Academic English for Tertiary Studies: EAP S we! HUR A TEAC N IN LISTENING: STAGE 3 LECTURES & NOTE TAKING ‘Task 1: Transcript Note-taking is a complex activity which requires a high level of ability in many separate skills. Today I’m going to analyse the four most important of these skills. Firstly, nt and wha rer. he says it, The studer to in order check. ‘unfamiliar sentence pattern. This puts the non-native speaker of English under @ particularly severe strain, Often ~ as we've already seen in a previous lecture - he ‘may not be able to recognize words in a lecture which are completely new to him. hile he should, of course, try to develop the ability to infer their meaning from the context, he won't always be able to do this successfully. He must not allow failure of this kind to discourage him however. It's often possible to understand much of a lecture by concentrating solely on those points which are most Important. But how does the student decide what's important? This isin itself another skill he must try to develop. It Is, in fact, the second of the four skills Want to talk about today. Probably the most important piece of Information in a lecture js the title itself. If this Is printed (or referred to) beforehand the student should stucy it carefully and make sure he’s in no doubt about its meaning. Whatever happens he should make sure he writes it down accurately and completely. A title often imalies many of the ‘major points that will later be covered in the lecture itself. It should help the student therefore to decide what the main point of the lecture will be. ‘A good lecturer, of course, often signals what's important or unimportant. He may ‘lve direct. xr indirect signals. Many lecturers, for example, explicitly fell thelr audience that a point is Important and that the student should write it down. Unfortunately, the lecturer who's trying to establish a friendly relationship with his audience is likely on these occasions to employ a colloquial style. He might say such things as This is, of course, the crunch’ or ‘perhaps you'd like to get it down.’ Although this will help the student who's a native English- speaker, it may ‘© UsCollege Pry LaAcademic English for Tertiary Studes: EAP S very well cause difficulty for the non-native English speaker. He'll therefore have to make @ big effort to get used to the various styles of his lecturers. It’s worth remembering that most lecturers also give indirect signals to indicate what's important. They either pause or speak slowly or speak loudly or use a ‘areater range of intonation or they employ a combination of these devices, when they say something important. Conversely, their sentences are delivered quickly, softly, within a narrow range of intonation and with short of infrequent pauses ‘when they are saying something which Is Incidental. It is, of course, helpful for the student to be aware of this and for him to focus his attention accordingly. Having sorted out the main points, however, the student still has to write them down, And he has to do this quickly and clearly. This is, in fact, the third basic skill he must learn to develop. In order to write at speed most students find it alps to abbreviate. They also try to select only those words which give maximum information. These are usually nouns, but sometimes verbs or adjectives. Writing ‘only one point on each line also helps the student to understand his notes when he comes to read them later. An important difficulty is, of course, finding time to write the notes. If the student chooses the wrong moment to write he may miss @ pointy of greater importance. Connecting words or connectives may guide him to 2 correct choice here. Thase connectives which indicate that the argument is proceeding in the same direction also tell the listener that it's a safe time to write. “Moreover’,urthermore’, ‘also’, etc., are examples of this. Connectives such as ‘however’, on the other hand’ or ‘nevertheless’ usually mean that new and perhaps unexpected Information is going to follow. Therefore, it may, on these ‘occasions, be more appropriate to listen. ‘The fourth skil that the student must develop Is one that is frequently neglected. He must learn to show the connect n the ve he’s noted, ‘This can often be done more effective by a visual presentation that by a lengthy statement in words. Thus the use of spacing, of underlining and of conventional symbols plays an important part in efficient note-taking. Points should be ‘numbered, too, wherever possible. In the way the student can see at a glance the framework of the lecture, ge 23 © Uwscalioge Pty Ltd‘Academic English for Tertiary Studies: EAP 5 Task 2: answers 1. can't stop the lecture/ can't check dictionary meaning of new word 2. ability to infer meaning from context/ concentrate on what is inportant 3. ttle often indicates / implies many major points of lecture 4, direct (tells us) indirect (speaks slowly) 5, write quickly / abbreviate / select words (nouns) / one point per line 6, write at wrong time > miss information 7. furthermore: extra information / however: contrary information 8, make a visual presentation, spacing, underline, symbols and numbers 9 & 10 various student answers oe (© UWscoliege Py Lid