Genre of Lecture Notes - Coursework Example

Genre of Lecture s Dis analysis for Language Teachers Introduction Effective communication through language is an exceptional faculty of human beings, and one that is of primary importance. Throughout time, human beings have discovered and innovated different forms of communicating written language. Prose, poetry, drama, novel and so many others have already been acclaimed as genres in English and any other language. There are various types of writing which perfectly perform the function of communication in daily life. One such less referred genre of writing is ‘lecture notes.” These are notes taken during a lecture which serve mainly as a reminder of the discourse. Studies have shown that “at least 60 percent of a lecture is forgotten within 24 hours unless action is taken (Brown, 1978, p.101). Thus, many educational experts and specialists strongly recommend making notes on the same day the lecture took place. While there are different types of lectures, Brown (1978) was careful to note that lecture notes are essential if the student perceives that the lecture is worth attending. It appears that the qualifying characteristic is the student’s discernment that the lecture is worthwhile, but Brown (1978) suggests that if in doubt, it will remain beneficial to follow the steps of note-taking. Note-taking is an essential step towards student learning. Many students perceive making notes during and after lectures as a waste of time; however, studies have shown that “among the many skills involved in academic success is the ability to take thorough and accurate lecture notes” (Baker & Lombardi, 1987, p.32). Among the findings in the study by Baker & Lombardi (1987), is the strong relationship between note taking and test performance. In addition, they also found that the notes contained less than 25% of the important propositions during lecture, and only 50% of the intended main ideas. Two pitfalls in note-taking were emphasized by Brown (1978). First, is the inability to distinguish between key ideas and supporting points or examples, which yield notes that are disorganized without proper cognitive map of ideas. The second common mistake is the creation of an outline based on aesthetics that are not necessarily meaningful. From these arguments, it is apparent that there is a need to standardize the process of note-taking. Brown (1978) emphasizes that of more importance than the material that is reflected in the notes, are the thoughts in the heads of the note-takers. Lecture notes as tools for learning and studying have been proven very effective and advantageous. Brown (1978) outlines the seven functions of lecture notes: “Firstly, it arrests forgetting; secondly, it reveals any weaknesses in understanding; thirdly, it forces a student to think and organize his knowledge; fourthly, it gives practice in applying knowledge; fifthly, it increases flexibility of thinking; sixthly, it helps a student see relationships between the content of a lecture, other lectures, and his reading; and seventhly, it makes revision and writing easier” (p.102). Despite these advantages, note-taking is rarely explicitly taught in school. However, the skill and habit, if effectively employed have various applications in a person’s life as students or professionals. Textbook authors have recognized the importance of lecture notes, and have incorporated these in the content. The following pages are an analysis of notes taking as a genre. The books for reference have been obtained from the University of Reading library and online libraries. The texts used for the analysis of the genre have been provided in the appendix.  Lecture Notes as a Genre From the French word meaning, “kind” or “sort,” genre can be simply defined as a category used in the classification of discourse and literary works. Form, technique and content are often used as basis for classification. Frow (2006) asserts that genre classification is very much embedded in real life. “It would almost be a definition of genre to say that it is a relationship between textual structures and the situations that occasion them (Frow, 2006, p.13). Currently, there is still debate on how a genre is identified, and it is not the objective of this paper to reconcile the issue. However, I found the definition presented above a comprehensive and encompassing statement for genre. Other definitions of genre abide by this definition. According to Campbell and Jamieson, “a genre is a constellation of recognizable forms bound together by an internal dynamic, and this dynamic is a fusion of substantative, stylistic and situational elements, which works as a range of potential strategic responses to the demands of the situation” (as cited in Frow, 2006, p.14). Genre, therefore, are best defined not by the intrinsic structure of the discourse or literature, but rather by the actions or steps that were taken to accomplish it (Frow, 2006). What distinguishes these actions from ordinary actions is its repetition and recurrence, which then builds its pattern and form. Genres are created in response to situational clues which describes both its content and structure. Lecture notes, through definition of genre stated above, is considered a genre of its own. Note-taking is a response to a recurring stimulus: situations that require data gathering and collection. As discussed in the previous section as well, lecture notes are created through a systematic process of note-taking. Lecture notes are produced by different individuals, from different walks of life and doing so is a response based on a need – to remember and to learn. Lecture notes have been found as significantly affecting the performance and achievement of students. It is not always possible to obtain printed or written notes in the class room. Also, a lecture comprises many pertinent points