Note taking and student verbalization as instrumental learning activities

Abstract

Note taking and verbalizationare considered as instrumental student activities which influence the relationship between the learning task and the learning outcomes. Research has demonstrated no significant relationships between the type of test anticipated and the amount of notes taken. The time interval between the presentation of the instructional stimuli and the criterion test does influence the amount of notes taken with a delayed test expectancy resulting in more note taking activity than immediate test expectancy. The probability of a student recalling an item on a test is greater if that item is present in the notes than if it is not present. Studies which compared note taking to no note taking conditions have shown a facilitative effect for note taking, but the effect is influenced by type of review condition and the time interval between note taking and criterion test. Research on the effects of verbalization in instructional settings has failed to show any clear benefits for methods which involve greater student verbalization.Controlled laboratory studies have shown that overt verbalization positively influences associational learning, serial learning, and discrimination learning. Alternative theoretical explanations for the effects of note taking and verbalization are discussed, and a structure for future research on these topics is provided.Research on instruction previous to 1965 tended to emphasize a comparison of the effects of different instructional methods on specified learning outcomes. The disregard for the student activities which intervened between the instructional variables and the learning outcomes was undoubtedly a reflection of the then dominant behavioristic emphasis in the study of human behavior. Much of the early instructional research was an attempt to describe the functional relationships between the characteristics of the external instructional stimuli and the observable learning '

A Comparative Study on the Effects of While Listening Note Taking and Post Listening Summary Writing on Iranian EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension

“…Arslan (2006) (2005) and Hasswell and Lee (2013) mention, when learners are allowed to take notes, they feel more comfortable and they have better performance in answering the post listening questions. Weener (1974) believes that note taking causes assimilation of the new information in to the cognitive structure and makes the new information more recallable than if there weren't any note taking. Hartley and Marshall (1974) mention three reasons for taking notes: (a) to help later recall,( b) to be able to review the ideas when needed, (c) to have higher concentration while listening.…”

Lexical Analysis of Student’s Learning Activities during the Giving of Instructions for Note-Taking in a Blended Learning Environment

“…In addition, the relationship between some factors of note-taking and learning performance at universities world-wide has been identified in previous studies [8], [9], [11]. Again, note-taking is a time-honoured and commonly used and skill [12].…”

Reading Strategies Training for Meaningful Learning from Prose

“…Reviews of note-taking studies often yield lists of experiments in which concurrent note taking resulted in poorer performance than no note taking (e.g., Peters, 1972) or in which note taking did not result in better performance than no note taking (e.g., see Weener, 1974;Faw & Waller, 1976). As predicted, these studies generally involve experimenter-paced presentation and no pauses for review of notes.…”