Fluency and Cognitive Effort During First- and Second-Language Notetaking and Writing by Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study concerns the cognitive effort expended and the difficulties experienced by undergraduate students as they took notes and wrote a text based on a lecture given in French, their primary language (L1), and in English (L2). The 21 participants had studied English (L2) for 7 years before attending the university and they had taken 3 years of intensive courses at the university in order to obtain their first diploma in English (“license”). Participants were first trained on a secondary task that allowed us to measure their cognitive effort while they performed two other main tasks in both languages, namely (1) listening and taking notes on the main ideas of the lecture, and (2) writing a text based on their notes. Participants also answered a questionnaire about their difficulties with comprehension, taking notes, making use of their notes, and writing in both languages. The results indicated that writing processes were more effortful than notetaking. Students’ performance on the writing task did not vary across languages. In contrast, the cognitive effort associated with taking notes was greater for L2 than for L1, and writing speed was slower. More difficulty was also experienced for notetaking, especially in L2, than in writing.

The Lecture Note-Taking Skills of Adolescents With and Without Learning Disabilities

“…The obtained results indicated that participants exerted more cognitive effort when taking notes in English than in their native language of French, and overall, these individuals wrote slower when taking notes in English (Piolat et al, 2008). Similarly, when surveying international (n= 110) and American (n= 54) postsecondary-education students about their perspectives on notetaking, Dunkel and Davey (1989) found significant differences between the two groups.…”

“…However, indirect evidence suggests that strong language skills facilitate note-taking proficiency. For instance, Piolat et al (2008) examined the notetaking skills of undergraduates who were non-native (yet proficient) English speakers (N=21).…”

Notetaking and Writing from Hypertexts in L1 and L2

“…However, this skill is accorded more and more importance owing to the use of computers in class, particularly when teachers are confronted with excessive use of the copy and paste functions and the difficulties encountered by their pupils in integrating selected information. The utility of teaching this skill is strengthened by research data which point out the importance of notetaking in knowledge learning (Piolat, Barbier, & Roussey, 2008;Titsworth & Kiewra, 2004). The present study investigates how website users process written language through notetaking in L2.…”

A Proficiency-Based Comparative Investigation of Listening Comprehension Strategies Employed by Saudi EFL Learners

“…Several other studies have been quasi-experimental investigations which aimed at testing the role of LCS teaching on listening achievement in general as well as on various other relevant factors (Goh, 2006;Shang, 2008;Coşkun, 2010;Bidabadi, & Yamat, 2011;Bozorgian & Pillay, 2013;Rasouli, Mollakhan, & Karbalaei, 2013 etc.). Piolat (2008) has informed that listening is usually considered a difficult skill as compared to other language skills as listeners have to simultaneously manage factors like speed of delivery, paucity of chances of the text repetition, limited vocabulary of listeners and lapses in concentration during extended listening texts. Research has also reported during the process of listening, learners need to comprehend and perceive the spoken texts "in order to make sense of it.…”