Students' perceptions of note-taking skill to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test at Equest English Center = Nhận thức về kỹ năng ghi chép thông tin của học sinh đan

Viet Nam national university Ha noi university of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies ph¹m thÞ kim liªn Students’ perceptions of note-taking skills to

Viet Nam national university

Ha noi university of languages and international studies

Faculty of post-graduate studies

ph¹m thÞ kim liªn

Students’ perceptions of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test

at Equest English center

(nhËn thøc vÒ kü n¨ng ghi chÐp th«ng tin cña häc sinh

®ang tham gia c¸c líp luyÖn thi TOEFL iBT t¹i Trung

t©m tiÕng Anh Equest)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: V¨n Thị Thanh B×nh, M.A

Signature:

Pham Thi Kim Lien

Date: 25/11/2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge all my lecturers of the Post-Graduate Department, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, VNU for their interesting lectures as well

as valuable instructions during our M.A course 2009-2011

I would especially like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Van Thanh Binh, M.A for her encouragement and guidance throughout the study Without her help, this study would not be completed

I am also indebted to the English teachers and students at EQuest English Center for their assistance in collecting the data for this study

Finally, I wish to express my sincere thanks to my parents, my husband who supported and encouraged me during the time I conducted this thesis

ABSTRACTS

This study aimed at investigating students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills, their perceptions of benefits of note-taking skills, their perceptions of difficulties in taking notes, their perceptions of note-taking strategies to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test Participants were

50 students who are currently studying for the TOEFL iBT at EQuest English Center, Hanoi Findings from questionnaires revealed that (i) most of the students hold positive attitudes towards note-taking skills; (ii) many students perceived major benefits of note-taking skills such as concentrating on lectures, remembering information in the lectures, organizing the information after the lecture is over, answering the test questions better, feeling at ease; (iii) they encountered some challenges in taking notes like listening to the talks and at the same time take notes, missing important information while taking notes Besides, findings also showed that students perceived a lot of note-taking strategies and frequently employed those strategies such as writing down important information for each main point; significant details; using abbreviations, symbols; paraphrasing (using easier words); using outlining; organizing notes visually; separating different ideas from each other; highlighting particularly important information Some suggestions for improving the effectiveness of note-taking skills have also been given in this study It is hoped that the study would contribute a small part to the improvement of English teaching and learning, particularly to the training of note-taking skills

at EQuest English Center as well as to those who concern this issue

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstracts……… iii

Lists of abbreviations ……… vi

Lists of charts ……… vi

PART A : INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.Rationale ……… 1

2 Aims of the study ……… 2

3 Scope of the study ……… 3

4 Methodology ……… 3

5 Significance of the study ……… 4

6 Design of the study ……… 4

PART B ………

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ………

5 5 1.1 Definition of note-taking ……… 5

1.2 Benefits of note-taking ……… 5

1.3 Difficulties in taking notes ……… 8

1.4 Strategies of note-taking ……… 8

1 5 Relevance of the problem to the TOEFL iBT ……… 9

1.5.1 Introduction to the TOEFL iBT test ……… 9

1.5.2 The importance of note-taking skills in the TOEFL iBT test ………… 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ……… 13

2.1 The context of the study ……… 13

2.2 Methodology ……… 14

2.3 Participants ……… 15

2.4 The questionnaire……… 15

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ……… 16

3.1 Students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills ……… 16

3.2 Students’ perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills ……… 18

3.3 Students’ perceptions of the difficulties in practicing note-taking skills 20

3.4 Students’ perceptions of note-taking strategies ……… 22

3 5 Discussion ……… ……… ……… ……… 29

3.5.1 Students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills ……… 29

3.5.2 Students’ perceptions of benefits of note-taking skills ………… 30

3.5.3 Students’ perceptions of difficulties in note-taking skills ……… 31

3.5.4 Students’ perceptions of note-taking strategies ……… 31

3.5.5 Conclusion ……… ……… ……… ……… 32

3 6 Summary ……… ……… ……… ……… 33

PART C: CONCLUSION ……… ……… ……… ………… 34

1 Summary of the study ……… ……… ……… ………… 34

2 Implications of teaching note-taking skills ……… ……… 35

3 Limitations of the study ……… ……… ……… ……… 37

4 Suggestions for further studies ……… ……… ……… 38

REFERENCES……… ……… ……… ……… 39 APPENDIX ……… ……… ……… ……… I

LISTS OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills 16

Chart 2: Students’ perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills 18