on the topic taken. Ideally, a student should be able to write all information in a lecture; however, this is not humanly possible, and recording the lecture is not always the case. Alternatively, there is an effective method to break down the points of a lecture and reproduce them in an understandable way on paper. The systematic method of breaking the lecture into points and writing them down as codes which shall be decoded in the process of reproduction of the text or learning is called lecture notes. The art of lecture note-making is based on a structure which differs from person to person. This is because the arrangement of ideas about the same subject matter differs with the person’s stream of ideas and from course to course. Below is a recommended structure of a lecture note: Title:………. Course:……….. Date:……….. Main Idea #1: Example…… Main Idea #2 Example:…… Main Idea # 3 Example:…… Questions to be asked at the end of the lecture 1-…………… 2-…………… Lecture note, as a specific genre of writing, may not seem as popular as advertising, reporting or poetry writing. However, the arguments in the previous paragraphs justify the necessity for explicit instruction. The following sections present an analysis of three textbooks, which employ lecture notes, for an ELT program. The first book, New Ways in Teaching Writing, is written by Ronald V. White; the second text is taken from the book, Teaching Secondary English, by Ellis and Tomlinson; and the last text comes from Tricia Hedge’s Writing. Analysis of the text: ‘Please Take Note’ Ronald V. White introduces in his book, New Ways in Teaching Writing, a methodology for note taking through the activity, “Please Take Note” (see Appendix A). The primary objective of the activity is to enhance the synthesis skills of students in gathering information from various sources. White went on to explain that the same process is applicable in essay writing. There are eight steps outlined by White for students to accomplish the activity. To begin with, students are asked to answer questions or write an essay from a group of collected textual materials, such as reports from international organizations, supermarket, newspaper articles, etc. Next, the students are tasked to go around the classroom and take note of relevant information to answer the question or compose an essay based on information collected. After, Students are then invited to go around and read the paragraphs of other students. As they do so, they are encouraged to give constructive criticisms of their peer’s work. During this process, the teacher makes his/her own observational notes while going around that class, and evaluate the common problems of the students which can be taken up in class. The teacher particularly takes note of the following: selection of relevant points for note-taking; grammar problems; and common problems with paragraphing. After the revising their paragraphs based on the comments of their classmates, students submit a clean copy to the teacher. As a follow-up, a similar homework is given to the students. One of the major advantages of this activity, is the use of text that is easily found in the home, and one which the students are able familiar with. This enables students to become more confident in written expression, as they are able to use language for communicating in everyday life. The activity finds various applicability in different age groups and year levels. The teacher will have to vary the textual material used based on the level of the students. Because the materials are those that students encounter in their own homes, it increases their interest about that task. Furthermore, students are encouraged to pay attention about materials that they can find in their surroundings, and hopefully will come to an awareness that effective language learning must find extensions beyond the walls of the classroom or school. This is further reinforced by giving a similar homework to the students. The strategy employed by White was primarily geared towards paragraph writing, the starting point for essay writing. It was able to emphasize note-taking skills which students can apply in other aspects of learning, such as lecture and research. The activity imparts to the students the significance of clear and accurate note-taking to be able to express oneself clearly. The students learn by experience the proper way of taking notes and selecting the more important points. The activity is a good springboard for teachers who want to go deeper into the strategies for taking notes. Mor eover, the sharing of constructive criticism allows students to engage in productive interaction and communication. By evaluating and editing the work of others, they are able to apply the grammatical and punctuation rules that they have learned. There is consternation on punctuation because students are asked to write their notes in a paragraph, and that paragraph is being assessed and edited. The vocabulary is given more importance. It has to be academic and formal. The notes taken have to be accurate also. Notes in this text are being taught in the form of a formal academic paragraph as a structure for notes. The manner that the student use the notes to create a pragraph allows the teacher a glimpse of how the student organizes information and interprets them to create his/her own expression. The activity may allow the student to express her reality, depending on the question that the teacher will pose. The communicative aspect of teaching note taking as a genre in this text happens in the analysis of elements given or read that will be formatted into a paragraph. This is the step that precedes writing a different genre, the essay. Apart from the sharing of paragraphs with classmates, there is little area for communication. It is a good method to introduce note-taking, yet it is not substantial enough for