The present study examined the process and product effects of note-taking strategy training on Iranian EFL learners’ comprehension and retention of written material, with gender as a moderating variable. Intermediate undergraduate EFL learners (N = 108) were assigned to experimental and control groups. The Experimental (intervention) Group received training on how to take notes, using graphic organizers as a guide, while the Control Group did not receive any instruction. A multiple-choice reading test as well as two immediate and delayed written recalls (in combination with reviewing the notes) was used to measure note-taking effectiveness. The results of two-way ANOVAs suggested that the Experimental Group performed significantly better on both comprehension and recall tests. No statistically significant effect of gender was found on students’ performance in the comprehension and retention tests. Analysis of written recalls also showed that the Experimental Group remembered more important ideas, and better identified the relationships between ideas.

Student note-taking is an almost universal activity among university students, yet few naturalistic studies have examined relationships between note-taking practices and subsequent examination performance. Complete sets of notes on an introductory psychology course, involving 75 lectures presented by ten instructors, were obtained from nineteen male and nineteen female students. Notes on ten selected lectures (one per instructor) were analysed, and information derived about class attendance and the quantity, organization, and presentation of the notes. Variables based on this information were then correlated with performance on two three-hour final examination papers (one multiple-choice, one essay). High correlations were found between the quantity of notes and examination performance. Surprisingly, these correlations increased in subsamples consisting of those students who attended class most diligently. The correlations involving the multiple-choice examination tended to be higher than those involving the essay examination, most probably because of wider sampling of lecture content and a more factual orientation in the multiple-choice examination. The results appear to conflict with the advice given in student study guides, many of which suggest that students should be very selective and concise in their note-taking.

Published in Theory Into Practice (Vol. 41, No. 2, 2002)

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires that all students, including those with disabilities, to make adequate yearly progress in the general education curriculum. To ensure that this occurs, ...

We present findings from a study that prohibited computer devices in randomly selected classrooms of an introductory economics course at the United St…

Find out how collaborative note-taking can support a learning community, peer success, student assessment, and an inclusive environment.