Teaching note-taking in EMI: an experimental study in Economics and Business Administration

Learning to take effective notes is particularly difficult for non-English-native university students enrolled on English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses. However, time and cost constraints mean that many universities provide no support in English for academic purposes or academic skills. One solut...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLanguage learning in higher education (Berlin, Germany) Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 5 - 20
Main Authors Breeze, Ruth, Roothooft, Hanne, Meyer, Marcel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin De Gruyter 27.05.2024
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Subjects
Abbreviations
Academic language
academic skills
Academic writing
Business Administration
Business education
College students
Economics
Economics education
English for academic purposes
English for Special Purposes
English Medium Instruction
Feedback
Higher education
lectures
Note taking
Speech Skills
Spain
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Summary:Learning to take effective notes is particularly difficult for non-English-native university students enrolled on English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses. However, time and cost constraints mean that many universities provide no support in English for academic purposes or academic skills. One solution to this problem would be to work closely with subject lecturers to develop training that can be delivered within the framework of the EMI content courses themselves. We developed a pilot programme for training students to take effective notes in English and applied it within the context of a first-year content course in Economics and Business Administration at a Spanish university. The students improved on several measures from the pre-test to the post-test, and provided positive feedback. They particularly appreciated learning how to build outlines, simplify information, and use abbreviations and symbols. Questionnaire responses indicated that they had found the training useful and appreciated the possibilities for direct application of the new skills acquired in their other EMI courses. Further research on how to train students in academic language competences within the ecologically valid setting of the EMI classroom itself could include support with subject-focused academic writing and speaking skills.
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content type line 14
ISSN:2191-611X
2191-6128
DOI:10.1515/cercles-2023-0033