students to gain knowledge skills on the content and organization of note-taking. The activity can be used after the skills for note-taking has been discussed or as a motivation activity before more in-depth discussion on note-taking. Analysis of the text: ‘The Teaching of Note Making’ A substantial and comprehensive discussion of making notes is discussed in the book, Teaching Secondary English, by Ellis and Tomlinson. A whole chapter, “Teaching of Note-Making,” (see Appendix B) was provided by the authors. It is their response to the common complaints of ESL secondary schools—more and more pupils are hopeless with taking notes. The authors reiterate the generally note-taking is highly important, and more so specificially in teaching ESL. For one, many content teachers (e.g. History and Geography) at the secondary level require students to take notes. Many of the books used in countries teaching ESL come from countries of native English speakers. Students will benefit greatly if they can revise the content of the books to help them understand better. The authors also note that learning from notes with relevant key points is easier than learning from direct text which may contain information that are irrelevant. Furthermore, note-taking is a skill that is important in many occupations and other out-of-school activities, such as meetings. The text discusses the salient points for note-taking such as selection of major points, avoidance of repetitions, and finding the essential information. Furthermore, techniques in note-taking were discussed in detailed by the authors. Examples of these strategies are: using abbreviations, reducing redundancy, and ordering points. Both the content and organizational features of note-taking were sufficiently explored. The text, indeed, is an excellent starting point for those who are starting to learn about note-taking. The text ends with exercises to apply the strategies previously discussed. It is worthwhile to note that compared to the previous text analysed, all of the exercises given in the current text are in written form. The textbook highlights the linguistic feature of note-taking genre as the creation of simpler and shorter forms of sentences from the more complex ones found in the text. The process hones the ability of students to paraphrase and summarize ideas in their own words. It is not only a test of comprehension, but also of the ability of students to articulate accurately in simple terms what s/he has read. One of the importance of explicit teaching of note-taking when students are young is the development of skills and habit for note-taking. Certain rules for abbreviations, for instance, become useful as they grow older. There are certain limitations to points such as ‘abbreviations’. There are standard abbreviations like ‘etc’, ‘Viz’ and the like. Even symbols like &, @ are acceptable. However, when it comes to the personal short forms and symbols, it would make it difficult even for the student who wrote it. Others won’t be able to get it completely either. There is a need to standardize rules and make these accessible to students at an early age, so they will have less difficulty coping with challenges as they advance in higher levels. In this text, the communicative purpose of note-taking is to inform the student or the writer of essential information that otherwise, may be forgotten. The communicative purpose explained in teaching this genre in this text is to provide information to the writer. This genre taught in this text was to provide easy to access information whenever needed because it only summarizes the important points. It also communicates to the teacher that the student is paying attention to the lecture, as presented in the text when the teacher checks the notes. The text does not emphasize the communicative approach in teaching note-taking. Nonetheless, the presentation of the subject matter is organized and detailed. It provides a framework for teaching note-taking that teachers can adopt and improve on so it is delivered in a more interactive manner. Analysis of the text: ‘Observing and Note Making’ It is comparatively easy to make notes out of firsthand experiences as presented in the text, “Observing and Note Making,” from the book, Writing, by Tricia Hedge (see Appendix C). The activity described has been employed in small groups of children in schools around Britain. It has been found successful in encouraging observation and note-taking skills, among others. Presented in the text is a sample activity that was employed by a teacher. As part of the preparation, the teacher brings a snail in class inside a glass tank, which is covered so it comes as a surprise to the students. Uncovering the glass tank, the teacher involves the students in a discussion by posing questions about what they are observing. The text provides a transcript of some of the questions that the teacher asked. After, the teacher draws a chart on the board and asks the students to give answers on what they remembered from their observation. The chart columns were labeled with: (1) What colour is it?; (2) What does it look like?; (3) How does it move?. The students are then encouraged to use the chart and make a paragraph describing the snail. The sample in Appendix C shows how the activity helped the child develop skills in describing scientific observations. Among all the three texts, this activity is one that can be readily applied to young children. The strategy employs the communicative approach at the initial observation stage where the teacher presents the snail and poses questions that help the children describe the snail. It is important that at this stage, the teacher frames specific and leading questions that target observational skills. The idea is for children to mentally take note of the features of a snail. The linguistic feature introduced