MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING LAC HONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ---------- AN INVESTIGATION INTO LAC HONG UNIVERSITY’S FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ NOTE-TAKING HABITS IN MACRO SKILLS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR EFFICIENT APPROACHES Cohort: 2019 DONG NAI, May 23rd 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING LAC HONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ---------- AN INVESTIGATION INTO LAC HONG UNIVERSITY’S FIRST- YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ NOTE-TAKING HABITS IN MACRO SKILLS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR EFFICIENT APPROACHES DONG NAI, May 23rd 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. i THE RECOGNIZANCE FOR NON-PLAGIARISM. ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iii LIST OF CHARTS.
iv CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Statement Of The Problem. Significance Of The Study. Limitations And Scope Of The Study.
4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of note-taking skills in academic context. The importance of note-taking skills to students. The relation of note-taking and learners’ cognitive abilities.
The reality of note-taking application in Vietnamese educational contexts. Existing note-taking approaches. 17 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Aims And Objectives.
Population And Sampling. Data Collocation Instruments. 28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. English freshmen’s note-taking habits during macro skills lessons.
Students’ awareness of note-taking. Students’ application regarding note-taking. Students’ demands for note-taking. English freshmen’s prospect in applying note-taking:.
Note-taking behaviours during macro skills classes. Note-taking effects on students. Note-taking potential as a learning tool in macro skills. 39 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
For FEL Students. For FEL Lecturers. For the Faculty of English language. 51 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The success of the project is a combination of the hard work and dedication of many individuals who have worked tirelessly to ensure that every aspect of the project is executed.
Moreover, their contributions have been invaluable in positively shaping the project's outcome, and their determined support and guidance have been a source of inspiration and motivation for me every step of the way. It is important to acknowledge the astounding efforts of those who have helped to make this project a success, and I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has played a part in the successful completion of this project. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Lac Hong University, the management board of the English language department and all the lecturers for their intangible support from enthusiastically imparting valuable knowledge to giving invaluable opportunities in the research process. Secondly, words cannot express my gratitude to Mr.
Hoang Vinh Loc. This endeavour would not have been possible without his patience and guidance. Since the first day of conducting this research, his endless devotion to teaching, directing and assessing has been a huge inspiration, encouragement and direction to me. I am also grateful for the tremendous and important expertise as well as knowledge which he has undoubtedly shared with me for my university years and especially in my academic journey.
I am also grateful for the beloved lecturers and students who positively supported and participated in the survey contribution. Many thanks for their moral support and great contribution to the completion of this research. Lastly, I would like to recognize my family and friends for their practical and emotional assistance throughout the process of conducting this research. Despite comprehensive research, it is inevitable that the work may still be limited.
To help improve the study, I invite constructive suggestions from lecturers, experts, family, friends and anybody interested in the subject. ii SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence – Freedom - Happiness THE RECOGNIZANCE FOR NON-PLAGIARISM Affiant: I – Nguyen Vu Minh khanh - hereby guarantee the following responsibility to Lac Hong University. I hereby guarantee that the entire research report is the original creation from the affiant above. This work does not involve any plagiarism from others.
If the fact proves an entire or partial plagiarism from any other party, the eligibility of the affiant will be expired immediately, the given diploma will be cancelled by Lac Hong University. If Lac Hong University needs to apologize to the third party due to the proved plagiarism of the affiant, he or she must take fully legal responsibility for compensating Lac Hong University. The affiant has guaranteed to possess the entire intellectual property of this research report. This thesis must not violate the intellectual property of the third party.
If the affiant’s illegal violation of the intellectual property damages any rights of Lac Hong University, or causes any lawsuit between the third party and Lac Hong University, he or she must take fully legal and financial responsibility. Dong Nai, May 23, 2023 Signature of Affiant Nguyen Vu Minh Khanh iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION EFL: English as a Foreign Language FEL: Faculty of English Language LHTL: Learning How to Learn LHU: Lac Hong University iv LIST OF CHARTS Figure 4.The importance of note-taking under English major freshmen perspective in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4. Note-taking definition under English major freshmen perspective in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4. Note-taking habits of English major freshmen in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4.
Note-taking method acknowledgement of English major freshmen in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4. Note-taking frequency of English major freshmen in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4. Note-taking application after main learning session at the University of English major freshmen in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4. Note-taking application purposes of English major freshmen in LHU during macro skills classes Figure 4.
The difficulty level of performing note-taking according to the participants. Statement of the problem 1 Learning a foreign language has long been a familiar concept for people. When exposed to and absorbing a new language, learners explore themselves and the world around them differently. In addition to their needs, the requirement for foreign languages at work, especially English, has been and is still a milestone for many learners and employees.
