignment Sheet 
  • Strategram Vol. 8, No. 4 , April, 1996: Using Persuasion to Present the Paraphrasing Strategy - and A Sentence to help remember the Paraphrasing Mnemonic - Emmett Murray
  • Strategram Vol. 8, No. 5 , July, 1996: Strategy Sticker Reminder for the Generalization Stage of Paraphrasing and Sentence Writing
  • Strategram Vol. 12, No. 5 , May, 2000: Tips for teaching paraphrasing - Gwen Berry
  • Strategram Vol. 10, No. 1 Study shows benefits of Paraphrasing Strategy in general ed middle school classrooms
  • Strategram Vol. 13, No.1: An Activity to introduce Main Idea and Details - Margaret Carmean
  • Strategram Vol. 14, No. 3 , March, 2002: Recommended reading: Passages for Paraphrasing and Word ID
  • Strategram Vol. 17, No. 5 , August, 2005: Active Reading to support Paraphrasing Strategy instruction
  • S trategram Vol. 15, No. 6 Using color to teach Main Ideas and Teamwork - Sue Woodruff
  • Strategram Vol 17, No. 1 Taking Notes on a Textbook: Combining Paraphrasing Strategy and Framing Routine
  • Paraphrasing Strategy Research slides
  • Oas, B.K., Schumaker, J.B., & Deshler, D.D. (1995). Learning strategies: Tools for learning to learn in middle and high schools. Secondary education and beyond: Providing opportunities for students with learning disabilities. Pittsburgh, PA: Learning Disabilities Association of America. This article uses student case descriptions to illustrate how a variety of learning strategies--including the Self-Advocacy Strategy, Sentence Writing Strategy, and Paraphrasing Strategy --might be implemented with students who experience an array of learning disabilities characteristics.
  • Schumaker, J.B., Deshler, D.D., Woodruff, S.K., Hock, M.F., Bulgren, J.A., & Lenz, B.K. (2006). Reading strategy interventions: Can literacy outcomes be enhanced for at-risk adolescents? Teaching Exceptional Children, 38 (3), 64-68. In two studies, students who learned reading strategies outperformed students who did not.
  • RAP: A Reading Comprehension Strategy for Students with LD and Concomitant Speech-Language Impairments or ADHD - Suzanne E. Kemp, 2017, Journal of Education and Training The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a paraphrasing cognitive strategy that consists of read, ask, put (RAP) on reading comprehension.
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Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is finding another way to say something when you don't know how to say it.

Two people looking at items in a market in South Korea

Paraphrasing is not only an essential skill for all speakers but also key to learners developing communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language.

Example The learner is describing a photograph of a glider and doesn't know the word, so paraphrases by saying ‘an airplane that uses the wind'.

In the classroom One way to practise paraphrasing is through word games. For example, in a definition game learners have to provide paraphrases, so that others can guess the original word. This can be done in written form in crossword activities as well.

Further links: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/heroes-villains-pride-prejudice-0 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/windrush-generation https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/green-great https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creativity-language-classroom  

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The Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy

"Fundamentals in Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy cover photo"

Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing helps older students acquire the fundamental skills they need to be able to identify and paraphrase main ideas and details. Lesson topics include paraphrasing words, phrases, and sentences; identifying details, topics, and main ideas; creating summaries; and more. These skills are foundational to being able to paraphrase and summarize information and are required when students write answers to questions or write reports in school.

There are multiple products associated with this strategy. Instructor materials are available through the KUCRL Shop .  Student materials are published by Edge Enterprises, Inc. 

Please note that professional development, coaching, and infrastructure support are essential components to effective implementation of SIM instructional tools and interventions. It is highly recommended that you work with a SIM professional developer.

An Online Professional Development Module is available for this strategy.   See the SIM Event list for sessions or email [email protected] to learn more.

