Investigating the effect of using note-taking strategy on Iranian advanced EFL learners' Listening anxiety and comprehension

Helping students perform effectively in listening comprehension is one of the primary goals of teaching English as a foreign language. One of the negative factors affecting this skill is considered to be listening anxiety. Note-taking is a strategy that the researcher took into account to examine its effects on listening anxiety. To examine the effectiveness of this strategy, the current investigation was designed in which two IELTS preparation classes with ۱۵ students in each were the participants. For the first group everything went on according to their routine schedule and program but for the experimental group, the Cornell method pamphlet was used as the instruction and as a method of note taking to see if this instruction has any effects on the subjects' listening anxiety. The study lasted for ۶ sessions. A pretest – post-test design was used to compare the performances of the two groups from pre-tests to post-tests, paired and independent sample t-tests were run. Results indicated that using a note-taking strategy had a significant effect on lowering listening anxiety of the learners in the experimental group.