| 摘要: | Researchers of teaching and learning have often suggested that guided note-taking enhances learning. However, research which has empirically documented the link between guided note-taking and English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners’ confidence in English reading is scant in higher education in Taiwan. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore whether graphic organizers, used as a guided note-taking instrument, would escalate Taiwanese university students’ confidence in reading English texts. This study documents the data collected over three consecutive academic years at a university in
central Taiwan, where students were enrolled in a year-long required Sophomore English course. Throughout the year-long course, the instructor, who conducted this study, demonstrated a variety of graphic organizers while teaching English passages and guided her students to put these visual tools into practice. As the course proceeded toward the end, the student participants responded to an anonymous questionnaire, which included two questions to address the inquiry of this study. Results of this study suggest that most of the participants, who were mostly weak in English reading, felt more confident in
English reading and attributed their increased confidence to the instructor’s introduction of various graphic organizer types and their hands-on practice of them Their reported benefits of graphic organizers included easier and faster comprehension, less time and workload on textual reviews, a better understanding of the passage structure and each author’ s purpose, improved synthesis ability, better memory of the content, and efficacy in reading tests. This study may be of importance in explaining feasibility of graphic organizers in an EFL course in Taiwan. Besides, it may provide English educators with a better understanding of this instructional technique. Those who intend to conduct further research in this regard are advised to investigate how differences among EFL learners impact their uses of graphic organizers and how EFL learners apply graphic organizers to online English reading. |
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