Author(s): Jean B. Schumaker, Jim Knight, and Donald D. Deshler

Publication Info: Edge Enterprises, 2007

Research on the Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy (.pdf)

An accessible version of the documents on this site will be made available upon request. Please contact the KU CRL Professional Development Research Institute, at [email protected] to request the document be made available in an accessible format.

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Using Evidence: Effective Paraphrasing Strategies

Effective paraphrasing strategies.

If you are having trouble paraphrasing a text effectively, try following these steps:

  • Reread the original passage you wish to paraphrase, looking up any words you do not recognize, until you think you understand the full meaning of and intention behind the author's words.
  • Next, cover or hide the passage. Once the passage is hidden from view, write out the author's idea, in your own words, as if you were explaining it to your instructor or classmates.
Have I accurately addressed the author's ideas in a new way that is unique to my writing style and scholarly voice? Have I tried to replicate the author's idea or have I simply changed words around in his/her original sentence(s)?
  • Last, include a citation, which should contain the author's name, the year, and the page or paragraph number (if available), directly following your paraphrase.

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Become a Writer Today

How To Teach Paraphrasing To Students? 6 Important Steps

Paraphrasing is an essential part of a writer’s skill set. Here, we’ll explore how to teach paraphrasing to students.

Paraphrasing is vital when writing a research paper, article, or other academic work. While quoting others is essential in academic writing, you’ll also need to show that you can summarize important researched concepts in your own words. This improves the readability of your work and makes it clear you’ve adequately researched and that you understand the concepts behind your paper.

When paraphrasing, you’ll need to use citations to avoid plagiarism, giving credit to authors where credit is due. Suppose you’re discussing a concept or idea for the first time in your work (and it’s not an original thought). In that case, academic integrity standards require that you attribute the thought to the author who first developed it–this can be easier said than done. Nevertheless, paraphrasing and correctly attributing concepts to their rightful source is an important writing skill that students and authors alike need to master to write academically sound work.

Here, we’ll explore precisely what paraphrasing is, how to paraphrase with integrity, and ways to teach it to high school students, English language learners, and others interested in boosting their reading strategies.

Step 1: Ensure Your Students Understand Paraphrasing

Step 2: choosethe right paraphrasing format , step 3: teach students about plagiarism, step 4: attribute information while paraphrasing, step 5: reword, rearrange, realize, recheck, step 6: have students practice with paraphrasing activities.

How To Teach Paraphrasing To Students? Ensure your students understand paraphrasing

The idea of paraphrasing is simple–it’s taking another person’s work or idea and putting it into your own words. Ensure that you teach students precisely what paraphrasing is and the purpose of paraphrasing. While paraphrasing comes naturally to some people, others struggle to put academic text into their own words. Teaching paraphrasing can help students delve into their knowledge base, using the already familiar concepts to explain academic work in a new light.

Teach your students how to select the correct paraphrasing format. For example, when writing an academic paper, you often collect the latest research on a topic to help your reader further understand your thesis. This means that many of the ideas you discuss are pulled from research studies and literature reviews. Of course, you must include the latest research to support the main points of your work, but unless you’re a doctoral student in your field, it’s unlikely that any of your writing is based on your research projects.

Paraphrasing allows you to share ideas developed and researched by others without continually pulling quotes from academic journals and research studies. Sometimes, quotes can be necessary, such as when you’re working to prove a point with statistics or want to refer to a specific conclusion that a scientist or other researcher drew during their study. Other times, however, you’ll want to get the main point of the study or paper across to your reader without relying on long blocks of text from an academic journal (which may be difficult for your reader to understand if they are not experts in your area of study). This is where paraphrasing is key.

When you paraphrase academic work, you’re making it easier for your reader to understand where you’re coming from. You’re providing them with the general idea of the concept rather than forcing them to wade through the nitty-gritty academic details that can make it tough to stay focused on the main point. As long as you practice proper attribution when you paraphrase, using this skill to convey information to your readers can be an excellent way to help them understand your main point.

