VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH TRANG A STUDY ON IMPLEMENTING THE CORNELL NOTE-TAKING METHOD IN LEARNING THE BRITISH CULTURE AND SOCIETY SUBJECT OF THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI Nghiên cứu về việc áp dụng phương pháp Cornell note-taking trong môn học văn hóa xã hội Anh của sinh viên năm thứ hai tại một trường đại học ở Hà Nội M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Ha Noi, 2024 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH TRANG A STUDY ON IMPLEMENTING THE CORNELL NOTE-TAKING METHOD IN LEARNING THE BRITISH CULTURE AND SOCIETY SUBJECT OF THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI Nghiên cứu về việc áp dụng phương pháp Cornell note-taking trong môn học văn hóa xã hội Anh của sinh viên năm thứ hai tại một trường đại học ở Hà Nội M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Lê Văn Canh Ha Noi, 2024 DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this Master Thesis constitutes my own product, that where the language of others is set forth, quotation marks so indicate, and that appropriate credit is given where we have used the language, ideas, expressions or writings of another.
I declare that the paper describes original work that has not previously been presented for the award of any other degree of any institution. Candidates’ Full Name Signature 1. Nguyen Thi Quynh Trang ………. APPROVED BY: Supervisor’s Full Name Signature Date Assoc.
i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I cannot express enough my sincere appreciation to all of those who have supported me during the procedure of making the Master Thesis. First of all, it is my task to record my thankfulness to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Graduate studies, Vietnam National University, University of Languages and International studies for teaching me during the past two years. In this course, my knowledge has been significantly broadened, and we know the way to apply various subjects into this Paper. Especially, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr.
Le Van Canh (Ph.), who is my supervisor in guiding me to carry out the study carefully. In the very first days, he explained to me clearly about all the required steps that we actually needed to take. He also gave me valuable comments and advice to make my paper become more and more preferable. The completion of this paper could not be accomplished without the support and the encouragement from my friends, and my families.
Therefore, I try my best to overcome all the challenges and difficulties together to conduct the research. Thanks to everyone for all. ii ABSTRACTS The purposes of this paper are to examine whether utilizing the Cornell note-taking method has a positive impact on the British Culture and Society learning of 2nd –year students at a university and to provide the importance of note-taking in processing, recording, and studying content area information more effectively and independently in the subject. To obtain this goal, the author has reviewed effectiveness of the Cornell note-taking method through previous research.
Every aspect of the method has been mentioned including origin, format and techniques for taking and using Cornell notes successfully; especially, the effectiveness of the Cornell system has been demonstrated through data collected from previous research all of which serves as the mainly theoretical base for this whole study. The next section will be in charge of interpreting and discussing the findings basing on the data analysis. Additionally, the researcher makes connections to other findings from earlier research. The Action Research is included in this thesis.
Besides, some suggestions on taking Cornell notes and using them as learning materials for reviewing and testing efficiently are then mentioned, and recommendations for further study in the research field are also given in the paper. It is the fact that there are numerous different strategies for each learner to deal with the note-taking in British Culture and Society learning. Therefore, all of findings and recommendations conducted from this research are not beyond the purpose of helping students overcome many of the difficulties of lecture learning and note-taking as well as to help them attain better comprehension and better review by using high quality notes. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP.
iii LIST OF FIGURES. Rationale for the study. Statement of the problem. Significance of the study.
Aims of the study. Design of the research. Definition of note-taking. Roles of note taking in learning.
Factors that make note-taking challenging. The Cornell note taking format. Suggestions for taking and using Cornel notes successfully. Effectiveness of the Cornell note-taking method through previous research.
Why Action Research is used in this study. Data from the first questionnaire. Data from the second questionnaire. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Interpretation of findings. Discussion- Implications of the Cornell notes for lecture comprehension and memory. Implications for lecture comprehension. Implications for memory.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. I v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Cornel Note-Taking Format. Directions for the Cornell note-taking method.
Example of Cornell notes. Ratings of satisfaction for existing note-taking methods. Assessment of the impact of using of the Cornell-note-taking method. Rationale for the study 1.
Statement of the problem Most subjects at universities now are being represented in classes through lectures that are long and include a variety of knowledge, and it is fact that the teachers then always require the pervasiveness of lecture from their students. That is reason why I need to create high quality notes that help students to attain better comprehension and better review. However, note- taking is a complex skill that needs the combination of comprehension and notes production; furthermore, this complicated process is dependent much upon working memory. So now, there is a well-organized note-taking method - the Cornell note-taking, implemented popularly in the world’s universities and is demonstrated to help students overcome many of the difficulties of lecture learning and note-taking.
