HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY \ FACULTY OF ENGLISH ====== M.A THESIS USING NOTE-TAKING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE LISTENING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS OF SECOND YEAR STUDY (CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM 2 BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP NOTE-TAKING) PHAN VU HONG TRANG Date of birth: 03/01/1985 Field: English Language Code: 8. Nguyen Thi Van Dong Hanoi, 2023 ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled USING NOTE-TAKING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE LISTENING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS OF SECOND YEAR STUDY submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2023 Phan Vu Hong Trang Approved by SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thi Van Dong Date:…………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to offer my most heartfelt thanks to everyone who was instrumental in the successful completion of this thesis.
It's possible that I wouldn't have been able to complete my work without their guidance and input. To begin, I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Van Dong. Throughout the process of completing this thesis, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Van Dong has supported me, generously supplied me with insightful direction, and provided me with helpful criticism; without her, the thesis would be a long way from being done. Without her, the thesis would not be nearly as complete as it is now. In addition, I would want to express my appreciation to each and every one of the presenters. Second, I would want to express my gratitude to the members of the English Faculty at Hanoi Open University.
Their academic expertise, insightful lectures, and clear directions were all really helpful to me as I worked to finish the assignment. Thirdly, I would like to express my gratitude to the teachers at the Library Department of Hanoi Open University. They made it much simpler for me to search the resources needed for this thesis and borrow them. Finally, I would want to express my gratitude to my family, my seniors, and my instructors for your consistent support and encouragement over this time period.
ii ABSTRACT This research is anticipated to improve the auditory comprehension of Hanoi Tourism College sophomores by teaching them effective note-taking techniques. The paper aims to achieve the following objectives: Examining the strategies employed by students when responding to the listening task and determining whether note-taking strategies can have a positive impact on students' listening skills; determining how note-taking strategies aid students' listening skills. To accomplish the purpose of the study, the researcher utilized a sequential mixed method of explanation that incorporated quantitative and qualitative techniques. Sequential explanatory is a hybrid method in which quantitative data collection is followed by qualitative data collection in order to strengthen the quantitative data.
Students' pre- and post-test results are qualitatively analyzed to extract pertinent information. Assessments and interviews are used to collect information using quantitative methodologies. Tests and interview results are communicated utilizing descriptive language. Examining whether note-taking strategies have a positive impact on students' listening skills; determining how note-taking strategies aid students' listening skills.
The results of the test imply that note-taking strategies could improve the listening skills of sophomores at Hanoi Tourism College. According to the results of the interview, students believed that taking notes improved their listening skills. ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language HTC Hanoi Tourism College IELTS International English Language Testing System St1 Student 1 St2 Student 2 St3 Student 3 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: The results of Pre-listening test and Post-listening test 26 Table 2: Statistical Table of Pre-test and Post-test Results 27 Figure 1: The results of Pre-listening test and Post-listening test 28 Figure 2: The number of Students Applying Strategies 36 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: Introduction 1. Aim and objectives 3 1.
Methods of the study 3 1. Scope of the study 6 1. Significance of the study 6 1. Structure of the study 6 CHAPTER II: Literature Review 2.
Note-taking strategies for listening skills 9 2. Effects of note-taking strategies 11 2. Types of note-taking Strategies 12 2. Mind Mapping Strategies 12 2.
The Cornell note-taking Strategies 14 2. Summary 18 CHAPTER III: Research Methodology 3. Population and sample 23 3. Methods of Analysis 26 3.
Summary 28 ii CHAPTER IV: Using note taking strategies to improve students’ listening skills 4. The results of tests 30 4. Applying strategies results 36 4. The results of interviews 37 4.
Note taking strategies to improve students’ listening skills 47 4. Summary 50 CHAPTER V: Conclusion 5. Limitation of the study 55 5. Recommendations and suggestions for further research 56 REFERENCES APPENDICES ii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale It is true that students often struggle with listening skills, particularly second- year non-English majors. The majority of students struggle with their listening abilities, and a sizeable proportion cannot hear anything. Humans are capable of communication, mutual understanding, and the sharing of the roles of speaker and receiver. Heylen (2009) contends that the interaction process involves a speaker and a passive listener who considers and comprehends the discourse.
Listening is a fundamental talent that must be learned, as stated by Rest (2011) and Ahour and Bargool (2005). Students need to be able to listen to audio in English and have a complete understanding of the content or dialogue being conveyed in order to be successful in learning a second language such as English. Language learning is facilitated by participating in this activity. According to Nunan (1999), the ability to listen is on par with that of Cinderella in terms of prestige.
