The Effects Of Notetaking On TOEFL Listening Comprehension Test For Chinese EFL Learners

This study is conducted to examine the effects of notetaking on TOEFL listening comprehension section that contains short monologues or lectures for Chinese EFL learners. The study of mechanism of the function of notetaking and the empirical studies on the functions of notetaking and on the content of notes are reviewed and considered as the primary theoretical tools for the purpose of this research. Several pertinent proposals made on the process of memory and the process of listening comprehension are adopted as the conceptual framework of the present study.Whether there was a positive effect of notetaking on TOEFL listening comprehension test was assessed in experimental testing sessions with 32 advanced EFL learners who study English as their major. In two time's tests, all the subjects did every test part in notetaking allowed condition for one time and notetaking not allowed condition for the other time. Then, a multiple-choice questionnaire surveyed the students'reactions to the opportunity to take notes and their previous notetaking experience. And subjects'notes were collected to examine the relationship between the content of notes and the subjects'test performance.The main findings of the study include: (1) Notetaking indeed plays a positive effect on the test performance on TOEFL listening comprehension test with a quantitative analysis. Chinese EFL learners would have a better test performance with the opportunity to take and use their notes. What's more, by comparing the positive effect of notetaking on general idea items and detailed idea items, the findings indicate that notetaking plays more significant role on detailed idea items. (2) Subjects generally perceived some benefits from being able to take notes during listening to the lectures in TOEFL listening comprehension test, but, at the same time, they also reported that there were some distraction effects as a result of notetaking. Subjects who believed that notetaking helped them to answer questions and who believed that notetaking made them feel at ease did better performance when notetaking allowed. Subjects who reported being accustomed to taking notes were particularly likely to show positive effects of notetaking on performance. (3) As regards the relationship of the content of the notes and the test performance, the question answerable index was significantly correlated with the achievement of listening comprehension. The other three indices of the total number of notes, the content word note, and the notation were not significantly correlated with subjects'performance on listening. That is to say, taking notes as more as possible is not a way to get a high-quality note. From the process of scoring, we also found that most subjects preferred to write down the full spelling of content words rather than abbreviations, special symbols, structure words, and the skeleton words. It indicated that it might be a cause of notetaking failure to note down more content words in full spelling during the test.The significance of this study lies in a better proof of notetaking allowed in the new TOEFL-iBT compared with notetaking not allowed in the paper-and-pencil TOEFL. The findings of this study are informative for other similar listening comprehension tests. The findings of the present study are enlightening for both L1 and L2 educators and learners as to when to take notes, what should be noted down and how to use notes. Furthermore, they also shed some light upon research on listening skills teaching in English classes.