Refocusing on Listening Skills and Note-Taking: Imperative Skills for University Students’ Learning in an L2 Environment

Abstract

Listening as the foremost language skill remains an indispensable language skill in human communication, language teaching, and learning. Its indispensability lies in its being the pillar upon which other language skills are built (Obiweluozo & Melefa, 2013). Note-taking as a post-listening activity is a very crucial step for remembering what has been captured through listening since information retention lasts shortly. Irrespective of the glaring importance of listening skills and note-taking strategies to language learning, university students from very common observations have continued to neglect these skills, hence the poor performance in other language skills and other learning activities. For this reason, this paper is set to investigate the importance of listening skills for effective language teaching and learning of university students, examine to what extent listening skills have been neglected/overlooked by university students, and explore the positive effects of note-taking strategies on listening skills as well as language learning. The data for this study will be elicited from first-year undergraduates of University of Nigeria, Nsukka using a well-structured questionnaire with 31questionnaire items based on the aspects of listening skills and note-taking strategies. The paper shall be descriptively analysed and findings exposed with proper recommendations.