Viet Nam national university
Ha noi university of languages and international studies
Faculty of post-graduate studies

phạm thị kim liên Students perceptions of note-taking
skills to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test
at Equest English center

(nhận thức về kỹ năng ghi chép thông tin của học sinh
đang tham gia các lớp luyện thi TOEFL iBT tại Trung
tâm tiếng Anh Equest)

M.A. MINOR THESIS Date: 25/11/2011
ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge all my lecturers of the Post-Graduate Department, Hanoi

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. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ………………………………………………………………………
i
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………
ii
Abstracts……………………………………………………………………………
iii
Lists of abbreviations ……………………………………………………………

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

v
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 …………………….


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 4: Students' difficulties in taking notes
21
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

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 2

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;

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.
4

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:

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 & 6

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

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). 8

1.3. Difficulties in taking notes

According to Shang (2007), the reasons why students could not concentrate on their listening

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


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 11

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


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.
13

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.


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
15

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

(N = 50):

No
Questions
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? 100
0
90
10
94

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.

18

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.

46
0
16
38
46
0
18
46
36
4
14
22
36
24
4
24
32
40
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1