for this genre is simple in nature due to the age level of the participants or students involved. At this stage, it would seem rather inappropriate to introduce complex grammar, punctuation and organizational rules. However, the classification, with the use of a chart serves as the style of presenting the notes. Through this process, children are guided in drawing out essential features and they visual representation of how the information can be organized for note-taking. The students then, became introduced to the function of these notes as they wrote short paragraphs to describe what they have observed. The process is similar to the first text analyzed in this paper, but varies in complexity because of the target audience or participants. The Communicative Approach in Lecture Notes Lecture notes as a genre in English language teaching may be regarded as relatively young. Educators however, are recognizing the importance of explicitly teaching lecture notes and incorporating this in the language curriculum. Perhaps, among the genre, lecture notes will prove quite challenging for those who advocate for communicative approach in English language teaching. Daunting as it may seem, it is not impossible. The succeeding paragraphs discuss how the genre, lecture notes, presented in the three texts analyzed can be further improved using the communicative approach. The communicative approach to language teaching grew out of a conviction in the 1970’s that “language teaching should take greater account of the way the language worked in the real world and try to be more responsive to the needs of the learners in their efforts to acquire it” (Howatt & Widdowson, 2004, p.326). Implied in this statement is the move towards contextualizing the language learning experiences of the students to real life situations. Advocates of the communicative approach believe that if teachers wish to develop the communication competencies of the learners for school, work or other social functions, then the instruction must allow them to experience these settings and encounter different topics that will simulate these real world settings. The key implication is that “learners should be exposed as much as possible to authentic discourse, media and tasks, rather than target language which was controlled or adapted, especially in terms of grammar or vocabulary, to meet the more situmulus-response-habit patterns of structuralis-audio-lingual approaches” (Hawkey, 2000, p.14). In a sense, the communicative approach gives teachers the “freedom that followed the end of the over-rigid structural syllabus and the welcome variety of classroom activities that accompanied the new approach” (Howatt & Widdowson, 2004, p.339). Using the communicative approach, note-taking as taught in the selected texts above can be further improved to become interactive and engaging for the students. In the first text, “Please Take Note,” the use of material from the home (e.g. magazines, brochures, newspapers) instead of classic text that do not match the students’ current realities is a good step towards the communicative approach. By allowing students to criticize each other’s work, the teacher is able to reinforce grammar rules in a less structured manner. The activity can be further improved by allowing more discourse among the students, encouraging them to share opinions as well based on the context of what has been read and written, instead of only focusing on the vocabulary and grammatical rules. Allowing the students to share opinions about what they have written develops their confidence and abilities in presenting an argument, engaging in objective discourse and logical expression of ideas. The next two texts provide excellent frameworks for teacher to teach note-taking with application of the communicative approach. Students should be taught the skill of writing notes before they go through a real application and utility. They should be taught the language features, discourse features and communicative purpose before they experience writing it. Note genre is a kind of writing and writing is a skill that should be learnt and practiced. After that, the teacher can go further, which is the lecture [not genre], and get students exposed to writing notes. An example of a good lecture genre that I believe will be fun from which students can learn from is as follows: the class takes a trip to a science museum and each student writes down notes while observing one discovery that caught her/ his attention. Then in class, the teacher writes on the board a sample of the notes she had taken using the linguistic, discourse features and communicative purpose of this genre. After that, the teacher would ask the students of same interest to share and follow the structural formulation that the teacher presented. The next step will be for each group to write the notes they took. By using this method, it is ensured that all students are involved in the learning process of taking notes and the whole class learned different ways in taking notes for different subjects. This way, the teacher taught the students the skill and then went on to applying the communicative approach, which is preferred by most students, on learning the genre of lecture notes. Also, the teacher made sure that the features of this genre is standardized and understood by the students. Discussion How many can read a note that is made by someone else? Literally, none other than the person who wrote it can get the exact sense of it. The partial solution for this problem is given in by Wallace (2004) in the book, Study Skills in English: A Course in Reading Skills for Academic Purposes. Wallace (2004) introduces “field symbols and abbreviations” --- the student specializing in a certain field or subject area will learn certain symbols and abbreviations as part of the study of that field. Thus, a student of Chemistry will know that C stands for carbon and Ca for Calcium. Such symbols/abbreviations are very useful since they are widely used within each field, and neither ambiguous nor liable to be misunderstood (Wallace, 2004, p.39). Based on literature discussed so far in this paper, the following are necessary steps that will facilitate the development of lecture notes as a genre: 1) Standardization. Notes should have a standard form, and these should be formally taught to everyone doing any level or stream of study. 