Tips for avoiding plagiarism

When used correctly, paraphrasing is not plagiarism. You must always reference and credit the source, and if you’re teaching others the ins and outs of good academic writing, it’s key to teach your students to do the same.

When sources are not cited to the authors, your work loses academic integrity. There’s nothing inherently long with paraphrasing, but you need to ensure that you give credit where it’s due.

When citing authors as your paraphrasing, stick with the citation format preferred by your professor or editor. For example, many professionals use APA or MLA format, which includes in-text citations and citations at the end of the work.

You’ll use an in-text citation the first time you reference an idea by an author. In subsequent paraphrasing of the author’s work, you won’t need to use the full citation again (unless you’re referencing a new work by the author), but you’ll still have to attribute the thought or idea to the author. Your specific formatting style will provide guidelines on citing the same author multiple times within the exact text.

When paraphrasing information, there’s no need to use quotation marks (unless part of your paraphrasing requires a direct quote–such as a specific fact or statistic–in the author’s own words).

Teaching paraphrasing can be challenging, as many students struggle to read information and restate it in their own words. However, with some practice, students can learn how to take an author’s ideas and reformat them into their own words. Many teachers use a concept known as “the four R’s” to teach paraphrasing: reword, rearrange, realize, and recheck.

  • Reword : In this step of learning how to paraphrase , students read the original information and develop synonyms that can be used to take the place of words in the original work. It may be helpful to provide your students with an online or digital thesaurus to help them in this stage of the paraphrasing process. It can take time for students to figure out how to put another author’s work into their own words, and it’s normal for students to read a passage a few times to figure out where they can reword specific phrases.
  • Rearrange : During this part of the process, students move words around to get the same general idea across to the reader without using the exact wording of the original author. Typically, it makes sense for the rearranged phrase to come after the reword phase, as this allows students to create a flow that makes sense for the reader.
  • Realize : Here, students learn to remember that some parts of an original text can’t be changed, such as a statistic or date. As long as the statistic or date is cited correctly, there’s no need to use quotation marks or treat the information as a quote from the original work. When teaching paraphrasing to students, be sure to let them know that they aren’t doing anything wrong by keeping these hard facts in their explanation of the author’s original idea.
  • Recheck : In this final phase of the paraphrasing process, students their paraphrased work to ensure that it makes sense. For many students, reading their paraphrased work aloud can provide valuable insight into the flow of the text. In addition, students may find it helpful to have another student check their work to make sure it contains the same ideas as the original work while still rephrasing and rearranging the words to ensure that plagiarism isn’t occurring.

Many fun activities can be used in the classroom to help students learn how to paraphrase. Separate the class into small groups. In the groups, give each student an individual paragraph to paraphrase. Have groups trade their work. Present the group with both the newly paraphrased work and copies of the original work, and have the new group work match the paraphrased versions of the work with the original work.

Students can also paraphrase one another’s work. For example, ask students to write short paragraphs about a topic they’re knowledgeable about (sports, a celebrity, a specific topic they’re studying in school–anything goes), then trade their work with another student. The second student paraphrases the original work, and then reads it back to the original student, who can critique whether they felt the spirit of the original work was embodied in the paraphrased version.

For more help, check out our round-up of the best paraphrasing tools available.

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Part of the Integrating Literacy Strategies into Science Instruction Curriculum Collection.

The purpose of teaching the paraphrasing strategy to students is to give them a tool for monitoring their own comprehension as they read science text. Proficient readers have an ongoing internal dialogue with the text as they read. When comprehension breaks down, they notice, and they use fix­up strategies to repair comprehension. The ability of a reader to paraphrase, to put into one’s own words, text written by an author, is a good indication that the reader understands the text.

When first introducing the paraphrasing strategy, the teacher should select a text that is not overly complex for students. The goal of that initial lesson is for students to experience what it feels like to paraphrase successfully. Additionally, it is recommended that students paraphrase orally to a partner without annotating in the margins when the strategy is first introduced. While annotating is a very helpful strategy, the point in this introductory lesson is for students to get a sense of what the internal dialogue between the reader and the text feels like, and adding a writing step may take the focus away from this goal for some students.

