The effects of note-taking, memory, and rate of presentation on EFL learners' listening comprehension

This study was designed to investigate the effect of note-taking and the rate of presentation on the listening comprehension performance of the subjects. Additionally, the relationships between the working memory of the subjects, and their listening comprehension performance, and between their perceptions of note-taking and their listening comprehension performance were also examined.; A total of 292 students from the senior-year classes of the departments of English or foreign languages in one college and six universities in Taiwan served as the subjects in this study. The listening span test was first administered to obtain a measure of the subjects' working memory capacity. Then, the listening comprehension test of General English Proficiency Test containing 20 multiple-choice items was administered, in which subjects were randomly assigned to a "listening" only or a "listening and note-taking" condition while listening to the messages rated either 180 words per minute or 120 words per minute. A set of ordinary-least-square (OLS) multiple regression analysis was performed to determine which independent variables were significant predictors of the subjects' listening comprehension performance.; The results indicated that the working memory of the subjects correlated positively with their listening comprehension performance, meaning it was a significant predictor of their listening comprehension performance. In the 180 word-per-minute group, note-takers outperformed non-note-takers, while note-takers and non-note-takers did not perform significantly differently from each other in the 120 word-per-minute group. Correspondingly, the note-takers' perceptions of note-taking in the former group had significant effects on their listening comprehension performance, whereas those in the latter group showed no significant effects. With regards to the rate of presentation, the statistical results indicated that subjects in both groups---the 120 word-per-minute group and the 180 word-per-minute group---performed similarly on the listening comprehension test.; The findings suggested that subjects with higher working memory spans had better listening comprehension. In addition, note-taking as well as the perceptions of note-taking did have significant effects on note-takers in the 180 word-per-minute group. The training of memory and for note-taking tasks is recommended for inclusion in listening comprehension courses. Since very few studies of this kind have been conducted with EFL learners, additional research is needed to further identify other possible factors that might affect their listening comprehension.