How to present your dissertation

1. 1
Submitted by: Supervised by:
Mr. Mâamar Missoum Mrs. Yasmine Boukhedimi
Academic Year 2006-07
The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
University of Algiers at Bouzaréah
Faculty of Arts and Languages
Department of English
Dissertation for the Degree of Magister in English (Linguistics & Didactics)
AN INVESTIGATION OF
LECTURE COMPREHENSION & NOTE TAKING STRATEGIES
OF SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BLIDA

2. 2
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
CONTENTS
 Definition of Terms
 List of Acronyms
 Chapter One: General Introduction
 Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
 Chapter Three: Methods & Procedures
 Chapter Four: Data Treatment & Presentation
 Chapter Five: Discussion
 Chapter Six: Implications
 Chapter Seven: General Conclusion
 Appendices
 Bibliography

3. 3
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
 What’s The Problem?
For many years (1995-2002), academic achievement in the
English Department at the University of Blida was lower
than average = more than 50 per cent of the student in the
different levels got an annual average lower than passing
grade (10/20)

4. 4
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
 Background of the Study
Teachers in English Department at University of Blida
complaining about students’ low academic achievement.
Complaints consistent with researcher’s observations
during his thirteen-year experience as student & as
teacher in Department.

5. 5
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
 The Research Rationale
Initial investigation – 2nd year students’ annual grade averages for 2000-
2002 classes: 50% of students failed to obtain passing average
Preliminary survey- teachers rate students’ achievement at level 2/5
(Appendix A: Preliminary Survey Questionnaire: p179 & Appendix B: The Students’Grades:
p180)

6. 6
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter One: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
 Purpose and Scope of the Study
Do 2nd year students in ED use adequate lecture
comprehension and note taking strategies to learn
efficiently from academic lectures?
Why select lecture comprehension and note taking as object for
present investigation of academic underachievement?
- The preliminary survey of the teachers
- Lectures most available source of knowledge for students

7. 7
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Two: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Section One:
The Academic Lecture - Key Features
Section Two:
EFL Lecture Comprehension-Key Tasks & Strategies
Section Three:
Lecture Note Taking

8. 8
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Two: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
 Section One:
The Academic Lecture - Key Features
Discourse of academic lectures distinctive: Discourse Markers -
propositional density - conceptual complexity - Linguistic
complexity - support media - interaction

9. 9
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Two
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Section Two:
EFL Lecture Comprehension-Key Tasks & Strategies
Using discourse markers & prior knowledge to Anticipate
discourse – infer meaning – select & synthesise information

10. 10
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blidac
Chapter Two
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
 Section Three: Lecture Note Taking
Long-term learning depends on taking good notes: a record of understanding.
 3 phases:
 -Taking Notes during Lectures: requires selecting, paraphrasing and
reducing lecture text
 - Editing Notes: rereading, expanding, and organizing the content.
 - Memory must be supported with timely review
Value of lecture notes for students derives from their quality. What
parameters could be used to assess the quality of students’ notes?

11. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Review of Literature
Listeners must use efficient strategies to cope
with demands of learning from academic
lecture.
11

12. 12
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Three
METHODS & PROCEDURES
 The Research Questions
Do 2nd year students in ED use adequate lecture comprehension and note
taking strategies to learn efficiently from academic lectures?
 Q 1: How would subjects perform on a test of lecture comprehension?
 Q 2: Do the subjects use efficient lecture comprehension strategies?
 Q 3: How would subjects perform on a lecture note taking task?
 Q 4: Do they use efficient note taking strategies?
 Q 5: Does instruction in DE provide for adequate training in lecture comprehension and note taking?
 Q 6: Does the curriculum in ED provide for development of students’ lecture comprehension and note
taking ability?
 Q 7: Do lectures contain features that assist students in their effort to comprehend lecture content and
record it in notes?


13. 13
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Three
METHODS & PROCEDURES
The Research Design 5 research instruments
 1- Observation of Lectures
 2- Test of Lecture Comprehension (300 subjects - 09 strategies)
 3- Analysis of the Subjects’ Lecture Notes- 25 samples
 4- Survey Questionnaires-crosscheck and complete data–144 subjects + 18
teachers
 5- Analysis of Instruction in Listening Comprehension: official statement
of the listening syllabus - course notes from 5 students.

