Taxonomy of Lecture Note-Taking Skills and Subskills

Abstract

Note taking (NT) in lectures is as active a skill as listening, which stimulates it, and as challenging as writing, which is the end product. Literature on lecture NT misses an integration of the processes involved in listening with those in NT. In this article, a taxonomy is proposed of lecture NT skills and subskills based on a similar list developed for listening comprehension skills, which is in turn based on a taxonomy of reading comprehension skills proposed by Ferguson (1973) and Gray (1960). The proposed list can shed light on the complexity of the skill of NT in lectures and help teachers provide systematic, brief, and controlled skills training for their students, especially L2 college or university freshmen.