British culture is one of the most difficult subjects for 2nd students to learn because it consists of too much information to remember and require the deep understanding from lectures to take its exam. At the end of the term, many students were in desperate for getting a very low score at this subject. The researcher hopes to improve the situation by trying on implementing the Cornell note-taking method on learning the British culture subject. Therefore, I make decision on choosing the research topic: “A study on implementing the Cornell note-taking method in learning the British culture and society subject of the second-year students at a university in Hanoi.
Significance of the study 99% of college students record their notes (Kenneth A. 72), and note-taking is a popular method used by and demanded from students. A consistent format aids learners in the note-taking process. Format also helps 1 organization of notes which benefits students when they use their notes for review.
Consequently, the researcher wants to gather meaningful information that has potential to improve students’ note-taking and study skills in order to more effectively support them become independent, autonomous and successful learners. The utilization of the Cornell note-taking system eliminated unorganized traditional note-taking methods and created a more organized, user-friendly tool for learners to use for study. As a result, students are willing to perform at their full possibility rather than feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. Pauk (1997) indicated that higher performance gives rise to best overall academic scores.
The findings and conclusions drawn from this study are intended to contribute knowledge in the field regarding effective note-taking and recall process for potential boosted achievement, as well as to offer data that may support inform future teaching practice in universities. This study is hoped to be helpful to second-year students in SOFL who are studying British Culture and Society subject in this semester. Hence, the researchers will provide the importance of note-taking in processing, recording, and studying content area information more effectively and independently in the subject. Aims of the study This study set out to examine whether utilizing the Cornell note-taking method has a positive impact on the British Culture and Society learning of 2nd –year students at SOFL.
Research question The research question guiding the study was “How does the use of the Cornell note -taking method impact on learning the British Culture and Society of the second –year students at SOFL?” 2 1. Research The researcher decided to choose action approach to guide the research; which means the findings of the research will be drawn out after collecting, measuring and analyzing numerical data. In this way, the researcher serves as an instrument to gather statistical data from a lot of different sources to resolve the research question. In this study, questionnaires are used as main data collection methods.
The former is expected to collect respondents’ assessment of the Cornell note-taking method while the latter is believed to bring the most objective data for evaluating participants’ achievement. Design of the research The research consists of three main parts: Part A. Introduction presents rationale, objective, methodology and organization of the research Chapter 1: Introduction Part B. Research Development Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature Review discusses the theoretical basis of the study including prominent theories of note taking in general and the Cornell note taking method in particular.
Furthermore, there is another part representing the overview of the British Culture and Society subject and difficulties for students during learning it. Research Methodology The chapter deals with the research development in-depth, including the research approach, participants and data collection methods employed with clear explanation and description. Data Analysis The collected data is analyzed in this part. Findings and Discussions Chapter 6.
Conclusion and Recommendations This part is in charge of interpreting and discussing the findings basing on the data analysis. Additionally, the researcher makes connections to other findings from previous research. Findings and Discussions Part C. Conclusion and Recommendations In this part, the whole study is recapitulated through the main points.
The recommendations for taking Cornell notes and using them as learning materials for reviewing and testing efficiently are then mentioned. Besides, the researcher also recommends some relevant topics in the research field for further research. Definition of note-taking According to Piolat, Olive & Kellogg (2004), on theory in a cognitive psychology, note-taking is an information management, an aspect of a complex human behavior that involves the coordination of underlying mental processes and their interactions with other cognitive functions, or it is the human’s information processing which consists of three stages (Lieberman, 2000). At the beginning, a memory is created when the sensory memory obtains information from the outside and converts it into a compatible format through the transduction process (Huitt, 2003).
However, due to the momentariness of a sensory memory, the information needs to be stimulating to the individual or recalling a stored pattern in the brain; or else it will not move on the next stage - the short-term memory. The sensory memory may be conveyed to the short term memory, also known as the working memory, which “is a kind of mental workbench where the author assembles information and then work on this information” for specific purposes (Lieberman 2000), at the second stage (Orey, 2001). Then, if there is no hindrance, In the last stage, the memory may move into long term memory if there is no hindrance. In practical terms, note-taking can be conceptualized as an activity that requires note-takers to gain and filter the incoming inputs, arrange and reorganize existing knowledge and, above all, they must store and incorporate the newly processed material.
The product of these cognitive processes is the remarkable information jotted down in a comprehensible manner.