Ideally, students will reach a level of independence that will allow them to identify when they need to stop and paraphrase while reading. It is a tool to use when they come across a particularly complex sentence or section of text. A good guideline to give students when they are first applying the strategy is to have them stop after each paragraph, or chunk, and summarize what they have read. If they cannot do this, they should probably reread and paraphrase. A note about vocabulary: while a few unfamiliar words in a complex science text would be fine, it is advisable that teachers ensure that students have some familiarity with the domain­-specific vocabulary in a text that they select for teaching students to paraphrase. If the text is loaded with new science terminology with which they have no prior experiences, it will be difficult for students to paraphrase successfully.

Resources for Paraphrasing  

These resources were developed with the generous support of The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation.

paraphrasing strategy teaching

Paraphrasing resources educator guide

The educator guide will help educators use the "Teaching academic integrity: Paraphrasing" unit to its full potential.

The Educator guide will help educators use the "Teaching academic integrity: Paraphrasing" instructional resource pack to its fullest potential. This series of teaching resources are ready to use in the classroom. Upon completing the activities, students will be able to:

  • describe what, when, and why to paraphrase in writing
  • apply a wide range of strategies to paraphrase different types of passages
  • recognize the importance of including accurate citations to paraphrased text

The Influence of Teaching Strategies on Students’ Paraphrasing Skills

  • 2(3):130-137

Daljeet Singh Sedhu at Universiti Teknologi MARA

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Chee Choy at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College

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THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS' PARAPHRASING STRATEGIES: A CASE STUDY

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How to Use Paraphrase to Help English Language Learners

  • Keren Perles
  • Categories : Esl teaching tips & strategies for any grade level
  • Tags : Teaching english as a second language

How to Use Paraphrase to Help English Language Learners

Why is Paraphrasing Important for ELLs?

It is important to use paraphrase to help English language learners because paraphrasing is one of the main methods that ELLs will be able to use to clarify that they have understood something correctly. For example, if a bank teller explains to an ELL the terms of a loan, the ELL should learn to clarify by saying, “So what I understand from what you’ve said is…” and to paraphrase what was heard. The same applies in many areas of life, including academic work, social settings, and professional situations.

Helping ELLs Paraphrase

Asking an English language learner to orally paraphrase what she has heard may put her on the spot, and she may be unable to paraphrase well. In order to show her how to paraphrase what she’s read, have her write down the paraphrase and then read it aloud. If she is having difficulty paraphrasing what she’s read, consider introducing her to a backwards web graphic organizer. This organizer looks like a web, with a large circle in the middle connected by lines to several smaller surrounding circles. The student can then insert details from what she’s read into the outer circles and then combine these details to fill in the central circle.

Paraphrasing Sentence Frames

Write a list of paraphrasing sentence frames on the board, and encourage English language learners to use them. The list might include any of the following:

  • So what I heard you say was…
  • From what you said, I understand that…
  • Can you tell me if I understood correctly? It seems that you said…
  • When you said…did you mean…?

Broken Telephone – A Paraphrasing Game

You can also play a game of broken telephone to help your students paraphrase. Have the class sit in a circle, and instruct every second student to tell a story – personal or otherwise – to the student on their right. When all of the pairs finish telling and hearing the stories, have the listeners to turn the student on their right and retell what they’ve heard. Continue until the story travels around the entire circle, and have the last listener of each story tell the story to the entire class. Ask the original teller of each story to explain if and how the story changed while going around the circle.

These activities use paraphrase to help English language learners communicate effectively with those around them. Encourage students to practice this skill over the course of the year, and praise those who do so spontaneously.