Chart 3: The number of students encounters difficulties in taking notes 20

Chart 5: The number of students taught to take notes 22

Chart 6: How frequently students use note-taking strategies

(The strategies that students used most frequently in taking notes)

24

Chart 7: How frequently students use note-taking strategies

(The strategies that students used less frequently)

26

Chart 8: How frequently students use note-taking strategies

(The strategies that students used least frequently)

28

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as Foregin Language

ETS: Educational Testing Services Organization

HULIS: Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

L1: English as the first language

L2: English as the second language

TOEFL iBT: Test of English as Foreign Language, internet-Based Test

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Note-taking is regarded as a useful study skill because it can assist students not only in remembering what they have heard or read, keeping them focused on the subject area and to the task at hand (Kesselman-Turkel and Peterson, 1982), but also extending their attention span during lectures (Rowntree, 1976) The reason is when taking notes, they use multiple senses and multiple activities including reading or listening then writing, using brain and muscles, etc Besides, note-taking skill is considered an indispensable tool in preparing for the exams in general, and the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) in particular With the emergence of the TOEFL program in which test-takers are not allowed to take notes, note-taking has become an interesting topic to a handful of researchers They mainly concern whether note-taking has facilitative effects on test takers' performance and to decide whether note taking should be allowed or not Some researchers are in favor of the view that note-taking is effective because it serves to focus on the main point of the lecture or conversations, students are, thereby, more likely to answer questions accurately Others are against note-taking because taking note during listening distracts learner's concentration ability, and that they will miss a substantial number of major details Not to mention some arguments supporting the idea that note taking does not help students since they often answer the questions based on their memory without referring the notes at all In other words, it is unimportant whether to take notes or not However, in 2005, the new version of TOEFL, TOEFL Internet-Based Test (iBT), was introduced by Educational Testing Services Organization (ETS), note-taking is permitted throughout the test This means that note-taking,

to great extent, plays an important part in students' taking the TOEFL iBT test

However, note-taking is regarded to play a critical role in examinees' taking the TOEFL test by mostly teachers and researchers Little is known about students' perspectives of the benefits of note-taking skill for the TOEFL iBT test Whether note-taking is facilitative or detrimental

depends on students themselves If they have positive attitude towards note-taking, they will practice taking notes to answer the questions in the test Meanwhile, they will not take notes when the teacher asks them to note down information from listening or reading passage

As an English instructor, the author has observed that some students are aware of the role of note taking skill while the others frequently do not realize the importance of taking notes Sometimes, they are reluctant to practice note-taking skill, they write down information just because the teacher asks them to do so Some students explain that they can remember information, so they do not necessarily have to take notes or learn to take notes Others mention that they will be distracted from listening when they note down information, thus, they will not take any notes to avoid missing specific data

Why are students not willing to learn and apply note-taking skill in studying for the TOEFL iBT test? What are their perceptions of note-taking skills for the TOEFL iBT test? Two above mentioned questions have drawn my interest in conducting the current research on students' perceptions of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test

2 Aims of the study

The study is carried out with the aims at:

- Surveying students' attitudes towards note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test;

- Investigating students' perceptions of benefits of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test;

- Discovering students’ perceptions of difficulties in practicing note-taking skills;

- Examining students’ perceptions of note-taking strategies;

- Giving some recommendations for EQuest teachers to help students improve the effectiveness of note-taking skills

It is hoped that the study will be useful for teachers and students in general and for those at EQuest English Center in particular

To reach the aims of the study, the following questions are given:

1 What are EQuest students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test?

2 What are students’ perceptions of benefits of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test?

3 What are students’ perceptions of difficulties in practicing note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test?

