The Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Algiers at Bouzarah
Faculty of Arts and Languages
Department of English

Dissertation for the Degree of Magister in English (Linguistics & Didactics)

AN INVESTIGATION OF
LECTURE COMPREHENSION & NOTE TAKING STRATEGIES
OF SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BLIDA

Submitted by:
Supervised by:
Mr. Mamar Missoum
Mrs. Yasmine Boukhedimi
Academic Year 2006-07
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

CONTENTS

Definition of Terms
List of Acronyms
Chapter One: General Introduction
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
Chapter Three: Methods & Procedures
Chapter Four: Data Treatment & Presentation
Chapter Five: Discussion
Chapter Six: Implications
Chapter Seven: General Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Whats The Problem?

For many years (1995-2002), academic achievement in the
English Department at the University of Blida was lower
than average = more than 50 per cent of the student in the
different levels got an annual average lower than passing
grade (10/20)

Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Teachers in English Department at University of Blida
complaining about students low academic achievement.
Complaints consistent with researchers observations
during his thirteen-year experience as student & as
teacher in Department.
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The Research Rationale

Initial investigation 2nd year students annual grade averages for 2000-

2002 classes: 50% of students failed to obtain passing average

Preliminary survey- teachers rate students achievement at level
2/5
(Appendix A: Preliminary Survey Questionnaire: p179 & Appendix B: The Students Grades:
p180)

Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Purpose and Scope of the Study

Do 2nd year students in ED use adequate lecture

comprehension and note taking strategies to learn
efficiently from academic lectures?
Why select lecture comprehension and note taking as object for
present investigation of academic underachievement?
- The preliminary survey of the teachers
- Lectures most available source of knowledge for students
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Two: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Section One:
The Academic Lecture - Key Features
Section Two:
EFL Lecture Comprehension-Key Tasks & Strategies
Section Three:
Lecture Note Taking
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Two: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Section One:
The Academic Lecture - Key Features

Discourse of academic lectures distinctive: Discourse Markers propositional density - conceptual complexity - Linguistic
complexity - support media - interaction

Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Two
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Section Two:
EFL Lecture Comprehension-Key Tasks & Strategies
Using discourse markers & prior knowledge to Anticipate
discourse infer meaning select & synthesise information

Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blidac

Chapter Two
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Section Three: Lecture Note Taking

Long-term learning depends on taking good notes: a record of understanding.

3 phases:

-Taking Notes during Lectures: requires selecting, paraphrasing and

reducing lecture text

- Editing Notes: rereading, expanding, and organizing the content.

- Memory must be supported with timely review

Value of lecture notes for students derives from their quality. What parameters
could be used to assess the quality of students notes?
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Review of Literature
Listeners must use efficient strategies to cope
with demands of learning from academic
lecture.

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Three
METHODS & PROCEDURES

The Research Questions

Do 2nd year students in ED use adequate lecture comprehension and note taking
strategies to learn efficiently from academic lectures ?

Q 1: How would subjects perform on a test of lecture comprehension?

Q 2: Do the subjects use efficient lecture comprehension strategies?
Q 3: How would subjects perform on a lecture note taking task?
Q 4: Do they use efficient note taking strategies?
Q 5: Does instruction in DE provide for adequate training in lecture comprehension and note taking?
Q 6: Does the curriculum in ED provide for development of students lecture comprehension and note taking ability?
Q 7: Do lectures contain features that assist students in their effort to comprehend lecture content and record it in
notes?

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Three
METHODS & PROCEDURES
The Research Design 5 research instruments

1- Observation of Lectures
2- Test of Lecture Comprehension (300 subjects - 09 strategies)
3- Analysis of the Subjects Lecture Notes- 25 samples
4- Survey Questionnaires-crosscheck and complete data144 subjects + 18
teachers
5- Analysis of Instruction in Listening Comprehension: official statement of
the listening syllabus - course notes from 5 students.