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The Joy of Teaching and Learning, Birth to 5

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  • Playful, Joyful and Engaging Environments 
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Watch these webinars to learn about practical strategies for engaging in guided play to foster curiosity, joy, and lifelong learning. Explore your role as teacher, researcher, and tinkerer and discover ways to adjust the learning environment and teacher-child interactions through the plan, observe, and tinker process. Hear about strategies to support highly individualized teaching and learning that ensures all children can participate, learn, and thrive.

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National Centers: Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning

Audience: Teachers and Caregivers

Series: Teacher Time

Last Updated: August 1, 2024

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  1. Paraphrasing Strategy by Jonathan Rothman

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  5. Paraphrasing and Summarizing

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COMMENTS

  1. Teaching Students to Paraphrase

    But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills: It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text.The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the ...

  2. Teaching How to Paraphrase, Step by Step

    Review and Reinforce: Recap the key points of paraphrasing. Emphasize the PARA acronym and the importance of rewording and rearranging text. Assignment: Assign a short passage for students to paraphrase. Encourage them to use the strategies learned in class. Closing: Thank students for their participation.

  3. Paraphrasing Strategy

    The Paraphrasing Strategy is designed to help students focus on the most important information in a passage and to improve students' recall of main ideas and specific facts. Students read short passages of materials, identify the main idea and details, and rephrase the content in their own words. In research studies, students showed average ...

  4. In Your Own Words: 5 Ideas for Teaching Paraphrasing

    Comparing Summarizing to Quoting and Paraphrasing. From the start, students should know that they will utilize paraphrasing to lend support to their ideas by providing evidence through the use of paraphrasing and quoting sources. Quoting is used similarly to paraphrasing, and teaching these two writing techniques together can highlight the similarities and differences for students, hopefully ...

  5. Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies

    Paraphrasing is an essential skill that helps learners develop their communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language. In other words, it's an empowering skill that enables learners to keep learning new words or phrases similar to the ones they already know. This is why in this article we're going to look at a paraphrasing ...

  6. Paraphrasing Techniques : Enhancing Pedagogy for Educators

    What Is Paraphrasing? Paraphrasing is expressing a text or a passage in a new way while retaining the meaning of the original text. Essentially, it means changing words, shuffling sentence structure, and use of alternate voices. It is considered one of the best practices for teaching and overall, in the world of writing.

  7. How to teach paraphrasing creatively

    Answers: 1. breakfast, dinner/supper 2. orange juice, lemonade etc 3. bath, wash. Many everyday phrases and words can be paraphrased like this. There are certain patterns that students can learn together and they can also create (or least experiment with!) new combinations if we encourage them.

  8. The Paraphrasing Strategy

    Strategram Volume 3, No. 1 Teaching the Paraphrasing Strategy to Younger Students. Strategram Vol. 3, No. 6 Paraphrasing Assignment Sheet. Strategram Vol. 8, No. 4, April, 1996: Using Persuasion to Present the Paraphrasing Strategy - and A Sentence to help remember the Paraphrasing Mnemonic - Emmett Murray.

  9. PDF Principles of Paraphrasing

    In education and psychology , the use of long quotes is not preferred. Paraphrasing allows you to succinctly compare, contrast, and synthesize the ideas of scholars in your field. Paraphrasing allows you to represent the ideas of others and demonstrate how your own ideas relate to and build on the ideas of other scholars.

  10. Paraphrasing

    Paraphrasing is finding another way to say something when you don't know how to say it. Paraphrasing is not only an essential skill for all speakers but also key to learners developing communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language. The learner is describing a photograph of a glider and doesn't know the word, so paraphrases ...

  11. The Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy

    The Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy. Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing helps older students acquire the fundamental skills they need to be able to identify and paraphrase main ideas and details. Lesson topics include paraphrasing words, phrases, and sentences; identifying details, topics, and main ideas ...

  12. Academic Guides: Using Evidence: Effective Paraphrasing Strategies

    Effective Paraphrasing Strategies. If you are having trouble paraphrasing a text effectively, try following these steps: Reread the original passage you wish to paraphrase, looking up any words you do not recognize, until you think you understand the full meaning of and intention behind the author's words. Next, cover or hide the passage.