4 What are students’ perceptions of note-taking strategies to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test?

3 Scope of the study

Because of the framework of a minor thesis, the author only focuses on 50 students currently preparing for TOEFL iBT test at EQuest English Center to figure out their perceptions of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test

4 Methodology

The aim of this research is to find out the students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills and perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills, students’ difficulties in note-taking skills and their note-taking strategies A descriptive research is carried out as it is the most suitable method to obtain the aim Although this method has its own limitation, specifically, the results collected may not reflect the matter proposed precisely To lessen the invalidity and unreality, the researcher explained instructions meticulously to students, and collected questionnaires right away to make sure that students answered each questions themselves The answers are completely objective and not controlled by the researcher

5 Significance of the study

The study highlights the importance of note-taking skill as a critical study tool to improve English in general and to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test in particular Its findings are expected to be useful for instructors and students at EQuest to be aware of the essential role of note-taking The researcher of the study hopes that the suggestions provided will be helpful for EQuest teachers to teach note-taking skills effectively

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts:

Part A is the introduction, which provides brief information about the study such as rationale,

aims, scope, methodology, significance and design of the study

Part B including three chapters:

Chapter 1 deals with the literature review relevant to the study

Chapter 2 describes the context of the study and how the study is conducted

Chapter 3 presents data analysis and interpretation of the results obtained from the

questionnaires

Part 5 is the conclusion which reviews what has been presented in the study and suggests

some implications for improving note-taking skills

PART B CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Definition of note-taking

Note taking is wildly accepted as a useful strategy for augmenting student attention and retention of academic discourse (Dunkel, 1988) Note-taking is intuitively appealing to the learners of English and is generally viewed as one class of mathemagenic activity that facilitates the process of learning and remembering lecture material (Cleverhan, 1995; Crawford, 1925; Dunkel, 1988; Dunkel & Davy, 1989; Kiewra, 1987; McKenna, 1987; Palmatier & Bennet, 1974) While, Peck and Hannafin (1983) define note-taking as a process involving listening, information encoding, cognitive processing, and recording information in written form Note-taking takes place at the third stage of listening, where listeners have to get the relationships of sounds words into some forms meaningful to them In others words, before learners take meaningful notes, they first have to go through a meaningful thought process of organizing and identifying

1.2 Benefits of note-taking

In the literature, there has been an emphasis on two general functions of note-taking including encoding and external storage (Divesta & Gray, 1972; Fisher & Harris, 1973) Di Vesta and Gray (1972) stated that the encoding function of note-taking allows the learner to transcribe whatever subjective and associations, inferences, and interpretations occurred to him or her while listening The encoding mechanism ensures that information that a listener receives is first properly understood, and then encoded into memory By the encoding process, a learner’s awareness and concentration can be improved (Hartley & Marshall, 1974), attention to the information can be increased (Frase, 1970), his or her awareness of the organization of the talk can be enhanced (Dunkel & Pailorsi, 1982; Einstein, Morris, & Smith, 1985), and his or her comparison between the information heard and prior knowledge can be induced (Di Vesta &

Gray, 1972) Learners can potentially benefit from the encoding function when they experience deeper processing during the lecture while taking notes, and when the kind of notes they take entails processing information helpful to them in examinations (Anderson & Armbruster, 1986) Therefore, the mere act of taking notes without any opportunity to review such notes will enhance performance In other words, a learner’s memory for information can

be increased merely by recording lecture notes even without reviewing On the other hand, the external storage mechanism of note-taking provides a learner a resource for later study or reference (Di Vesta & Gray, 1972) Howe (1976) also suggested that a major reason for taking notes is that learner can keep a permanent and convenient record of information and knowledge The function of external storage indicates that a learner’s performance will be facilitated by the review of what is stored in a written form

In studying the effects of note-taking on the retention and recall of lecture information, Crawford (1925) stated that taking notes on a point did not guarantee its being recalled at the time of quiz, but failing to take note of it decreased greatly its chances of being recalled (as cited in Dunkel and Davey, 1989) According to Dunkel (1988), note-taking is perceived by examinees as a strategy that facilitates remembering the lecture content Kiewra (1989) also claims that note-taking is beneficial for at least two reasons Firstly, note-taking aids lecture learning by activating attentional mechanisms and engaging the learner’s cognitive processes

of coding, integrating, synthesizing, and transforming aurally received input into a personally meaningful form Secondly, note-taking is seen as beneficial because the notes taken serve as

an external repository of information that permits later revision and review to stimulate recall

of the information heard In a study of college students' theory of note-taking, Van Meter, Yokoi, and Pressley (1994) noted that most college students take notes in most classes because note taking is the primary means of creating “a record of information” that is presented in lectures Similarly, Rickards, Fajen and Sullivan (1997) stated that those who were allowed to take notes related to the organization or content of the lecture recalled nearly the whole lecture later However, when they were not allowed to take notes, they did not remember the whole text