14. 14
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Four
DATA TREATMENT & PRESENTATION
 Quantification of subjects` performance on Test of Lecture
Comprehension
- Translating responses into grades
- Combined grades for individual strategies assessed
 Questionnaire: Tremendous amount of data
Responses added up for each question by category of respondents
(students, listening teachers and lecturers)
(Appendix F: Samples of the Students’ Notes from Lectures of the Lecture Comprehension Test: p 91 -
Appendix J: The Questionnaires Aggregated Responses: p 20)

15. 15
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Five
DISCUSSION
Some Research Limitations:
-Little research on lecture comprehension
-Acceptable degree of validity and reliability
 Replication: Test & questionnaire with 2 classes of second
year students --- Necessitating more time for data analysis
 Triangulation: 05 research instruments - crosschecking

16. 16
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Five : DISCUSSION
Possible answers from the results?
Q 1-How would subjects perform on a test of lecture comprehension? Combined average score
31.65%
- 79% failed on Recognising Overall Structure of Lecture.
Q 2- Do subjects use efficient lecture comprehension strategies? Questionnaire show many
subjects not using efficient strategies
- 60% would not systematically use markers to recognize topic.
Q 3- How would subjects perform on a lecture note taking task? Low notes’ efficiency scores-
Problems identifying key information.
Q 4- Do the subjects use efficient note taking strategies? Significant numbers of subjects reported
using inefficient strategies or not using better ones - subjects often resort to a note-all strategy

17. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
 Q 5- Does instruction in DE provide for adequate training in lecture comprehension
and note taking?
 Listening instruction overlooked most of key strategies

 Q 6- Does curriculum in ED provide for development of students’ lecture
comprehension and note taking ability?
 The official statement of the syllabus: no reference note taking and most strategies

 Q 7- Do lectures contain features that would assist students in their effort to
comprehend content and record it in notes?
 -structure of the lectures often not quite clear;
 -Outlines of the lectures rarely given;
 -summaries of the main points quite scarce;
17

18. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Matching data:
 Many students use poor lecture comprehension and
note-taking strategies
 Listening instruction hardly providing for adequate
training
 Features that help listeners often scarce in the lectures
18

19. 19
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Chapter Six: IMPLICATIONS
Suggestions that may improve learning from lectures in the ED
Suggestions for Better Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Instruction:
Learning/Teaching Approach should better
 Be Strategy-Based
 Integrate Authentic Content/ Format
 Integrate Authentic Tasks
 Inclusive of Self-Study
For a sample of activities to illustrate the required task features, readers can refer to -Test of Lecture
Comprehension under Appendix C. The scripts of the lectures used in the test are under Appendix D.

20. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
 Suggestions for Lecturers to Enhance Lecture Learning
Reading assignments - a clear structure - outline of the lecture -
monitoring & anticipating conceptual & linguistic challenges -
giving summaries and checking comprehension frequently
 Recommendations for Curriculum and Program
Administrators
Little resources available to develop study skills: Mutual
contribution between modules
20

21. 21
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
CHAPTER SEVEN: GENERAL CONCLUSION
 Lecture-based aural comprehension & note taking skills are
critical to academic studies
 Five research instruments to investigate students’ strategies
 Sustained efforts to improve validity & reliability
Data collected crosschecked
 Overall, subjects performed lower than average on almost all
key lecture comprehension & note taking strategies

22. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
 Probes of strategy use revealed that many subjects not using
effective strategies
 Lectures did not appear to furnish optimal discourse
 Finally, data on listening instruction suggest training received
by subjects overlooked most of efficient strategies
 Some recommendations made: instruction in lecture
comprehension and note taking, lecturing, curriculum and
program administration
22

23. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
 Insights gained in the present study may contribute to
adjusting teaching in DE to help the students learn
better from lectures
 Future Research: Several issues remain to be
investigated: study skills in English departments -
Common goal: Informing teaching/learning to
achieve higher efficiency.
23

24. Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
We want our students to be successful and
learning teaching process more effective and
generative of the experience of success.
24

25. 25
Magister Dissertation by Mâamar Missoum 1994-2007
An Investigation of the Lecture Comprehension & Note Taking Strategies of Second Year Students
of English at the University of Blida
Thank your for your attention!
You can send your suggestion, comments or
questions to
maamar_missoum@yahoo.fr
Thanking you in advance