2) Publication. Useful notes must be published either in textbooks, student handbooks or journals, and they should be seen as the easy key to access the great sources of knowledge. Making these notes accessible will be for researchers and students, it will also emphasize the status of lecture notes as a genre. 3) Localization. Good published notes in the standard form should be available on a local basis. Once the people become familiar with standard form of notes, they would become skilled note takers. 4) Familiarization. Note-taking is often avoided in many class rooms and professions as it is an added burden due to unfamiliar method and methodology. Like most habit-forming endeavors, note-taking is only a matter of implementation in the schools and work settings. 5) Popularization. The skill of note taking should be appreciated and good note takers must be encouraged. Conclusion Note-taking serves a wide array of purposes. For the student, it facilitates learning and aids in strong performance and achievement. It is also a significant tool for writing essays and compositions, and for research purposes. These are exercises that extend beyond school setting, and are readily applied at work. Reporters, journalists, market researchers, development workers, and others value the benefits of note-taking. In different instances, in a person’s life one is prompted to take notes, simply because we need information for survival. Explicit teaching of note-taking in schools lacks development and has not received sufficient attention until recently. However, its inclusion in some texts as presented in this paper warrants that it is becoming a formal genre in English writing. Still there are areas that need to be clarified and standardized to formalize the linguistic, discourse and communicative features of the genre. Currently, most texts on note-taking are only chapters of books on writing, or at times additional notes of a chapter. There is still a dearth on literature specifically discussing the genre that is notes. The first section justifies the importance and significance of note-taking in students and professionals alike. Research studies have been conducted demonstrating significant differences between students who do and do not take down notes in lectures. Although, there has been little movement to formalize notes as a genre in writing, there have been attempts in different English language textbooks to highlight note-taking skills. The activities are considered mostly for enrichment, but articles like that of Elis and Tomlinson give in-depth discussion on note-taking including strategies and methods. Undoubtedly, there are other frameworks adopted for note-taking, yet they are not achieving wide readership or popularity. These efforts will pave the way in establishing notes as a genre that requires explicit instruction in English language teaching. The discussion presented in this paper on the application of the communicative approach in teaching the genre of notes suggest that educators should be creating instructional strategies for note-taking skills. This provides further support that note-taking should be a significant part in the English language curriculum. Many students reach collegiate level with very low, if any, note-taking skills. This significantly affects their performance in tests, written reports and other requirements. Since research has established the strong relationship between notes and student achievement, the genre indeed deserves more attention and consideration. References Baker, Linda, and Bruce R. Lombardi. (1987). Students’ lecture notes and their relation to test performance. In Mark E. Ware and Richard J. Milllard (Eds.), Handbook of student development: Advising, career, development and field placement (pp.32-36). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Inc. Brown, George. (1978). Lecturing and explaining. London, Great Britain: Methuen & Co. Ltd. Ellis, R. and B. Tomlinson. (1980). Teaching secondary English. Michigan, USA: Longman. Frown, J. (2006). Genre. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Hawkey, R. (2000). Studies in language teaching: A modular approach to teaching English language skills. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press. Hedge, T. (1988). Teaching writing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Howatt, A.P.R. and H.G. Widdowson. (2004). A history of English language teaching. Great Clarendon St, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Wallace, M. J. (2004). Study skills in English: A course in reading skills for academic purposes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press. White, R.V. (1995). New ways in teaching writing. U.S.A: Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Appendices Appendix A- A copy of a pages from New Ways in Teaching Writing by Ronald V. Page numbers 79-80. Appendix B – A copy of pages from Teaching Secondary English by R. Ellis and B.Tomlinson. Page numbers 235-240. Appendix C- A copy of a page from Writing by Tricia Hedge. Page numbers 58-59. Appendix A “Please Take Note”, Writing by Ronald V. White Appendix B “The Teaching of Note-Making”, Teaching Secondary English by R. Ellis and B.Tomlinson Appendix B, B2 Appendix B, B3 Appendix B, B6 Appendix C “Observing and Note-Taking,” Writing, by Tricia Hedge Appendix C, C2 Read More