With regard to the researches on note taking of EFL learners, Hale & Courtney (1991) indicated that taking notes could help students recall the content easily Hale & Courtney (1994) also revealed that EFL students apparently had positive views about note taking in the classroom and that also indicated that note-taking can be useful as an aid to remembering lecture information, organizing the information and studying after the lecture is over, answering the questions better, making them feel more at ease, and Therefore, note taking can offer L2 learners such affective benefits as the sense of security and comfort besides the encoding and retaining functions

In 2002, the study by Carrell, Dunkel, and Mollaun also showed a facilitating effect on L2 listening comprehension when a group of examinees with heterogeneous L1s was allowed to take and refer to notes during mini-lecture listening They revealed that a positive effect for allowing note taking was found, shorter lectures produced a higher percentage of correct scores than longer lectures did According to Carrier (2003), students could remember the content easily from the key word notes, and note-taking could help students recall the content easily

According to Liu (2001), taking and having notes available during question answering had a significant effect on students’ recognition of specific information (but not general information)

in both immediate and delayed multiple-choice test performance Students could facilitate their listening comprehension by taking notes because they could pay more attention to the content (Yeh, 2004) Note-taking was also considered to be an effective strategy for students to promote their listening comprehension because they could concentrate more on the content and the process of note-taking in itself does enhance recall in Lin’s study (2005) One of the most recent studies conducted by Shang (2007) indicated that taking notes did not distract students from their listening process; instead then even paid more attention to the text and the students could recall the content of listening passages easily by reviewing their notes

Another study by Teng (2011) revealed that all participants considered note-taking to be important, the reasons included remembering key points of lectures, retaining the learning material better, organizing what the teachers said, and feeling more secure and confident (pp.483)

1.3 Difficulties in taking notes

According to Shang (2007), the reasons why students could not concentrate on their listening were lack of vocabulary and spending too much time in taking notes while listening to the text Lin (2004) also indicated that lack of vocabulary capacity was the main reason why the students could not effectively take notes while listening Besides, Engraffia, Graff, Jezuit, and Schall (1999) shared the same view that students did not know what to write down because of many unfamiliar vocabularies Likewise, Chen (2006) revealed that students could not take notes effectively because of lack of vocabulary capacity Another difficulty was that students spent much time in taking notes while listening to the text, which distracted them from concentrating on the content of listening passages (Cheng, 1996) Similarly, according to Lin’s (2004) study, students spent too much time in taking notes, so they could not concentrate on their listening

1.4 Strategies of note-taking

According to Dunkel (1988a), L1 and L2 note-takers who scored high on the post-listening test had comprised a large amount of information in their notes and had detected and noted information that subsequently appeared on the post lecture quiz Test achievement was not directly related to the quantity of the notes taken “but rather to the terseness of notations and the inclusion of potential test information.” (pp 269-270) Similarly, good notes were compared to those that contained the most information in the fewest number of words (Cushing, 1993) According to two-above researchers (Dunkel, 1988a & Cushing, 1993), general strategy is noted down a largest amount of information in a least amount of words With regards to the strategy of note taking, the study by Van Meter, Yokoi, and Pressley (1994) showed that students took down definitions, main points, important concepts and ideas, and information not well understood or not familiar They did not note down content that is common knowledge

Liu (2001) added that learners should be encouraged to “take down more content words when

required to recall specific information,” and as it might be a lost cause to spell out words fully,

to establish a “personalized shorthand system” According to Rost (2002), taking notes shifts the focus from the text to the taking of the notes Thus, skillful note-takers need to use shorthand and other techniques to get down the main points without losing focus on the text Strategies are more concrete in the study conducted by Carrell (2007), participants’ perceptions were that note taking strategies related to the content of the notes were used most frequently and were the most helpful to them (getting the main ideas and important facts, as opposed to writing down irrelevant comments or trying to write down everything the lecturer said) The next most frequently utilized and helpful note-taking strategies were those related to the efficiency of notes (using abbreviations, symbols, paraphrases, and omitting function words and using only content words) and review of notes (after the lecture to confirm comprehension and to answer test questions) Strategies involving the organization of the notes were reported as least frequently used and less helpful (using diagrams, numbers, lists, arrows, and highlighting) General note-taking strategies such as using neat handwriting and writing down unconnected words were reported as being used least frequently and as being least helpful (pp.25) Chang (2007) also claimed that most of the students were aware of some

of note-taking tips such as using symbol/abbreviation, looking for big picture, using keywords, and using space and heading