(published in 1993 by Oxford, and in 1992 by Scarella and Oxford) Listening is a skill that is necessary for second-language learners to develop in order to be able to acquire the other three skills, such as reading, speaking and writing. Listening is widely recognized as a fundamental skill; hence, it is crucial that students of any language be instructed in the capacity. When it comes to studying English as a second language, students at higher education institutions are a good example of English language learners who should work on improving their listening abilities. There are two methods in which students digest what they have heard, and those are top-down processing and bottom-up processing.
The process in which listeners translate sounds into words, words into phrases, and clauses into sentences. In contrast to the bottom up method, the top down method enables viewers to comprehend information that goes beyond words or phrases. This indicates that various viewers have varied methods of analyzing the information that they receive. The students have the ability to choose the alternative that best suits their needs.
However, it is crucial that top-down be an efficient strategy for eliciting correct information since it pushes students to evaluate phrases beyond their literal meaning. This is why it is essential that top-down be an effective technique. 1 "Note-taking" is a skill that, when used regularly, may help a person improve their listening capacity as well as their ability to retain information. According to Boch and Piolat (2005) and Gur, Dilci, Cosgun, and Delijan (2013), which are also quoted in Ahour and Bargool (2015), taking notes is an essential method for both listening to and reading material.
Students are unable to use this method when new material is offered to them, despite the knowledge that practicing it might increase their memory and problem- solving skills and that they are not able to do it currently. In this particular scenario, English teachers encourage their students to take notes while they are reading and listening to assignments so that they may enhance their overall performance and their ability to take notes. According to Dunkel and Pialorsi (2005) and Haswell and Lee (2013), when students are given the opportunity to take notes while listening to a lecture, they report feeling more at ease while responding to post-listening questions. Some students have difficulties, as a result of challenges, isolating the most essential ideas from the auditory stimuli.
According to research done by Brown and Yule (1983) and Nunan (1991), the four things that make listening difficult are the speaker's accent and pace, the role of the audience, the content, and the use of visual or practical assistance. The findings of the investigation indicate that certain students at Hanoi Tourism College have trouble listening and taking notes. This is the reason why this research is being carried out: to establish which strategy is applied, and how it contributes to the improvement of students' listening abilities. It was found via casual observations and conversations with the author's students that one of the issues impacting their listening skills was their poor use of listening strategies.
This was determined based on the findings of these observations and conversations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the different methods of note-taking that students use. A great number of research, such as the one that Kirkgoz (2010) carried out, have been carried out on the topic of "note-taking strategies in listening" in order to nurture note-taking abilities for regular listening skills and educational institutions where English is the language of instruction. 2 A number of studies, including Khavazi et al.
(2018), Hayati and Jalilifar (2009), Ahour and Bagool (2015), and Boran and Yi (2012), study the impact that taking notes has on one's ability to do well in listening tasks. The purpose of this research is to explore the methods of note-taking that students who have successfully finished English for Academic Purposes have used in order to enhance their English listening abilities. There has been no previous research carried out on this subject so far. In addition, the precise tactics used by each student are investigated throughout this research.
Aim and objectives It is anticipated that the research will assist students in their second year at HTC to enhance their listening comprehension by making more effective use of note-taking practices. The following are some of the goals that the paper intends to accomplish: • Discovering the strategies that the students used in order to respond to the listening assignment and determining whether or not they may have a beneficial effect on the listening abilities of students. • Understanding how students may improve their listening abilities by using note-taking strategies and what note-taking strategies can assist students to improve their listening skills. What different kinds of note-taking strategies do the students use? 2.
Can they have positive impacts on students’ listening skills? 3. How might students improve their listening abilities by using an approach that involves taking notes? 1. Methods of the study The purpose of this research is to discover how students might enhance their listening abilities via the use of different note-taking procedures and to evaluate the improvement of students' listening skills. 3 As a result, qualitative and descriptive approaches were used in the process of data collection.
In order to address the question of how students took notes during the English listening test, the researcher also examined the students' note-taking materials. The research consisted of a pre-test, a post-test, and interviews to determine the extent to which taking notes improves students' listening skills. In this investigation, qualitative descriptive methods were used to cast light on the interview and document data collected. Various research methods, including qualitative, quantitative, descriptive, and analytical techniques, were employed to conduct the study.
The results of both the pre-test and post-tests administered to students are analyzed qualitatively in order to obtain pertinent information. After the information is gathered through assessments and interviews, it is frequently subjected to quantitative analysis. When conveying the results of examinations and interviews, descriptive language is frequently employed. The analysis is used to evaluate the information obtained through interviews and tests.