Nevertheless, many employees believe that learning a foreign language has been a difficult challenge since they were in school. In addition to external factors related to the learning environment, curriculum, psychology, or study time that affect students' ability to absorb English, learners’ ability to self-study at the same time also has become the foremost focus of English teachers (Ronglin, 2019). When acquiring English knowledge from books, teachers or other sources, English learners should know how to synthesize and transform learning into a personalized form so that their knowledge of the target language can be truly consolidated. An effective method of personalizing knowledge into intellectual perception is the application of note-taking techniques, which can be exploited in learning to translate information and knowledge from the teacher into a useful set of notes according to the learners' perceptions and thoughts (Boyle et al.
However, when language learners do not take notes seriously and fully, they tend to develop passive learning by relying on other people's thinking, not their own. This passive learning which is prevalent in traditional teaching has been shown to fail students in actively engaging with the lessons and retaining as much material after the class (Michel et al. Note-taking seems like a simple action, but wrongly implementing it brings unpredictable results in the context of academics in particular and learning ability in general if the way of thinking is eroded and the ability to synthesise and analyse is not developed through a long period of passive learning. According to the researcher’s observation in her own class at university, a large number of her classmates tend to load up much knowledge to prepare for exams and soon after that they forget almost all about it because they mainly rely on books, handouts, and photos of lecture slides.
This alarming fact urges the researcher to conduct a study into the note-taking habits of first-year English majors at the Faculty of English Language (FEL) – Lac Hong 2 University (LHU) and propose the most appropriate and effective methods of taking notes. Purposes To promptly prepare note-taking skills for students to be more active in learning, this research aims to investigate English first-year students' note-taking trends and suggest suitable note-taking methods to improve students' learning capacities while studying macro skills. The investigation first detects note-taking habits and raises awareness of this activity among both students and lecturers. Secondly, the impact of applying proper note-taking methods in macro skills is also generalized to suggest and create a note-taking strategy.
Thirdly, by suggesting researched and considered methods in note-taking, learners should be motivated and encouraged to change their learning style into an active one and then implement note-taking tools. Significance of the study The investigation on note-taking skills in English should be carried out because of the potential to help first-year English majors at LHU enhance their capability in studying macro skills and build a better perspective on other linguistic subjects such as semantics, syntax or interpretation. Gradually, they need to improve themselves to become well-English applicators in many disciplines rather than just regular users, especially in the current era when English has become a common language worldwide. Having known efficient note-taking approaches, those students will be able to unlock and connect numerous personalized knowledge to establish an innovative mindset.
Furthermore, the researcher hopes to offer lecturers at FEL a crucial insight into their students’ note-taking practices in order to select optimal teaching approaches and encourage and assist them to become more qualified note-takers, which eventually contributes to improving the students’ learning outcomes and life-long learning ability. Limitations and scope of the study This research is performed on definite objects: the English freshmen of LHU; therefore, the result of analyzing the habits and suggested note-taking methods is still limited to other out-of-scope circumstances. Besides, there has not been much official quantitative regarding note-taking practices and techniques application in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context in Vietnam to examine. As a result, the outcome of this study is more subjective and requires additional research to be more valid.
Research questions This research is conducted to address the following questions: What are English freshmen's note-taking habits when studying macro skills at LHU? How do note-taking activities influence students’ learning aspects? What note-taking methods can be applied to enhance students' learning abilities in macro skills lessons? 1. Hypotheses It is hypothesized that students are still affected by passive learning habits throughout their studying time at high schools. Although note-taking skills have become more publicized in the students’ community, the technique is still poorly utilized and misused due to the passive habits, leading to poor performance in English learning processes. However, with the introduction of powerful note-taking methods related to learning macro skills in English, problems regarding note-taking can be improved, bringing about the change of passive learning style into a more active one.
4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2. Definitions of note-taking in academic contexts Note-taking definition in learning has been determined under various aspects throughout time and concepts. Ganske (1981) defined note-taking as one of the powerful objective indicators as a form of direct correspondence to a learner's thought processes; however, it has largely been ignored by the educational community. One research regarding note-taking even claimed that it is entirely inefficient and irrelevant to learning (Gagne, 1970).
However, this is not the case; three conducted studies have stated that the activity of note-taking could be more functional relative to only listening skills (Kiewra, 1987). Furthermore, due to its robust nature, students often presume note-taking as a simple "information copying" activity rather than a complex one (Piolat et al. In contrast, note-taking activities, which are heavily based on the central executive functions of working memory to comprehend, select, and produce processes concurrently rather than duplicate or imitate what is heard, observed, or thought, are the basis and foundation of cognitive functions (Piolat et al.