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Four
DATA TREATMENT & PRESENTATION
Quantification of subjects` performance on Test of Lecture
Comprehension
- Translating responses into grades
- Combined grades for individual strategies assessed
Questionnaire: Tremendous amount of data
Responses added up for each question by category of respondents
(students, listening teachers and lecturers)

(Appendix F: Samples of the Students Notes from Lectures of the Lecture Comprehension Test: p 91 - Appendix J: The
Questionnaires Aggregated Responses: p 20)
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Five
DISCUSSION
Some Research Limitations:
-Little research on lecture comprehension
-Acceptable degree of validity and reliability
Replication: Test & questionnaire with 2 classes of second
year students --- Necessitating more time for data analysis
Triangulation: 05 research instruments - crosschecking
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Five : DISCUSSION

Possible answers from the results?
Q 1-How would subjects perform on a test of lecture comprehension? Combined average score
31.65%
- 79% failed on Recognising Overall Structure of Lecture.
Q 2- Do subjects use efficient lecture comprehension strategies? Questionnaire show many subjects
not using efficient strategies
- 60% would not systematically use markers to recognize topic.
Q 3- How would subjects perform on a lecture note taking task? L ow notes efficiency scoresProblems identifying key information.
Q 4- Do the subjects use efficient note taking strategies? Significant numbers of subjects reported
using inefficient strategies or not using better ones - subjects often resort to a note-all strategy

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Q 5- Does instruction in DE provide for adequate training in lecture comprehension

and note taking?
Listening instruction overlooked most of key strategies

Q 6- Does curriculum in ED provide for development of students lecture

comprehension and note taking ability?
The official statement of the syllabus: no reference note taking and most strategies

Q 7- Do lectures contain features that would assist students in their effort to

comprehend content and record it in notes?
-structure of the lectures often not quite clear;
-Outlines of the lectures rarely given;
-summaries of the main points quite scarce;
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Matching data:
Many students use poor lecture comprehension and
note-taking strategies
Listening instruction hardly providing for adequate
training
Features that help listeners often scarce in the lectures

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Chapter Six: IMPLICATIONS

Suggestions that may improve learning from lectures in the ED
Suggestions for Better Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Instruction:

Learning/Teaching Approach should better

Be Strategy-Based
Integrate Authentic Content/ Format
Integrate Authentic Tasks
Inclusive of Self-Study

For a sample of activities to illustrate the required task features, readers can refer to -Test of Lecture Comprehension
under Appendix C. The scripts of the lectures used in the test are under Appendix D.
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Suggestions for Lecturers to Enhance Lecture Learning

Reading assignments - a clear structure - outline of the lecture monitoring & anticipating conceptual & linguistic challenges giving summaries and checking comprehension frequently

Recommendations for Curriculum and Program

Administrators

Little resources available to develop study skills: Mutual

contribution between modules
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

CHAPTER SEVEN: GENERAL CONCLUSION

Lecture-based aural comprehension & note taking skills are

critical to academic studies
Five research instruments to investigate students strategies
Sustained efforts to improve validity & reliability
Data collected crosschecked
Overall, subjects performed lower than average on almost all
key lecture comprehension & note taking strategies

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Probes of strategy use revealed that many subjects not using

effective strategies
Lectures did not appear to furnish optimal discourse
Finally, data on listening instruction suggest training received
by subjects overlooked most of efficient strategies
Some recommendations made: instruction in lecture
comprehension and note taking, lecturing, curriculum and
program administration

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Insights gained in the present study may contribute to

adjusting teaching in DE to help the students learn
better from lectures

Future Research: Several issues remain to be

investigated: study skills in English departments Common goal: Informing teaching/learning to
achieve higher efficiency.
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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

We want our students to be successful and

learning teaching process more effective and
generative of the experience of success.

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Magister Dissertation by Mamar Missoum 1994-2007

An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida

Thank your for your attention!

You can send your suggestion, comments or
questions to
maamar_missoum@yahoo.fr
Thanking you in advance

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