A recent study proposed a rational for investigating the effects of mediating tasks upon a summary writing activity for tertiary-level students using English as an educational medium. The tasks in this study involved a group discussion or a reading comprehension exercise, with a third condition providing for immediate access to the text and summary instruction with no mediating activity. A subsequent comparative analysis of the content of summaries written by students under these three conditions revealed substantial difference on the selection and weighting of summary topics according to task conditions. Current comparisons focused on topic selection and relative prominence and on lexical density as a measure of the texture of the spoken and written discourse by self-report questionnaires given to 80, first-year economic students at the University of Hong Kong. Findings suggest interdependence between reading input and written output. It is suggested that student enthusiasm for the task adversely affected the written outcome in that interests were not perceived by the independent markers as being particularly salient to the text and the summary task. Appendixes present the text and student questionnaire used. (Contains 20 references.) (NAV)