A Study Of English Note-taking Strategies Employed By Chinese EFL Learners

For Chinese students, listening is a comparatively weak aspect in English learning. And because of the extensive use, the skill of listening is particularly important of foreign language learning. As the basic part of English learning, it is the ability which most English learners want to improve urgently all the time. So, doing research in this field is very significant. English note taking is a method of writing down the key information during the process of listening. In TEM8 (Test of English Major) note taking is a difficult part and a lot of examinees lose scores on it. In addition, in the process of Chinese and English interpretation, it is the main supplementary way of recording information. This paper mainly researches on the obstacles in note taking process of Chinese students and some corresponding strategies to overcome them. The research subjects are 80 students who are divided into two groups. Their note taking obstacles are researched through a test, an interview and a questionnaire. The obstacles focus on the speed of listening material, vocabulary and the students'note taking skills by analyzing and comparing the data. The proposed strategies are mainly discussed in three aspects—meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. For the English learners who want to promote their listening especially note taking level, this thesis proposes some skills which can be used in the process of listening and note taking, and also gives certain strategies to train and improve the listening ability.