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Donal CrawfordInternational Pacific College
July 2010
ContentAssessment of Note-taking skills2 methods – ‘Retrieval’ & ‘Direct’AuthenticityPracticalityReliabilityValidityThe Way Ahead?
Notetaking Skills in EAPNote-taking skills in lectures widely seen as
important component of EAP courses (Rost. 2002; Jordan, 1997; Flowerdew, 1994a)
Studies on note-taking & lecture comprehension (Flowerdew 1994b; Rost, 1990, 2002) and published materials (e.g. Lebauer, 2000; Sanabria, 2004)
Very little information on assessment of this skill (King ,1994)
2 methods used in final examination assessment within EAP Foundation Year or year 1 programmes
Retrieval MethodAssessment via questions which
candidates answer using their notesProcedure:
Listen to recorded mini-lecture and make notes
Listen again and improve notesAnswer set of short-response questions
using notesMarked wrt marking scheme
Direct methodAssessment of the notes themselvesProcedure:
Listen to Section 1 of recorded lecture + PowerPoint outline and make notes
Repeat for Section 2Repeat twice for Section 3
Marking: Each section of notes marked/20 based on coverage and accuracy
Each section divided into 4 parts with up to 5 marks for each part.
Markers meet and compare a sample of papers to agree on required levels of coverage.
Marks reduced for missing and/or inaccurate information.
AuthenticityScriptedLack of visual inputRepetition
PracticalityRecorded vs. ‘live’
Live recording?Writing questions for Retrieval methodPre-marking meetings for Direct method
ReliabilityInter-marker reliability
Likely to be higher for Retrieval methodRoutine sampling & double-marking for Direct
Inter-test reliabilityLikely to be higher for Direct method
Validity“The centrality of the purpose for which the test is being
devised or used cannot be understated” (Alderson, Clapham & Wall, 1995)
Powers (1986) key lecture listening activities:1) identifying major themes or ideas of lectures2) identifying relationships among major ideas in a lecture3) identifying the topic of the lecture4) retaining information through notetaking5) retrieving information from notes6) inferring relationships between information supplied in the
lecture7) comprehending key information presented in the lecture8) following the spoken mode of the lecture9) identifying supporting ideas and examples in the lecture.
Validity (Internal)Face (credibility)
Both require students to take notes.Students certainly take the exams seriously
ContentRetrieval clearly tests Powers (5), and,
depending on questions, (1), (6), (7), (8), (9)Dependent on lecture content, delivery & Q-
settingDirect clearly tests Powers (1), (3), (8), (9)Dependent on lecture content & delivery
Response – not yet considered
Validity (External)Concurrent
Retrieval compared with ‘IELTS-style’ listening test, n=97, r=+0.74
Direct data not yet availablePredictive – no data
The Way ahead?
PowerPoint & MoodleStudents often given lecture notes in advanceListening & understanding more important
than note-taking (Shin, 2008)Lecture comprehensionUse of notes
ReferencesAlderson, J.C., C. Clapham & D. Wall (1995). Language Test COnstruction & Evaluation.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Flowerdew, J. (1994a). Research of relevance to second language lecture comprehension -
an overview. In J. Flowerdew, editor, Academic Listening Research Perspectives (pp. 7-29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Flowerdew, J. (1994b). Academic Listening Research Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Jordan, R.R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
King, P. (1994). Visual and Verbal Messages in the Engineering Lecture: Notetaking by postgraduate L2 students. In J. Flowerdew, editor, Academic Listening Research Perspectives (pp. 219-38). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lebauer, R.S. (2000) Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.Powers, D.E. (1986). Academic demands related to listening skills. Language Testing 3 (1):1-
38.Rost, M. (1990). Listening in Language Learning. Harlow: Longman.Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and Researching Listening. Harlow: Pearson Education.Sanabria, K. (2004). Academic Listening Encounters: Life in Society. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.Shin, I. (2008). Necessary Skills in English for Korean Postgraduate Engineering Students in
London. Educate - Special London Edition, September 2008, 50-61 [online version]. http://www.educatejournal.org