1.5 Relevance of the problem to the TOEFL iBT

1.5.1 Introduction to the TOEFL iBT test

There are a large number of resources providing information of the TOEFL iBT test, yet this study takes information from the official website of the TOEFL test, www.ets.org/toefl The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is an examination that is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is used to evaluate a nonnative English speaker's proficiency in the English language First introduced in 2005, the new TOEFL iBT is being gradually popular throughout the world Unlike other TOEFL tests, the new TOEFL iBT tests

all four language skills that effective communication requires: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing Some questions require the test taker to use more than one English-language skill and integrate information from more than one source TOEFL iBT helps test takers prove they can combine their English-language skills to communicate ideas effectively This ability is the key to academic success

Prior to the new generation TOEFL test was introduced to the world, note taking was not permitted in taking the TOEFL tests (paper-based test, computer-based test, and institutional testing program), cited in www.ets.org/toefl However, in the TOEFL iBT test, candidates are allowed to take note on any section of the test the same way they would do in a real college class They can use the notes when answering test questions The notes are collected and destroyed before the test takers leave the test center The test lasts four hours, test takers complete all four sections of the test in one day Scores are reported online, so test takers can view their scores online 15 business days after the test

Among four sections in the new TOEFL iBT test: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing, only Reading part necessitates test takers’ note-taking skills the least This section measures the test taker’s ability to understand university-level academic texts and passages Students will be asked to read three to five passages and answer 12-14 comprehension questions about each passage The last question in each set is normally the summary or category question, in which students can take notes from the reading passages to give answers more accurately The reason is that they do not view the text and those questions at the same time

In the Listening section, examinees will hear two or three conversations and four or six academic discussions, in other words, they have to listen to total six or nine listening passages within one hour or one hour and a half More importantly, questions will only be presented at the end of each passage one by one The conversations may take place during an office meeting with a professor or teaching assistant, or during a service encounter with university staff Students are quite familiar with these conversations’ content while the academic

discussions and classroom lectures reflect the kind of listening and speaking that occurs in the classroom Note-taking skill is allowed here, which may help candidates to retain major details; to follow the lecturers’ speed as well

The Speaking section requires examinees to respond to two independent tasks about familiar topics and four integrated tasks In the independent speaking tasks, test takers give responses basing on their own ideas, opinions, and experiences within 45 seconds The difficulty lies in fifteen-second-preparation for the response, so note-taking skills are essential to address to the task fully within the time allotted In the remaining four integrated tasks, test takers must read

a short passage; listen to a short talk; prepare in 20 seconds, after that respond within 60 seconds In other words, they have to read and listen attentively, prepare and give a full response under time pressure

The Writing section measures a test taker’s ability to write two writing tasks in an academic setting The first writing task-Integrated- requires students to combine information they have read in textbooks or other materials with they have heard in class lectures once only, and then write an essay within 20 minutes In this type of writing, if students take notes on what they hear and read, they can use notes to organize information before writing; paraphrase, and cite information from the source material accurately; write about the ways the information they heard relates to the information they read In writing task 2 – Independent- students express opinions relying on their own knowledge and experiences in 30 minutes

1.5.2 The importance of note-taking skills in the TOEFL iBT test

There are several supplementary skills that will help test takers succeed on the test as well as

in their academic studies Note taking is considered one of the most effective tools to improve their score Also, note taking is an important skill for any student to develop As mentioned in previous part, taking notes is considered as the most effective way to organize and remember what they hear in class, as well as what they read outside of class

To prepare for the TOEFL iBT, note-taking skills play an important role for the following reasons First, taking notes will help examinees focus their attention on the content of the listening passages (as mentioned in the previous part of benefits of note-taking) One obvious reason is that listening section lasts 60 to 90 minutes with 6 to 9 listening passages which really necessitates a high concentration of students Without taking notes, their mind may easily wander away Besides, the questions of listening part only emerge after the listening passage has finished Researchers also support that the amount of notes approximates the attention of students in lectures For example, Borich (2004) claims that students are more receptive to what they hear if they take down notes

