TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Drawing out the Whole Picture’
T2 - Positive and Gestalt Effects of Taking Sign-Based Notes on Listening Performance in Chinese ESL Classrooms
AU - Yang, Minmin
AU - McAllister, Gretchen
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the generous and kind support from our colleagues: Okim Kang and John Leung from Northern Arizona University, and Chen Daoming, Geoff Graham, Huang Bin and the late Zheng Yifan from Huaqiao University.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Special Program for Discipline Construction of the College of Foreign Languages, Huaqiao University: 2022 and The Provincial Educational Reform Fund for Undergraduate Programs, Fujian, China, No: FBJG20180024.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - The effort to design a most ideal strategy for L2 learners to take notes in L2 (EFL/EMI/EAP) classrooms has received growing attention. However, note-taking has been repeatedly tested and reported diverging impacts on students’ learning. This study investigates the effects of sign-based note-taking (SBN) with the traditional way of using pens and paper, and it features the cognitive processes of understanding and creating notes. SBN guides students to comprehend and draw a gestalt of notes using signs (i.e., icons, indices, and symbols). In a 16-week mixed study, three types of interventions—a traditional treatment, TOEFL’s ‘good-note guidance’ (GNG), and SBN—were administered to three separate student groups, namely a control group (CG) and two experiment groups (EG1 and EG2). Pre-, post-, delayed tests, questionnaires, and post-intervention interviews were conducted and analyzed for the needs and the effects of interventions on listening performances. Findings are as follows: only EG2 achieved significantly higher performance regardless of instructor’s influence, proving gestalt-based SBN an effective cognitive practice; GNG improved performance over time; students favored SBN, wanting longer-duration guidance. These results confirm that gestalt strengthens memory for L2 listening and yields pedagogical implications for L2 Listening classrooms.
AB - The effort to design a most ideal strategy for L2 learners to take notes in L2 (EFL/EMI/EAP) classrooms has received growing attention. However, note-taking has been repeatedly tested and reported diverging impacts on students’ learning. This study investigates the effects of sign-based note-taking (SBN) with the traditional way of using pens and paper, and it features the cognitive processes of understanding and creating notes. SBN guides students to comprehend and draw a gestalt of notes using signs (i.e., icons, indices, and symbols). In a 16-week mixed study, three types of interventions—a traditional treatment, TOEFL’s ‘good-note guidance’ (GNG), and SBN—were administered to three separate student groups, namely a control group (CG) and two experiment groups (EG1 and EG2). Pre-, post-, delayed tests, questionnaires, and post-intervention interviews were conducted and analyzed for the needs and the effects of interventions on listening performances. Findings are as follows: only EG2 achieved significantly higher performance regardless of instructor’s influence, proving gestalt-based SBN an effective cognitive practice; GNG improved performance over time; students favored SBN, wanting longer-duration guidance. These results confirm that gestalt strengthens memory for L2 listening and yields pedagogical implications for L2 Listening classrooms.
KW - L2 listening
KW - gestalt
KW - note-taking
KW - sign-based notes
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U2 - 10.3390/bs13050395
DO - 10.3390/bs13050395
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85160262959
SN - 2076-328X
VL - 13
JO - Behavioral Sciences
JF - Behavioral Sciences
IS - 5
M1 - 395
ER -