she wrote down “entire class period”, and reported “it should be before
note-taking”, which clearly shows she failed to construct connection between
“entire class period”and“comprehensive”note-taking. For listeners who fail to
construct meaning while tackling the task, the connections between idea units are
scarcely found as is illustrated by the followingfigure (see Fig.6.5):
The same problem is found in the second protocol:“Because I cannot remember
the detailed information...But I didn’t manage to write down the information that is
tested...Actually I heard a lot here...there’s‘you should write down as much
information as you can’.”In fact,“write as much as you can”is the supporting
detail of taking“comprehensive notes”, so the discrete scattering of information
cannot help the participant complete the gap-filling task.
On the contrary, the last three reached higher level of processing. At least they
successfully constructed the direct logical relation between“ways of note-taking”
and “comprehensive” or “organized”, evidenced in the following extracts:
“Organized. This sentence means ways of note-taking and I wrote down‘in an
organized way’.”;“I only wrote‘they will organize, will take notes in an organized
way’. The note-taking should be‘organized’.”;“‘Comprehensive note-taking’,
because I wrote‘comprehensive notes in logical ways’...I mean comprehensive
note-taking. It’sa,it’s a way you take notes”(Table6.20).
Table 6.21 Gap Type 4-Summary gaps of 2010 TEM 8
Protocol 1 (Gap No. 8; Wrong answer;
TEM 4: 70; TEM 8 Mini: 4)Li: Number eight, person, culture specific, in this
part, I remembered I heard the word“place”,
I’d write it here
Protocol 2 (Gap No. 8; Wrong answer;
TEM 4: 63; TEM 8 Mini: 1.5)He: Then the eighth one, I also follow the same
sequence, and try to match the word with my notes,
in person, culture, and specific. For this one, because
I wrote the word“informal”in my notes, and
“proximity”, I only wrote these words, and also the
word“party”, so I decide to write down, I am not
sure if it’s correct, I write, I randomly guess it’s
“party”in this blank
Protocol 3 (Gap No. 8; Correct answer;
TEM 4: 78; TEM 8 Mini: 5)Zhang: The eighth one is situation. I wrote it down
Different culture, thefirst mentioned thing is
personal style, culture-bounded, and then the
following example is the importance of situation, so
these three elements should be parallel to each other
and I also highlighted them with asterisks. The
speaker said something alike once again:“I want to
emphasize the importance of what”, so I here
highlighted the key information with asterisks. And
judging from the previous information, I believe
these three should be parallel to each other and I’d
put“situation”in the blank
R: Did you hear the exact word in the original
lecture?
Zhang: Because, yes, it appears in the lecture, but
not in the form of personal and culture (in the
outline) to lay emphasis. I remembered I heard it and
wrote it down106 6 Employing the Think-Alound Method...