Second, writing down information will help them to remember main ideas and details, not only in listening section but also reading, writing, speaking ones While taking notes, they are using listening and writing skills simultaneously, they are also using their brain and muscles It

is more likely for them to remember what they have heard Besides, note-taking skill is worthwhile strategy, in case they forget details, they can refer back to their notes According to Williams & Eggert (2002) that students are already engaged in some memorization work while taking down notes, especially when they are engrossed in deep comprehension of the source of their notes Note taking proves no less helpful in speaking tasks, note taking skill aids students’ memory when combining information from the listening passage to give a response

Finally, organized notes will help them to develop a well-organized speech or essay in the time allotted Taking the TOEFL iBT test, examinees have to constantly work under time pressure, without effective note-taking skill, it may be arduous for them to get high scores For example,

in integrated speaking tasks, within 20 to 30 seconds to prepare, a well-organized note may contribute to a well-organized speech Not to mention, integrated writing part if students neither note down the important ideas from the reading nor major ones from the listening, they will probably encounter difficulties in organizing a concise and effective essay within required time

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 The context of the study

EQuest English Center was founded in 2003 by a group of masters and doctoral graduates in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Netherlands EQuest is a provider of educational service for pupils and students, including training and preparation for international standardized tests such

as SAT, GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS

Among courses here, the new generation TOEFL, (TOEFL iBT) preparation courses are known as the trade-name of EQuest These courses often attract high school students in Hanoi who desire to study abroad, especially in America or university students who also dream to take master degree in U.S.A., even officials who long for further study abroad Students’ age may range from 16 to 30 years old They have to take the placement test and get more than 75 out of 120 points in order to enroll in a TOEFL iBT preparation class

The primary goal of this course is to help learners to earn outstanding points in the test, that is, get more than 90 out 120 points; other purposes are to help them improve their English skills,

to familiarize them with learning styles in America universities To achieve these goals, training program for TOEFL iBT classes is comprised of syllabus, ready-made updated materials and qualified teachers In comparison with the old version of the TOEFL test, many changes have been made to the new TOEFL test, TOEFL iBT, from format to test content, that

is, note-taking is only allowed in the TOEFL iBT test Thus, teaching methodology here will

be remarkably different in accordance with the new trend One of the helpful test taking strategies which students are trained to tackle the TOEFL iBT is note-taking skill

Each course lasts about 3 months, 3 sessions a week, and 2 hours a lesson Materials used for these courses are designed by EQuest (for in-house use only) Each lesson focuses on one skill, Listening, Reading, Speaking or Writing, and each skill is taught by one teacher, speaking is taught by a native instructor Each lesson is carried out with the help of modern technology such as computer, projector Learning outcomes are evaluated by regular tests and teacher’s daily reports Students also have chances to take the final test organized like in a real test site

Teachers of these courses are all bachelor and Master of Arts in English teaching, more importantly, they have real experience of taking the official TOEFL iBT test As a teacher here, the author has realized that not all students take notes when learning TOEFL iBT, they may encounter difficulties in note-taking, or they may perceive that note-taking does not help Thus, this urged me to carry out this study into EQuest students’ perceptions of note-taking skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test

2.2 Methodology

In order to serve the purpose of collecting data, 50 students from 5 classes at EQuest Center were invited to participate in the study The questionnaire was employed with emphasis on their perceptions of note-taking skill According to Cohen and Manion (1985), surveys are the most commonly used descriptive method in educational research, and may vary in scope from large scale investigations to small scales studies carried by a single researcher Questionnaire was also chosen as the means of collecting data because of its advantages such as low cost (Evalued, 2006), respondents had time to think their answers, information was collected in a standardized way (Milne, 1999) Questionnaire was provided in the appendix 1

After the data was collected, the researcher analyzed the data from the questionnaire The methods used to analyze the data collecting from the questionnaire were descriptive and statistical analysis

2.3 Participants

The total number of the students participated in the survey is 50 students who are preparing for TOEFL iBT, they are about 16 to 25 years old There level of English is intermediate or high intermediate (75-90 TOEFL iBT scores) They are planning to take the TOEFL iBT within 3 months with the goal of applying for scholarship to study undergraduate or graduate Their expected score ranges from 90 to more than 100 out of 120 points

