The Effect of Note Taking vs. Summarizing Strategy on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Mehri Khavazi, Mandana Yousefi*, Naeemeh Kharaghan Department of English Language, Quchan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Quchan, Iran Corresponding Author: Mandana Yousefi, E-mail: mandanayousefih@gmail.c ABSTRACT This study, specificall , investigated the effect of note taking and summarizing strategies on Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension. The study aimed at investigating the effects of note taking and summarizing on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. The participants of the study included 75 female language learners in Bojnord who were homogenized in terms of language proficienc . They were divided into two experimental and onecontrol groups. ANCOVA test was used to analyze the effect of instructing listening strategies on the students’ listening comprehension. The results revealed that both note taking and summarizing strategies were effective in enhancing Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension performance. In addition, it was found that summarizing strategy was more effective than note taking strategy in improving students’listening comprehension. In terms of theoretical implications, the results of the study contribute to the validity of such theories like depth of processing, output hypothesis, and noticing hypothesis. Key words: Note-taking Strategy, Summarizing Strategy, Listening Comprehension INTRODUCTION Listening comprehension is considered to be an important skill in language learning. Language learners want to under- stand the second language speakers easily and also are inter- ested in the rich variety of aural and visual second language texts available through network media. In addition, listening comprehension is at the center of second language learning and the improvement of second language listening skills can play an important role in improving other language skills (Dunkel, 1988, as cited in Vandergrift, 2007). Therefore, it is essential for learners to improve their listening comprehen- sion; however, they are rarely taught how to listen in second language (Vandergrift, 2007). Summarizing is a kind of strategy through which students reprocess information and reproduce it in their own words (Jones, 2007). Jones (2007) further maintains that this skill increases learners’ comprehension because it needs active reading and listening. In students’ words, summarizing is an overview of the main information from reading, listening, or lectures (Tierney & Shanahan, 1991). A summary is always shorter than the original material and is based on the main ideas (LeBauer, 2000). According to O’Malley and Chamot (1995), note-taking is defined as writing down the essential words and notions in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numer- ical form, with the aim of facilitating the performance of a language task. Therefore, it can be claimed that summarizing is a useful method in teaching listening to language learners. Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.2p.42 To make the role of summarizing more obvious, Fajardo (1996) considered note-taking as a complex activity which combines reading and listening with selecting, summarizing, and writing. Meanwhile, Nwokoreze (1990, p. 42) believed that “it is during the note-taking stage that students reach the highest level of comprehension”. As Ayer and Milson (1993) argued, note taking is a well-organized skill that can increase ability to recall and comprehend subject matter. Several stud- ies (Bonner & Holliday, 2006; Davis & Hult, 1997; Einstein, 1985) showed its benefits for college students, but little stud- ies have focused on its importance in classes where English is as instructional language and students are non-native En- glish speakers. Accordingly, this study was an attempt to ex- amine the effect of note-taking and summarizing strategies on Iranian learner s’ listening comprehension. In Iran when English language is assumed as a foreign language, there is almost no contact with English users and because of political issues, national television does not broadcast English movies which are in original language. Therefore, there is no exposure to English (Zarei, 2003). On the other hand, the literature shows that these two strategies are effective in helping language learners; however, less at- tention has been paid to these strategies in Iranian context. Thus, this study was an attempt to find out the effect of em- ploying these two strategies on listening comprehension. Consequently, the researchers aimed to answer the following research questions: International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature E-ISSN: 2200-3452 & P-ISSN: 2200-3592 www.ijalel.aiac.org.au ARTICLE INFO Conflicts of interest: None Funding: None Article history Received: November 13, 2017 Accepted: January 10, 2018 Published: March 01, 2018 Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Advance access: February 2018