| Learning strategy is a complicated scheme about learning process,which is designed consciously by learners for the purpose of improving learning efficiency.In the course of English curriculum implementation,guiding students to master effective learning strategy is not only helpful for forming scientific learning methods,but also contributes to improve their thinking quality and autonomous learning ability.And in the long run,it would lay foundation for lifelong and sustainable learning.With the enlargement of knowledge in middle schools,it is significantly important to master appropriate learning methods and form correct learning strategy.As a kind of learning strategy,note-taking is still widely used among middle school students at present.Therefore,it is particularly important for middle school teachers to study how to take notes,and whether there is necessity to guide students to take notes.Based on the relative theories of cognitive psychology,this study examined the current situation of middle school students’ English note-taking and the effect of note-taking instruction on their English learning.In the study,a total of 121 students were randomly selected from two classes of Grade Seven in a regular middle school.A quasi-experimental research design was operated,in which the classes where the respondents in were randomly assigned to the experimental class and the control class.Before the experiment,a questionnaire survey and a teacher interview were resorted to investigate the current situation of students’ note-taking and to analyze the existing problems.After the experiment,the collected scores from a pretest and a post-test were compared.And assessed with another questionnaire to students in the experimental class and another interview to the English teacher,the effectiveness of note-taking instruction was verified.The results of the survey conducted before the experiment present that a large number of middle school students are aware of the importance of note-taking for their English study and they have a positive attitude towards note-taking.And as a resource,notebook is often resorted.However,there are still some phenomena that are not so satisfying in the course of note-taking.Some students are not capable of grasping key points well in class and they do not have the habit of taking notes or taking notes in their own words.Besides,there is some room for the improvement of logical thinking ability and generalization ability.Thirdly,some students cannot control their attention,while listening to lectures and meanwhile taking notes is needed.In addition,the sorting and reviewing of their notes are not frequent and the value of using their notes is not that high.For note-taking instruction,the majority of students are full of hope for detailed guidance on note-taking strategy.However,the current guiding ways of dealing with note-taking still need to be improved.And the effort-input intensity of teacher’s instruction in the aspect of note-taking are waiting to be enhanced.Based on the results of the survey,the guidance for note-taking strategy was conducted for 3.5 months.The experimental results show that the English achievement of the experimental class was significantly higher than that of the control class.It indicates that note-taking instruction has a positive effect on students’ English achievement.And the collected data from the student questionnaires and the teacher interview also show that students’ cognition,attitude and behavioral intention to English learning would be promoted after note-taking instruction.In particular,students will give positive evaluation to the influence of note-taking instruction on English learning and they may take notes more seriously and carefully.Moreover,students will show great interest in English learning and their confidence to learn English well would be cultivated.Besides the advantage that note-taking instruction is helpful for accumulating English knowledge,autonomic learning ability and thinking ability would be improved.Furthermore,students would be more willing to communicate with teachers.All in all,the success of the experiment indicates that the guidance of note-taking strategy is feasible.And note-taking instruction can help to promote the development of English teaching and the overall development of individuals.It is true that this study provided some implications for the instruction and learning of note-taking in middle schools,but there are still many limitations.In future,it is worthwhile for more scholars and researchers to pay more attention to note-taking instruction. |
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