2.4 The questionnaire

A questionnaire is designed to gather data about their opinions of note taking skills The questionnaire will be delivered after at least 5 lessons because it is the time that students have formed their perceptions of note-taking skills The questionnaire consists of 4 main parts Part 1 includes 5 closed questions with yes, no options to find out students’ attitudes toward note-taking skills Part 2 consists of 1 closed question designed according to Likert scale, whose options are from strongly disagree to strongly agree These questions seek for students’ perceptions of benefits of note-taking skills Part 3 consists of 1 closed question and 1 open question which clarify the students’ difficulties in taking notes Part 4 is comprised of 2 closed questions which aim to figure out student’s perceptions of note-taking strategies, how frequently they used those strategies One Likert scale designed question is used here with 5 options ranging from very infrequently to very frequently

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter will present and analyze the data collected from the survey questionnaires First, the data will be analyzed based on four research questions After that, findings and discussion will be introduced

3.1 Students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills

Students’ attitudes towards note-taking skills are summarized in chart 1 below

(N = 50):

1 Take notes when studying for the TOEFL iBT test?

2 Use notes when answering the test questions?

3 Think that other students should take notes when taking the

TOEFL iBT test?

4 Think that note-taking is important to get a better score in the

TOEFL iBT test?

As can be seen from chart 1, all of the students chosen (100%) answered for question 1 that they take notes when studying for the TOEFL iBT test

On the other hand, regarding question 2, not all of them use their notes to answer test questions 90% of the samples mentioned that they use their notes to address the tasks in the TOEFL iBT test 10% stated that they do not use their notes, yet they still take notes Perhaps, they may feel anxious without taking notes

In terms of the importance of note-taking, a great majority of students (94%) said that learners should take notes, whereas only 6% of the sample revealed that learners should not

Concerning question 4, most of the students (94%) believed that note-taking can help them to earn better score in the TOEFL iBT test, while 6% did not think so

The results shown in chart 1 generally reveal that students at EQuest had positive attitudes towards note-taking skills The number of students who hold negative attitudes towards this activity was minority They show conflicting views when stating that learners should not take notes and note-taking skill is not important to get better score, they still take notes when preparing for the TOEFL iBT test They possibly think that note-taking skill is important in a particular aspect, rather than enable them to achieve high score in the test

In order to know what the students perceive of the benefits of note-taking skills, the following section will be introduced in more details

No Statements/Options

1 Find note-taking skill useful to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test

2 Taking notes helps to concentrate on the lectures

3 Taking notes helps to remember the information in the lectures

4 Taking notes helps to organize the information after the lecture is over

5 Taking notes helps to answer the test questions better

6 Feel at ease when taking notes

7 Be advised to take notes

3.2 Students’ perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills

Chart 2: Students’ perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills (N=50)

2 10 20 36 32

12 28 14 20 26

2 12 40 46

0 16 38 46

0 18 46 36

4 14 22 36 24

4 24 32 40

Disagree strongly

%

The results illustrated in statement 1, chart 2 presented that more than two thirds of the students (68%) found note-taking skill useful to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test 12 % of the participants did not have the same perception 20% gave their neutral answers

In terms of restoring information, more than three quarters of the students (86%) found that note-taking helps them to remember information from the lectures One student (2%) denied this benefit; the others (12%) kept their neutral answers

In statement 4, 84% of the participants answered that they taking notes helps them to organize the information after the lecture is over None of them opposed to the statement given and 16% kept their neutral answers

Likewise, when being asked whether note-taking helps them to answer the test question better, a vast number of samples (82%) strongly agreed and agreed (36% and 46% respectively) A small percentage of informants hold neutral answers to this benefit (18%) No informant disagreed with this statement

Regarding students’ confidence, 60% of the students answered that they feel more at ease when they take notes 16% opposed to the statement given, and 22% had a neutral view

It is possible that taking notes is an arduous task, they feel more anxious than comfortable when jotting down information They may be afraid of missing important information to answer test questions

Concerning the idea in statement 7, nearly three quarters of participants (72%) said that they take notes because they are advised to do so While only 4% gave opposite points of view, 24% of students kept their neutral answer

Regarding level of concentration, the least proportion of the samples agreed (only 46%) while 40% denied that note taking helps to concentrate on the lectures Additionally, 14% chose their neutral options

To sum up, the results have pointed out that majority of the students well perceived of the usefulness of note-taking skills for the TOEFL iBT test Besides, a great deal of students had good perceptions of the benefits of note-taking skills, concluding remembering the information in the lectures, organizing the information after the lecture is over, answering the test questions better, feeling at ease, concentrating on the lectures It is also likely that most of