  13. How To Teach Paraphrasing To Students? 6 Important Steps

    Step 5: Reword, Rearrange, Realize, Recheck. Teaching paraphrasing can be challenging, as many students struggle to read information and restate it in their own words. However, with some practice, students can learn how to take an author's ideas and reformat them into their own words. Many teachers use a concept known as "the four R's ...

  14. Paraphrasing

    Paraphrasing. Part of the Integrating Literacy Strategies into Science Instruction Curriculum Collection. The purpose of teaching the paraphrasing strategy to students is to give them a tool for monitoring their own comprehension as they read science text. Proficient readers have an ongoing internal dialogue with the text as they read.

  15. Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Paraphrasing

    Paraphrasing Strategies. The following are some tips, tricks, and strategies to help students avoid plagiarism and learn how to properly paraphrase original published work in their own writing. Reading for Comprehension. The original text must be read and re-read until the writer has thoroughly understood its full meaning and can restate it in ...

  16. Paraphrasing resources educator guide

    This series of teaching resources are ready to use in the classroom. Upon completing the activities, students will be able to: describe what, when, and why to paraphrase in writing. apply a wide range of strategies to paraphrase different types of passages. recognize the importance of including accurate citations to paraphrased text.

  17. Paraphrasing: Lesson Plan

    The important skill of paraphrasing is initially interrogated in this lesson and eventually plans relating to summarizing and quoting will be added. There is an interactive equivalent to this plan, "Paraphrasing In a Pinch", which can be used in a classroom that has an electronic device for each student and a strong WiFi signal. The interactive plan can also be used to flip a classroom.

  18. Literacy level 4

    Introduce the learning intention. We are learning to put what we have read and understood into our own words. This is called paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is a strategy that helps us to understand what we read. I am going to show you how to do this by using an example from page 18 of the text we are reading today.

  19. Paraphrasing Strategy Instruction for Struggling Readers

    This study inv estigated. the effects of the paraphrasing strategy taught using the self-regulated strategy development model. Participants were. six third grade students identified as fluent ...

  20. PDF Paraphrasing

    Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing Paraphrasing Paraphrasing can be difficult. If you're struggling to paraphrase a source, try using some of these 7 strategies: Strategy Original Example Paraphrase 1. Use synonyms A. The global population has increased significantly. B. Scientists predict that the population will exceed 10 billion. A.

  21. The Influence of Teaching Strategies on Students' Paraphrasing Skills

    This paper ex amines the influence of teaching strategies on the paraphrasing skills of. English- as-second-language learners. Data for this study was obtained from the teacher. using reflective ...

  22. (Pdf) the Influence of Teaching Strategies on Students' Paraphrasing

    The results of this study also suggest that teaching paraphrasing strategies to students may not help them in actual writing tasks. ESL students may receive greater benefit from the appropriate choice of passages used than in strategies. Appropriate passages include ones that are easy to comprehend, have obvious main points, have appropriate ...

  23. How to Use Paraphrase to Help English Language Learners

    This article will explain the reasoning behind teaching paraphrase and methods of how to do so. ELLs can use paraphrase to communicate more effectively with those around them. ... Esl teaching tips strategies for any grade level (137) French lesson plans for secondary grades 6 12 (49) Fun activities crafts for grade school (397) Fun learning ...

  24. Teaching and Learning Strategies

    Teaching and Learning Strategies Before you consider instructional methods, it may be useful to consider your theoretical framework for teaching. Many educators leverage a blend of methods that align with their epistemological framework across instruction. Though no method is innately "good" or "bad," there are methods that tend to have a ...

  25. The Joy of Teaching and Learning, Birth to 5

    This season of Teacher Time highlights the joy of teaching and learning. Learn practical strategies to engage in guided play, observation, intentional teaching, and inclusive practices.