A Model of Assignment of Importance and its Contribution to Main Idea Instruction and Assessment

Abstract

This paper presents the difficulties in assessing and teaching the ability to identify main ideas in EFL: the lack of consensus on what the term main idea means; the difficulty in establishing a criterion for main idea identification; the gap between research and EFL reading instruction. Attempting to bridge this gap, we propose that it is important for teachers and test constructors to become acquainted with models of assignment of importance to information which have already received support from previous experimental research. Finally, we conclude that due to the complexity of the construct (ability to identify main ideas), there is a need for further experimental and ethnographic research.